Too Much Glass » New York HDR photography. New York street photography. New York night photography. New York based photography. New York photography.

In addition to my interest in shooting and documenting Coney Island in its present state, my other main inspiration for this series was a series that my friend Bob Lussier did last winter. He called it “Off Season.” It featured winter photographs of Salisbury, Massachusetts, a beach/resort town, and like Coney Island, its heyday is behind it.

Bob certainly didn’t invent the idea of shooting a beach or resort location in its off season, but he did it really well, and the cumulative effect of the series was quite powerful. Oddly, it took me a while to think of connecting that series idea with Coney Island. That is largely because Salisbury appears from Bob’s series to be a true resort town, with few year round residents, while Coney Island is a few blocks away from the  vibrant Brighton Beach neighborhood and also from public apartment houses with plenty of full time residents.

I thought that to get the fully deserted look that Bob captured, I would have to go further afield from New York City, but the opportunities were there. I should not have been surprised as I often manage to get such shots on early weekend mornings in the city.  Even though two of the images I have already posted feature people, I could have shot them without people. Shooting them with the people was a choice.  But when I looked down Surf Avenue and saw this opportunity to capture it completely empty of people or even cars, I had to take it.

And speaking of Bob, he is hosting today the latest round of our HDR collaboration. He’s showcasing our work on one of his Bolton-Emerson Americas series. It’s a treat and an honor to get to work on such great images and collaborate with such talented folks. Please go check it out.