ESB, what it means to me.

Yellow Submarine

Who: My name is Alon. I am a second year medical student at NYU School of Medicine. When I have the luxury of venturing outside into the night [which is quite frequent, by the way] I am without fail greeted by the shining beacon that is the Empire State Building [from here on out, I will refer to it as ESB]. It stands there, humbly, shyly often, but always with a message of goodness and a promotion of awareness for different causes.

How: My good friend Ajay spent the past month with me, working at the radiology department here at NYU. As a 4th year medical student from GW, he has both a lot of time on his hands, and also comes to NYC without the perspective of "seeing the ESB every single night," like I do. He often commented on the changing colors, and wondered if anyone else cared, or even bothered to look up anymore.

"I look up every single night," I said. And so it began, with a nudge from Ajay - "Why don't you document it? Take a photo every night or something...?" - The ESB Photography project.

Why: I have always been interested in photography and have used my travels to expand on this hobby. I have seen the Taj Mahal, and Macchu Picchu, and the Eifel Tower, and the Roman Colosseum, and the painted colors of the spires in Bryce Canyon, and the Kenyan Savannah filled with glowing green eyes of Impalas at night, and billions of stars glowing above the sand dunes of the Sahara desert, and the unreal aqua colors of the Canadian Rockies glacial lakes, and the juxtaposed praying of Jews and Arabs alike in the Old City of Jerusalem [the list goes on]. But sometimes, its nice to know that I have one of the most inspiring, prolific, and majestic structures ever created by man in my own backyard - the ESB.

What: So, here we are, living in New York City, together, but alone, noisy, but peaceful, smelly from the sewers but fragrant from the restaurants, sad about the Knicks but thrilled about the Yankees, with our heads mostly down, but my head always up, and often, looking at the ESB.

I will take a photograph of the ESB every single night [with exceptions] for the next year. Exceptions are: when I am traveling, and when the ESB lights remain the same for consecutive nights [this often happens]. Then, I will alter and arrange the photographs in different ways to create art. ESB Art.

-AYM