Light painting the New York skyI appreciate many aspects of living in New York, but the light is one of them. My jokes about looking at the world through rose-colored glasses are both a reflection of my too-tender heart and my deep sensitivity to light.

From my perch 19 floors above the New York Harbor, with my bed in an alignment with the window that brings the water and tops of buildings right to my window sill, I enjoy a rare and uniquely special view of light on water, bathing the boats in the Jersey City Marina and the Western sky.

Light is a significant part of my life. Seeing the photograph and headline of the NY Times story Full Constant Light, I smiled knowingly. The writer refers to the “Milky Way” of an all-night Manhattan viewed from the Bronx.

This Milky Way Vision is so appropriate. I’ve written about my first trip to New York and how the city’s lights grabbed my imagination from the plane window, refusing to let go. In all my years of living in New York, I’ve never tired of the vision.

Indeed, this vision of urban light is poetic, to quote Full Constant Light. In fact NYT art critic Holland Carter is that rare writer, able to paint explicit visions with words.

Poetic and pragmatic is an apt description of New York and its light. This is an island city — of its five boroughs only the Bronx is part of the North American mainland — with an island light, alternately obdurate and romantically moody. It can be too candid. Noon light in New York is not going to make you look rosy if you’re pale, or rested if you’re tired, or younger than you are. But its toughness is democratic: it falls on everybody and everything the same way.

Just this week I was looking at New York Photos (I ALWAYS am looking at visuals), searching for ones to use in hand-made Christmas cards. My expedition was for snowy Central Park photos. Challenging myself to find a new object of my photo passions, I avoided my favorite guy, Joisseyshowaa.

sunrise across 34th street, mIf I am one thing, it’s loyal. I can honestly say that my search in photos did not replace my favorite Central Park photo to date … this one from Joisseyshowaa. I so adore this man, that I could just follow him around for a day, looking at New York through his eyes.

Joiseyshowaa’s sensitivity to the deep sensuality of the city (and the world) mesmerizes me without restraint. This photo of Central Park remains my favorite.

In a different way, light is the object of my affection for the photographs of Rengim Mutevellioglu, featured in the Behance Network porfolios, our latest new website at A of C. When I read about the poetry of light, I cannot ignore my Dec. 3 Aurora Borealis videos.

We have a morning of unadulterated, visual magic today. It makes me very happy, just drinking in all the sensations.

Love, Anne