« Q4 2007 Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Earnings Conference Call - Final | Main | Open space versus parks »
May 30, 2008
Atlantic Yards Aerial Photos: Interview with Jonathan Barkey
Brit in Brooklyn
Two of the leading documenters of the struggle to stop Atlantic Yards, photographers Adrian Kinloch and Jonathan Barkey, get together to discuss Barkey's recent high-altitude photo shoot of the project footprint.
How did you get to take a helicopter ride around the footprint?
The Municipal Art Society of New York commissioned an architectural team to generate new renderings of the Atlantic Yards project reflecting developer Bruce Ratner's recent admission to The New York Times that most construction will be postponed due to financing issues and the slowing economy. I participated in extensive group e-mail exchanges with MAS that led to the choice of shooting angles and ultimately, their decision to photograph the site from the air.
Why not use shots from The Williamsburgh Savings Bank or other tall structures around the footprint?
Believe me, everyone involved tried hard to get good photos from nearby buildings, since helicopters are really expensive. When MAS asked for existing images, I sent them a panorama I'd taken last year from a rooftop on Flatbush across from the "Miss Brooklyn" and arena sites; it was clearly too close but, at least, good for context.
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank offers amazing views from its higher floors, but the angle isn't quite right, and Forest City's own Atlantic Terminal office building blocks key parts of the site. MAS also tried rooftop views from State Street and farther down Atlantic Avenue, neither of which offered acceptable proximity or height. I championed the idea of shooting from the Vanderbilt Avenue end—to show most effectively what would likely become a massive parking lot stretching west toward the arena. That's the most shocking of the two views used in the MAS renderings, and the reason the website can be called "Atlantic Lots."
Posted by eric at May 30, 2008 2:30 PM