NEW YORK NEW YORK – More work with the really wide lens, this time on Park Avenue in the 50s. For the first image below I shot level in portrait orientation and cropped the foreground out, resulting in a square format. This is a common technique shooting very wide – the need to level almost always results in too much foreground. I grew up shooting 2 ¼ inch square so this isn’t a burden for me – I tend to see in squares anyway. I shot the same tree looking up a bit and it was much less successful at every level. The commonplace look up and view of GCT demonstrate this lens’s lovely rendering.
Day 1,727 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
Square cropLook upBeen here
On this day two years ago (997): Alexander, at our weekly Sunday family dinner.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – You may remember that a couple of weeks back I suffered a monumental toothache, which caused me to reconsider my photo equipment for days when I’m sick or otherwise out of it. This blog project requires that I take at least one credible photograph every day for the rest of my life, even when I don’t feel like it. The Leica M style camera that i shoot with most of the time is too demanding in terms of concentration and being in the visual moment for those really bad days. So I’m spending the week with my Sony RX 100 Mk II. It has the advantage in a social or professional setting of being more conventional looking – less geeky and eccentric – than my Leica gear. It’s very, very good in terms of image quality, focus speed and accuracy and high ISO performance. It may even have a little bit of mojo. I’ve set it up as a “dummy camera” – fully automatic. I’m going to shoot with it all week to see what happens.
Fully automatic this camera’s default shutter speed settings in low light situations are a stop or two too low for me, giving me a bit of camera movement when shooting very quickly or offhand. Using this thing is actually going to take some practice. It raises the question of how I feel about interesting images that aren’t technically perfect. There may be a few of these, starting with the image below taken in Grand Central Terminal.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I went to a benefit tonight in Grand Central Terminal. This is still the best interior space in New York. Didn’t get much at the party but saw this on my way to the subway afterwards. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 1958 Dual Range Summicron lens.
Grand Central at night
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another day of meetings. I caught this detail of the outside of Grand Central Terminal with my Leica M and 35mm bokeh king lens.
Grand Central Terminal
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I met a friend for lunch at Cafe Centro – it’s located at 200 Park Avenue (which is the building that used to be called the Pan Am building, which is next to Grand Central Terminal which serves a railroad that used to be called the New York Central). This area is haunted by corporate ghosts. Anyway, I brought my Leica M9 and Noctilux and captured a few images. I shot more with film, which I’ll post on a later date.
44th StreetGrand Central Terminal
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I finally got out of bed today, although it turns out that celebration is premature. I met Francesca for coffee at her office and shot Grand Central Terminal with my medium format tech camera on the way. Hardly and innovative image, but I’m pleased to be off of my back.
Grand Central Terminal
