NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I spent the day with my Leica with my 12mm Voigtlander lens attached. That’s right, 12mm on a full frame camera. This lens is really, really wide. Int’s a miracle that it even forms an image. You don’t need a viewfinder – just assume that it gets everything. What’s in focus? Everything, because of the extreme depth of field. I put a small level on the camera when I use this lens – if it’s only slightly off level vertical lines converge wildly because of the extreme wide angle perspective. This lens has a serious issue on a digital camera: there are wild color casts across the frame, and there are two plus stops of “cosine vignetting”, light fall off toward the edge of the frame. I’ve learned how to solve this problem with my Alpa – that’w why I reached for this lens.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – We had violent thunderstorms today. As it was starting to clear I took my AlpA TC, a 72mm Schneider XL and a light tripod to the roof of our building, and then to the Central Park Reservoir. The lurid colors are real. The fact that the landscape is soaking wet enhances colors in the brilliant light that followed the storm. The first color images is stitched from two separate images; the second color imagefrom five separate images.
Storm cloudsAfter the stormAfter the storm
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – It poured rain all day. Given the weather we had decided to stay in New York for the weekend. I didn’t get out except to walk the dog. There was no one on the streets of Cargegie Hill, our neighborhood. What do you do on a rainy Sunday? Well I spent the better part of the day updating my website with a slightly new look and much better and more flexible software.
I took my Leica out while walking the dog. The camera is a 1954 design and weather sealed cameras weren’t in the picture then (modern high end designs from Nikon and Canon are completely weather proof – I’ve taken them into the shower to clean them off after they were splashed with ocean spray). But the machining tolerances on the Leica are very tight so it’s sort of weather resistant, but you have to use common sense.
A shot a bunch of rainswept streets and a few pedestrians with umbrellas. The best of a fairly poor lot was of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Here’w what I said about it on November 24, 2010:
This building was originally built as a residence for George F. Baker Jr. by Delano & Aldrich, the firm that became the ‘society architects” in New York after Stanford White’s murder in 1906. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is a splinter of the Russian Orthodox Church formed after the Bolshevik Revolution – it is now reconciled with the main body of the Russian Church.
Taken with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens. Two frames stitched in Photoshop.
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 – A busy day at the office. A carried my Leica around with the 24mm Summilux strapped on it. Here’s some light and shadow on Park Avenue near my office:
Shadow on Park Avenue
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I took a walk in the Union Square area with my Alpa and the 35mm Schneider. Partly cloudy, but occasional burst of fine light. this is made from two images captured, hand held, and stitched in Photoshop. Remember that I’m shooting with an 80 meg back so the resulting file is very large. Stitching with this very wide lens results in a highly distorted image, which I corrected in Photoshop – a process that involved significant hard labor.
Union Square
In the evening Alexander and his fiance, Laura, came over for headshot for their wedding announcement in the New York Times. This is the one that the liked – taken with my Panasonic GH2 and on camera flash.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I explored the UN area with my Alpa TC today. Poorish light – intermittent high clouds and a very bright sky. Some of the better ideas I had were in the deep shade in Stuyvestant Town, but the images are poor – the TC simply needs a lot of light or a tripod. Anyway this is the best thing to come out of the day:
Trump
