Urban – Page 124 – Woody Campbell

Wednesday April 25, 2012

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.

Monday April 23, 2012

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.

Thursday April 19, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – This morning I walked to the office and visited some galleries, accompanied by my Sony Nex-7 and my ever-present Leica 24mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: watch repair.

Monday April 16, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’m back to Manhattan, lurking about, and looking up, trying to find odd angles, interesting shadows, surprising reflections and so on. This with my Sony NEX-7 and a 50mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: Out my hotel window in Shanhgai.

Friday April 13, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Hmmmm . . . Friday the 13th. I took a walk on 11th Avenue in the morning light. 11th Avenue is great for urban landscape. There are Hopperesque blocks. There’s a tenderloin vibe. This sort of thing has mostly disappeared in Manhattan. Hell’s Kitchen might as well be renamed “Dante’s Catering”. I captured a couple of images with my Alpa TC, 32mm Rodenstock and Phase One back, a setup that I use hand-held — it works like a digital Hasselblad Superwide C.

We stayed in the City – rare for a Friday night – because I and a friend hosted an “Edwardian Dinner” at the Knickerbocker Club. The image is from my iPhone – I’m in the picture (but I set it up) so there’s obviously a guest photographer.

Here’s 11th Avenue:

The Edwardians:

On this day last year: Dinner at the James Beard Foundation popup.

Wednesday April 11, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK (yes it’s that place again) – I took the big guy out today (my Alpa) hoping for landscape. The light was a disappointment – the camera is heavy so it’s really no fun to lug it around all day and come home empty handed. Well not quite empty. The playground near the 96th street subway stop was momentarily suffused in curtain filtered sunlight so I caught this (Alpa with Phase One IQ 180 back and 32mm Rodenstock lens).

On this day one year ago: James Beard Foundation popup restaurant.

JBF Ltd. - James Beard Foundation restaurant pop-up

Thursday April 5, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YOUR – Good light in Manhattan comes at odd times. Out there in the non-urban landscape good light predictably arrives around sunrise and sunset – the so-called “Golden Hour”, but it really doesn’t last an hour. Manhattan is fine at a distance at the Golden Hour but at street level that early or that late everything is bathed in deep shadows. Magical light in Manhattan is more often caused by sunlight reflecting off of a large building and acting as a fill light at street level. The first of the images for today is an example – taken at about 2:30 in the afternoon, a generally poor time for landscape anywhere else. The second image is just a reflection of Citicorp Center ending up in an odd place. Both taken with my Sony Nex-7 and 50 mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: Big yellow teddy bear lamp (no kidding). So last year there was this big yellow teddy bear in the plaza between the Seagrams Building and the Racquet and Tennis Club . . .