The architectural photography of Peter B. Kaplan has two defining characteristics. The images are sharp and the perspectives are as unique as the man who eagerly climbs everything from bridges to skyscrapers to scaffolding for the shots.
New York, New York, an exhibit of monumental Manhattan structures captured by Kaplan's lens, opens at Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts on Saturday, March 23, featuring a slide show and lecture by Kaplan at 7:30 p.m.
In Kaplan's developing years, he assisted many of Manhattan's top commercial photographers before beginning his own commercial career specializing in nature and wildlife photography, during which he studied under Ansel Adams, among others. His photographic focus shifted to architecture near the completion of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Kaplan's Height Photography, as it's termed, has appeared in almost every major magazine in the country and hung in shows at the New York Historical Society, Museum of Modern Art and Smithsonian. He's also been awarded the title Preferred Photographer of the Statute of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation because of his reputation for climbing. For them, he's created more than 125,000 images documenting every aspect of the Statue of Liberty's historic restoration.
Images on display in New York, New York include shots of the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty (from her toes to her torch) and the World Trade Center, which Kaplan took photographs of from exclusive positions on WTC 1's antenna while it was being built.
The exhibit runs through June 2. Gallery hours are from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts, 746 South Village Circle, Old Hyde Park Village, Tampa (813-251-1800).
This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2002.