Category: Urban

Friday February 18, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Thursday February 24, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – We went for a walk to Union Square where we did some shopping in the farmer’s market for meals over the weekend. A pedestrian image, captured with my Alpa TC, which demonstrates once again that great gear doesn’t guarantee great images. This is in contrast to the image from one year ago.

On this day one year ago: Vietnam Memorial. For me the most emotional image since I started this project. I was in Vietnam in the Marine Corps. Of my Basic School class of 317 Second Lieutenants I know of no one who finished a 13 month tour of duty – almost everyone was killed, seriously wounded or sent home after their third Purple Heart. Karl Marlantes’s novel Matterhorn captures the experience brilliantly – I highly recommend it. Many friends of mine are listed on this wall. Visiting it is almost unbearable. I’ve reproduced the picture at full web size.

Tags Food and wine, New York, Parks, Shopping

Landscape Out my window Urban

Thursday February 17, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Wednesday February 23, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I spent a few hours sorting out my Alpa Max today. Alpa provides the ability to shim the back adapter to achieve perfect focus. This requires an object to focus on that’s a long ways away; I used the Triboro Bridge out my dining room window. I was also able to work out corrections for the color shifts across the frame that result from putting a digital back on a technical camera. Late in the afternoon the light and the sky turned interesting so I captured this (a two frame panorama):

On this day one year ago: a truly uninteresting IR image of the World Trade Center construction site.

Tags Lexington Avenue, New York, Upper East Side, Urban

Landscape Urban

Wednesday February 16, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Tuesday February 22, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I took my Alpa TC to meetings downtown. I caught this view of Hoboken New Jersey across the Hudson River. Three frames stitched.

On this day last year: Madison Square at night.

Tags Hudson River, New York, Sunrise

Landscape Out my window Street Urban

Tuesday February 15, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Monday February 21, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – So I find myself walking around New York with a battery in my inside coat pocket and a wire snaking down my sleeve. It connects to the digital back on my Alpa TC. It’s flexible and is highly compatible with my style of shooting but at some risk that I’ll be mistaken for a suicide bomber. I take a fair number of images like this at extreme angles, but this is one of my favorites.

Here’s another take on the sunrise out our dining room window with my Alpa Max:

On this day one year ago: Another cold day in Connecticut.

Tags Lexington Avenue, New York, Sunrise

Landscape Out my window Urban

Monday February 14, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday February 20, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – So my Alpa TC has a companion camera: an Alpa Max, which uses the same lenses and the same digital back but is designed for tripod use and allows full shifts in both the horizontal and vertical directions. It’s a so-called technical camera. It permits making compositions by shifting the back up, down, right or left while keeping camera level so vertical lines don’t converge or diverge, an effect that is especially evident when shooting wide angle. So here we are shooting with the Max out of our dining room window at dawn, shifting the back downward to obtain this composition.

On this day one year ago: Episcopal Church, Morris Connecitut.

Tags Sunrise

Icon Landscape Urban

Friday February 11, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday February 20, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another day with film. I’m mastering the mechanics of the Linhof film back so I had fewer ruined double exposures. Here’s a view of 23rd Street taken with my Alpa TC, a 36mm Schneider APO lens on Ilford XP-2 film. I’ve always considered the gray scale rendering of chromogenic films to be slightly odd for landscape – there is a slight infrared quality to it. This image illustrates this effect.

Take a look back at the post for February 9. The vertical line up the middle of the picture is actually a scratch on the negative. Very irritating. Another issue with film. I’m reposting the image here with the scratch repaired and minor edits. Film helps make this image appealing because its response curve has a “shoulder” that prevents the windows from blowing out entirely, and “halation” (light diffusing through the film’s base) add a glow around the windows. On the other hand the scratch illustrates one of the key hazards with film. Overall I spent 20 minutes or so spotting the scanned negative in Photoshop.

On this day one year ago: Lexington Avenue at night. Not one of my more popular images – probably because the reflections (which was the appeal of the situation for me) are confusing.

Tags Film, Lexington Avenue, New York, Night, Seagrams Building

Icon Landscape Urban

Thursday February 10, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Friday February 18, 2011
2 Comments on Thursday February 10, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – My second day shooting film. I’ve put a Linhof 120 film magazine on my Arca TC body. It makes an 6 cm x 7 cm negative. The film magazine is heavy and quirky – the film advance leaver is two stroke and there’s no interlock to prevent double exposures, so I made a fair number of double exposures. Here’s one shooting straight up from the Park Avenue island: Another view of the Seagrams building.

On this day one year ago: Blizzard.

Tags Film, Park Avenue, Seagrams Building