Category: Urban

Friday July 30, 2010 (click to comment)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – This detail caught my eye on a building on East 55th Street: a shield-shaped sign on a townhouse referring to “She who must be obeyed. With a little digging around I found that this is the US headquarters of a company called D. L. Taffner, the producer of a television show called “Rumpole of the Bailey.” Rumpole’s wife on the show is referred to as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” According to the New York Times: “Eleanor is Eleanor Taffner, the wife of Donald L. Taffner Sr., the founder of D. L. Taffner, a television production and distribution company. That sign has been out there since 1983, said Mr. Taffner, who is retired. . . . ‘Truck drivers point up to it and just love it,’ he added.”

Anyway – here’s the image:

124 East 55th Street - DLT Entertainment

Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens. Three frames stitched.

Wednesday July 28, 2010 (click to comment)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I met our daughter at a rooftop lounge in Hell’s Kitchen – at 11th Avenue and 48th Street – for sunset. This area of Manhattan, which is primarily where people come to buy cars or have them serviced, is changing rapidly. So this is Hell’s Kitchen in the foreground and the midtown skyline in the background. Very basic urban landscape, but in terrific light.

Hell's Kitchen and Midtown skyline

Leica M= and 50mm Summilux lens. Three images stitched, and then cropped to square format.

Thursday July 22, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – At last a decent landscape image. I’m primarily interested in landscape, which for me often means urban landscape because I live in New York. You can’t dress, stylize or direct landscape. You have to wait for it. The best light is often around sunrise or sunset. Sometimes when it happens no one is looking. Sometimes you wait for it and it doesn’t arrive. This is my 281st daily post since i started this project last October. About half of the images are in New York. No more than a dozen of them are landscapes that are actually of interest.

This was an unusually productive sunset, looking East out the windows of our apartment. I’ve posted my favorite out of the group. Some of the outtakes are interesting enough that I’m posting them in a comment – click on the date above to see and add comments.

Moonrise over Lexington Avenue

Nikon D700 with 70-200 f2.8 lens.

Thursday July 15, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Had lunch with an old friend at Savoy on Prince Street. Here’s a link: Savoy. We had heard that Savoy has a fabulous burger, which turned out to be true. The patty was perfect aged, grass fed beef, not overworked; the brioche bun was just right; it was cooked to perfection. After lunch I spent an hour in Washington Square exploring some of the same themes that I explored in Ecuador.

Washington Square

Leica M9 with 28mm Summicron lens.