Big Apple In The Winter

About the Book

In winter, New York can be a grey, gritty, forbidding place. We wrap ourselves in layers and rush from one indoor place to another dreaming of spring. But when a snow storm blankets the city with white and whirls snowflakes around us New York becomes a fairy land where we find beauty and joy at every turn. In this wonderful book of photographs Gunsel Yildirim has captured New York as it transforms itself into a wonderland. Her photographic journey, during one of New YorkÊs biggest winter storms of 2010, captures both the beauty of New York in the snow and the playful abandon it brings out in its residents. During a winter storm snowmen appear everywhere.Yildirim has captured some of the best. A tired snowman rests on a park bench, its head upturned as if waiting for the next storm. A Coney Island snowman is hugged by a bikini clad swimmer, windblown snow whirling around them. A joyous snowman plays with his snow dog. A nude snowwoman, yearning to be a mermaid, kneels on her snowy perch. As Yildirim journeys through the snow-covered city she shows her viewers New York at its best. Snow is an excuse for us to relive our childhoods. We sled, throw snowballs; take the rare opportunity to discard our daily responsibilities. Time slows down. People laugh. In YildirimÊs pictures children sledding in Central Park look artificial as if in the glow of a snow globe, their brightly colored cloths and sleds vibrant in a field of white. A city child doesnÊt miss a rare opportunity to be pulled down the street on a sled. Ghandi trudges along covered in a mantle of snow. A green umbrella hovers above its ownerÊs head like a wayward flying saucer. Even snow canÊt stop the ubiquitous pizza delivery person on his bike. He churns through the slush with his familiar red package. But Yildirim hasnÊt ignored the landscape itself. Central Park is turned to a wonderland of white frosting, all scale and detail lost in the froth. In her picture of a snowy frozen lake the scene is transformed by tall buildings peeking over the trees to the north and the shadows of their cousins creeping over the lake from the south. Even the usually vibrant colors of Times Square are muted by snow; the tracks of intrepid tourists its only grip on its traditional aura. A flock of grey and white seagulls on the Coney Island beach look like insects or giant snowflakes against the snowy sand and the grey sea. As the sun comes out and the snow finally begins to melt. She shows us a blast of blue sky and puffs of snow still stuck in tree branches like ripe cotton ready to be picked. When night falls the city lights turn the snow all the colors of the rainbow. Traffic lights provide a flash of changing color against the white. YildirimÊs magical tour ends with wintery views from the high vantage point a top of the Rockefeller Center. As we see the joyous journey come to an end, the departing beauty saddens us. Kristin Holcomb Photographer

About the Author

Gunsel Yildirim-Faraguna is a freelance travel and documentary photographer. Her works featured in such publications as the Gezi National Geography traveler magazine also has worked in Skylife, Ulusoy travel magazines in Turkey . She has participated in many group exhibitions and solo shows in Turkey and New York City . She received many awards and her photographs are accepted for many exhibitions. She considers herself fortunate to be able to combine her two passions of travel and photography. Journeying to many different places and countries, taking many photographs along the way, she have been able to enjoy as well as document the worldÊs magnificent beauty of landscape, and of its many diverse people, their cultures and architectures. Through her chosen profession, she has been allowed to capture illusive moments when light and subject come together igniting a spark of an evocative expression. She always endeavors to connect with the essence of soul and energy of people and places. Gunsel married James Faraguna and relocated to New York City in 2003 after many years living in her home city Istanbul-Turkey.