NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Perfect late fall weather here. But I was house-bound preparing for meetings the following week. This is out our dining room window with my Hasselblad H3d-39. Nice light. Too bad that I didn’t get out into it. The Hasselblad makes lovely images but it gets the most use when I’m driving to where I shoot, because it’s heavy and awkward to carry, and not very well suited to urban walk around use.
November 12, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – More Manhattan in the early evening, with shooting tucked in between meetings. I’m shooting with a long lens on my Leica. Night shooting with a long lens is a serious challenge in Manhattan. Decent image quality requires low ISO and f-stops in the f8 – f11 range resulting in long (multi-second) shutter speeds. There are serious issues using a tripod in Manhattan: there are many plazas and parks that are actually private property and where they are banned; the police think that they are illegal, and they are heavy, bulky and in fact do get in the way of pedestrian traffic in the dark.
The solution is to use a bean bag to stabilize the camera against a tree, parking meter or whatever is at hand. The available of something to prop the camera against constrains point of view, which makes the process more interesting. Here’s an image of the Chrysler Building looking south on Lexington Avenue with the moon:
November 11, 2010
Here’s my “tripod”, a red athletic sock filled with lentils:
On this day one year ago: James Beard Foundation 2009 gala. Looks like time is more cyclic than linear in my universe.James Beard Gala
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – November is a good month for night photography in New York. Post-daylight savings time it’s dark very early so it’s possible to catch buildings with most of their lights on. This is a very busy time in my day job with round-the-clock meetings all week this week and last week. It’s generally not appropriate for me to photograph in work situations because of client confidentiality concerns. Woody’s day job. My best opportunities are while moving around Manhattan on foot going to and from meetings. Today I had a long lens (a 135mm APO-Telyt) on my Leica. This is unusual for me – I’m much more at home shooting wide.
November 9, 2010
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another attack of the photo-a-day blues. I’m really focusing on editing my Africa work – photographing New York seems dull. The best i could muster was a shot of a shadow of a water tank out my window.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Here we are on a dull Friday the 13th. Spent most of the day organizing for Africa trip. Uninspired in terms of photography. This is out our window. Out my window
