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Speaking candidly

unposed shots of people at work, rest, and play
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DSC_9282 life in a bubble
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DSC_9282 life in a bubble

street performerssummerBethesda fountain areaCentral Park

  • Personally I find silver painted street performers as visually interesting as grey pigeons, and almost as numerous. Hence why I've never been moved to capture one. The difference with this performer was his choice of location. Inside the ferry terminal which has grey floors, silver columns and white walls, and bright sunlight streaming in behind him from the huge windows, it created an almost monotone color pallet which was eye catching. His red rose made for a nice accent to the scene.<br />
<br />
  The only problem was all children coming up to get their picture taken with him, and the numerous people walking in front and behind him. With the ferry doors already open and my next boat getting ready to depart any minute, I initially gave up trying to isolate him after hastily walking in a semi-circle around him. Turning around one last time I slowed to see if there might be one last opening of emptiness around him, and fortune decided to smile down on me.
  • Coming back from the Terrace café at the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn after stopping for a bite to eat, I spotted a backlit waterlily that I hoped to isolate for a really nice image. It required me to awkwardly suspend my camera with my telephoto zoom all the way out over the water and aim it jusssst right, while holding  my camera steady.....w-a-s-n-'t happening. Whenever I held the camera steady enough the sun would disappear behind a cloud. Whenever the sun came out and the beautiful back lighting returned, I never lined the shot up right or I wouldn't hold the camera steady enough. Finally I had to give up because there were other shots I came here on this beautiful summer day to get.<br />
<br />
 As my creaky knees strained to raise my stiff body up, I looked off to my right and noticed that those three children I saw when I started shooting the waterlily, had been joined by an additional pair, and they were more enamored with the lily pond, and the goldfish therein, then ever. With the perfect lens already attached to my camera, and my 49 year old body still more interested in staying down then getting up, I decided to grab a cute shot or two before moving on.
  • DSC_7231 junior nature lover's
  • tickling the ivories
  • On this beautiful summer day after working on my lawn and garden I had planned to go to Washington Square Park to shoot, as I hadn't photographed there in about a year, but when I arrived most of it was closed for renovations, so I hopped back on the subway and came here to one of my favorite spots in Central Park. And as I walked under the wings of the Parks most famous statue, and off to the adjacent area's round' her, I added several wonderful shots to my collection.
  • DSC_9029 enjoying life's simple pleasures
  • Life's simple pleasures are the best.
  • DSC_9155 nice moments at Bethesda
  • Last year I was walking down the road a few yards in front of where that couple in this picture was walking here, only in the opposite direction. As I did, I noticed numerous red flowering plants growing along the bank, and I stopped and took several nice shots of them with rowboats passing behind them which made for a pleasant background.<br />
<br />
 So this year I went back for more. Interestingly, the time of day had the sun back lighting the flowers, which made them even more photogenic than before. But a low lying fence to protect the grass prevented me from getting the shot of them I really wanted. So I walked around the lake to this vantage point, to see if I could find another way to work these flowers into a shot.
  • Originally I was on the other side of the lake, and spotted that large group of pretty flowers growing near the bank.  The sun back lighting the flowers looked fabulous and I wanted to prominently place them in a series of shots with slightly out of focus sailboats drifting by in the background. But I would have had to step over the low lying fence that was there to keep people off the grass, and I wasn't willing to do that. So I had to pick another spot that would still include the flowers in it.<br />
<br />
 I did not come across this vantage spot by accident, as I know this area well. But now since from this angle the flowers were no longer back lit, they were also no longer as interesting to look at, and therefore had to play a subordinate roll in the shot instead. If only a rowboat would sail by close enough to cooperate. <br />
<br />
After quite some time and many rowboats - which sailed by but didn't pass near the flowers close enough, or did but failed to fit the bill composition wise, one lone boat did. And this one gave me all that I was hoping for and more.
  • DSC_9200 nice moments at Bethesda
  • This is definitely my favorite shot of this wonderful couple.
  • DSC_9229 nice moments at Bethesda
  • Using the easy pass lane during rush hour.
  • DSC_9251 Bow bridge scene
  • I only got a picture of this gondolier's back the first time he passed by, and I wasn't sure he would pass by again before I left. But as I was getting ready to turn and leave I heard the sound of him singing a tune as his boat came round the bend, and I decided to hang around just a minute more.
  • DSC_9282 life in a bubble
  • DSC_9291 Master and Padawan learner
  • This girl was a quick learner.
  • DSC_9323 enjoying life's simple pleasures
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