We needed our condo painted, so, as one will do, we hired a renowned artist.

Andres LB is a well-known photo artist in Long Beach, NY. He’s also a home improvement artist. As he painted, he agreed to an interview for this essay.

Privacy is important to Andres; he said most people in Long Beach don’t even know what he looks like. He never posts photos of himself or his family. He also likes to use Andres LB in his photo tags. So I accommodate.

Andres loves Long Beach because it reminds him of his childhood at a similar sea locale, Vina del Mar, Chile

As a child, Andres’ mom often took him to the seashore in Vina del Mar. Like Long Beach, it too had a boardwalk, but it was concrete and shorter, about a mile long. 

The memories of those days, the sounds of the sea, the gulls, the salt air, are still vivid in his mind. With its similar sights and sounds, our shore brings back those memories. They create a sense of connection, nostalgia, and realization of his love for the seashore.

But in speaking with Andres, I see that his love is for far more than the sea.

Andres has been on a long journey to his work in Long Beach. His family moved to America from Chile in 1984, forty years ago this September. His dad died in 2018. But Andres now has his own family here in America.

In Chile, Andres was an experienced auto tech for Datsun, now Nisson. He was so proficient in his work that he was in great demand. He also had a side gig as DJ in Vina del Mar.

But when he came to America, he acquired different talents.

Andres worked on tall NYC buildings, cleaning their windows and erecting scaffolding, doing well as a union man. He said he was scared at first and recalled his first tremors outside of the 45th floor of a building.

But he overcame those challenges and continued to work on Mannattan’s tallest steel towers, cleaning their glass facades. He worked on the Empire State Building and eventually the World Trade Center, cleaning windows from its 67th floor and upward.

But Andres got laid off from the WTC job in 2000. On September 11, 2001, in the street near the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge, he saw the infamous fire in the North Tower of the WTC.

Then he saw a plane strike the South Tower. Seven men he worked with—cleaning the towers’ windows, died.

That same year Andres bought his home in Bayside, Queens. He was now doing home improvements mostly in NYC. But when Sandy struck, the tide turned for Andres.

A friend asked him to help with his post-Sandy work in Long Beach, so Andres joined him.

Andres said Long Beach was like a ghost town; people had moved out temporarily or for good. He was surrounded by devastation—the boardwalk broken…

…the beaches, barren.

Andres told me about his dad, who taught photography at Chile’s Valparaiso University, UCV. He recalled working with him in his “red room” as a youngster, developing film. He said his dad was very intelligent and creative. His whole family is artistic; his cousins still paint in oils in Chile.

Natural artistic talent must be expressed. So, once again, I see familial DNA bursting through the surface—like a breaching whale.

Andres said when he found himself amidst the Sandy devastation, he picked up his “basic Nikon” camera because he needed to take photos.

Not of the ruin of Long Beach, as I, above, and so many others did, but of the beauty of Long Beach, the sea, especially, the colors of the sunsets and sunrises—the everlasting sublimity of the City by the Sea.

When he posted his first picture on Facebook, he was surprised at the overwhelming response.

He said, “I said to myself, ‘How can people leave these beautiful sights, so many sunsets and sunrises?’ I’m going to take a lot of pictures of Long Beach and post them so people won’t leave or people who left will come back to it. So I started shooting shooting shooting. And it looked like it was good timing because people wanted to see the beauty and not the destruction, and all of a sudden, I had thousands of followers.”

He said, “I started posting live videos on Facebook of the sounds of the ocean and the birds. People in hospitals or hospices were messaging me about how much it meant to them; it was like therapy for them.” 

But it also was therapy for Andres.

Andres’s family has health issues, and he’s dealing with them year after year. I heard his love for his family in every word he spoke.

In 2017 Andres and his family moved from Bayside to a new big home on Long Island, fifty miles from Long Beach.

But every day, he drives that fifty miles for his home improvement work, then stays till sunset to take photos of the setting sun. He says it recharges his batteries and clears his mind at the end of the day.

We had a good chat about how important it was for him to care for himself so he could continue caring for his family. If that involved “recharging batteries and clearing of mind” with photos of sunsets, he needed to keep doing so. It would be good for him—and his family.

Andres said when he lived in Bayside and worked in Long Beach, he’d drive here even if he didn’t have work that day. He came just for the beauty of it.

He said, one day, “Someone from City Hall called and said they wanted to use my photo for the Long Beach calendar; I said, ‘Sure’.

Then someone called and said they wanted to put my photos on the boardwalk banners, so to me, it was amazing.” 

Andres had never submitted any photo for consideration for the Long Beach calendar contest or boardwalk banners.

So Andres continues to work, take photos, and post them on Instagram and Facebook. More and more people love him for it. 

For the last year or so, Andres has only used his iPhone to take photos; he sometimes makes small iPhone edits, but he has never used Photoshop or Lightroom—he’s never learned to use them.

Andres said, “Sometimes I just stand and watch the sunset withut takeing photos. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming, I just can’t do it, I put my phone away and just watch it.” 

It’s humankind’s bond with nature that grasps our hearts in times of awe. One needs to pause, put the camera down—and simply surrender to communion. 

Andres said these pauses happen, “Not many times because in the back of my mind, I feel I have to do it because I know someone will want to see it. I wanted to bring back what was and is after Sandy. I think I succeded.” 

Did I mention that Andres also paints more than condo walls?

Or that he plays guitar?

Andres’ love for the seashore of Vina del Mar returns to him at Long Beach. But I see a deeper love for his family and others on this blue planet, a love to bring them the beauty of beach sunrises and sunsets that they may not otherwise know.

Andres has been coming to Long Beach to work and take photos for decades. He said he’ll be moving to Long Beach when the proper time comes. For now, he continues his fifty-mile trip—for his love of family—and his love for Long Beach.

I see that Andres succeeds in any endeavor he chooses. When he comes to Long Beach I know he will continue to thrive. He’s an honest man who loves Long Beach and its people. Need we ask for more?

Andres said, “I am happy with my life even though it has been difficult; I have a great family.”

The man from Vina del Mar captures the sun’s rising and setting.

So I see amidst us—and for us—Andres del Sol.

Be well,

Leebythesea