WARREN CONNECTICUT – We had a heavy snowfall Friday night so we stayed in Manhattan and drove up to Warren on Saturday morning. There had been very little wind so the snow stayed where it fell on tree limbs etching them against a darker background. I stopped at a rest stop on I 684 North of Goldens Bridge New York. Ok but not splendid photographs. When we arrived in Warren I captured this with my Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 300 mm lens.
On this day last year: An “out my window” in good light.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I left the apartment early this morning to run some errands, camera in hand. There was a light snowfall that progressed to a full fledged storm. As I left our building’s courtyard I noticed that the view back through the entrance might be of interest. Odd. I’ve lived here for a long time and this hadn’t occurred to me. On the way back I stopped on the Park Avenue island, and took this with my Leica M9 and a 90mm Elmarit lens:
One this day last year: Restaurant construction Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn. This looks more interesting to me with a year’s perspective.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I had lunch with a friend, Bill Hoar, at Blue Smoke, Danny Meyer’s BBQ joint. We had very good burgers but the service was poor, uncharacteristic for a Danny Meyer restaurant. After lunch I stepped out onto Lexington Avenue and was amazed: the light was spectacular. Golden, slightly filtered sunlight from the southwest, just illuminating the west side of the avenue, with a very dark sky to the north as a backdrop. The key feature in this urban landscape was the Chrysler Building, a long-time favorite subject of mine. I hadn’t planned on walking, but I ended up walking from 27th Street to Grand Central, dodging traffic and snapping all the way. I’ve been dreading this post for several days now – I can’t possibly edit the images down to one for today without a bit more perspective so I’ve included four images of the Chrysler Building.
No fewer than three passers by commented to me about the light (this is New York – people don’t talk to strangers on the street); one commented that I was lucky to have a camera to be able to shoot this. I’ve thought a lot about this. It wasn’t luck that I had a camera with me – I actually carry a camera everywhere. But I’m lucky to live where I do at this time; I’m lucky to be able to make the time to pursue photography and this daily photo blog; and I’m lucky to be able to shoot with brilliant and exotic equipment.
Anyway, here are the images, all shot with my Leica M9 and a 90mm Elmarit lens.
On this day last year: Empire State Building. An odd coincidence; stalking the Chrysler Building this year and the Empire State Building on this day last year.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – More mementos – these from our living room in New York. I really am in a sentimental place. There is a digital technique called focus bracketing that lets you extend depth of field. It turns out that this is actually easier that messing with tilts (the classical view camera technique for achieving a similar result) as long as nothing moves between exposures. This was taken with my Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 150 mm lens. It’s 7 exposures focusing from near (the front of the tea chest) to far (the speaker grill in the lower left). The frames were stacked in Helicon Focus, specialized software that combines focus bracketed images to produce one in focus composite. The moire on the lampshade is actually not an digital artifact – it results from the interaction of screens in front of the window that illuminates the scene.
On this day last year: Dangerous tree.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – This is a slightly melancholy week for me – it’s my first week serving as of counsel in my law firm – I’m officially no longer a partner. I photographed the “work wall” in my office, a design feature common in offices that includes file drawers and bookshelves. A lot of effort went into its design. (Gensler was the architect, the wood is anigre – ours is a light wood office.) Everything about it is obsolete. The file drawers are empty; their contents have been supplanted by on-line resources. There are almost no books on the bookshelves; books have been supplanted by on-line resources. What you see on the bookshelves are mostly “deal toys”, mementos of completed transactions past, but for the present and future a luxury that most clients are not willing to pay for. Pictures of my family at younger ages. Anyway . . . . Here’s the work wall shot with a Leica M9 and 35mm Summilux II lens.
On this day last year: Balloons!! This is really as good as it gets. On reflection one of my favorites from last year. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 35mm Summicron version iv lens.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – A perfect clear, cold day for landscape photograph. I took this image with my Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 150mm lens and converted the image to grayscale. This camera is producing the most film-like results that I’ve gotten since I started using digital.
On this day one year ago: Blizzard!
WARREN, CONNECTICUT – Well we’re still here. We woke up to a dense fog at daybreak. Taken with a Hasselblad H4D-60. Not much use for all of that resolution in this image.
On this day one year ago: St. Andrews Episcopal Church.
