Friday December 16, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I had lunch at the Barking Dog Cafe. A burger at the bar and a glass of IPA. The beer turned out to be a mistake – it predictably brought on an overwhelming need to nap. Anyway in the morning I got some work done and in the PM I did all of the prep work for a dinner party for 11 that we’re having in Connecticut on Saturday night.

Anyway here are the iPhone stills from the Barking Dog. One grunged up and the other modified with an app called Percolator, which overwrites the image with patterns of circles that are straight out of Benoit Mandelbrot.

Barking Dog
Barking Dog
Barking Dog
Barking Dog

On this day one year ago: musicians at the Union Club.

Music at the Union Club

Sunday November 13, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – We had dinner with some friends at Pino Luongo’s new restaurant, Morso. The “we” in this case is the editorial me; Maria is in Brazil on business. Taken with my ever ready Ricoh GRD IV.

Gil
Gil

As promised I’m stopping with the self portraits. I’m expecting traffic to skyrocket. That means I’m going back to “On this day one year ago . . .” Too bad that on this day one year ago I did a pretty pedestrian shot out my window. Note that a year ago I was whining about being busy. November is a tough month. Anyway . . . .

On this day one year ago: Out my window.

Lexington Avenue
November 13, 2010

Monday October 24, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – More fussing around with my new iPhone 4S. I tried my classic out my window brick wall torture test, shooting with the phone braced against a window sill to approximate the effect of being on a tripod. I used the “HDR” (high dynamic range) mode given the phone’s tendency to blow highlights and the long dynamic range of the scene. It turns out that this was a mistake – on close inspection there are ugly white bands where the buildings meet the sky. After a bit of digging online I came to the conclusion that Apple dramatically over sharpens in HDR mode – so for future reference I’ll be avoiding it. Later in the evening I shot a Martini at the Monkey Bar – odd that this famous bar serves a Martini in a sherry glass. Whatever . . .

Out my window
Out my window
Martini
Martini

The next installment in my 1999 24-houe self portrait project – this one from 12:08 AM on February 14, 1999. As always taken with an Arca Swiss 8×10 inch view camera.

12:08 AM February 14, 1999
12:08 AM February 14, 1999

Tuesday October 18, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – We had lunch today at the relatively new Shake Shack on 86th Street. Here’s a diner at a neighboring table, taken with my Leica M9 and a 28mm Summicron lens.

Punter
Punter

The next image in the continuing series of hourly portraits, this one taken at 6:04 PM, local time on February 13, 1999.

6:04 PM local time February 13, 1999
6:04 PM local time February 13, 1999