NEW YORK NEW YORK – The site of a gas explosion six years ago. Still a vacant lot.
On this day one year ago: Library at home.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – The site of a gas explosion six years ago. Still a vacant lot.
On this day one year ago: Library at home.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – On Third Avenue on a rainy day with my ever-present Sony Nex-7 and a Leica 24mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: Poker game breaks up.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – My Birthday. I spent four or five hours around midday in Central Park in the Ramble. This is an area in the park that is essentially wild (not really – it was planted to simulate wild by Olmsted and Vaux). My landscape class shot in this area last week – I had to miss the session so this is my catch up work. I found the light harsh and the area oppressive and sinister – perhaps as a result of its reputation for being dangerous earned in the 1970s and 1980s. Images are taken with my Alpa TC and Phase One IQ 180 back.



On this day last year: Warren Spring.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another gray unappealing day. Where do these thing come from? I really take better pictures in nice light. Anyway, I shot in the 23rd Street area for a bit today and came up with this, shooting with my Sony NEX-7 and Leica 24mm Summilux. In editing images today i started an experiment with the “soft proofing” feature in Lightroom, new to the relatively recent version 4.0. It predicts what your picture will look like in print or on the web, overcoming a slight bias toward printing too task and flat if you don’t soft proof.


On this day one year ago: a pretty neat shot.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A rainy day, but the wetness made the colors delicious. Here’s the Zen of Citibank. Two frames stitched taken with my Sony Nex-7 and a 24mm Leica Summilux lens.

On this day last year: Nan Graham.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’ve been thinking about what it is to photograph landscape (whether urban or otherwise). Let me describe the experience. There comes a moment when you physically experience some remarkable aspect of the light. For me the world seems to grow quiet and I work without thinking, intuitively. Time seems suspended. I reach this state of mind on those rare occasions when the light is very special and combines with the scenery in front of me to create a heightened sense of reality. It’s good to have a camera in hand when this happens. I’m not wildly successful seeking these moments out with a tripod.
there was one of those moments this morning in the space between the Seagrams Building and the Racquet and Tennis Club.

Rafael Barrios sculpture “Acrobatic”.

More of the same:

Seagrams Building lobby:

On this day last year: Forsythia in the shape of Italy.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I walked around midtown with my iPhone and the 645 Pro app. I guess the name of the app is supposed to suggest medium format capabilities. Well it doesn’t turn the iPhone into a medium format camera, but its “raw” format may add a stop or so of dynamic range. Here’s an example. Note the slightly unpleasant bokeh in the out of focus portion of the image.

Still tends to clip highlights.

The saturated blues are pretty good.

On this day one year ago: The Great Wall.
