Manhattan Monochrome

I took the shot above after putting together a blog last year on how the view of Manhattan from “the other shore”—Brooklyn—had changed over the years. I was especially struck by one of the images I used, Berenice Abbott’s view of then-new skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, viewed from the waterfront.

There is a clarity, both of image and seeming purpose, a sense of activity waiting to happen to her image, despite an absence of people in the scene. My picture was made from Brooklyn; the wide foreshore in Abbott’s picture from the 1930s has long since disappeared under an elevated highway and buildings.

For reference, here are two color pictures showing some of the same buildings.