NEW YORK, NEW YORK and CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Well I’m two for two on out the window shots for the day. I started the morning in New York with a lovely sunrise. Yes, I’ve said that I don’t do sunrises and sunsets but this seemed sufficiently spectacular to warrant and exception. Out our dining room window with my Leica M9 and 28mm Sumicron Asph. lens.
Manhattan sunrise
Midmorning I left for Chicago to attend an two day mutual fund directors’ conference. By the time I got to my hotel and registered for the conference the day’s rather poor light was failing. I took a walk along the Chicago River but didn’t take anything that I liked. When I got back to my hotel I got this out the window. Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens.
Chicago River Tour Boat
On this date one year ago I was in Portland Oregon at a farmers market: October 25, 2009
WASHINGTON DC – I flew down to Washington for dinner at Nora. Nora’s menu. Nora Pouillon hosted a dinner for some of the participants in a food policy conference sponsored by the James Beard Foundation the following day. Not much time for photography but a fabulous meal. The menu included little gem lettuces with figs and cherry glen goat cheese; deep fried soft shell crabs with soy ginger emulsion (the best soft shell crabs ever); Amish veal roast with chanterelle sauce; champagne risotto and honeycrisp apple pie.
I spent the night in a hotel near the Convention Center – a part of town that was formerly a tenderloin area but is rapidly being gentrified. Not a good day for photography but I caught this building in passing near the Convention Center with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summicron lens. Two frames stitched.
LONDON, ENGLAND – I had a chance to take a walk in Hyde Park before leaving for the airport for the flight home. This specimen tree was photographed at about 8:30 local time, an hour and a half past sunrise. The image is stitched from 15 separate frames, all shot with my Leica M9 and the same 30-year-old lens referred to in yesterday’s post. I’ve included a 1:1 crop to give an idea of the detail that can be captured with this technique. Stitching was done in Photoshop.
LONDON, ENGLAND – We spent the day dodging the Pope who is here on a historical state visit (but if I want to see the Pope I’ll go to Rome and security measures here snarled up traffic). We spent the day on foot, starting at the sensational Eadweard Muybridge show at the Tate Britain; catching a street food lunch in Chelsea near the Saatchi Gallery; a few well-spent hours in the Saatchi Gallery; and finally tea at the V&A. I had difficulty selecting so I’ve posted three images – I may winnow a bit further with a future edit. All images are with a Leica M9 and 30-year old 35mm Summicron lens.
Victoria and Albert MuseumSaatchi Gallery, LondonSaatchi Gallery, London
LONDON, ENGLAND – Today marks the end of my eleventh month of daily photos. We arrived in London this morning. I had time for a walk before embarking on a day of meetings. Here’s a reflection of Wilton Crescent off of the bonnet of a vintage Bentley (British racing green, from the mid ’50s, one off custom body so its hard to place the actual model). It was casually parked on the street. This is an above average ride, even by Belgravia standards.
NAIROBI, KENYA – Here we are – out last day in Kenya. We went on a “food safari” in local markets with Hubert des Marais (an American from the Carolinas), a prominent chef who has become Fairmont’s executive chef in Kenya (or maybe East Africa). Our first stop was a large covered farmers’ market where local residents bring vegetables grown on plots in Nairobi.
Food Market
Cell phones are the primary means of communications; many residents lack electric power so business that offer the charge cell phones, like this one in the market, are common.
A cell phone charging service in the market
There’s a food court in the food market where it possible to buy lunch. The word “hotel” on the sign means “restaurant” in this context.
The largest foreign food influence is Indian. The Indians were brought in by the English to build the railroad from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. Indians also came to the region as traders, merchants and professionals. Here we see an Indian pastry shop.
An indian pastry shop
This is a former aircraft hanger, from the era when the airstrip was in the middle of Nairobi, converted to a mall for small merchants.
Shops
Hubert des Marais at lunch at Chowpaty, a terrific Indian dive. In terms of Indian regional cuisines, what we appeared to see was everything pretty much mixed together.
Hubert des Marais
Finally before packing for our flight back to New York we managed a few hours in the Nairobi National Museum. It focuses on primarily on natural history, ethnography and geology, geared roughly to a high school student. Here is a group of high school students lined up for admission:
