I live next door to a great wilderness, not out west but literally next door to me, and in fact, just a short MTA ride away for most New Yorkers. Kaleidoscope: Van Cortlandt Park in Four Seasons , is a journey through the seasons, a metaphor for life’s journey and a reflection on what is happening here and around the world. The foliage and fauna, the denizens, the human element all have their roles in this visual exploration, as they do as life within the city’s fourth largest park. This is not a straight ahead documentary, but rather an exploration of my emotional attachment to Van Cortlandt Park. I grew up next door to it, I have lived all my life next to it and each day when I walk out the door, I can cross the street and be within it. The multiple-image pieces are my response to naturally occurring patterns and activity that are repeated throughout the year, but yet seem everchanging. The buds on a tree are similar but viewed close-up show a multitude of variations. Yet they still coalesce into a single unit. Birds in flight are different species, but together they become a universal image- flight- and flight itself becomes a metaphor. I love exploring the beauty in repetitions of pattern and coloring as it changes, each a new moment in time. In “ Winter is Coming,” birds are seen in the distance and directly overhead. The slightly different perspectives present both the beauty of flight, but also the ominous imagery of Alfred Hitchcock's "Birds," - a warning of changes to come. Each season is explored as a collection unto itself and as part of an over arcing whole. Images are in both black and white and color. Most of the images were taken between 2010 and 2011. I still return to the park - I am drawn there to photograph again and again because I see how the park changes not only on site but within my own state of mind. I included some of my older images, shot on film. The later 2010 images are all digital. Film and digital images do impose their own viewpoints. The longer view is to not only show the changes in the park over time, but also in how the eye sees.
