NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I had lunch at Columbia today. This is an Henry Moore sculpture on the bridge that crosses Amsterdam Avenue from the Law School, an otherwise bare and uninviting space. The Moore is actually too small for the site and is located on a spot where there is no reason to walk past it.
On this day one year ago: Boston sunrise.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Feel free to go to one of those other daily photo blogs that you follow if you find that my voice is getting a little whiney. Yes, another week of all day meetings, at least through Wednesday, including a trip to Boston. You may ask “Why doesn’t Woody just quit the damn day job?” Actually I like my day job – it’s just that sometimes it gets in the way of photography – why I like it is beyond the scope of a two paragraph discussion. Today I spent some time shooting going to and from my meetings. Sometimes this is not very productive, but today it was, so I’m posting two images. They are both with my Leica and the 12mm Voigtlander lens – I’m getting more interesting results shooting wide right now. Let me know if you think it’s a gimmick.
Anyway here’s a night shot looking straight up at the facade of the New York Central building (now known as the Helmsley Building) at the foot of the North segment of Park Avenue. Wikipedia entry on the Helmsley Building. The Wikipedia entry is oddly ambiguous on who the architects were. It’s actually Warren & Wetmore, who were also responsible for Grand Central Terminal. Here’s a link to the AIA website.
Finally, patient reader, on this day one year ago: interred in the New Preston CT cemetary.
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.
On this day one year ago: Diana Fiskejon’s birthday party
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another full day of meetings. The light first thing in the morning was sensational. For this image I had a 16mm Voigtlander lens on my Leica. Shooting very wide presents a lot of challenges – the wide frame assures that there are extremes in terms of dynamic range, and that either the sun or the photographer’s shadow in the frame.
On this day one year ago: Pay telephone bank in Grand Central Terminal. Here’s an example of old technology baked in concrete, plastic and steel.
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:
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.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another heavy day of meetings. We ended the day at the James Beard Foundation’s annual gala at the Four Seasons restaurant (my life seems to be centered around the Seagrams Building), I chair the board of the foundation – here’s a link: James Beard Foundation. I had planned on getting my photo of the day at the gala and came equipped with my Nikon D700 and a fast lens. But as I tried to take my first image I had a major “oh shit” moment: I had left the camera’s compact flash card home in my computer. This is a first for me. I always turn the camera on when I pick it up to leave home to check the battery and settings, and take a picture to make sure that everything works. Lesson re-learned.
So what to do? David Young was kind enough to lend me his iPhone. The iPhone is the Holga of this generation. There’s a bit of a learning curve to get a plausible image out of these things – I’m a long way from mastery. I took a couple of dozen images, one of which (ironically of David Young) seems ok to me. So here’s David on David’s iPhone:
On this day one year ago: Out my office window The subject matter suggests (accurately) that I was struggling to keep up with the photo-a-day pace in November of last year – November really is a rough month for me.
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.
On this date one year ago: Gala for Words Without Boarders at the Czech consulate. I missed this event this year because of a conflict with a client dinner.
