BREWSTER, NEW YORK – We drove up to Connecticut tonight (a Thursday!), something that we almost never to. Here’w a rest stop on 684 in Brewster New York, captures with my Leica M9 and 28mm Summicron lens. Three frames stitched.

Rest Stop Brewster New York

On this day one year ago: Sunrise over Boston Harbor.

Sunrise Boston Harbor

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NEW YORK NEW YORK – We went to the opening of Honor, Giovanna Randall’s new boutique located on Gansevoort Street in the meatpacking district. The men were noticeably better dressed than the usual grungy New York crowd. I asked Maria if this is a new (and welcome) trend – she responded “No, they’re just fashonistas.” Taken with my suitably retro Leica M9 and a vintage 50mm Dual Range Summicron. We walked on the High Line afterwords where I captured another image.

From the High Line

On this day one year ago: 289 Devonshire.

289 Devonshire Street, Boston

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another day with film. I’m mastering the mechanics of the Linhof film back so I had fewer ruined double exposures. Here’s a view of 23rd Street taken with my Alpa TC, a 36mm Schneider APO lens on Ilford XP-2 film. I’ve always considered the gray scale rendering of chromogenic films to be slightly odd for landscape – there is a slight infrared quality to it. This image illustrates this effect.

23rd Street

Take a look back at the post for February 9. The vertical line up the middle of the picture is actually a scratch on the negative. Very irritating. Another issue with film. I’m reposting the image here with the scratch repaired and minor edits. Film helps make this image appealing because its response curve has a “shoulder” that prevents the windows from blowing out entirely, and “halation” (light diffusing through the film’s base) add a glow around the windows. On the other hand the scratch illustrates one of the key hazards with film. Overall I spent 20 minutes or so spotting the scanned negative in Photoshop.

Seagrams Building at night

On this day one year ago: Lexington Avenue at night. Not one of my more popular images – probably because the reflections (which was the appeal of the situation for me) are confusing.

Lexington Avenue

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NEW YORK NEW YORK –  Here’s a surprise for you. One of the reasons that I’ve gotten behind in writing these – I’m actually writing this on February 18 – is that I’m experimenting with . . . . film. You read that correctly. The F*** word. My plan was to shoot film for three or four days. There’s a couple of days turn around on processing, and then whatever time it takes to edit and scan. Taken with my Alpa TC and a 36mm Alpa APO Switar lens. Shot on 120 size Ilford XP-2 film, a “chromogenic” black and white film that is processed with the normal C-41 color negative process.

And . . . here’s FILM:

Park Avenue Night

On this day last year: Racquet and Tennis Club.

Racquet and Tennis Club

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WARREN CONNECTICUT – Today there was an ice storm – a gray day in the extreme. This is a color image. You couldn’t walk on our road, let alone drive on it. Here’s a three frame stitch captured with my Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 300mm lens.

Ice storm

On his day last year: Connecticut landscape at night.

Warren Connecticut

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WARREN CONNECTICUT – Deep snow in Connecticut. Shot in Infra red with my Leica M8.2.

Bad winter

On this day last year: Lexington Avenue landscape.

Lexington Avenue

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’ve taken advantage of a Hasseblad offer the upgrade my H3D-39 to the latests H4D-60. That’s a medium format system with 60 megs of resolution. I’ve spent a fair amount of time working with a piece of equipment called HTS 1.5 and the new camera – it adds the ability to tilt and shift lenses (as one can on a view camera). The HTS 1.5 provides 18mm of shift in either direction. So theoretically f you do three images, one centered, one with the lens shifted all the way left and the other shifted all the way right, in portrait orientation, and stitch them, you end up with a frame in landscape orientation with a perfect 2×3 aspect ratio and pixel dimensions of 12,762 x 8,488, for a whopping 108 megs. Nice but does this actually work?

The image below was captured with the Hasselblad 100mm lens and the HTS 1.5 – three images with the HTS 1.5 shifted as above and stitched in Photoshop.

Here’s a 1:1 crop from the left side of the image – the Robert Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge) at night.

Robert Kennedy Bridge

This is very impressive – I’m going to have some fun with this thing.

On this day last year: Shopping on Fifth Avenue.

Shopping on Fifth Avenue

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’m exploring other daily photo blogs – I’m working on a page of links and critique that I’ll post here when its finished. There actually aren’t many of them. The one I like best is one polaroid a day over an 18 year period, to the photographer’s death. Someone has lovingly scanned and uploaded the 7,000 odd images, and built a very nice flash gallery. Here’s a link: hughcrawford.com. Anyway, I’ve been doing more in Manhattan in the early evening with my ultra-wide 12mm lens:

November 19, 2010

November 20, 2010

On this day last year: Telephones at Grand Central shot with the bokeh king.

Grand Central Terminal - lower level

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Feel free to go to one of those other daily photo blogs that you follow if you find that my voice is getting a little whiney. Yes, another week of all day meetings, at least through Wednesday, including a trip to Boston. You may ask “Why doesn’t Woody just quit the damn day job?” Actually I like my day job – it’s just that sometimes it gets in the way of photography – why I like it is beyond the scope of a two paragraph discussion. Today I spent some time shooting going to and from my meetings. Sometimes this is not very productive, but today it was, so I’m posting two images. They are both with my Leica and the 12mm Voigtlander lens – I’m getting more interesting results shooting wide right now. Let me know if you think it’s a gimmick.

Anyway here’s a night shot looking straight up at the facade of the New York Central building (now known as the Helmsley Building) at the foot of the North segment of Park Avenue. Wikipedia entry on the Helmsley Building. The Wikipedia entry is oddly ambiguous on who the architects were. It’s actually Warren & Wetmore, who were also responsible for Grand Central Terminal. Here’s a link to the AIA website.

November 15, 2010

Finally, patient reader, on this day one year ago: interred in the New Preston CT cemetary.

Nancy Lee Cheney Calhoun, Nov 20, 1920 - January 11, 2000

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – More Manhattan in the early evening, with shooting tucked in between meetings. I’m shooting with a long lens on my Leica. Night shooting with a long lens is a serious challenge in Manhattan. Decent image quality requires low ISO and f-stops in the f8 – f11 range resulting in long (multi-second) shutter speeds. There are serious issues using a tripod in Manhattan: there are many plazas and parks that are actually private property and where they are banned; the police think that they are illegal, and they are heavy, bulky and in fact do get in the way of pedestrian traffic in the dark.

The solution is to use a bean bag to stabilize the camera against a tree, parking meter or whatever is at hand. The available of something to prop the camera against constrains point of view, which makes the process more interesting. Here’s an image of the Chrysler Building looking south on Lexington Avenue with the moon:

November 11, 2010

Here’s my “tripod”, a red athletic sock filled with lentils:

On this day one year ago: James Beard Foundation 2009 gala. Looks like time is more cyclic than linear in my universe.

James Beard Gala

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