NEW YORK NEW YORK = Alexander’s birthday. We made the pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium for a game with the Minnesota Twins. There’s no better experience on a balmy summer evening. It’s not summer but the weather has been unseasonably warm so the evening was in fact balmy. Here’s Yankee Stadium as landscape taken with my iPhone plus a couple taken by Francesca (guest photographer) with the Hipstamatic app.
On this day one year ago: Hongqiao rail station.
HARTSDALE AND NEW YORK NEW YORK – We went with Alexander to look at a house in Hartsdale that he and Laura are interested in buying. Remarkably I got an ok image from the trip. I’m on a roll. Sony Nex-7 and 15mm Voigtlander lens.
This from later in the day back home. Taken with my iPhone, which doesn’t handle the saturated yellows very well (or for that matter saturated reds), possibly as a result of jpeg compression. I wish Apple gave us a raw files option.
On this day one year ago: White birch. Weird. I shot a group of white birches yesterday. Maybe its an early spring thing. Or maybe there are only about 10 species of tree than can survive Litchfield County’s savage climate so the same subjects come up over and over again.
KENT CONNECTICUT – Passover and Easter are on the same weekend this year – a quite unusual event I’m told. We attended a Seder given by our friends Nancy and John Novogrod – I actually contributed a sous vide beef brisket to the occasion. The Seder was deeply affecting.
Unfortunately the photographs did not live up to the event. I was again plagued by bad technique Same camera and lens. I’ve resorted to a low resolution presentation here.
On this day last year: Street. Boring.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Maria and I had dinner with Patrizia Chen, her sister and some friends. Patrizia entertains remarkably so it was, as usual, a fine evening. I took my Nex-7 and a Leica 50mm Summilux. As you’ve noticed all of my “event” style work is in available light. I find that I can simply disappear after the first two or three images – impossible with flash. Its also helpful that the Nex-7 is small and quiet (more so than my Leica M9).
On this day last year: Chrysler Building, sort of. And a Breuer chair – the 1930s redux.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Tonight we went to a benefit for the Paris Review. I usually hate these things and most often send a contribution rather than attending. But this was a lovely evening. It was quite dark so my Sony Nex-7 and Leica Summilux struggled at bit. I’ve got a Leici Noctilux on order – the extra stop and a third would have been meaningful here. I’m generally find this camera easier to focus in poor light than my Leica (aging eyes). Anyway here’s one of many images from a long evening.
On this day last year: Look up! I don’t know what happened to the blues in this image – it looks like they were mugged on the way to the web.
NASHVILLE TENNESSEE – We spent the weekend here with our friends Gary and Diana Fisketjon, who divide their lives between here and Manhattan. Not a bad life. Their house here was built from logs and limestone block in 1820 or so, around the time of Daniel Boone’s death. My travel kit these days often consists of my Nex-7 and a small selection of Leica lenses – this was taken with the 24mm Summilux.
On this day last year: Season opener.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – We stayed in town tonight (rare for us on a Friday) to take some Swedish friends to the Red Rooster, a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. “Celebrity chef” is used without irony here. Marcus is a sensation and his success is well-deserved. Think of the dinner as an “event” in very poor light. I shot the following with my Sony Nex-7 waring a 50mm Leica Summilux lens.
On this day last year: The familiar view out my window. A brick wall torture test for a new lens.
