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A hodgepodge collection of subjects from the commonplace to the unusual...
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It was my day off and I was headed into the city to get some more pictures of my best friend Scott, painting his award winning model. But first I called my friend and co-worker Noel to tell him what I left off doing at work Friday afternoon, and what he needed to do to finish up. While I was talking to him I peeked out from behind my vertical blinds in my kitchen and saw a mother cat and her kittens enjoying my backyard as if it was them paying my mortgage. After finishing my phone conversation I grabbed my camera and captured a few shots of them, before hitting the shower and heading into the city.
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It was my day off and I was headed into the city to get some more pictures of my best friend Scott, painting his award winning model. But first I called my friend and co-worker Noel to tell him what I left off doing at work Friday afternoon, and what he needed to do to finish up. While I was talking to him I peeked out from behind my vertical blinds in my kitchen and saw a mother cat and her kittens enjoying my backyard as if it was them paying my mortgage. After finishing my phone conversation I grabbed my camera and captured a few shots of them, before hitting the shower and heading into the city.

fallkittensmy backyardStaten Islandcats

  • DSC_4632 view from the balcony
  • DSC_4058 Battery Park City playground in the fall
  • DSC_4293 Battery Park City playground in the fall
  • DSC_5166 Battery Park City on a fall morning
  • Walking back home after capturing some sunrise shots by the ferry terminal, I liked how the sunrise peeked out over the top of this charming old home and decided to record this fall scene for posterity.
  • As I've mentioned a few times before, I had been so disappointed with my first Sigma 18-50mm lenses inability to capture sharp images from medium distances out, that I was forced to buy Nikon's 16-85mm f3.5-5.6 zoom to replace it. That purchase turned my Sigma lens into a large nice looking paper weight. However that still left me with a hole in my lens armament. As I brought the all purpose lens so that on occasions when there wasn't enough room to carry both my 105mm micro (a beast of a macro lens) and my main "street photography" lens in any of my smallest bags, the 18-50mm f2.8 could somewhat do the job of both lenses in a pinch, allowing me to keep the 105mm home, and save some space in my bag. And it really was great at taking closeup shots. Just nothing else. Finally, guessing that Sigma bit off more than it could chew with the 18-50mm I traded it in for their 17-70mm f2.8-4.5.<br /> <br /> Less ambitious, it doesn't have a wide constant aperture of f2.8, nor does it focus close enough to give you 1/2 life size magnification. It stops at 2.7 mag., which is a little less than half life size. But I figured asking it to do less would result in better overall performance, and I was right. As there was no shot that I gave it that it couldn't capture with flying colors. Still since it has less "reach" than my 16-85mm nikkor on the "tele" end, and one less degree on the wide angle end, and on top of that my nikkor is just as sharp and if anything, even sharper, than my 17-70mm Sigma, I only bring it along just as originally intended, on days when there isn't enough room in my bag for 105mm micro too.<br /> <br /> But today wasn't one of those days. As I was using one of my bigger camera bags and my hulking micro nikkor fit in just fine. But a few days before I had accidentally dropped my new Sigma lens (not realizing it was still in my camera bag) about a foot off the ground onto the cement floor of my basement (just my luck that part of the basement had to have the rug cut up due to the freak flooding in 07' that flooded every one's homes in the tri-state area that spring when it never stopped raining for a week). The big heavy lens hit the floor with a large thud. It was the first time in 20 years I've ever dropped one of my lenses. So I took it out today instead of my 16-85mm to see if it was still alright. Could it still auto focus in a moments notice when I quickly snapped off a shot like this one here with no time to hunt for correct distance? Was it still capable of taking sharp pictures? Was it still smooth and quiet when it auto focused? Yes, yes, and yes. Most of the shots I took this day in the park were taken with this lens. So not only is this particular lens an excellent optical performer, it is also one extremely durable lens to boot. Sigma can really take a bow on this lens, for it is constantly in one of my camera bags on a day I go shooting.
  • Wanting to get a picture of themselves in front of the snow white goose, these girls asked a passer by to snap their picture, and I decided to snap all of them.
  • DSC_6595 feeding the ducks at Snug Harbor
  • Simplicity has a beauty all its' own.
  • If you grew up a New Yorker. If you are over forty. If you treated the subways the way teenagers in the country and suburbs treated the automobile. If you always walked up to the first car and rode the entire trip looking out the front window rather than choosing to sit down in one of the many empty seats, then this photo really needs no explanation. If none of these memories matches up with your childhood then no amount of story telling on my part will ever make your eyes misty at this sight like ours will.
  • DSC_7486 Harsimus Cove on a partially cloudy afternoon
  • It was my day off and I was headed into the city to get some more pictures of my best friend Scott, painting his award winning model. But first I called my friend and co-worker Noel to tell him what I left off doing at work Friday afternoon, and what he needed to do to finish up. While I was talking to him I peeked out from behind my vertical blinds in my kitchen and saw a mother cat and her kittens enjoying my backyard as if it was them paying my mortgage. After finishing my phone conversation I grabbed my camera and captured a few shots of them, before hitting the shower and heading into the city.
  • Quite frightened of me, the mother and her kittens scattered when they would see me come out of the house. Now when the mother was off somewhere else in the backyard and the kittens were so preoccupied with their play fighting, I found I could stick a foot out onto the patio and get a better shot if I was SUPER QUIET. It turned out to be a nice thing that Nikon added a quiet mode to the shutter release on my new D300s. The kittens never even heard the camera go off as I snapped their picture.
  • DSC_7916 ohh, ain't he cute!
  • DSC_7944 kitten play
  • DSC_8051 the Barberi gets ready for another day
  • My plans for shots this morning were for scenes of the hillside near Wagner College at sunrise, and maybe some other autumn shots of the surrounding area. I threw my 70-300mm lens into my camera bag in case I came across some interesting birds to capture. Sure as heck I never thought that this is the kind of bird I would run across.<br /> <br /> Don't stand too long in front of that house my succulent feathered friend. Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
  • That's it, I caught him on the way to morning classes.
  • This funeral plot dates back to the late 19th century, and is a poignant testament both to that which endures and that which cannot.
  • DSC_8711 kitten play
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