NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another walk around day with my medium format outfit. This is the steps from the 23rd Street station on the Lexington Avenue subway, taken with my Alpa TC and 35mm Scheider XL lens.
23rd Street Station
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Alexander’s fiance had her wedding shower today, so he and his future father in law and I went to lunch together. We went to The Red Rooster, Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant in Harlem. Here’s what The Red Rooster’s website says about itself:
We named our restaurant after the legendary Harlem speakeasy that was located at 138th Street and 7th Avenue, where neighborhood folk, jazz greats, authors, politicians and some of the most noteworthy figures of the 20th Century – such as Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Nat King Cole and James Baldwin – would converge . . .
After lunch we walked down Lenox Avenue to Central Park, me carrying my Alpa TC, Phase One IQ 180 back and a 47mm Schneider XL lens.
This is not 1975:
Black Muslims on Lenox AvenueGrandma's PlaceThe Blood of Jesus
The self-same Lenox Lounge referred to on the Red Rooster’s site. Note the patched bullet holes in the facade.
Lenox Lounge
And finally, a Mostly Mozart concert in Avery Fisher Hall. Take with my Blackberry.
Mostly Mozart
On this day one year ago: A boring out my window. The photo-a-day guy was under real pressure here.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’d be lying if I reported that the meds instantly made me feel better. The Lyme thing drags on. I did make it out of the apartment to run some errands in our neighborhood, Carnegie Hill, where I caught this with my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens.
Carnegie Hill walkabout
NEW YORK NEW YORK – We’re having a run of seriously stormy weather which has driven me inside with my camera. I caught this between meetings with my Leica M9 and a 28mm Summilux lens.
BlackRock
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back to an especially busy time in my day job. I caught this on the way to a morning meeting with my Leica M9 and a 28mm Summicron lens. For some reason good things just seem to happen to me if I hang around Lever House.
Hmm . . . someone has something to hide
NEW YORK NEW YORK – The James Beard Foundation Awards were held at Lincoln Center this evening. I caught my image for the day on my way to a rehearsal (I’m the chairman of the organization). Here’s what we say about the awards on our website:
Deemed “the Oscars of the food world,” by Time magazine, the James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and restaurant architects and designers.
Jos Andres of miniBar in Washington DC won the outstanding chef award and spoke movingly on the experience of being an immigrant in America.
Captured with my Leica M9 and a 28mm Summicron lens:
BEIJING – We visited the Forbidden City this morning in heavy rain. This monumental collection of parks and buildings was built in the early 15th Century as the “home” of the Emperors. It is remarkably crowded with Chinese tourists there to soak up their national heritage. Go early. We started at the North Gate at opening time (most people start at the South Gate on Tiananmen Square) and moved South through the complex, giving us a few hours of relative peace until we ran into the the throngs that started at the same time that we did, but at the South gate. This is a standard view of the North Gate from Jingshan Park which abuts the Forbidden City to the North. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 90mm lens, two frames stitched.
It rains on the Forbidden City
Here we are at the South Gate five hours later. The South Gate faces Tiananmen Square, the giant square that is the heart of official China. Tianamen Square is accessible only through subterranean passages with security checks; there are security cameras everywhere; sentries march prescribed routes through the square.
South gate of the Forbidden City
South of Tiananmen Square is the new Qianmen Walking Street. This had been a vibrant shopping street in the 1950s. The street and the area to the East of it were recently demolished – the walking street consists of new storefronts built in traditional style. The impression is that some Disney virus infected the urban planners who put this here. To the West of it is still a dynamic area old side streets and alleys. Here’s Maria trying to get unlost. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summicron.
