Storm Silhouette
©2013 Craig Ashby
Digital Photograph

Storm Silhouette sees the overuse of the word silhouette again. It also show a grim skyline of fencing, concertina wire and tattered pennants.

I think I photograph the sky a lot because in the city it’s seen so sparingly. The buildings and people fight for the attention of my eye. So whenever I have a chance to contemplate the big sky I take it.

I shot this particular piece on one of my many walks on Manhattan’s west side. A burnt out wasteland of everything you would put near a highway to keep it away from everything else.

Car dealerships to automotive repair shops litter this area. Even the stables for the Central Park carriages are there. Everything you would never want makes this area home and this makes me love it more.

This photo sums up the aesthetic. A sale for nobody, ever. A brewing storm. The intense protection of something nobody wants. All hallmarks of New York’s past, present and future.

I wonder if this area will eventually gentrify like everything else. All the detritus cleaned up and turned into over designed condominiums. What happens when real beauty is just replaced by new?