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Speaking candidly

unposed shots of people at work, rest, and play
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Performers in the park
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Performers in the park

To get this angle I had to get down as low as this graceful ballerina. Believe me when I say I looked a lot less graceful (face it comical) doing it. And heaven knows how I got back up afterwords, but when you come across a subject bathed in lighting this good....

Bethesda fountain areaCentral ParksummercandidNYCManhattanstreet performers

  • Finally a full 2 years after separating both rotator cuffs; my faithful rehabbing of them 3 times a week every week got me to the point where I could load up load up a camera bag on one shoulder and a tripod bag on the other and spend the whole day trekking up and down hill and dale looking for nice shots. even so I still didn't stuff either bag to the gills; but I did put in a full suite of lenses for the first time in an eternity; so I could capture whatever fall scene I might stumble upon at the Botanical gardens in the Bronx today. And one of the scenes turned out to be of this man Ivan Braun creating bowls and other objects with his homemade wood carving lathe.
  • Capturing this scene with my 20 plus year old 85mm F2 was a simple and straight forward endeavor with one of today's fantastic digital camera's. Using such a wide aperture on a super sunny day like it was this day would require a really high shutter speed to keep from burning out all the highlights. Now that might have been a problem 20 years ago when I was using this lens with my old Nikon F3 or FA camera's, even if I had ectachrome 100 in one of them like I often did, to give me more speed for my indoor shots, if I only took one camera with me for freedom of movement and fatigue factors. Back then if I happened onto a scene like this I would have had to use a smaller aperture than I desired to get the proper exposure. But now even at ISO 200, twice as light sensitive as my trusty all purpose film of yore, my D300s didn't sweat it. So with today's technology I get to have my cake and eat it too.
  • I've been coming to the botanical gardens here in the Bronx for the last 4 or 5 years now, and before I moved to Staten island a quarter of a century ago I used to come here to photograph many more years on top of that. Yet through all those visits I've never once took the time to explore the the many plants and flowers inside the Haupt Conservatory as I did the one's outside of it - until today. On a whim I decided to explore it's innards, and it turns out there are lots and lots of things to see. I didn't get many shots though because many places with wonderfully photogenic plants and flowers were along narrow pathways with people traveling back and forth with little elbow room for me to operate in. Or there wasn't enough light to give me the exposure settings I was looking for in the areas that were open and roomy. But I was still glad I came, as it really is a beautiful place to visit. <br /> <br /> As I came up a set of stairs and entered an atrium I saw a door leading outside. Walking to the doors edge and looking outside my eyes squinted a little bit readjusting to day light after being inside for over an hour, made all the brighter by the near cloudless sky. Leaning lazily against the doorway I stopped to observe the people I saw interacting with the large goldfish filled pool that was the signature feature of this locale. I could see it held potential for a really nice image if someone at just the right spot did something, I knew not what, worth photographing. <br /> <br /> I didn't want to fill the frame completely with my potential subjects, rather instead I wanted to include a bit of the surroundings to capture a feel for the beauty of both the area and the day. I have several zooms that would do that perfectly, however they all have maximum apertures that are too small, which would leave this background in too sharp a focus for my taste. That would make the background steal too much attention from my subjects, causing any resulting shots to be far less impactful, if any good at all.<br /> <br /> Realizing this right away I reached in my bag for my 85mm f2, which I tossed into a tiny free space in my camera bag this morning just in case I came across this exact type of situation. Being that it is an old manual focus lens it could have fit into my shirt pocket if necessary. Even though I knew there was no flower or insect I was going capture today with this lens, yet because it's so small it allowed me to turn it into a "just in case lens", and now just in case was paying off. All that was left was for me to patiently wait for someone to come by and do something interesting, like this....
  • DSC_7022 just ducky
  • DSC_7034 taking your best shot
  • DSC_7810 family outing
  • It's so cool now with modern technology, anyone can take pictures of nature wherever they find it.
  • DSC_9804 summer afternoon at North Cove
  • DSC_0021 nom de plume
  • DSC_9844 young maiden in the bushes
  • DSC_0002 stop and smell the roses
  • It was forecast to be a really nice day today, and for once I had a day off that I had nothing pressing that had to be accomplished on it, so I packed up one of smaller camera bags and headed out to Central Park. As I worked my way north my feet lead me to one of my favorite spots in the park. The fact that I also had to use the bathroom, and there's a large men's room as you go down the steps that lead to the fountain area, certainly had a large hand in why my feet led me this way.<br /> <br /> When I came out of the rest restroom, I heard music playing. No surprise there, as the acoustics here are excellent and lots of people walk through here on the way to the fountain area, which is one of the signature features of Central Park. So performers of all types come and set up shop here all the time. But I don't recall ever seeing one this small - and talented too.
  • DSC_0072 pint sized performer (alternate)
  • Pint sized performer
  • DSC_0076 pint sized performer
  • Not more than a minute after our pint sized entertainer, put away his guitar and exited stage left. This spot became the platform for yet another Central Park bride and groom session, something I run into all the time.
  • DSC_0083 Bride and Groom
  • Performers in the park
  • There are many gathering holes in Central Park. The Great lawn, the Mall, Conservatory Water, the Pond at the south east entrance. The Bethesda fountain area with it's wonderful view of the lake from the terrace is a big a people magnet as any of them. What makes this spot different from anywhere else in the park is the acoustics you find under the terrace. This attracts performers of all types, knowing they will almost always have a large number of visitors to sow off their skills to.
  • A group of entertainers took an interesting approach to performing at this busy spot in the park. They took turns sharing this great location to show off their stuff. A soloists, groups singers, a ballerina, and that little boy on the guitar, all shared this spot, that stool, and a common tip jar, that they all shared equally no doubt once they were all done performing. <br /> <br /> I smart and equatable way to take advantage of this perfect spot to perform in on a beautiful summer day in my favorite park.
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