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Speaking candidly

unposed shots of people at work, rest, and play
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Indian summer and a good cigar
117 / 1293

Indian summer and a good cigar

On this wonderful November day, it was forecast to be very warm and sunny, and fortunately it was my day off as well, so I decided to go out to Manhattan and find a good spot for a nice sunset photo to add to my collection. I chose Battery Park City because it's so easy to reach from my home in Staten Island.

While I waited for the sun to go down in the sky I strolled up and down the park looking for interesting shots. I did get several nice ones, though none of them particularly wowed me. So after walking around for several hours I decided to take a break for 15 minutes or so and try a banana mango smoothie for the first time, at a Ciao Bella's I saw there. (It was delicious!!) I went back outside to drink it and to enjoy the feel of the warm sunshine on my skin for most likely the last time till spring.

Finding a good spot to relax I placed my photographic paraphernalia by my side and, temporarily forgetting about all things artistic, I chose to remove my proverbial photographers hat as well, transforming myself into a regular person for a spell while I lazily sipped my drink. I closed my eyes as the tantalizing flavors danced around my tongue. Opening them again, I aimlessly looked off to my left and noticed this large Schwarzeneggrian man playing with his two itty bitty dogs - it took about 3 seconds for me to put my photographers hat back on.

candidbattery park cityfallNorth cove yacht harborsld2NYCdogs

  • DSC_5362 teacher, student
  • While Chinese chess was being played in one section of the Pavilion, and our Martial arts teacher continued to train his young student that you saw in one of the earlier photo's, here just a few feet from where they were training, a different martial arts activity was going on. This was no simple gathering of guys to see who was the best. This tournament known as The Battle by the Gazebo lasted all day. All the match ups were written down ahead of time and updated after each round. And nobody I saw had one of those typical controllers that we use when we play our games on Play station or Xbox. These controllers were big heavy duty jobs, with over sized control buttons and sticks. And lots of custom buttons for creating numerous macro movement / attack or defensive combo's. Anybody playing in this tournament with one of our typical game controllers would have gotten wiped off the arena in seconds. If they weren't laughed off the battlefield before the match even started.
  • DSC_5350 Battle at the Gazebo 2012'
  • Here on our cruise to Bermuda last year aboard the Norwegian Dawn I spotted these two getting in their last goodbye's before those infernal roaming charges kicked in. I saw no small number of other people doing the same thing all over the ship, but I liked this spot, as an old familiar place I go photographing at in Battery Park City, sailed by the window.
  • DSC_6500 after dinner entertainment Spinnaker Lounge
  • DSC_6510 Bernie Martini - deck 12 foward
  • dsc_9075 look honey a rainbow
  • After thinking about what Roxane said about my original entry, I took her advice and cropped this shot down some. I like this much, much better, as she suggested it made for better impact of the rainbow and the reaction of the man. And a reaction is what I was hoping to record as I hung around capturing people as they passed by till I got one I liked. And you can still see some of the blue sky (despite the bundled up appearance of the woman in this shot it was a gorgeous early fall day and I wanted everyone to see that.) <br /> <br /> When it comes to my people shots I'm usually not fond of divorcing my subjects almost totally from their surroundings by cropping the shots ruthlessly. Unlike my scenic shots, of which I won't add one inch of extra real estate than I feel is absolutely necessary, I believe the things going on around the people in my candid shots helps give a fuller picture of what may be going on in their minds, and why they did react or should have reacted in the photo I grabbed of them. That's my style, what can I say.
  • DSC_9179 banjo serenade on a fall afternoon (c)
  • With my little folding map of Central Park in hand, I crisscrossed through the park, and would look down at the map from time to time, then head to spots in my memory that I knew wanted to record. As I did so, I passed by this particular tree several times. Brighter and more colorful than any other tree in the area, I kept gazing at it every time. Then on my final trip past it of the day, I saw this scene about to take place, and at last I had my reason to record this tree on film.
  • DSC_9875 pingpong in the park
  • DSC_9887 pool in the park
  • dsc_9918 inline skater impresses
  • dsc_ 9921 inline skater impresses
  • The same warm wonderful November day that I snapped a great picture of a man holding his dog up with one hand, I also captured these inline skaters strutting their stuff. None of the pictures I took that afternoon besides the man and his dogs wowed me, but I knew that if any were going to satisfy my artistic half, it was going to be the ones of these two guys.
  • dsc_9935 dancing in the wind
  • Indian summer and a good cigar
  • DSC_9947 sunshine a good cigar & man's best friend
  • DSC_9954 sunshine a good cigar & man's best friend
  • DSC_9956 sunshine a good cigar & man's best friend
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