Yesterday I was sent out to Times Square by The New York Times to photograph what was quickly becoming America’s double dip recession. I was assigned to take photos at the Nasdaq building in Times Square where I was told screens showed walls of red monitors displaying plummeting stock prices. My mind quickly went back to 2008 when I found myself covering the initial market crash.

I was familiar with the Nasdaq building as I’ve shot there numerous times in the past and immediately had an idea to make an artsy reflection photo showing the stock prices within the building against a reflection of the craziness of Times Square in the background. When I arrived to the scene I was bummed to find the window blinds were drawn, which put a wrench in making any sort of stock market related photo.

I called back to my editor on the photo desk and we scrambled to call the media relations team who let me inside the building to make some pictures from within. Thirty minutes later I was back in business inside the studio lined with a video-board backdrop which is essentially a TV studio used for various news services to report on the economy. While I was there a correspondent for New Delhi TV was reporting the stark financial news to India.

To my good fortune while I was shooting inside, the blinds were raised revealing the busy streets of Times Square. Excited, I exited the studio to make the pictures I was originally envisioning. Due to the time of day, the bright sun made it difficult to shoot from the Broadway-facing set of windows, so I was forced to shoot along the 43rd Street side, which was less busy, but still made some fun images.

I rushed back to my office to transmit the images to the paper. My editor called to compliment the photos and to alert me that the stocks were still tanking, so the story was big. I decided to go back out to see if the ticker in Times Square was showing news of the crisis, which it was. I made a few more photos and stopped back into the NY Times office a few blocks away to deliver them directly as deadlines were approaching.

It was a vague assignment that tasked me with making artistic and abstract photos that told the story…just the kind of assignment I enjoy!

I’ve only exhibited my work a handful of times. My first exhibition titled “Rebirth” took place at SB Digital Gallery in Manhattan’s East Village last year. My second and current exhibition (if you want to call it that) is a gallery of my Cuba work at Joe Coffee in theWest Village….which should be up for a bit longer, followed by another exhibit at separate Joe location in Chelsea.

It was truly an honor to have my work displayed in a room full of advertising creatives and executives. The evening was certainly a memory I won’t soon forget….they had some fun and tasty hors d’oeuvres and a stellar dinner! Oh, and Rob Riggle of The Daily Show and The Hangover hosted the awards!

Big thanks to the CLIOs for the honor and to all the winners!

Check out more photos from the street art series.

I thought it’d be a good time to share some photos from my walk through Central Park during the blizzard last weekend in NYC.

Snow – Blog – Images by Robert Caplin

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My buddy Marko is (finally) starting to update his blog from Iraq. He’s on a 3 month rotation in Bagdad for the New York Times. Kudos to those who go to dangerous places to to tell important stories to the world.

Anyhow, he’s got some interesting things to say, and some nice pics too.

Click here to check him out.

The wreck of the car that was used for a suicide bombing attack.
© Marko Georgiev/New York Times

Children use the bomb site as a playground.
© Marko Georgiev/New York Times

An Iraqi policeman directing traffic at an intersection and dances on the music coming from the cars. In the back, trucks with pilgrims going to Karbala.
© Marko Georgiev/New York Times

© Marko Georgiev/New York Times