My friend George Forss became world famous through his brilliant images and landscapesof New York City before the attack on 9/11. Shortly after those attacks, he moved upstate – so much of his work included images of the Twin Towers, the digital revolution erupted and photography changed.Last week, George returned to Jersey City to find the vantage point he used for some of his most famous photos – he was on the Today Show, profiled in Time, visited by the greatest photographers in the world, eager to understand his use of light and exposure to capture the power and scope of New York City.
George’s work has never been equaled and he has not remained in the fickle public eye, although most photographers know his name. I was stunned to discover him living in Cambridge and we have become close and fast friends, he is a mentor and tutor as well as a friend. He has his own blog now and he pursues his writing, art gallery, interest in extra-terrestrial life, and of course, he takes pictures all of the time. he is a genius and a sweet human being (he will be at our Open Houses at Bedlam Farm in 2014 doing portraits of people).
George was shocked to see how much the Jersey City landscape has changed, there is a Hyatt Hotel right on the spot where he took one of his most famous photographs, a study of his partner Donna Wyndbrandt walking on the Jersey City Boardwalk, the World Trade Center Towers in the background. George found the new World Trade Center tower – formerly called the “Freedom Tower” and he saw the last rays of the sun hitting the tower glass, and got another of his trademark wide-angle and sweeping images of New York. There are efforts underway to publish George’s photographs in a book, I hope they are successful, I have not yet been able to find a publisher who will commission a book on George, publishing has changed so much.
The world is ready for George’s breathtaking images of New York, they speak of another time in our country’s history, a time before so much fear, warning and anger – many historians are already tracing the Tea Party’s unrelenting xenophobia and rage to the aftershocks of 9/11 – George’s grand photographs reveal his sweeping mind and the ethos of another time. They also speak very much to his great vision of the world, undimmed or diminished by time, age and the ups and downs of the art world and public taste. I’m going to try and buy a print of this photo and place it against one of his masterpieces that I bartered for a digital camera.
George plans to sell this image.
How poignant and powerful to see George return to the scene of his greatest works, and almost casually create another one. I am so lucky to know this remarkable human being.