NEW YORK PHOTO BLOG / DAVE BECKERMAN

How thirsty we are for a touch of the pure spiritual being.  The more urban the environment, the greater the need.  How many millions crammed themselves into Central Park that day to “see” the Dalai lama?  Or was it to see Richard Gere?  Or was it just to be there?

If you study the picture, far far away towards the center is a black square dot.  No that’s not the stage, that’s one of the loud speakers.  Keep going back until you see another smaller white dot.  Yes, that’s the stage.

How many people could have heard the Sermon on the Mount?  [See the scene in the Life of Brian for an idea of how it may have worked]  But that day, you could hear the voice of his Holiness as you approached the entrance of the park.  Would he send out mystical waves?  Were you in the presence of a spiritual being, or in the presence of the analog air waves being manipulated by his voice?

Like many old-time New Yorkers – we didn’t think much of the World Trade Center in terms of looks.  Just these huge boxes with none of the panache of the Empire State or Chrysler Buildings.  You know what I mean.  Giant cartons spelling power, but without any graceful touches.   I really only went to photograph the WTC twice.  The monumental interiors that were like cities in themselves – you had to be somewhat impressed by it, but again – these interiors were just utilitarian.

So I’m walking around the exterior with it’s modern sculptures that mean nothing to me, and some temporary space for artists – which on this particular day has a piece of curved steel which if you stand in the right place reflects back the sun and the buildings.  So, on this film roll, I went out of my way to take some shots of the World Trade Center, and I returned with exactly one WTC shot, which is shown below.

Photography, by it’s nature, is of course documentary.  No matter what you’re photographing – there is a good chance that it will be disappear, and some chance that it will disappear due to historical reasons.  Because of the distorted reflections, with strange shapes and glare of sun – that give it (for me) the feeling of an oracle.  Or to put it another way, if the oracle of old spoke in images rather than words – it might have spit this image out.

1932 Rockefeller Center
Iron Workers
Lunch Time
* * *
Sculpture by Sergio… 19…

(That’s all I can see about the sculpture which was on top of a truck near Union Square)

Photograph (1999) of sculpture (19–) based on photograph taken in 1932

I wonder whether there’s ever been a time

When technology changed so much

In 78 years?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets during construction of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center in 1932.

The photograph depicts 11 men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling hundreds of feet above the New York City streets. Ebbets took the photo on September 29, 1932, and it appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in its Sunday photo supplement on October 2. Taken on the 69th floor of the GE Building during the last several months of construction, the photo Resting on a Girder shows the same workers napping on the beam.

The copyright owner of the photograph, the Bettman Archive, did not recognize Charles C. Ebbets as the photographer until October 2003 (reportedly after months of investigation by a private investigation firm).[1] Many posters and prints of the photograph continue to list the artist as ‘unknown.’

Buddy, several years ago, in front of my light box

[ I'm trying to keep this in chronological order, so skip to the end to see the latest with Buddy]

I noticed yesterday morning that there was something wrong with Buddy’s right eye.  Cat’s have a membrane, sort of a covering between the eye and the lid, it’s like an inner eye-lid, and for some reason, half of this inner membrane is showing.  It must be irritating because his eye is watering badly as well.

I called the vet yesterday, and they came by, two women, this afternoon.  Buddy is simply not a good patient.  I tried to get him into a calm mood by brushing him before they arrived.  And he was, but once they entered the house, things got ugly.  I was able to put him up on the counter where I do my matting; and he was doing the usual amount of hissing, and soon striking out with his claws; but with three adults holding him we couldn’t get him still enough to work on.

The vet suggested wrapping him in a towel.  Again, this did not go well.  We got the towel around him, but now his panic went off the scales – and we couldn’t hold him.  He jump out of the towel – off the counter – and onto a piece of rug that is his usual bed.  He turned on his side, ignoring us, with the only sign that something was wrong – the twitching of his tail.

So the vet suggested that he would have to be tranquilized in order to do a full work-up.  The eye-business could be topical, that is to say, not a bad symptom, or it could be a symptom of something worse.  So as it stands, the vet will send someone over tonight who is a specialist at getting cats into carriers.  And Buddy will go off to the hospital which is only a block away; get put under; and then they will hopefully be able to do the testing they need to do.  Then he’ll be brought back to me.

I knew all along that this wasn’t going to be easy.  I’ve had him in a carrier exactly once and that didn’t go well.  He was absolutely scared out of his wits while he was in confinement.  It is possible to give him a tranquilizer orally but it will take at least 20 minutes to work.  So I’m just waiting for the call that the person with the large carrier is coming by.

I have to admit, that I really couldn’t get any work done – as I was worried about him all day and couldn’t concentrate on printing.

* * *

There was a change in plans as the person who was going to pick Buddy up in a carrier tonight wasn’t available; so it will be done tomorrow night around 8 pm.  A day of reprieve for him.  He’s not in any pain.  But whatever is wrong with him has to be diagnosed, as it could be trivial or serious.

* * *

Next morning: Thank you all for your good wishes. Just so you know, he’s not suffering at all with the inner eyelid problem; not even sure he knows there’s anything wrong. Sleeps, and purrs, and does all the usual stuff. Tonight, he’ll be taken to the hospital nearby where he can be sedated and they can do a more careful exam (see below).

* * *

Next Day

Okay. Buddy is off to the hospital. How we did it. He loves to go to the door when someone rings. So when Jennifer (the cat picker-upper) was at the door, I cracked it open a bit so we could talk. She had a satchel with a grid that the cat could see through and she pushed the apartment door open when I told her to and I slid Buddy into the satchel, head first.

He immediately started letting out those terrible noises, but Jennifer was calm. There were two zippers that had to be pulled around and of course mine got stuck. But the other zipper could go all around so the whole thing probably took 30 seconds.

As she walked down the stairs with the cat in the satchel, he was still crying – but not crazy crying; and Jennifer said, That went really well.  I was rattled. But not as much as Buddy.

So now I just have to wait for a call from the hospital. Whether I’ll get it tonight or tomorrow morning; I’m not really sure. I think it will be tonight. If that’s the case and they can do everything they have to do Jennifer can bring him back tonight and and he can sleep in his own bed.

Phew.

* * *

The call came around 11:30 pm from the vet.  Buddy was resting, and still knocked out from the tranquilizer.  They did blood work.  And they looked at the eye.  And so far the conclusion is that it may be an infection, or it may be a genetic syndrome (I forget the name).  They are sending out specific genetic test samples to see if it is a genetic syndrome.  In the meantime, I’m waiting for them to call me to pick him up, probably around 12 midnight, and bring him home tonight.  They don’t expect to see anything that’s related to the eye with the general blood work.  If there’s are other problems with kidneys, liver etc. that will show up.  And it will take a while for the special genetic marker blood tests to come back.  Buddy was pretty freaked out.  When they got him there he had pooped in the satchel.  I’m not surprised – he did that once before when he was very nervous and I was trying to get him used to the carrier.

Should be fun to give him eye drops, but he’s comfortable with me, and I’m pretty sure I can do it.  One thing I forgot to ask, is if it is a genetic syndrome – if anything can be done for it.  I’ll be glad to get him home and let him calm down; but so far, although we don’t know what is causing the problem, I feel okay that it’s not going to be anything that serious.

* * *

And I just got him back in the house.  He looks good.  I never saw him after he had a bath.  Groggy, but good.  Even his eye looks better.  More later…