Real Deal

Next weekend offers a rare opportunity to see Joel Sternfeld's Photographs of the High Line as part of Luhring Augustine's booth at the ADAA Art Show 2009 at the Park Avenue Armory.

Back in 2000, in the dawning hours of Friends of the High Line, co-founders Robert Hammond and Joshua David asked noted photographer Joel Sternfeld to walk the High Line to take photographs. The pictures Joel took in the subsequent seasons chronicled the allure and natural grace of the High Line, and played a crucial role in alerting the public to the potential of what many saw from below as abandoned ruins. Adam Gopnik wrote about Joel in the May 21st, 2001 issue of the New Yorker:

Here he is, at it again. (David Beckham was last seen showing off for the High Line back in February.   Compare and contrast.)

It's ridiculously hot today. Of course, on the High Line construction site, that just means things are a little sexier than usual.

I was cleaning out photos on my cell phone and found this picture of a bird skeleton on the balast at the rail yards.

Actually, there are few pigeons, and virtually no rats or mice on the High Line. The reason? There are no people up there to feed them garbage.

  Timothy Schenck, on our engineering team, has taken some beautiful site photos throughout the construction process.

More after the jump.

 

Summer is just around the corner, or so this 80-degree day would have us believe. Above, sunset at the rail yards, last summer. It's hard to beat that golden light filtering through the smog over New Jersey.

In some ways, Chelsea in 1986 in not so different from what it is today. Sure, the neighborhood has changed and evolved in many ways, but it has also remained a diverse community of people, activities, and uses. The preservation and reuse of High Line adds another interesting element to the rich history of Chelsea and when Section 1 of the High Line opens later this year, the neighborhood will evolve yet again. Photos courtesy Department of City Planning.

Another rainy day up on the Line. Raindrops (and abandoned flip flops) found their way into one of the test pits dug on the High Line before construction began. This shot is from 2005.

Previous Photo of the Week: