Radegast Hall (?) New Williamsburg Biergarten

Probably the last word on the Empire Candy building other than actually eating there.
http://testofwill.blogspot.com/2007/04/something-happening-in-empire-candy-for.html

I had heard from one of the roofers that this would be a restaurant but I wanted to get a shot of the proof on the permit. There were people inside while I was snapping the permit and a guy came out and asked if he could help me with something. I assured him that I was only photoblogging (ug, I can't believe I said that out loud) and was excited to see a new place coming in.

It's going to be an Austro-Hungarian beer hall with restaurant in the back. The space is huge, so they're still a couple months away from opening. The guy was kind enough to also give me a card for a free drink. See the card in this stream and let me know what you think the name of the place is. He was also cool enough to let me take a shot of construction. No sneaking.

Brand new Faro

This can't be more than a few days old.

Dance Tracks

East Village

Fortress

This is South 6th Street almost at the Broadway split. I don't know what will go in here but it's a pretty amazing face.

Greenpoint Ave between Manhattan Ave and Franklin Ave. It doesn't have the usual "cooking equipment" line in the permit but I poked my head in the door and it's a nearly finished nice looking bar. There was a couple (or a guy and a gal) inside who were very nice and they even gave me free drink token- a little wooden disc with a rabbit and the word "black" on it. Looking forward to this one in about a month.

Bicycle Fetish

Northsix

Northsix left the door open. I think the new name is going to be The Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Sidewalk maintenance

Outside Indian Larry's

ADDING:

Huge house

Checking in on that massive house being built on No. Moore and West Broadway. Interesting shape.

Helados de coco

From this weekend's Bicycle Fetish in Brooklyn.

Summer shadows

Under the el, Broadway, Brooklyn

This looks a little more confrontational than it was. They were working around the bike and stopped everything to wait for her to unlock. Still, her heart must have jumped to see her bike basically under the truck.

Singing Subaru Guy

If you've been outside in Williamsburg on a nice day you know who Singing Subaru Guy is. He drives around blasting oldies and singing at the top of his voice. I wanted to ask him his name so I could shout hello but he seemed to get bashful when he saw me taking his picture. That struck me as a little odd given the spectacle he makes of himself, but OK.

Con Ed covers

Highlights from opening day of East River State Park

Full set here.

Indian Larry Legacy Bike Night at Hard Rock Cafe

Full set here.

Rain and love in the square

Times Square that is.

The people in the park

Part of my continued project to figure out how to show the sheer quantity of human activity in McCarren park.

Brooklyn Knights

In an odd, meaningless twist, this is the same tree where the hula lessons were last week.

What's new?

Golden Cafe on Manhattan near Bedford

It's a Polish restaurant. The funny thing is that I could swear there already was a Polish restaurant there. But I guess now it's a Polish restaurant painted gold and we didn't already have one of those.

The William Taft Vegetarian Diner and Deli

Surely they already have at least one cook, but on the face it's kind of funny to be opening a restaurant without a cook. Calyer near Guernsey

Coming Soon: Japanese and Sushi

I think the Amazon Cafe is the old sign. This is next to MamaLu's on N12 & Roebling.

Virgil's BBQ

Thrifty beverage

Party Hat

The Mini Jake move

Just a quick note to point out that Mini Jakes did not move where I thought it was going. It's across from the pet store, not part of that odd 3-store cluster. And by the way, it's vaaaast. They basically moved into an airplane hanger. It'll be neat to watch them grow into that space.

High rider

Some images from the 10th annual New York City Tattoo Convention

Lark Tattoo's Miss D'Jo
www.larktattoo.com/artists/djo/artist_frame.html
Their site says she's going to be on Miami Ink, so this actually counts as another celebrity shot. This was the second year in a row she gave the best tattoo of the day at the convention.
Full set here.

The bride and the over sized

The yard

After considerable wrestling I decided to leave in the green bin.

I know it's poor street photography form to photograph street performers but as a figure study I couldn't resist these two.

The bus stops here

The bus stop is right next to the furniture store so people sit on the chairs while they wait for the bus.

27 unscathed

Most of what's left of the 27 campaign is worn and/or defaced (like this) so it's fun to stumble upon a relatively unscathed piece once in a while.

Bloke

They start young in Williamsburg

Who's this new wheat paste crew P.S./IS 298?

Lampshade

Letters

Green on the wall

The exit van

North Star Hardware

Bedford Ave.

Another drum set iglesia

Grand St.

Pizza explosion

Two new pizza spots within just a few blocks of each other. La Nonna is the one on Bedford and N4th. Fratelli is on Grand.

Read

I was shocked to read that this place is closing/moving in August (http://www.brooklynrecord.com/archives/2007/05/bye_bye_read_cafe.html). I thought it did a really good business. There are always people in here. I didn't even plan to post these photos but just in case I don't get a chance to take better ones before it closes I thought I'd put them up.

Hear the story

I saw a couple of these around Ground Zero. It's like a cell phone tour guide. You call the number and hear about what you're looking at.

408 Greenwich

Kind of a twisted motto

Hula lessons

McCarren Park scene

A challenge this summer is to find a way to show how dense with people the park gets.

Charleston

I love the kitchen window on this place.

Roc

This is one of those shots I take every time I walk by. This is the most acceptable one I've taken. For some reason it alwasy feels like there's great energy in that sidewalk dining area but I can't figure out where it's coming from so I never get it in the picture.

Deeker

Restaurant coming to Manhattan & Norman

I asked a worker and he said "yes, restaurant." On the chance that we weren't communicating as well as it seemed I checked the permits. My favorite words to see: "Install cooking equipment." It's still pretty rough inside so I don't expect anything soon.

Collective string webs

The wind up

I think there were a few starter lines and then it was a free for all to run colored yarn on every tree and light post. it was mostly a good idea except for when people forgot that bicycles also use the park.

Clover

Interesting color balance challenge here. The wall is reflecting some red on the pavement making the whole picture look a little too red. I was tempted to try to fix it, but then, that's how it really looked. It's not a bad light setting on the camera, it's that there's a huge red wall reflecting some light.

Duck Duck

I like the texture of these, but that's about it. Nature photography is such a different animal (no pun) that I really don't know what I'm doing when I'm pointing my camera at a duck.

Jensen Interceptor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_Interceptor

Cobblers under the bridge

I love this area under the Manhattan Bridge on the Manhatan side. I'm always a little self conscious about shooting here because I don't want to seem exploitive. Anyway, I love that the guy has one of those Blue Tooth ear pieces in while he works with such manual tools on folding chairs under a bridge.

Colorful truck

Nice colors.

Facade

I'm not sure how well you can tell what this is, but I always thought it was a peculiarity before it was in this current state of half-demolished. It used to look like a building but the face was only a few feet deep before it opened into a parking garage. Now it looks like they wiped out the garage so there's just a building face floating there.

This is way downtown near the Sea Port. I guess Pearl Street?

Nice coat. Thanks, nice hat.

Metropolitan Ave.

Sun and shade

I'm really pissed at that car being in the way. This was/is a picture of one person sitting in the sun and another hiding from it. With that car in the shot I tried to crop it out entirely and making it about the Paris Shoe Store but I couldn't make it look like anything. Anyway, better luck next time.

Old stove on a cart

Driggs not far from the park.

Lieutenant Lee

Not quite the General Lee. This really tests the theory that all cars look better painted orange with an 01 on the side.

Sunday paper

BPC

101 Warren

The colors are a little weird because I took this through the window from the DSW store but still it's a nice look at how that spot has changed.

The unopened gift

Is there anything more exciting than a freshly papered, nearly open storefront? Well, maybe, but still it's fun to anticipate. This is on Berry near Metropolitan, next to The Levy. They've been working on it for a while. I remember when they put the floor in. The inside is nearly done construction-wise, but there's no furniture or appliances that would hint at what it's going to be.

Whoa, have you seen that new Glodman Sachs place?

It really does close up the airspace down there. Maybe that goes without saying but it's striking to see it happening.

Reserved parking

That Seattle gloom

Seattle has a mix of trees, tall buildings and overcast skies such that the light is often a kind of filtered gloom. Instead of fighting it I tried to take pictures of it on this trip. You can see it in some of the others from the trip but these two are the best examples.

Pioneer Square alley

Bird on a wire

I'm still kicking myself for not asking her permission to take a picture from behind her. You can sort of make out in this one that her hair is loner than her feet are reaching when she sits like this. From behind it would have been a funny floating illusion.

Cutters

I was pretty sure this was going to be a tourist rip-off joint (because of the location) but we actually had a really great meal here.

Brownstones

6th Street in Park Slope, somewhere around 7th or 6th ave I think. I thought black and white would work better with the rhythm of the buildings and the lighting, but I think I like the color one better now that they're side by side, I think for its warmth.

The Binker Tree

I'm not sure but I think this collection is growing. I can't imagine these are all found items, but it seems like a weird medium to work in.

Bella Pasta

Queen Anne Ave, Seattle

Green pinstriping

I think this belongs to the guy at Felony Cycles in Seattle.

Knitfiti

Knitted street art sock for a sign post.

Bird's Eye View

Seattle

Seattle postcard point

Seattle's got a look-out spot that's like photoblogger crack.

It's a little hard to see but this bottom one has silhouettes of people taking pictures in front of the view.

Brooklyn Blogfest

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

Steven Berlin Johnson

noLandGrab

Gowanus Lounge

Brownstoner

Norman Oder (awarded magic blogging cape)

Shout-outs

Hey, that's what F Trainer looks like.

That red blur in the doorway is Miss Heather from NewYorkShitty.

Good times in Seattle

Evergreen Hospital emergency exam room 5

Back again

Another plate in the wall

It's a neat idea to mix broken plates and cups into the cement. For this I did some camera comparison, that's why I have three that are basically the same.

Baby fingers

Dark water

Overcast Seattle days can offer some interesting light to work with but it always takes me a while to change gears and look for it.

Sorry, Homer

Seattle

It's a boy

I feel like I've taken this shot before. It was a bear to work on, particularly the yellow light in the front and the blue light in the back. Still, it has a lot of fun things to look at so I don't hate it.

Buckley's

This is apparently where the folks who work at the Seattle Post Intelligencer hang out after work.

Cinco de Mayo

With the black and white I was able to get a little more light on her face without losing detail to graininess.

The place is called La Carta de Oaxaca. On Ballard Ave. in the Ballard neighborhood (or is it a town?) of Seattle.

McCarren Park BBQ

I'm not sure what this event was. There were tons of kickball players on the field, so maybe it was the start of the kickball season? There was a DJ and everything.

Lilac

I sometimes wonder if I could use a macro lens but it's really not very often that I shoot something that closely. This is with the 28mm and it came out better than I expected.

Cherry Blossoms

I think I take this picture every year. The hardest part about taking pictures at the Cherry Blossom Festival is that it's almost impossible to take a shot that doesn't include a million people with cameras pointing back at you.

The family men

I like when tourists travel as families and you can see how similar they look. It's also nice when huge school groups are being toured around so you can see what kids look like these days (and then they can go away, thanks).
Lower Manhattan in front of St. Paul's.

The wall came down

Adding up

This is from Metropolitan across the lot that was the Dutch Mustard building. I was reading recently about the trend to add stuff to the tops of buildings and this what came to mind. I'll be interested to see if it matches or if it'll look like two buildings stacked on top of each other. What strikes me as odd is that if you look at the second photo it looks like the two pieces on the bottom of the addition are not the same thickness. Is the base building not level?

A line at the Doughnut Plant

Last Saturday I had to wait on line at Doughnut Plant. I don't recall that happening before.

99 cents

This is on Manhattan Ave, taken with the point'n'shoot. The lesson here is that the camera has three different ways it can measure the light. Overall average, center weighted average or spot. Change your setting to spot and point it at the brightest light. Keep the button half pressed so the setting stays and then frame your shot. I still used a parking meter for help because the shutter is going to stay open for a while.

Street art?

It sort of looks like it's supposed to be there but at the same time the construction is pretty rough and it looks like an S with wings. A tag? This is where Kent turns into Franklin if you want to check it out.

Automatic Transmission Specialist

I was having such a bad weekend until I saw this shot.
Chinatown.

Punks in bloom

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Too bad those lilac weren't in bloom. Green hair and purple flowers would have been a good look.

Nothing lasts forever

I could have come back another time when the sun wasn't casting a shadow on the wall from the sign, but as the message points out, you never know how long something is going to last.

On the road again

Out in Seattle for a bit. I still have NYC photos to catch up on so it may turn into a mix.

Simply spaghetti

Ladies

I love that hand on hip smoking pose.

Brooklyn Bridge underbelly

This second one's a little grainy.

Toll Advantage Day!

How does this work in the mind of marketers? People walking down the street will be so interested in getting "an advantage" that they'll follow this sign and end up buying a condo that isn't built yet? Hey, did you see it's Toll Advantage Day? We gotta get into that!

This is where you end up when you follow the signs. It's almost silly to post any photos of this building since everyone within a couple miles has been able to see it slowly rise into the sky, but I thought it was interesting to see it suddenly sprout balconies the other day (or did I just not notice?). It's almost at full height now and the shape at the top appears to be a little different.

Sweet Farm

That new bakery on Bedford? (http://testofwill.blogspot.com/2007/04/bedford-ave-getting-new-bakery.html) Given the name on the new awning I'm guess more along the lines of a cupcake bakery than a bread bakery.

27 almost finished

Wow, a left over unmarred one. Looks like it's not quite done since the eyebrows don't match.

Downtown destruction

I still can't get over how graphic the destruction/demolition is for the new Fulton St. transit hub. I guess I'm used to seeing a plywood fence go up and behind it just a flat lot of broken bricks. Leaving up the shells and exposing the basements seems so graphic and dramatic. Remember right after 9/11 when the jeans place decided to preserve its dust-covered window display as a reminder? And what a controversy it was - particularly with the folks who wanted to clean up and move on? That place now looks like a plane hit it directly. The top picture here is what's left of the pizza place that was almost at the corner of Broadway and Fulton.

Purple macro

This is the first of a few I took at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival.