Central Self Storage

Shelton, Connecticut

Recently I've been experimenting with a borrowed Pentax K5 camera body to see if there is sufficient improvement to warrant upgrading from the K10/20 bodies I've been using for about four years. (Most of the pictures posted here since last July though were made with a Panasonic GF1.) In this shot, aside from just looking at the neat old factory complex that has been re-purposed as storage units and other businesses, I was also trying to strain the ability of the camera's sensor to record a scene with very high subject brightness range. It's done really well here, holding strong detail from top to bottom. It has also done a remarkable job of holding the weird color of the shadow areas. That color resulted from very high color temperature light from a mid-day cloudless blue sky bouncing back and forth on red paint and brick walls either side of the alleyway.

Two Flags

Canaan, Connecticut

love me, love me

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

SIAMESE CONNECTION

New York, New York

FREE HAMSTER

Canaan, Connecticut

In front of a pet supply store.

ONLY

New York, New York

New York at Night

New York, New York

It was a little surprising to see UPS making deliveries nearly eight o'clock in the evening. Out our way that only happens during holiday shopping season.

Evening, Central Park, II

New York, New York

AUTOMOBILE GLASS

New Haven, Connecticut

This building, not all that far from the town center, looks as though it began life as a carriage house back in the 19th century. It doesn't look as though the auto glass business has been active since perhaps the middle of the 20th.

Evening, Central Park, I

New York, New York

First spring buds on the shrubbery, a week ago in the park.

Believe The Legend, Beware The Wolf, Find Your Magic

New York, New York

New York, New York

Billboards on the Move

New York, New York

I had no idea what Chicco was, so I had to Google it. "Chicco USA—Strollers, car seats, travel systems and children's toys." OK, no wonder I didn't know.

The young lady with the sake glass presented a bit more of a problem, since I can't read the advertising. But I found that another shot of the scene reveals the trade name on the side of the trailer to be "Lotte." So, from Wiki we learn, "Lotte Co., Ltd. is one of the largest food and shopping groups in Japan and South Korea, and a South Korean Jaebeol (conglomerate)."

Over at The WPII Blog, the St. Patrick's Day coverage has moved from Hartford to New Haven, CT.

New York, New York

35 days

New York, New York

DON'T HATE, PROCREATE

New York, New York

If a picture would benefit from having a figure come walking through, you never have to wait long for it to happen on Manhattan sidewalks.

As always, you can click on any picture to get a larger, more legible view. Use your browser's back button to return.

New York, New York

Priorities

New York, New York

Also, it's time for something completely different over at The WPII Blog. A guest post by Lyle Allan, sharing his thoughts on the recent AIPAD photography dealers show in New York.

FLASHDANCERS

New York, New York

"Gentlemen's Club." Sometimes you just know that an advertising slogan means pretty much the opposite of what it says.

New York, New York

Over at The WPII Blog, the subject has changed to peace protests in rural Connecticut.

Not Again!

Woodbury, Connecticut

It's the second day of spring, but this is what greeted us this morning. The temperature was above freezing so the snow melted on the roads, but fields and lawns are still white this afternoon. The skies are leaden and the snow lightens into a watery mist for a while, then solidifies again.

City at Night

New York, New York

Living in the country along a rural two-lane highway, it's easy to forget that night-time hardly means "dark" in urban situations. I was struck during my recent weekend teaching a workshop in NYC, then again last Friday. After spending the afternoon at the AIPAD photography dealers show and then the evening at a get-together at a friend's west side apartment, I had a short walk down West Side Avenue to where my car was parked. For someone used to everything being really, really, dark at 11:30 PM, it was amazing how many things there were to try for pictures.

There's another of my contributions to "The Peace Project" up at Martin Storz's blog The Public Eye.

 

Sheep Meadow, 3/18/11

New York, New York

Temperatures soared in the New York Metro area yesterday. At 7:30 in the evening as dusk settled into night, groups of people in T-shirts and other summer clothes were scattered all around Central Park. Looks like the lawns were informally declared open for the new season.

Meanwhile, there are some pictures and a few thoughts about the AIPAD show in New York this weekend, over at The WPII Blog.

Sinfully Delicious

New York, New York

Little Dresses

New York, New York

A small technical side note. Living in a rural place, I don't often do night photography, so two long evenings on my recent weekend in NYC while teaching a platinum workshop offered a nice opportunity to explore the genre. The Lumix GF1 camera I was using has a back-of-the-camera LCD which I find useful for reviewing work, but nearly useless as a pointing device. More on that in future posts. It also has an accessory EVF (electronic viewfinder) which has terrible resolution but very precise framing (100% view). In strong sunlight it can be dark and murky, but in dim light it really, well, shines. In fact the view through the EVF is much brighter than what you see directly, making it much easier to frame the picture than it would be through the finder of a DSLR. It's also bright enough to fool you into thinking you will record more shadow detail than you really will, so as always it's important to use the finder just for frame-and-focus while working out the picture directly with the naked eye.

BAD ECONOMY SALE

New York, New York

I suspect they'll be able to keep that sign in the window for quite a while into the future.

St. Patrick's Day continues at The WPII Blog.

Something Floats over 3rd Avenue

New York, New York

Clouds of vented steam wandering the night sky at about 8:15 PM after a rainy day.

"Recall Walker"

Hartford, Connecticut

At Saturday's St. Patrick's Day parade in Hartford, the Ironworkers Local 115 "float" had a special message in support of Wisconsin's union workers:

detail

On another front, the WPII Blog, so recently declared dormant, has suddenly awakened. Parades that come with the spring, and political events that come of necessity, will be featured in the coming weeks. Have a look at WPII.

HOMEFRONT

New York, New York

Also, another entry in the "Peace" series at Martin Storz blog, The Public Eye.

HOP

New York, New York

CLEANERS

New York, New York

The neon bow-tie looks especially jaunty to me.

Duke's

New York, New York

Grand Central Wedding Party

New York, New York

It's true that in New York you might as well expect absolutely anything, because you'll probably encounter it.

VEGETARIAN KOSHER

New York, New York

Tiffin Walla, a terrific, and amazingly inexpensive, Indian restaurant on east 28th street. You can even get take-away.

Let's Take a Picture

New York, New York

I thought it was an interesting view into the building's lobby when, at first, I thought the man was just looking at a text message or something on a smart phone. Then I realized he was taking a picture of the bromeliads in the big bowls.

detail

Five Moments in Seven Seconds

8:04:57 PM 

New York, New York

8:04:59 PM

8:05:01 PM

8:05:02 PM

8:05:04 PM

When I teach workshops in view camera technique, a theme I emphasize is that you can capture "action" with a big tripod-mounted camera if you look for things around you that are "90% of a picture." When something you see in the world is that close to working, set up the camera and wait to see if the other 10% comes walking in. It's astonishing how often it does.

A similar thing can happen in the speeded up world of hand-camera shooting. Waiting for the light to change at 36th and 3rd, I noticed that the sign for the "Euro Diner" was cycling at a quick pace through a series of colors. I also noticed that several pedestrians were heading down 3rd toward the corner, as a cluster of vehicles came downhill on 36th from the west. So I made five exposures, watching for the color changes in the sign, the action of the approaching walkers, and the approach of the vehicles.

Between the fourth and fifth frame the lead pedestrian whips out his cell phone to answer a call—perfect.