NEW YORK NEW YORK – My path took me through Grand Central Terminal today, one of my favorite places to photograph. This was captured with my Leica M9 + 50mm Summilux. Three frames stitched.
On this day one year ago: Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
Category: Interior
NEW YORK NEW YORK – A building lobby on my way to some meetings. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 28mm Summicron lens.
On this day one year ago: Graduation.
BEIJING – We spent the morning in the 798 Art District. It started out ten years ago in a gallery in disused factory that had previously been used by the military to manufacture electronic components – 798 was the number on the building. It has expanded to 300 or so exhibition spaces, all privately owned, in an eclectic jumble. The streets were packed with artists, patrons, tourists, wannabes and so on. Wedding frequently take place there. The vibe is similar to New York’s SoHo and the prices are the same – there is apparently a truly global art market. There are major spaces operated by major players. Pace is there, for example, in a monumental space that featured works by and about Diane Von Furstenberg
The following two images were taken with my Leica M9 and a 35mm Summilux lens.
Two images with my 24mm Summilux lens.
Finally, back in central Beijing taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens – this is two frames stitched.
On this day one year ago: my blog crashes.
SHANGHAI – Back in Shanghai. Where do I begin? Yes, it’s true, everything here seems to have been built within the last 20 minutes. There are few traces left of old Shanghai, whatever that means. The few traditional looking small scale buildings that you see may well have been built in the traditional style in the 1950s. I came to Shanghai to meet Maria who came here directly from the London Book Fair for meetings with her client, Shanghai 99 (who have been our hosts and guides).
I took a walk on the Bund, later meeting Maria to go to Annabel Lee. I’ve gotten lazy about editing – I’ve included three images for today, all shot with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens.
For the above image I sat on a bench on the esplanade that runs along the Bund. A young Chinese man sat next to me – he had a posse of three older guys, one of whom was carrying a back pack for him. It turned out it was a brand new camera bag full of new Nikon gear, including a D3x and every lens known to man. He put a lens on the body and stared snapping a pair of startlings on the grass behind us – a total bore – he was all gear and no action. Kind of confirms what people say about the children of the very rich in the People’s Republic of China.
On this day one year ago: Sunset after the rain in Warren.
Categories
Monday April 11, 2011
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I had lunch at Colicchio and Sons, followed by a trip across 10th Avenue to the Chelsea Market, an outstanding food destination. The James Beard Foundation (of which I’m the Chairman) is opening a popup restaurant at Chelsea Market named JBFLtd. I dropped by the restaurant in its final stages of preparation.
On this day one year ago: Image of Spring with truly ugly bokeh.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – This is the heaviest time of the year in my day job. As you have learned if you’ve read my biography I’m a lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton. We’re supposed to treat clients and each other professionally so its bad form burst in on people popping a flash in their faces. So on days when I find myself in the office for long hours I tend to take breaks wandering the halls looking for whatever. Here’s an image taken in a conference room. And of course here we are stalking the Chrysler Building (one of my favorite subjects) and a modern riff on the 1929 Marcel Breuer armchair, a rough contemporary of the Chrysler Building and itself a design icon.
On this day one year ago: Christ Episcopal Church, Sharron CT
NEW YORK NEW YORK – St. Patricks Day. Why am I not out photographing the parade? After all that’s what I did on St. Patricks Day last year. Well there are couple of reasons. For me a parade is interesting if you have a privileged point of view. For example as a participant or from a high vantage point. I haven’t arranged for either this year. Absent that sometimes the most compelling images can be found by looking in the opposite direction from the parade and focus on the spectators – ground that I covered last year. But the truth is I was too busy to get out.
I did find an hour to experiment further with exploring the limitations of my Hasselblad 60 meg back on an Alpa 12 Max technical camera. Today’s assignment was to see how this combination works with focus stacking – a technique of combining images taken at various focus distances into one image, all parts of which are in focus. There is a software tool, called Helicon Focus, that makes this possible. The following image, taken in our living room, was made by combining six images with focus points from the close edge of the table to the burned out area in the room on the upper right. I used a laser distometer to measure the distances. Technical cameras like the Alpa 12 Max don’t come with focusing aids or light meters. The detail, depth and pliability of the images from this combination are remarkable. I’ll be doing more of these.
On this day one year ago: Guess what? St. Patricks Day Parade.
