Earth: Photography Show 2021
Here are a few photographs from the Earth: Photography Show 2021 opening, to which I had a great honor to be invited to. One Art Space is a wonderful gallery in Tribeca, featuring artists across all genres and media. Curated by Diego Ponce, the work selection worked very well together, offering a coherent yet diverse views from artists of various backgrounds and ages. Two of my “Winter from Above” pieces appeared next to the work of talented photographers: Carla Pivonski, Robert Whitman, Fernando Espinosa, Susan Magnano, Doug Kofsky, Joelle Soraya Batista Iseli, John Poblocki, Jinane Ennasri, John Mazlish, Joseph Dalton, Steve Prezant.
Edwina Sandys – All About Eve at Salomon Arts
Salomon Arts gallery proudly presents “All about Eve” – an exhibit by world renowned artist Edwina Sandys. A multidisciplinary artist, over the past decades Edwina has created art of international acclaim that includes sculpture, paintings, collage and works on paper. Please enjoy the photographs from the opening of her New York City solo exhibit. (Thursday, April 16, 2021)
Norwood's Harriet
Salomon Arts Gallery and Willoughby Advisory present “Norwood’s Harriet – Celebrating Democracy, Freedom and Diversity”, an art exhibit in one of the New York’s iconic private clubs. It is my honor to have one of my pieces featured in this group show, which will be open throughout the month of December, 2020.
The complete roster of artists: Kacper Abolik, Max Blagg, Peter Dayton, Alexis Duque, Saskia Friedrich, Marco Gallotta, Elizabeth Gregory Gruen, Nathan Slate Joseph, Curtis Kulig, Victoria de Lesseps, Noel de Lesseps, Tatiana Lisovskaya, Christopher Makos, Katrina Del Mar, Warren Neidich, Donald Perlis, William Baker Rand, Oscar Riquelme, Barnaby Ruhe, Edwina Sandys, Bert Stern, Barnett Suskind, Lucy De Kooning Villeneuve, Richard Wengenroth, and Filip Wolak
Day 20 – Home (kinda) sweet home
Friday, May 29 2020
Day 20
There she is. Barely seen over the misty horizon, growing bigger and bigger with each mile traveled. It is the view that is so familiar, yet always making my heart beat faster. The tightly packed skyscrapers – the sign of might and progress of this country, but also a symbol of the tremendous work of millions that shaped the city. The familiar view I have always loved, always admired, always missed when away.
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Lady Liberty – standing proud welcoming us, the travelers, as it did for generations.
There is something something powerfully reassuring in this view. The view I know so well for over 20 years. The place that has witnesses many of my successes and failures, the place that made me and shaped me. The place that gave me the opportunity to grow and expand, to realize make my dreams come true.
From this perspective, everything appears normal, business as usual… But we know, that we are returning to a changed Home. How will the City receive us? So much unknown remains. What will be this City’s future? How can I fit in this changing world? Where will we fit in those insecure times?
Will the road be our new home?
We wanted to thank all those who contributed to our amazing experience. For the help, advice, attention, words of encouragement, friendship and love. In the times of social distancing, once again we have learned how important the human connection is.
Flight Path
Day 1 - NYC to Noble County, OH
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Day 1
And off we go!
Expecting some hard-core headwind that slowed us down almost 20 knots (that’s 20% of our speed), we finally departed the North Eastern homefield on route to the South West. packing took a while, we are luckily well below the max takeoff weight but the weight needed to be placed correctly in order to stay in the limits of weight and balance.
Read More...As our farewell committee (Robert and Andrew) bid us farewell, i was already thirsty for the celebratory beer they held in hand. Well, that will have to wait.
Flying though the beautiful Amish country, full of small farms that are being interestingly worked into curved shapes. First stop Allegheny County (KAGC), reloaded on cheap fuel and free coffee and headed out West, onto the industrial part of PA.
Bayley Mine was a place I always wanted to photograph, and I was not disappointed. We have seen some serious destruction of the land especially as the mine is surrounded by the vast areas of green. The mine was actually closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak at the time of the photography.
However, the weather was coming. The fast-moving cold front that has been driven by a heavy low pressure system over the Lakes brought some heavy winds, extreme drop in temperature and a lot of rain. Luckily, we have landed before the hell started, and it was at some point so bad that we had difficulties holding the airplane in place as it was weathervaning onto the ever-changing wind. We decided this night will be spent in the airplane instead.
Tired, wet, but happy we fell asleep quite fast.
Flight Path
3 days before: Dormant JFK/LGA and JetBlue Salute
May 7, 2020
Day T-3
Putting tRusty to final test before our departure, I have decided to take it up over NYC Class Bravo. The initial idea was to photograph the Jet Blue essential workers salute that was scheduled for 7pm.
It was also an opportunity to photograph the major NYC airports, as they are offering a unique view due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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While at 8,000 feet – flying solo required extra buffer of error – heavens granted me a moment of beautiful sunlight over JFK. As usual in those situations – it lasted maybe 2-3 minutes, while the strong upper wind and cold air (-6 degrees C / 20 degrees F) complicated the task. On the below track, you can see me circling several times over JFK, with altitude varying between 7,500 and 8,500 feet.
After that, I have also visited La Guardia. Even quieter than JFK.
Unfortunately I was already geared for the JetBlue feature and therefore I haven’t had my sharpest lenses on.
The effect is, however, satisfactory.
Dormant JFK
And even more empty (yet less exciting) LGA
And, since I already have your attention — here's the JetBlue stunt (yawn!)
Flight Path
An Idea is Born
An Idea is Born
“I’m thinking of going across every day,” Filip texted me, out of the blue, a month and a half into the Covid pandemic and resulting isolation. It was early spring, and the world was achingly beautiful, beckoning humanity outdoors and into the sweet air of late April.
“Across where? America?!” My quarantined mind was shocked into full attention.
“Yes. There’s no work. And the fuel will never be cheaper.”
“I’m in,” I said it immediately, without the due diligence of any sort of plan.
Crossing America in a small plane. We’d talked about it…for years. The adventure and the challenge called to us ferociously. Years earlier, we laughed when we realized we were reading the same book at the same time, Flight of Passage, about two brothers who flew a cub across the country. The idea grew in our minds like a wildfire, much kinder than the one consuming the globe, aided in its growth by various camping flying excursions in the Northeast. Flamping, we named it. Fly camping. The greatest combination of flight and camping in the glorious natural world.
Could we do it, across the whole country? Could we really take Old Rusty, our beloved Skyhawk, a 1973 beauty with a recent engine overhaul, all the way, East coast to West coast and back again? Could we do it now? At this massive crossroads in the history of mankind? If we were to undertake this journey, we knew it would need to be special. We had to approach such a trip with deep respect for the full spectrum of human emotion and experience that resulted from the virus.
If we were going to do it NOW, we needed to endeavor to photographically capture the country in its current state, discovering ways that the pandemic had altered the patterns of human movement across the entire nation. And in thinking these thoughts, we realized we had no choice. There would never be a moment like this again. And the opportunity to document it from above could be powerful and potentially helpful to humanity as a whole.
It was decided. We were going. We were flying across America.
