Saturday, October 26, 2013

Imma Tell You

Beautiful autumn days keep coming in New York, and after spending two days indoors looking at displays and presentations of photo gear and software, being out on the street today was a treat even though the cloudless sky made for harsh lighting conditions. Later this week, on Thursday, I hope to get out in the evening for the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village. I was all set to go last year, but our dear friend Sandy had other plans for all of us.

While on the train returning home, I did a preliminary review of the photos I shot. The person next to me asked to see some of them and since I can't resist a pretty smile I went through several with her. When we looked at this shot and I told her I really liked it, she said 'but it's crooked!' I was reminded of a Garry Winogrand quip in response to a comment like that. He said 'you're not looking at it the right way.'




Friday, October 25, 2013

Photo Expo New York

I've spent two days at the Photo Expo in New York. When I first began attending the show, back in the 1980's, it was clearly aimed at the working professional - studio, landscape, documentary, whatever. The exhibitors were there to not only introduce their products to the photographers, but also to meet and interact with them, to build a relationship with them. Apple had a presence at the show, as did Adobe. These were the years at the birth of digital technology - manipulate images with a computer program? Display images on a computer screen? Ninety-nine percent of the photographs seen at the shows were prints made by a chemical process on a coated piece of paper.

The content of the show and the attendees have changed radically. No more Adobe or Apple, This year there was just one tripod manufacturer - Manfrotto. Very few studio lighting and/or equipment vendors. The entire show was directed towards the consumer market, and the biggest presenters were Nikon and Canon. This seemed a little out of joint to me because over the past year or so, those two manufacturers in particular have been left in the dust of the oncoming move towards smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras. The Sony and Fuji had people four or five deep at their counters, while within the Canikon sphere it was the same old same old.

I went the first day specifically to look into replacing my Drobo hard drive array with an updated version. My present one, over five years old now, was starting to make strange noises and occasionally acted a little quirky. I also wanted to upgrade because the new Drobo 5D enclosure
is USB 3/Thunderbolt compatible, which would result in much faster transfer rates between the drives and my computer. Lucky me, there was a show special of $100 off the suggested retail price, so I bought it, and spent the rest of the day poking around and looking at toys.

On the spur of the minute I decided to go in again today. Big mistake! I talked with a rep at a printing paper supplier who told me about a show special for the Canon Pro-1 printer - $500 off the usual selling price. The printer has twelve pigments, five of which are dedicated to b/w printing. I'd been thinking about that printer for two years now, and today I couldn't resist anymore. I'm very excited at the prospect of getting back into printing my images. Making a finely tuned and detailed printed image has for me always been one of the most gratifying experiences. Kind of like basking in the warm glow of having become one with a beautiful piece of music as I performed it.

Apropos of nothing I've stated above (except that I may print it) here's a shot I took this past Saturday in Manhattan.



Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Photo Expo NYC Tomorrow!

I'm gonna leave my credit cards HOME!

Well .... probably not. I have to check out the new Drobo D (raid array) which I probably will spring for, the Fuji XE-2 which I have already sprung for but haven't had delivered yet (Fuji hasn't delivered yet, so nobody has one), and the Fuji 23mm f1.4 lens (same as the XE-2). But the real fun of the show is all the new stuff that's released for the show. Ya never know what gear may pop up.

Inna mean time, here's a shot I nailed on Saturday:

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Monday, October 21, 2013

A Father's Job

After two weeks of not being able to get out for extended shooting time (computer stuff totally consumed all my time) I was chomping at the bit. Apparently all that chomping was not good for me. I developed an infection which is going to keep me grounded for a few more days. So it's more old stuff that I shot this past Saturday. Oh well ....


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Ice Cream Is Always In Season

It's been a wonderful few weeks weatherwise in New York, but yesterday was the first day with a real chill in the air. I needed to get out and shoot just for the fun of it, with no agenda or project in mind. I have quite a few ongoing series of pictures that I've been developing for a number of years, and it was time to beef them up a bit.

Photographing children is always a tricky subject for me. I never do it without a parent present and knowing that I am doing it. I saw these two young ladies sitting on a wall and their parents standing in front of them taking photos with their iPhones, so I stood in the middle, between the two parents for this shot. The girls smiled gleefully for their parents, but not for me. I wouldn't have had it any other way.