Categories
Abstract Urban

Wednesday May 22, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Near the end of the busiest season of the year in my law practice. Taken on the street with my Leica Monochrom and 50mm Dual Range Summicron.

AC
AC

On this day last year: Harley.

20120522-DSCF0274

Categories
Landscape Urban

Tuesday May 21, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A couple from the street today. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 1959 Leica Dual Range Summicron. The second images is three frames stitched.

?35 Madison
?35 Madison
Restaurant
Restaurant

On this day last year: Rabbit. A meal for one.

20120521-DSCF0225

Categories
Icon Landscape Urban

Monday May 20, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A lot of pictures today. If you scroll down to May 17, 2013 you will see that Francesca, our daughter, graduated from law school one year ago. Well today, 368 days later, she was sworn into the New York bar. So the bar cram course, the bar exam, waiting for the results, gathering up details about her background, submitting a bunch of stuff to the character and fitness committee and getting a date to be sworn in take a year more or less. Congratulations Francesca.

After lunch I had the first session in a class at the ICP – we’ll be rephotographing iconic New York images. This is familiar territory for me starting with Mark Klett’s rephotographic survey and Douglas Levere’s rephotography of Berenice Abbott’s 1939 book, Changing New York. Abbott’s photographs are meticulously documented – many of her most famous works were done while she was employed by the Museum of the City of New York to document the City. After an hour of getting to know each other at the ICP and a half hour discussion of where to start we went down to the Flatiron Building to re-shoot Berenice Abbott’s famous 1938 image. This worked well for me because I own a print of this image – it’s in our front hall in New York.

I didn’t realize that we would be shooting so I was packing only my walk-around camera, my Leica Monochrom and a 1959 Dual-Range 50mm Summicron lens (the perfect kit to photograph Francesca earlier in the day). I needed a much wider lens for the Flatiron shot so I ended up stitching four frames. After fussing around a bit we figured out where Abbott was shooting from – it’s a traffic island now as I’m certain it was then. I’ve included a poor jpeg of Abbott’s original for comparison.

Anyway, Francesca outside of the First Department Courthouse.

Francesca outside the court
Francesca outside the court

Francesca and her “Don’t mess with me, I’m a lawyer” expression.

Don't mess with me, I'm a lawyer
Don’t mess with me, I’m a lawyer

My rephotographic effort of the Flatiron Building:

Look familiar?
Look familiar?

The Abbott original:

Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott

A few more:

Look up
Look up
Tourists
Tourists

On this day last year: 11th Avenue Project.

11th Avenue Project
11th Avenue Project
Categories
Family and friends Landscape Portrait

Sunday May 19. 2013

WARREN CONNECTICUT – This is not another cheap shot of Basil the Norfolk Terrier. It’s actually a picture of Francesca. She’s the out of focus one in the back with the top of her head cut off.

Taken with my Leica S medium format camera.

Not Basil
Not Basil

On this day one year ago: Scouting.

Scouting
Scouting
Categories
Family and friends

Saturday May 18, 2013

WARREN CONNECTICUT – This blog is only incidentally a diary. I’m really trying to post an aesthetically interesting picture every day. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at images on the web, an experience that’s the source my no cute pets (especially cats) and no cute kids rules. There’s another type of image that is forbidden here. I call theses photos “Aunt Alice” shots: a group of people in a line with the sun (or flash) in their faces squinting into the camera. You know . . .”That’s Aunt Alice second from the left there at Billie’s birthday last year”. I’ve completed 1.308 days of this project without, as far as I can remember, posting a single Aunt Alice shot. It may just be that I don’t have any friends or relatives worth photographing.

Well today is going to be an exception. Here is my first Aunt Alice shot – some friends of long standing facing the sunset and squinting into the camera, A Leica S with at 70mm lens.

Aunt Alice Shot
Aunt Alice Shot

On this day one year ago: Warren.

Warren
Warren
Categories
Garden Landscape Minatures

Friday May 17 2013

WARREN CONNECTICUT – We drove up to Connecticut this morning. Next week is the end of the busiest season of the year in my law practice so this weekend requires some intense preparation. We also have prep work for a dinner on Saturday for two college classmates who are visiting. Once again my visual life is being crowded.

Here’s a hosta (Spring at last!) taken with my Leica S and 120mm macro lens.

Hosta
Hosta

On this day last year: Francesca graduates from law school. I’ve edited this image since last year, moving Francesca to a place in the image that I prefer.

Francesca Graduates
Francesca Graduates
Categories
Landscape Street Urban

Thursday May 16, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Late this afternoon I got on the subway and headed for Elmhurst Queens. I’m joining a group of friends for dinner in a Taiwanese restaurant that’s so good that it has no English language sign. You really can’t tell what the name of this place is (unless it happens to be “Parking in the Rear”). Our organizer billed this as the “Best Taiwanese restaurant in North America”. Who would know? It might be. Just the right ambience of families eating off of formica tables. The food uniformly excellent, with the exception of stinky tofu, which to judge from its Wikipedia entry is a Taiwanese specialty. It really is stinky, smelling like a combination of your feet, days old garbage, and excrement.

Elmhurst has been a Taiwanese neighborhood for a long time – since the mid-50s. It’s safe, pleasant and clean. The sidewalks are crowded with Tiger Mom types with strollers. Pretty cool. And in the middle of it there is an old Dutch Reform church – this was the village of Newtown until the late 19th Century. Here are some pictures taken with my Leica Monochrom and my 1959 vintage Dual Range Summicron lens.

Elmhurst
Elmhurst
Elmhurst ne Newton
Elmhurst ne Newton

On this day last year: Faux Venini.

Venini
Venini
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