Friday January 27, 2012

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NEWARK NEW JERSEY – I landed here on my return flight from Naples. This gave me a chance to drop by the airport customs office and complete the Global Entry process, which should speed going through customs and immigration on my return from foreign travel. There was very nice light for the ride on the monorail that connects the terminals at Newark. Taken with my iPhone, not the world’s best tool to shoot landscape with very high contrast lighting.

Newark

Newark

On this day one year ago: Macaroni Beach.

Picnic on Macaroni Beach

Picnic on Macaroni Beach

Thursday January 19, 2012

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BROOKLYN NEW YORK – At last a good day of photography. I met a friend for lunch a Peter Luger, still the best steakhouse in New York (and maybe in the universe). It’s just over the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, so after lunch I explored the bridge and Williamsburg in lovely winter light. Williamsburg is an interesting melange of Lubavitchers, hipsters and young urban types – it has a very good subway connection to midtown. The day was good enough to warrant treatment as a mini-gallery in this post. All images are with my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens. Lets start with an image of a lone runner in the shadow of the bridge overpass:

Soloist

Soloist

I’ve done this a lot. For a long time. The distant, solo figure is a recurring theme in my work. Here’s one from 1970 (taken with a
Rollei 2.8 F in Luxembourg):

Solist

Solist

Since 1970 the cells in my body have replacement themselves many times; I’ve had a world of experience but I still identify with the lonely, isolated figure. Another thought is captured in the comparison of these two images: my work is often symmetrical with correct prospect (which takes a certain amount of control when shooting with a wide angle lens) or is wildly askew. Anything in between just feels like a mistake to me.

One of the advantages of living in the Northeastern US is the brilliant winter light. It was very much in evidence today giving the graffiti a visual kick.

Fine winter light

Fine winter light

Kind of mixed use real estate here, with car repair shops and the like tucked in among buildings undergoing major renovations.

Car repair shop

Car repair shop

Here’s the bridge. It wasn’t easy to get this angle. The East River has no accessible waterfront here. I had to trespass through a bridge and tunnel authority parking lot and climb a fence. There are some excellent early 19th century warehouses along here that look like they are in early stages of being renovated.

Williamsburg Bridge

Williamsburg Bridge

Finally, the scene under the El for the M train back to Manhattan could have been from 1954.

Under the El

Under the El

On this day one year ago: parking space.

World Trade Center Boston

World Trade Center Boston

Thursday January 12, 2012

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – My photography has been feeling a bit listless post Tuesday’s lunch. I decided to shake myself up bit with a radical equipment change. I walked around the upper eastside with a small Panasonic that I had converted to infrared last year. I like IR images in the winter; when there is foliage on the trees infrared renders the leaves as white and they look phony. Here we go with an image in IR false color:

IR on Lexington

IR on Lexington

Another, converted to grayscale:

Outside of Fairway

Outside of Fairway

On this day last year: a shot of the El Dorado across the frozen Central Park Reservoir.

El Dorado

El Dorado

Tuesday January 10, 2012

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I went to a lunch sponsored by the ICP that included a panel discussion by a number of photojournalism luminaries. Discouraging. They all said that its easy to produce good or even very good pictures. It’s the brilliant ones that are hard to come by. Everyone has long term projects and takes assignments in hell-holes at the ends of the earth. What’s the point of my daily photo blog from cosy New York and Connecticut (and various one-percenter hang outs)? What’s the narrative? What (if anything) makes my pictures interesting?

Tough issues. Maybe the narrative is my life; but wouldn’t that require me to get closer (photographically) to the people around me – family and friends? That’s difficult because they didn’t volunteer for this (another issue discussed by the panel) – I’ve had one situation where the subject of a photo asked me to take it down; for now I’ve resolved the issue by designating the post as “private” (if you look back carefully you’ll see one day gap in the public record) – I’ll figure out what to do with it at some later date. The lunch was in Tribeca; I had my Alpa with me (not much good at the lunch) and the light in the streets was flat and poor later in the afternoon. I finally settled on this.

A vacant lot

A vacant lot

On this day one year ago: breakfast at Kitchenette.

Kitchenette

Kitchenette

Thursday December 22, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – This was a busy day of Holiday preparations. I took exactly one picture with my iPhone. (This will be a relief for those of you who have tired of endless iPhone galleries.) There was a single moment of magical light as I passed a truck with an amazing paint job. The iPhone does a good job of rendering extreme greens. (It’s less successful with reds.) I percolated the image with the Percolator iPhone app – this may have been a gilding-the-lily kind of mistake. Anyway, here it is:

One helluva paint job

One helluva paint job

On this day one year ago: costumes.

Costumes

Costumes

Wednesday December 21, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – I met with our friend and designer Antonella Scarsini at B&B Italia to look at some furniture. I captured a nice angle on the Christmas Tree in the courtyard of the Bloomberg Building and a bowl on a tabletop, both with my iPhone. Some work in post: grunging Bloomberg and percolating the bowl.

Bloomberg Building

Bloomberg Building

Bowl

Bowl

On this day last year: from my office.

AT&T Building

AT&T Building

Tuesday December 20, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – The day of the iPhone riot. A gallery of the Christmas Season images from midtown.

Bolts

Bolts

Sculpture

Sculpture

Ice Cream

Ice Cream

Necklace

Necklace

30 Rock

30 Rock

Street Graffiti

Street Graffiti

Tree grill

Tree grill

Christmas comes but once a year

Christmas comes but once a year

Christmas Cheer

Christmas Cheer

Glasses

Glasses

Park Avenue in Morning Light

Park Avenue in Morning Light

Blue ball

Blue ball

On this day one year ago: Bunny Beekman.

Bunny Beekman

Bunny Beekman

Monday December 19, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – Feeling better. I went about my business today carrying my iPhone and collecting images. This thing is addictive. I haven’t tried very hard to edit the day down – I present this as an iPhone gallery. My reaction: “get a grip, Campbell.”

First an image that was not taken on December 19 – I’m posting this on Christmas Day so I thought I should share a Christmas greeting. The front of our house grunged up with an app called “plastic bullet”.

Have yourself a grungy Christmas

Have yourself a grungy Christmas

1185 Park with a tilt shift app that create an impression of very narrow depth of field, making everything look like toys.

1185 Park in miniature

1185 Park in miniature

A panorama stitched (defectively – there’s still a reason for these big cameras) from three frames.

1185 Park Stitch

1185 Park Stitch

More street.

Fire alarm

Fire alarm

Literally a picture of the street.

CATV

CATV

On this day last year: Chuck Klein.

Chuck Klein

Chuck Klein

Friday December 9, 2011

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NEW YOEK NEW YORK – I spent some time this afternoon at Yancey Richardson looking at photographs, primarily by Andrew Moore. The experience was energizing. When I started this daily photo effort over two years ago I expected that a number of longer term projects would emerge. Looking at Andrew’s work and paging back through mine I’ve decided to push on the churches of Litchfield County project. I see a couple of phases, starting with taking an inventory of facades, making high quality prints as a means to get closer to the ministers/rectors/priests, doing more in depth studies (which I’ve only done at the Washington Congregational Church at this point), teasing out the narrative (which I have some ideas on but need further work to refine) and then more follow through studies.

But today I’m not in Litchfield County so I point my Alpa Max out our window into good light. I’m working to achieve technical mastery with this tool – it’s the key to creating the kinds of images that I’m looking for in Litchfield County. By “technical mastery” I mean that my hands do the right things without an need to think about anything but composition.

Out my window in good light

Out my window in good light

On this date one year ago: Urban landscape.

Riverside Drive South

Wednesday December 7, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – I met Francesca at Columbia for afternoon tea. I caught this image of the Italian Academy. Not a brilliant piece of work on my part. I struggle on overcast and rainy days. It’s a matter of disposition, I suppose.

The Italian Institute

The Italian Institute

On this day last year: A Sugimoto show at Pace.

Sugimoto at the Pace

Thursday December 1, 2011

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MEW YORK NEW YORK – Well here I am outside the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. I’ve written a couple of other posts on this subject: August 24, 2011 and November 24, 2010. I’m standing here because this is the only place within blocks where any sunlight is hitting the street. I loaded a bunch of camera apps on my iPhone and went looking for a scene with a long dynamic range and some bricks to test the apps. Here’s the one taken with an app called Pro HDR, which takes two images at different exposures and combines them in a “high dynamic range” images. The HDR feature is only so-so. Without a tripod the camera moves between shots. The app compensates for movement but the image appears less sharp than a non HDR image. It does give you the two exposures, though so you have a choice of which to use – here I used the under-exposed shot.

So the iPhone camera is working well for me. We’re planning a trip to DC this weekend. I’m taking the iPhone as my only camera.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

On this day last year: shot with very cool wide angle lens.

Third Avenue and 54th Street

Third Avenue and 54th Street

Tuesday November 29, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – It poured all day. I walked from 56th Street to 27th Street on the East Side with my Leica and a 35mm Summilux Asph. II lens. The first image is a stitch of three frames. Both are taken at f 1.4, which severely limits depth of field (in general a good thing and one of the reasons to own this lens).

Post office building

Post office building

Rain

Rain

On this day last year: Waling to the office.

Lexington Avenue

Lexington Avenue

Monday November 28, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – Back at it in the office with a number of pressing projects. I often stop at Citicorp Center to see what’s going on, visually. This is a four frame stitch with my Leica M9 and a 35mm Summilux Asp. II lens, shot at f 1.4.

Citicorp Center

Citicorp Center

Warren Storm

Warren Storm

On this day one year ago: Another building in New Preston Connecticut.

Harry O Erickson Pavilion Hall, New Preston Connecticut

Harry O Erickson Pavilion Hall, New Preston Connecticut

Wednesday November 23, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another hectic day as we stuff five adults, a Norwich Terrier and food for four days into the car for the trip to Connecticut. Here we are at our parking garage waiting for our car. Taken with m Leica M9 and 12mm Voigtlander lens.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Mirror, mirror on the wall

On this day one year ago: Kimball declaims on a bottle from Gaja,

Kimball Chen

Tuesday November 22, 2011

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – From a shopping point of view today was the run up to Thanksgiving. I spent most of the day shopping for food in anticipation of an onslaught of family and friends in Connecticut. I captured this with my Leica and a 12mm Voigtlander lens while crossing 86th Street to go to Fairway.

Double yellow line

Double yellow line

On this day one year ago: The Guggenheim Museum. One of my better takes on a local icon that I struggle with.

The Guggenheim Museum, New York

The Guggenheim Museum, New York

Thursday November 17, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – Back home. I carried my little Ricoh GRD IV through the day, catching autumn foliage ending up on the sidewalk, and a new installation at Lever House, a salt water aquarium and plants by Paula Hayes. Very cool. Worth a look.

November 17, 2011

Streets of New York

November 17, 2011

Weird Science

On this day last year: on the Acela.

From the Acela at high speed

Wednesday November 16, 2011

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BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS – A Boston-themed date. I find myself in Boston taking a walk at sunrise with my little Ricoh GRD IV. Not an ideal camera for sunrises but there is a small voice in my head that urges me to violate the “horses for courses” rule. Here’s Boston Harbor:

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

On this day last year: wing of the Boston Shuttle. I was . . . on my way to Boston.

US AIr Shuttle 6:15 AM

November 16, 2010

Thursday November 10, 2011

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I took a break between meetings today to get out into the street with my Ricoh GRD IV. This is a stitch of three images.

BlackRock

BlackRock

Let’s continue the ongoing saga of variations on self. It’s 24 slivers just as in yesterday’s image but I’ve blended them into a continuous image and trimmed off the stuff on the top and the bottom that didn’t blend well. the scale on the bottom is a continuous 24-hour scale – as you read from left to right you get me later and later. The single shot with glasses on results in a sliver of glasses on my nose.

Time Blend

Time Blend

Saturday November 5, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’m taking a break from my new Rikoh GRD IV – in good light I find the Alpa, 35mm Schneider and Phase One IQ 180 back irresistible.

This from East 72nd Street. It’s a bit surprising that this building’s coop board permitted air conditioning vents to be cut through the decorative limestone facade.

72nd Street

72nd Street

Here’s number 23. This is the penultimate image from my series of 24 hourly photos of myself taken on February 13 and 14, 1994. This one is from m12:00 noon on February 14. Once I’ve presented all 24 of these, over the next week or so I’ll show you some composites and collages assembled from them, starting Monday.

12:00 Noon February 14, 1999

12:00 Noon February 14, 1999

Wednesday November 2, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – More blahs. Today I had lunch at Harry Cipriani with Michele Parmigiani, a remarkable watchmaker who has a show of mechanical wonders that he has restored for the Sandoz foundation at A La Vieille Russie. Lunch was excellent and we were surrounded by fashionable Italians. Somehow out of all of this I couldn’t make a plausible photograph. Tonight was our James Beard Foundation annual Gala at Gustavino, a genuinely interesting space built into one of the approach ramps to the 59th Street Bridge. No photos worth taking up hard drive space. The best I could do for today is this safe view of a Manhattan facade. One of my objectives in my photo a day work is to capture the visual part of life from a privileged (in an artistic rather than economic sense) point of view. It may be that I’m just too wound up in practicing law and the Gala to relax and see the world around me. Still, one photo every day . . . .

Street

Street

Let’s see here, it’s Mr. Curley Hair again. Looking a little fresher at 9:00 after a night of fitful sleep interrupted by my hourly photo regime.

9:00 AM February 14, 1999

9:00 AM February 14, 1999

Friday October 28, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – A great day for late fall light. I found myself at Columbus Circle with my Alpa. This was an easy day for me, photographically. The subway image prints at 24×36 nicely and has a vigor that I’m trying to achieve in every image, but actually don’t often realize.

Subway

Subway

Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle

So dear reader, here is my self-portrait from 3:58 AM on February 14, 1999. We’ll come to the end of these soon enough. I generally disapprove of blogs that feature pictures of their creators, but since we got off on the subject of appropriation in art in an earlier post I just thought it would be interesting to post my own examples.

3:58 AM February 14, 1999

3:58 AM February 14, 1999

Tuesday October 25, 2011

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NNEW YORK NEW YORK – So I’m using my Alpa and a 35mm Schneider as my walk-around camera. This only works on sunny days – I’m a sunny day kind of guy so I prefer these anyway. Here’s in image from Madison Avenue and 55th Street

Good light

Good light

Here’s the next in my series of 24 self portraits taken in 1999. This is from 12:58 AM on February 14, 1999. I slept on a cot in my studio, setting an alarm to wake my hourly for a picture. I clearly haven’t been to sleep on yet because I still look fairly well put together.

12:58 AM February 14, 1999

12:58 AM February 14, 1999

Friday October 21, 2011

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Today we did the sacred and profane on Fifth Avenue. Starting with the sacred I stopped by Marble Collegiate Church, the oldest Protestant congregation in North America and for decades the bully pulpit for Norman Vincent Peal. The Church has a “Payers for Peace” program. The congregation offers prayer for service men and women who have died in Central Asia during the week; yellow ribbons with the names of the departed are attached to the railing around the Church. Here’s a segment of the fence with a statue of Dr. Peal in the background. Images taken with my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens.

Marble Collegiate Church

Marble Collegiate Church

Now the profane. At the 42nd Street Library I spotted the following, which I couldn’t resist:

XXX rated at the Public Library

XXX rated at the Public Library

From my self portrait series taken hourly on February 13, 1999 the image from 8:52 PM. Taken with an Arca Swiss 8×10 view camera.

Thursday October 20, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK -I read a glowing review of the World Trade Center Memorial in the New York Review of Books so I made a reservation and made the trek down there. It’s huge. The memorial is the foundations of the two towers – recessed (by 50 feet or so) pools where the foundations were. Water cascades down the four sides of the foundations holes to the pools. The water disappears into black square holes in the center of the pools. The falling theme is powerful given the context. The central hole evokes a grave. The names of all of the 9/11 victims were cut into the railing around the pools. The Memorial owes a lot to Maya Lin and at the same time is totally unique. Images taken with my Leica M9 and a 12mm Voigtlander lens and 24mm Summilux lens.

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Memorial

Another take on the Old Equitable Building taken with my Leica and a 24mm Summilux lens:

Old Equitable Building

Old Equitable Building

8:00 PM February 13, 1999 from my series of hourly self-portraits over a 24-hour period.

8:00 PM February 13, 1999

8:00 PM February 13, 1999

Wednesday October 19, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – I explored downtown with my Leica after some meetings today. Here’s the Old Equitable Building, Thames Street, a block from the Occupy Wall Street protests. Taken with my Leica M9 and 90mm lens. Four frames stitched.

Old Equitable Building, Thames St.

Old Equitable Building, Thames St.

Here’s my self portrait from 7:03 PM on February 13, 1999:

Friday October 7, 2011

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – I had amazing luck today. I went to the Guggenheim Museum with my daughter and a close friend of hers; we had lunch at The Wright (a restaurant located in the Guggenheim) and walked the Central Park reservoir. I’ve been trying to take a picture I like of the museum for two years; I finally got it. I’ve also being trying to take a picture of the reservoir with the west side skyline in the background, and tall grass/reeds the grows in spots around the reservoir in the foreground; I finally got it. Both taken with my Leica M9 and 24mm Summilux lens, more than justifying my affection for this combination.

Central Park Reservoir

Central Park Reservoir

Guggenheim

Guggenheim

On this day one year ago: the New School.

The New School