During the pandemic, in 2020, many people were drawn to birds and birdwatching. Suddenly and with almost no warning we were torn from our families, our friends, our jobs, and all of our social and recreational activities. Aside from staying indoors, the only safe activity seemed to be visiting parks or other outdoor spaces, distant from other people. There, we could enjoy the sight and sounds of beautiful birds that seemed to possess all of the freedoms that we had lost.
In early June, the summer solstice approaches and the sun casts the most beautiful light of the year.
May 29 on a rainy and chilly holiday weekend. A short walk on Broadway between 103rd and 97th Streets showed some of the lasting effects of the pandemic.
One year ago New York City looked and felt very different, but now in the middle of May change has started to take hold and hope is in the air. Here is a look back at the first five months of 2021.
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The year we would all rather forget, the year from hell, the year of shock and loss and pain is nearing its end. With vaccines and a new president, change is in the air for 2021.
The fourth annual Women’s March in January took place while impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump were underway.
Columbia University students enjoying springlike weather on campus, February 23. The university shut down soon after this photo was taken.
A beloved neighborhood diner on Broadway, closed during the pandemic.
Street vendors selling masks on Broadway in June
Everything is different this year, but the quintessential feature of Christmas in New York is still the tree in Rockefeller Center. Crowds were strictly limited, tourists were absent, but visitors still found joy at the beautiful sight.
The Lower East Side of Manhattan is usually a lively neighborhood of young people, bars, restaurants, street art, and shopping. Not in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic, not even on the last Sunday before Christmas. Rivington Street was bleak with most restaurants and storefronts closed and shuttered. In the spirit of the neighborhood, murals decorate the metal shutters. We need our government to support small businesses or all of the remaining restaurants will disappear.
The election is over, and with it the elation that erupted on the streets of New York. These two photos of stores on Broadway on the Upper West Side of New York were taken on the afternoon of Election Day. One shows a shuttered storefront of a business that closed permanently during the pandemic. The other survives, selling cleaning supplies, masks, and gloves that were impossible to find during the early months of the pandemic. Together, the two photographs show the challenges that lie ahead for the Biden administration in the coming months and years: control of Covid and repairing the economy.
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 New Yorkers poured into the streets to celebrate the news that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had won the election. Today, nearly a week later, Biden and Harris are projected to win 306 electoral votes, well over the 270 needed.
