I had the idea that the horizontals in the stairs worked with the horizontals in the tires. Now I'm not so sure. Nice depth but I wish there was something back there to see once your eye goes there.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Junkyard
I had the idea that the horizontals in the stairs worked with the horizontals in the tires. Now I'm not so sure. Nice depth but I wish there was something back there to see once your eye goes there.
Where Heath Ledger died
A camera man pauses between news trucks looking at the crowd gathered in front of 421 Broome.
Chinese Food take out
Perhaps most surprising is that this place is an open and functioning business.
Solar powered
This is a south facing wall on Grand Street so it must get pretty good, consistent sun. I'd love to know how productive it is. I'm not sure what kind of establishment is behind the gate.
Endless Summer
Did they deliberately park that truck in front of a bike of the same color?
Will rents eventually get so high that everything is conducted in the street because no one can afford a storefront?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sugarland
My continued effort to find a way to show how weird it looks with just the one building standing among all the demolition and construction on the N9/N10th Roebling/Driggs block.
Plywood bamboo
There's not much to see at the shutter building yet but it's kind of neat that the site is surrounded by bamboo instead of plywood.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Hotel del Mano
That place with no sign is not getting a sign. As it is the bartender would only whisper the name. I think he said Hotel Del Mano.
Anyway, tonight was their second night open so I feel pretty cool for going to the secret almost-no-name bar on almost-opening night.
There are small rooms in the back of the bar and the whole thing is done with a kind of antique flair. Beautiful marble bar.
Eager
Whitney Jene Harchanko
I never heard of her but they were lined up and eager at her little autographing station.
My CES celebrity sightings
Nancy O'Dell
Maria Bartiromo
Jon Favreau unveiling an Iron Man suit
Natasha Beddingfield
Friday, January 11, 2008
Imperial Palace lobby
Not the nicest room I've ever stayed in but at least it was authentically "Vegas."
Double shadow
This is a really weird coincidence of angles. The sun is directly in front of us and there's a building behind us exactly square with the sun so while I take a picture of the shadow of the guy in front of me my own shadow is on his back.
Taxi echo
Y'know how at LaGuardia the people wait in line and the taxis all pull up in a group and then the guy directs people to the cabs? In Las Vegas the lady tells you which number space to stand in and then a flock of taxis zip onto the scene and park each in their own space.
Going and coming
My trip out to Las Vegas and back was so quick I didn't get to post my "I'm going" photo before it was time to post my "I'm coming back" photo.
Buildings
I don't know why my eye is drawn to reflections of buildings in other buildings. I just need to take these until I get it out of my system.
Learning the new lens
This is 22mm standing off the curb about 6 feet into the street. Not a lot of distortion.
This one is a wider angle on the lens with me standing closer to the building. The bike wheel is all wonky. I don't like it.
Two floors of candy
I wonder if they're going to do more candy or if it'll be merchandising or something boring like that.
Sawdust demo
This is the sawdust factory being demolished but what I'm really recording here is that bit of street art. I still don't know the artist's name but they manage to get a piece up on every construction fence in the neighborhood. Some don't move me and others are really outstanding. This one, a door with stoop and garbage can really works for me.
Levee
Lately I'm liking to leave a look around the corner in these storefront shots. Usually I frame away as much of that kind of depth as possible and try to keep the subject flat. Of course it'd be better if there was something interesting around the corner but even with just a white van it makes the picture a lot more dynamic than if it was a flat picture of a guy reading in front of the storefront.
Swarm
It sucks when the best photo I took all day is mostly accidental while I was taking cover from a huge flock of birds startled by a passing car.
True canyon
Not very original but since I now have a lens that can take this I need at least one of my own. :)
Wrong light setting but I kind of like the light blue wash.
No Weapons No Jokes No Stashing
The only things under the red slash are weapons. Shouldn't there be a smiley face under there too?
Every panel in the plane's bathroom is sealed with something that looks like chewed gum but it probably more like sealing wax (I didn't touch it but it looks hard/brittle).
Awaiting transport, transported
LaGuardia is a sty. Really, they can't help it. The place is packed with people who dutifully showed up two hours early only to find out that security takes ten minutes and since they already checked in online from home they have an hour and fifty minutes to kill.
Coffee, water and OJ at Starbucks was ten bucks and change.
Greenpoint challenge entry
This may be cheating a little because I'm using a pretty wide angle lens but I get seven in this entry in the Greenpoint Challenge (http://curbed.com/archives/2006/10/19/take_the_greenpoint_challenge.php):
Standing at Berry and N 10th we can see (from the right) 70 Berry gut renovation of lofts (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/05/14/how_to_have_fun_in_williamsburg_1_eviction_sale.php) then an empty lot that's just a foundation so far, then the one on the corner, then there are three midway down the block (http://www.flickr.com/photos/atestofwill/2157811438/) two are new but the third is a very extensive renovation so I count it as construction. Then lastly, on the left, 125 N 10th.
The line at Cafe Riviera
What the heck do they make at Cafe Riviera that people line up outside in the rain on a Sunday afternoon before Christmas?
Japanese math
What kind of special math do you have to know to name a Japanese restaurant? Do restaurants with branches get Roman numerals?
Bike stop
At first I wondered what fool decided to put a bike rack in the bus stop. Then I realized it's not a bus stop, the whole thing is for bikes.
Union Square near Barnes & Noble.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Awkward!
I know, not quite in focus but the point is, don't you hate it when you wear the same thing as your subway station?
It's up...
I have so many regrets about this one but still I can't delete it. They're kicking a football off a tee in a parking lot.
Night work
This is of the guys working on the building face. Maybe needs a bit more light up there. I like the silhouette in front of the window though.
Mini Chimney
I don't know why I didn't realize it when I first saw it but of course smoke doesn't go sideways. There was a slight breeze, just enough to change the direction but not enough to break up the plume. I had to stand there for a while waiting for it to happen again.
Spider Man!
There's a public atrium up around 56 or 55 and Madison with this giant Spider Man crawling down the wall. It looks like it could be a Macy's balloon.
It's hard to get the scale here because the Christmas tree is also really huge.
Head turner
It may be that the only thing turning the head of the pedicab driver is the fact that I'm taking this picture. I chased her up 5th Ave as she tried to hail a cab. Her coat kept flapping dramatically with her hair and headlights kept casting cool shadows. Ultimately this was the only one of the series that was worth a damn.
Warm inside
I'm beginning to think the most interesting thing is midtown/5th Ave is the sales people. That woman in the ball gown is there to sell you jewelry.
Busk
Turning this into a black and white photo seemed like a no brainer but ended up looking terrible. I couldn't keep enough light in the busker so he just looked like a blob. Instead, after a bit of color correction I used the saturation feature and pulled just a bit of the color out. Usually people use saturation to brighten colors but I've found that draining the color (but not all the way) is a good way to whiten whites. Compare these last two shots.
Whoosh!
L Train.
I liked her pose and wanted to get the blur of the train behind her still image. She actually moved around quite a bit so I only had one go at it. The second shot was just chance that she ended up framed by the space between the cars.
New for New Year's
In the Times Square subway station these are mosaics of figures celebrating the new year. I took these in mid December so presumably they were finished in time for the actual New Year's Eve. I liked that the workers made the same human form shapes as the negative space they were cutting into the tile. I also like how the finished mosaics work with the real humans in the station. I didn't have time to hang around but I'm sure someone's going to get some great shots of these things interacting.
Crash!
There was a car accident under the 7 train (which is an elevated subway line). The car below had its bumper torn off and is leaking fluid. I'm pretty impressed that the auto focus was able to find its way down to the street below.
Hermanas
The idea was to take a picture that keeps the eye busy. This might actually be a picture that draws the eye only to disappoint it with the fact that it's a shot of nothing.
Color stalking
I was trudging around in the freezing rain and slush when I saw this woman in a bright pink coat half a block ahead of me and she was about to walk in front of a big beach mural. I literally sprinted to catch up for the shot. I didn't quite get what I was hoping for but she made a worthwhile model for the length of that block (Wythe & S 2nd or S 3rd). Probably not best presented as a set but here they all are in a row now that I've told the story.
Parallel parking
This is pretty trite as far as Williamsburg street photography goes but the freezing rain was making the reds stand out and gave the street some reflections so I decided to try to find something new in it.
Adverfitti
If it wasn't under specially installed outdoor lighting it might be a little less obvious. I think it's a video game related ad because the one a few feet farther along the wall is definitely an ad for a video game.
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