Hoboken Train Station

I've been quite impressed with the output of the Fuji X Pro-1. Just have a look back at my posts for the past two months and you might thnk I'm a fanboy. I'm not, but the camera is really good. I'm always quite impressed with the images after I've optimized them in color, just before I convert them to b/w. So, for a change I thought I'd leave them in color for this post.

A few days ago I went out for a few hours with a buddy and we decided to spend some time in Hoboken, NJ. We walked around the park area that looks out onto the Manhattan skyline, and into the New Jersey Transit station which has been very well preserved.

It was around 9PM on the day before Memorial Day, so the waiting room was almost empty except for a few lonesome travelers. The waiting room was well lit. But I wanted to create a mood of late night gloom.

Woman With A Hat

I seem to always be attracted to people wearing hats. The day was quite breezy and I had trouble keeping my own panama hat from being blown away. A gust of wind had come and my intention was to get a shot of the woman securing her headwear. Alas, my had was riding lightly on my head also and I fired the shutter a moment too soon (but I saved my panama). The hand gesture tells a different story. 

One of the biggest challenges in creating a b/w image is separating the primary subject of the image from its surroundings and background. As a color shot, the tones in this image were different enough so that wasn't a problem, but when I converted to b/w everything looked to be flat and the same tonality. Our eyes naturally are attracted to the brightest, sharpest and most contrasty tonalities in an image. I couldn't make the woman's blouse brighter because it was a dark color. The truck to her left was not far enough behind her to separate her by blurring the background. So it had to be done with contrast.

Shameless Self Promotion

This blog was spotlighted today, Sunday, on Scoop.it!  which is a blog dedicated to the Fujifilm X-Pro-1 camera. These have been a difficult few weeks for me, so it's nice to get some recognition.

Shooting street images is the food that feeds my soul. The food that feeds my belly, however, is much more materialistic than spiritual. So I have begun exploring possibilities. Shooting journalistic stories is not a viable possibility anymore - I'm just too old - but since I have a knack for photographing people, I want to put that to use by photographing social events - private parties, social gatherings at churches and synagogues, dinners - that sort of thing. It's going to require a marketing effort on my part, and I'm not very skilled at that. I've been called the King of Shmooze my a number of my friends, and I hope to use that to some effect to network and get the word around that I'm available.

This is an exciting veture for me. Scary, because I need to get out of my comfort zone, and because I need to generate income. But usually, after the anxiety of the unknown wears off a bit, I do pretty well rising to challenges.

I have several bodies of work that I am beginning to prepare as e-books. The Lightroom Book module is quite a flexible tool for creating them. The first will be I Hear A Voice Calling - Photographs of Bill Monroe. That's almost done. The second will be Manhattan Diaspora - New York's Lower East Side. And the one(s) following that will be of my street photography. I'm not at all sure how I'll market the books, but it will probably involve paypal. Stay tuned for more info in later posts.

Now, here's your treat for reading this far and bearing with me. I shot this last week in the Brooklyn River Park that is part of the DUMBO neighborhood. The gentle nonchalance of the man grabbed my attention. The background was in dark shade and the sunshine gave him a glow that screamed out for a shot. As always, the b/w conversion was made with Nik SilverEfex Pro 2. Thank you Nik for all of your amazing plugins. The flexibility afforded by Nik Software has allowed me to fulfill and expand my creativity.

Got It!

Shooting on the streets of New York sometimes seems like 'shooting fish in a barrel'. I feel like I just can't miss if I keep my eyes open and stay alert. The density of the population is almost a guarantee that, no matter what time of day or night, there will be something happening - a story unfolding - if only I am tuned into seeing it.  

Doesn't have to be a specific story. When I feel there's something there - a motion, a body position, a facial expression, an interaction - I unconsciously have my own story. My aim as a street photographer is to capture the essence of the moment and let my viewer inject his/her own life experience into the moment and create their story. Not every shot I take is successful in creating the story atmosphere. It may have been present when I took the shot, but when I see the image after uploading, it sometimes appears flat or lifeless.  Then again, sometimes I know I've nailed it. 

As I walked past this gentleman on Broadway my eyes zapped in on his face. By the time it registered I was already past him. So I stopped for a second and looked in a store window, checked my camera settings, turned back and slowly wandered past him shooting from the hip. I took five shots as I worked my way past him. This was the last shot. When the shutter clicked I knew I had it in that one frame. 

I don't ever look at the LCD to check my shots while I'm out and about. That's distracting and bad practice. Through trial and error, by not looking at the LCD, I trained myself to 'know' if and when I nailed a shot . Later, when I'm sitting on the train heading home I go through my shots to delete the grossly out of focus or the shots of the sidewalk or sky. But I always reserve judgement on anything else until I upload the shots and see them on the computer screen.

Check This Blogpost

Scott Kelby is not one of my favorite people. But he definitely serves a purpose in our world of photography. On his blogpost today the guest blogger was Vincent Versace. I had a great opportunity to take a four day series of classes with Vincent which was presented at B&H Photo in New York City. I don't ever see myself working the same way he does, but I certainly respect the effort he puts into his images. At the end of the Kelby blogpost is a video that Versace produced of his images of Burma. It's really worth taking a look at.

DUMBO Streets

As I mentioned in a previous post, The New York Photo Festival was running in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The schedule has been extended to the end of the month of May. You can view the announcement here. 

As I was walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge, I saw this couple rushing purposefully in my direction and loved the way they were moving in sync with each other. I see this often - people who walk together tend to be in step with each other. They were both leaning in rhythm as they walked. They were so purposeful as they moved, almost as if they had just decided that they needed to get home for some undefined business. I tried to come up with something witty or pithy to say about the stop sign with the arrow perfectly placed between their shoulders but couldn't. Maybe I should have a contest to see if anyone comes up with a winner caption.

A Quick Update

This is just a quick note to point out an addition I just made to my blog. If you look to the right of this blogpost you'll see a square box with a QR code. Scan this in to any mobile device you may use - iPhone, Android phone, iPad - and with it you can access my blog on your device. You can generate your own code for whatever you need at Kaywa.

I'll be posting a photo later this afternoon.