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Speaking candidly

unposed shots of people at work, rest, and play
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dsc_7922 pre-show warmups
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dsc_7922 pre-show warmups

candidsummerManhattanWashington Sq. ParkperformersWashington Square Dancersblack and white

  • If you've ever visited the butterfly garden's at the Bronx Zoo you undoubtedly discovered two things fairly straight off. One, how wondrously colorful the inhabitants here are, whether butterfly or bird. Everywhere you looked you saw something draped in a rainbow of color. Secondly, you were absolutely bewildered by the oppressively humid temperature needed to protect the health of the animals here. Whichever of these two epiphanies tipped the scale of balance with you, determined just how long your stay in this polychromatic hothouse lasted. <br /> <br /> Despite wearing just a tank top and thin cotton pants I was perspiring profusely and I had only been in here for 10 minutes. So I had to stop hunting for photo opps and pull out my compact yet sizable microfiber towel (packed in my camera bag specifically for this exhibit), and dry off. By the 20 minute mark, I was sweating like a sumo wrestler inside a Turkish bath, and spent more time drying the sweat off myself and my camera than I did taking pictures. At this point the windows of opportunity where my equipment and I weren't drenched from my perspiration had shrunk to under two minutes in length. Fortunately this cute encounter took place during one of them.
  • DSC_6821 here little birdie birdie
  • dsc_6805 thanks for the leaf
  • dsc_7138 fishing day at the mere
  • dsc_7148 fishing day at the mere
  • Today was about the 7th time I had a day off since mom's passing that I could fully devote to taking pictures. In the past every time I had a free day off with no chores to take care of first, I was out of the house at the crack of dawn or as soon after that as I could manage, but today just like the other six that preceded it, I couldn't manage to pull myself from my homey surroundings until after twelve. It seems that my emotional energy still hasn't fully returned, but fortunately despite the late start, the extra hours of daylight available this time of year still left me more time to grab shots before the sun disappeared in the sky. In this case I had enough time to hop on the train after the Bronx Zoo closed for the day and get off at the Mere in Harlem. And as a bonus the angle of light coming from the low racking sun meant if you wanted to add a touch of warmth to your scene with your editing software, the results would look natural and pleasing.
  • dsc_7260 shoot out
  • For the past ten days or so I had come down with a bad cold that it seemed we were all sharing with each other at work. Even though my voice had gotten better these last few days (and only marginally at that ), it was about the only thing that had, so today I went to see my doctor, who promptly informed me that I had a throat infection, and gave me a prescription that he said would do the trick. The medicine came in the form of four pills, one to be taken for each of the next 4 days. He told me not to take them on an empty stomach or I'd probably regret it, so after picking up the prescription at a Duane Reade's I looked for a place to eat lunch since I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, then I could take the first of those antibiotic pills and start to say goodbye to this cold that had long since worn out its' welcome.<br /> <br /> Desiring a place where I could sit down and relax and have lunch brought to me I looked for a spot in the area that looked inviting for both my stomach and my feet. As I walked up Broadway I decided to try out the "Havana Central" which looked appealing to both my eye and belly. Wanting to enjoy the fresh air I choose to sit outside rather than in, despite the warning from the weatherman that we were in for a lot of heavy downpours this afternoon. But since they had their awning out I felt fairly safe that I could stay dry while I had my afternoon repast. As I waited for my roasted chicken and rice (quite tasty by the way), I pulled out my camera and snapped pictures of the locals.
  • Soon the predicted torrential rains came providing my camera and favorite street lens some more potential images to add to my collection. After moving two tables over I stayed mostly dry and quite well fed.
  • dsc_7344 lunch at Havana Central
  • If you live here in New York and traveled about Manhattan in the summer no doubt you run across those piano's scattered about the city in all manor of conspicuous places, which invited those naturally blessed with the ability to play them and do so while attracting a crowd of strangers, a chance to strut their stuff, while pleasuring we passersby. Well if these fortuitous placed public piano's require uninhibited people to play them, eventually they'll need additional people to tune them.
  • dsc_7401 outdoor tuneup
  • My old 135mm f2.8 series E lens was not as badly harmed from fungus damage as some of my other manual focus lenses and after cleaning it with mixed success myself, I slipped it in my bag these past few days to try it out under various lighting conditions and see how it performed. After giving it a restrained passing grade for the shots I captured the other day of a bride and groom while I was standing under the overpass at the Bethesda fountain, I brought it along with me again today as I made my way through the soggy city after my doctors appointment. <br /> <br /> As I made a winding trip through the upper eastern corner of the park on this off again on again, sunny then rainy afternoon, I came across a wedding party in the Conservatory Gardens. Some of them in interesting ethnic garb made for fabulous photo potential, however even though they were in a public place and it was not closed off for private use, I just couldn't get over the slight feeling of intrusion even though no one paid me any mind as I walked about with my camera (yet another reason I love my Spider Holster, it makes my equipment far less conspicuous at my hip than around my neck). So I left the wedding party alone to enjoy their special event. The wedding musicians sitting across the pool diagonally from them on the other hand I considered open game. My favorite street lens (Nikon's 16-85mm zoom) was sitting at the ready, but first I stepped back several paces so I could see how my old 135mm f2.8 handled a low contrast scene when I opened her up as wide as she could go.
  • dsc_7453 wedding entertainment
  • So as this rainy day at last drew to a close, and I had spent most of it capturing people trying to stay dry throughout the many heavy down pours, I would end it photographing the only New Yorker apparently preparing to get himself soaked while everyone else was finally drying out.
  • Red tailed hawks nesting on Manhattan's east side have been famous for many many years now (see Marie Winn's website or book). If you stop by the popular boat pond at Conservatory Water in Central Park, you can often find several people with spotting scopes and binoculars aimed at a nest who will let you check them out (for a fee) and even hook your camera up to one of the scopes and capture some priceless memories for yourself.<br /> <br /> As I was walking through the parks eastern edge not far north of that spot today, I came upon this well equipped fellow photographer aiming his fabulous looking rig towards the rooftops across the street from there. I'm betting dollars to donuts that it's a nesting pair of hawks and their young he's hoping to get a magnificent closeup of. That or he's one hell of a voyeur.
  • Today I had to go back to my doctor for a follow up visit over a throat infection I came down with 10 days or so ago. After taking care of that and the other things on my "to do" list, I found I had some time on my hands, and seeing as I had brought some of my camera equipment with me to hopefully get some nice shots of NY bay in the fog (not to be - it actually turned out to be TOO foggy), I decided to travel to one of my favorite photo opp locations, Central Park. I'm quite glad I did as I was able to capture a shot of the stone bridge nestled in the park's lower east corner under near magical lighting that certainly created one of my finest scenic shots. I'm also glad I decided to stop by Washington Sq. Park after that as these ladies and their fellow performers provided for the crowd a pleasant night of entertainment, and myself a few very memorable shots.
  • For the past two years the park had more or less been closed while it received an extensive renovation. To celebrate the grand reopening of the park, the Washington Square Dancers directed by Naomi Goldberg Haas, were putting on a performance for everyone to enjoy. A mixture of young and old, pro and amateur, the dance group examines movement and dance and the how that flows within a widely diverse age and talent mix. And for me it presented an irresistible opportunity to capture some incredibly fun and unique photos. I had as much fun as they did.
  • Before the evenings performance the girls practiced to warm up and at times drew quite a crowd.
  • dsc_7922 pre-show warmups
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