I've said this many times before, when I go out people hunting I just love taking along my old 135mm Nikon telephoto with me. This 20+ year old, budget series E lens with it's F2.8 maximum aperture, is positively minuscule in size compared the same type lens available today. It can fit in my shirt pocket if one of my many small camera bags I like to use on days like this is already full. Try doing that with a modern 135mm f2.8. And it's a full frame 135mm to boot!!
The catch, of course being over 20yrs old, it's manual focus. This makes capturing sharp shots of moving subjects like this kind of problematic. But the extreme challenge can certainly be worth it at times (and fun testing your limits). Using it on a cropped sensor camera like my D300 turns it into a 200mm f2.8 (that fits in the palm of your hand!) This gives me the ability to isolate someone in a crowd from a distance and blur out everything around them. Quite useful in this instance.
Combining all that with editing this shot in Silver Efex 2, the best black and white editing software I've ever used, gave me so many options to make this image look just the way I wanted it to. Here I used the option to make this shot look like it was captured on Agfa APX pro 100 film, and that finishing touch made this shot complete.
Bethesda fountain areaCentral ParkfallcandidNYCManhattanstreet performersblack and white
