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(more details later, as time permits)
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As I have noted in some earlier Flickr albums, as long as I continue going to the same dentist, you can count on two or three sets of photos of Bryant Park each year. The reason is simple: my dentist is located in mid-town Manhattan, about a block from the park, and when I’m done, I’m always tempted to walk over and see how the park looks. I had a different dentist in the 70s and 80s — but in any case, I’ve collected nine separate sets of Bryant Park photos, which you can see summarized here on Flickr.
At least one or two of those other sets will provide you with the historical details of the park; or you can look it up here on Wikipedia. As for this particular visit, it actually had nothing to do with my dentist: I was on a lunch-break from a weekend class at the International Center of Photography, located about a block away. It was a gorgeous mid-October Sunday, and the weather was just too wonderful to stay indoors; so I opted instead to skip eating and just wander around taking pictures.
After surveying the scene, I decided to make at least one circumnavigational loop, to photograph whatever looked interesting. The lawn was open, with plenty of metal tables and chairs strewn about randomly; and there were lots of people sunbathing, chatting, picnicking and just enjoying themselves. There were also a couple of games of ping-pong underway (my photos of which unfortunately did not make the “cut” for uploading to this Flickr set), as well as a serious petanque tournament (pictures of which also failed to make the cut). No chess games, this time … but lots of people with laptops and netbooks, taking advantage of the free wifi routers in all four corners of the park.
At the end of an hour I packed up my camera gear and headed back up the street to my ICP class. But I’ll be back to see my dentist a couple months from now, and I’ll try to stop by the park again, to see what it looks like in the winter season…