NEW YORK NEW YORK – Packing for Germany and wrapping up in the office. I spent an hour in our apartment shooting down at things with my Leica Monochrom and Luxochron lens.
On this day last year: Bright day.
Tag: Park Avenue
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I walked today. First on Park Avenue where the light was doing good things with some of the Albert Paley sculpture on the islands. Then into Central Park where I fairly predictably got some mundane images – Central Park is tough. The best image that came out of walking most of the length of it was a detail that looks like a nose.
On this day last year: iPhone light.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I shot a bunch of different cameras today. My iPhone, shooting an anniversary present: a silver Tiffany bowl from the early 1930s; the engraver misspelled Maria as “Marcia”; this would be hard to explain to Maria so I sent it back to be re-engraved; it won’t be ready for our actual anniversary on September 29. Tough luck. My Leica Monochrom with my Luxochrom lens on the street; I’m consistently getting my strongest images from this combination. My Sony RX100 II: the setup for an anniversary party (given by us for us) at the Knickerbocker Club. Same camera: an image of me and two friends at the party taken by one of our guests. I didn’t shoot at the party because I really did have to connect with everyone there and photography gets in the way. It’s the difference between being and observer and a participant. I’m usually happy to be an observer (delighted, actually, being an observer feeds my inner introvert) but tonight I need to participate.
On this day last year: Park-like area in Warren.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Hmmm . . . you’ve seen this one before – yesterday. I decided to go back and reshoot yesterday’s image to get a technically better image. Indeed this time I got a sharp picture of the former Pan Am building, but the light, framing and composition aren’t as good as yesterday. Interesting right brain – left brain contrast.
While walking from a meeting I saw a composition in a trash container that seemed to have a bit of poetry.
On this day one year ago: At the Knick. We were at a party for a close friend at the Knickerbocker Club one year ago – we’re giving a party for our wedding anniversary in the same room two days from now.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – The former Pan Am Building and the former New York Central Building were illuminated by nice morning light so I caught them with my Sony RX100 II. This was a nicely seen image, but poorly executed: using dummy settings the Sony selected a shutter speed that was a stop too slow so the image is not perfectly sharp. I’m still working my way up the learning curve.
On this day last year: Tenderloin.
BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS and NEW YORK NEW YORK = I started the day in Boston with a walk at sunrise to get the cobwebs out and to collect some pretty conventional images with my Sony RX100 II. Back in New York I shot snap shots out of the window of a taxi and got an nice purple street light along the stretch of Park Avenue that deviates around Grand Central – a very difficult area to photograph because there’s no pedestrian access.
On this day last year: Solitary figure.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Well . . . here we are another year past 9/11. I was sitting at my desk in midtown in a corner office with a southwest view that included the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center towers. I turned and saw: smoke pouring out of one of the towers, the second plane hit, and both towers collapse. Our son, Alexander, was working downtown and was one of the people how sought refuge in a building lobby as the streets were engulfed in asbestos-laced dust. It was hours before we made contact with him.
Traffic is a total snarl today. I stayed in midtown near my office photographing a new installation at Lever House with my Leica Monochrom and Luxxochron. Actually, this isn’t a completed installation, just the construction of some new walls to display a new installation, but who would know.
On this day one year ago: Bendel.
