Urban – Page 132 – Woody Campbell

Thursday October 20, 2011

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.

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

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

Wednesday October 19, 2011

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.

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

Monday October 17, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another day on the street with my Alpa TC and 35mm Schneider lens. The Bull and Bear on Lexington Avenue in the 50s.

The next in a series of 24 self-portraits taken on February 13, 1999 with an Arca Swiss 8×10 view camera.

Friday October 7, 2011

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 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.

On this day one year ago: the New School.

Wednesday October 5, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I went today with a tripod and my large Alpa, the Alpa Max, to explore Riverside Park and the George Washington Bridge. My start was delayed by personal errand – by the time I got into things the golden light was gone and the light was rathe uninteresting. I’ve posted some examples anyway.

On this day one year ago: Lipstick.

Tuesday October 4, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Francesca has a new hat. This and the Triborough Bridge shot at the golden hour (which is particularly golden this time of year) were shot with my Panasonic GH-2. This is my kit for snapshots and for long lenses.

On this day one year ago: kitchen reorganization.

Monday October 3, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – As you might expect this is an emotionally flat day for me after all of the excitement of the wedding. My mojo is elsewhere. It’s gone into hiding. I hope it’s not gone forever. But I threw my Alpa into a small bag and soldiered on. I caught this at Citicorp Center on my way to the office. Everyone is alone, facing away from everyone else. Everyone is an island. That’s what life is like sans mojo. A lucky shot. Odd how you can do well at something regardless of your state of mind by just doing it daily.

The Alpa (with an 80 meg medium format back) is very demanding of technique when used handheld. At 80 megs of resolution a bit of camera movement was plainly evident in this image. I down-rezed the file to 24 megs – the file size produced by a high end Canon or Nikon – and the jitters disappeared.

On this day last year: a fixer-upper.

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