Story & photos by Paul Clemence

The pandemic travel restrictions mean that it’s a great opportunity to explore new and creative ways to go sightseeing. Road trips are a safe and fun choice. Taking a drive Upstate New York, for example, one can indulge in a wonderful architectural tour while socially distanced tucked inside the comfort of your own vehicle. From idiosyncratic, floating follies to striking bold Modernism structures and to one of the most, quite literally, brilliant Frank Gehry designs, the eclectic mix has something for every taste. From way West in Cooperstown’s Otsego Lake to Beacon, here are some not to be missed highlights.

Paul Clemence is an award-winning photographer and writer exploring the cross-section of design, art and architecture. A published author, his volume Mies van der Rohe’s FARNSWORTH HOUSE remains to this day the most complete photo documentation of that iconic modern residential design, and a selection of these photos is part of the Mies van der Rohe Archives housed by MoMa, New York. He is widely published in arts, architecture and lifestyle magazines like Metropolis, ArchDaily, Architizer, Modern, Casa Vogue Brasil and others. Archi-Photo, aka Architecture Photography, his Facebook photo blog quickly became a photography and architecture community, with over 970,000 followers worldwide. An architect by training, Clemence is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.