Tuesday, May 24, 2005

"A photograph is a secret about a secret."




It was no great surprise when it began pouring on Saturday evening; the eerie yellow light that bathed the streets of my industrial park neighborhood was enough of an omen. And when I went out for a quick run to the local bodega for beer and tortilla chips, the dark skies in the west reminded me that I only had a slim margin of time to get back home before the rain began. The interesting bit was that it was still blue skies in the east.


During the hurried three block walk and back, I saw people on their roofs looking out towards Manhattan and cheering on the impending thunderstorm. There was enough of a view of the west to see the distinctive black band of clouds on the horizon. If I could only get up to my roof in time, I'd be able to get a great view. Back at the loft, I grabbed my camera and Jane and headed up to see the show -- Manhattan had completely disappeared behind the curtain of clouds and rain moving into Brooklyn. Normally I am able to see the Empire State Building, but it too was reduced to a faint outline on the horizon surrounded by crackles of lightning. Pretty freakin' cool.

* * *

Earlier I went to Met, keen on seeing the Diane Arbus exhibit and getting out of the loft. After two hours getting lost and barely finding the exhibit, I went outside, sat on the steps, and read my Time Out. Then I took a bus that ran all the way down 5th Avenue to Astor Place. Good times. It was my first time on a NYC bus! I texted Dennise to let her know of the momentous event.

2 comments:

H said...

That is an amazing photo! It makes the weather nerd in me very happy.

nycrouge said...

If you think the photo was amazing, think how freakin' amazing it looked in real life. Too bad I didn't get a better shot of Manhattan before the rain hit.