Thought that I would get the blog off to a good start with some of my favorite black and white images from New York City. I edited them to give them a diffused feeling to them, reminiscent of my old
Holga camera, a 120 medium format camera with a plastic lens, which gives distortions that are unique to each camera. It's an acquired taste, but one that when done right really gives a great effect to photos. It can turn ordinary photos into
extraordinary ones, as I hope you'll agree too.
These fountains at Rockefeller Plaza really caught my eye. With them lined up one after another, they really made for an interesting depth-of-field shot.
Watching the couples skating at the ice rink there really gave this photograph a romantic feel with the diffuse technique.
I really love this photo of the statue at the ice rink, one which you can only get while skating. Try balancing on ice skates and framing a shot!
Visiting Ground Zero and the church across the street was perhaps the most memorable portion of the trip. The debris was mostly cleaned up, with damaged facades of a few buildings left as a reminder of that fateful day. The missing person bulletins were moved into the church to serve as a makeshift memorial to all those lost in the 9/11 attacks.
A card of
encouragement written by a child for
firefighters and police on the scene rests on the pew at the church, and is an image that has stuck vividly in my memory.
"The Globe," a statue that once rested at the World Trade Center now sits, battered, as a memorial in Battery Park, along with a newly installed eternal flame. I
photoshopped an image of the Twin Towers, in a ghostly outline, in the location they would be standing, with the battered globe in the foreground.
A quick visit to Central Park provided a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of the city just beyond the park's edges.
I really liked this photo from Central Park for some reason. I think it's the reflection in the water that is so reminiscent of the water scenes that Bob Ross used to paint on Saturday mornings on PBS.
No trip to New York City would be complete without visiting Broadway, pictured here. Later in the day I went and saw
Wicked in the Gershwin Theater - I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.
Since we're on the topic of Broadway and
entertainment, here's the famed "30 Rock," the NBC Studios, along with the Rainbow Room and Observation Deck.
Here's the view from that
Observation Deck - not too shabby. The large grassy area is of course Central Park. You can walk for hours and never reach the other side, lengthwise.
With this being my first time visiting the Big Apple, I had to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and even found relatives that immigrated through the island, nearly 100 years ago.
I loved
photographing Times Square. There is so much going on that catches the eye. You could spend hours
photographing details, people going to work, seeing the sights, and just taking it all in. Despite the large
advertisement, I don't believe that Legally
Blonde ran for more than a few months.
I'm going to end this post with two of my favorite photos from the trip, both of which were diffused like the rest of the photos in this post, but diffusing a night photo yields incredibly striking photographs, as the light cast from a single spotlight becomes a soft diffuse pool of light. The headlights from the taxis really draw into the image well.
With a little editing, a photo of an ordinary Target
advertisement becomes
frame worthy.
I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them and touching them up back in my studio. I'll close this post with a few lines from a fitting song, and one of my favorites, sung by the "Chairman of the Board," Frank Sinatra:
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.It's up to you, New York, New York.
Here are some of the pictures that Shelby, her family, and I had discussed that would get some extra editing. She really enjoyed the partial black and white, partial color photographs, so we decided to do some of the best and creative photographs in this technique. They turned out excellent!
With a boost up, we were able to get this fun shot of her in the tree.
I'd like to claim this idea as my own, but Shelby came up with the idea and the pose, and I think it looks great in black and white!
This was a shot that I thought of while shooting pictures of Shelby through the windshield. I think it turned out great. I'm planning on trying this one in black and white, but leaving the mirror in color.
A circular polarizer filter was used to eliminate the reflection on the windshield. Without it I couldn't have gotten this cool shot of Shelby sitting in her Mustang.
This tall lamp provided many great and fun photo opportunities.
This one is my favorite shot from the whole afternoon. By using a low camera angle, emphasis could be placed on the Mustang logo in the grill.
Shots like this made it clear that Shelby is a great model. She came up with many great poses and ideas for shots on her own!
Everyone had a great time with the bubble shots.
I think this one turned out great
The "Jellybean" in Millennium Park is always a fun stop on my trip to Chicago, with such a reflective surface, you can get some really interesting compositions and distortions using the chrome to your advantage.
Getting a bird's eye view of the city from a skyscraper, in this instance, the Sears Tower yields unique perspectives, and great photo opportunities. The congested exit ramp is a stark contrast to the nearly empty lanes next to it.
For this shot of the Sears Tower from street level, I wanted to get close to the building to take advantage of the converging tower lines, which give the illusion that the tower is even taller than it really is. This effect is increased by including the streetlight and street signs in the foreground, because the street signs run against the converging lines. It also provides a great sense of scale.
I really like this shot, because it gives a view that is very typical to a day in the life of a Chicagoan, but at the same time is aesthetically pleasing. Shooting from ground level makes the shot feel more "true to life," something that anyone could see if visiting the city. I chose to stay in black and white for this frame, instead of color, to place emphasis on composition and the detail in the street scene, instead of the colors depicted in the frame.
The true feel of a city comes out in its people. When photographing cityscapes, I try to include residents in the photos; they tend to feel more genuine, less fake, and less posed. I try to shoot in as natural an environment as possible, ensuring that little seems out of place or stiff. I think that this photo of the man sitting on the window ledge captures the style I was going for well.
This photograph is in similar style. When shooting in urban environments, I tend to stick with a 70-300mm telephoto f5.6 lens on my camera, which allows me access to many shots traditionally out of reach with a 28-80mm lens, for example.
This is one of my favorite shots from the collection. There is so much action and emotion in this one frame. Out of all of the photos in this Chicago post, I think that this one gives the viewer the greatest sense of a story. Using a slower shutter speed gives a sense of motion, as evidenced with the water spray and the boy sprinting to get out of the water.
Street scenes like this one are some of my favorites as well. By including other passers-by in the frame, but blurring them out with a special and unique post-editing effect, they are noticed, but not a distraction. It helps me provide the viewer with a unique perspective on a scene that is commonplace in Chicago.
Sometimes, stepping into the tall buildings that I pass by provide equally good photo opportunities as the streets, as evidenced here. By using a "Holga-esque" approach to the shot, by diffusing and blurring the edges of a black and white photograph, the two hallway lights, along with the lights from a tall Christmas tree, lead into the large chandolier. The light shining upwards from the chandolier on the ceiling keeps the top of the frame from being monotenous and boring.
These fountains at Rockefeller Plaza really caught my eye. With them lined up one after another, they really made for an interesting depth-of-field shot.
Watching the couples skating at the ice rink there really gave this photograph a romantic feel with the diffuse technique.
I really love this photo of the statue at the ice rink, one which you can only get while skating. Try balancing on ice skates and framing a shot!
Visiting Ground Zero and the church across the street was perhaps the most memorable portion of the trip. The debris was mostly cleaned up, with damaged facades of a few buildings left as a reminder of that fateful day. The missing person bulletins were moved into the church to serve as a makeshift memorial to all those lost in the 9/11 attacks.
A card of encouragement written by a child for firefighters and police on the scene rests on the pew at the church, and is an image that has stuck vividly in my memory.
"The Globe," a statue that once rested at the World Trade Center now sits, battered, as a memorial in Battery Park, along with a newly installed eternal flame. I photoshopped an image of the Twin Towers, in a ghostly outline, in the location they would be standing, with the battered globe in the foreground.
A quick visit to Central Park provided a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of the city just beyond the park's edges.
I really liked this photo from Central Park for some reason. I think it's the reflection in the water that is so reminiscent of the water scenes that Bob Ross used to paint on Saturday mornings on PBS.
No trip to New York City would be complete without visiting Broadway, pictured here. Later in the day I went and saw Wicked in the Gershwin Theater - I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.
Since we're on the topic of Broadway and entertainment, here's the famed "30 Rock," the NBC Studios, along with the Rainbow Room and Observation Deck.
Here's the view from that Observation Deck - not too shabby. The large grassy area is of course Central Park. You can walk for hours and never reach the other side, lengthwise.
With this being my first time visiting the Big Apple, I had to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and even found relatives that immigrated through the island, nearly 100 years ago.
I loved photographing Times Square. There is so much going on that catches the eye. You could spend hours photographing details, people going to work, seeing the sights, and just taking it all in. Despite the large advertisement, I don't believe that Legally Blonde ran for more than a few months.
I'm going to end this post with two of my favorite photos from the trip, both of which were diffused like the rest of the photos in this post, but diffusing a night photo yields incredibly striking photographs, as the light cast from a single spotlight becomes a soft diffuse pool of light. The headlights from the taxis really draw into the image well.
With a little editing, a photo of an ordinary Target advertisement becomes frame worthy.
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