In yesterday’s posts I left you with a small riddle, asking whether anyone would recognize the building were I shot the abstract fine-art architectural shots. While no-one came up with the right solution (Oculus – World Trade Center Station in New York City), a few readers correctly recognized the work of architect Santiago Calatrava. Today, continuing my series “NYC Experience” from our trip to the Big Apple in 2018, I show you a bit more of the outside and interior of this new iconic NCY landmark.
Put me in a building with interesting architecture and light, and I feel like a child in a sandbox. Using my camera as my little shovel. Playing with light and lines…
Whenever I’m in New York City, I try to visit the Statue of Liberty. Like last in April 2018, when I took this photograph, on a less than clear day. And whenever I see her, I’m always awed by her sight – and by what she stands for:
These values should apply to all members of the human family and are the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Let us all not forget that.
I wish all my American friends a peaceful 4th of July. Stay safe!
Every time I have visited New York City in the past eighteen years, I was missing the sleek silhouettes of the Twin Towers that have graced the skyline of the Big Apple for almost three decades, until they fell on that fateful day of infamy that was September 11th 2001.
Everyone knows that well-traveled roads wear down over time. They develop cracks, then the first potholes appear. Work crews are deployed to patch up the superficial damages. Traffic continues to roll. Then you notice larger surface alterations. And you realize, that the road has a damaged foundation. And you need to do a larger reconstruction, totally removing the old road surface, fix the foundation and then apply a totally new pavement. If you are curious how this analogy applies to the Streets of Nuremberg, continue reading…. Continue reading “Forced road work ahead”→
After a two-week holiday break, tomorrow I will return to the job that pays the bills. The thing is, it feels as if I’ve left the office just yesterday and that I’m in need for a break. Isn’t this crazy?
This morning, The Significant Other received a text message from a friend reading “Wenn die stille Zeit vorbei ist, dann wird es auch endlich wieder ruhiger”. Probably the translation into English doesn’t really carry over the meaning in German – “When the quiet time is over, it will finally be calmer again” – as over here we refer to Christmas also as the “Stille Zeit”, the “Quiet time”.
With all the celebrations (Christmas, New Year, birthday) and a little skiing trip, plus all the shopping, visits with friends, shows, movies we saw…spirit soaring, body wrecked 😉
The above image is another from last years NYC trip that I have never posted. Right now I would love to take a two-hour subway ride snoozing happily away. Taken with the OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs 1/25 sec @ F/4 and ISO 1600, 70mm focal length.
Day 2 of our week in the Big Apple was full of memories for me. We took the subway downtown to the World Trade Center. As a seventeen year old exchange student in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, my host family took me to my very first visit of New York City, back in 1984. My host-dad was a sheet metal worker, and I vividly remembering him taking me up to the observation deck of the Twin Towers and telling me full of pride how he helped build the towers. I’ve returned to NYC many times, and each time I see the skyline I miss the elegant silhouette of the Twin Towers. During my last visit in 2012, the new One World Trade Center was almost finished, the memorial fountains in the footprints of the old towers where already there, the 9/11 museum not yet open. To see how it looks today continue after the jump… Continue reading “NYC Experience – Memories”→
Those commuters for sure seem totally ignorant about that love attack from their right side. Or maybe nobody dares to look anymore? I took this is the new subway station below the Oculus near the new World Trade Center. Image specs are 1/125 sec @ f/4 and ISO 250. After RAW conversion I corrected the white balance in Lightroom CC, so it correctly shows the white marble of the station, not the yellowish color that the automatic white balance gave me. A good example why shooting RAW makes so much sense, when it comes to correcting the white balance in post processing. No chance to get this straight in jpg. While the AWB typically does well outside, indoors with artificial light in often is lost.
Another point fo discussion in this image is whether to clone out the tubes of the roof construction that are visible in the top right. Cropping does not work here, as you would lose the leading lines of the walkway and the electronic billboard. So either leave them where there are, or take the work laborious approach to clone them out, without disrupting the lines of the marble tiles. I decided to leave them. Although a bit of a disturbance of the otherwise clean composition, the eye doesn’t really notice them. I would be interested in your opinions, leave them in the comment section.
Across the Aisle | New York City | 2018 | 1/60 sec @ f/4 and ISO 3200
Although a short week, due to a public holiday in Germany, I’m glad it is over. Looking forward to a weekend of rest.
Across the Aisle | New York City | 2018 | 1/125 sec @ f/4 and ISO 3200
Shooting street photography in a subway is not so difficult, and there are always interesting characters sitting across the isle. Everybody is either half asleep or occupied with the smartphone. A great place to shoot inconspicuous street portraits. Be ware to get at least 1/60 sec of shutter speed, as the trains are always moving and rumbling on their tracks, so make sure you dial in a fast enough speed, at least 1/60 of a second to avoid motion blur.
The photos were taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. RAW conversion and post processing in Lightroom Classic CC.
If you want to pick up your camera this weekend and are still looking for some fresh inspirations what to shoot, visit my free Learning Center .
This episode from our week in NYC I takes you up one of the most iconic buildings in the world, the Empire State Building, located on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets. The Art Deco skyscraper was completed in 1931. Including the antenna it has a height of 1,454 feet (443.2 m). For a bit about the building and more photos continue after the jump… Continue reading “NYC Experience – Empire State Building”→
One of the largest museums in the world is the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. It is situated across the Central Park in the Upper West Side of the Big Apple. Opened in 1877, the museum contains over 33 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains and cultural artifacts, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. If you have seen the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum”, you know that this exhibits can come to live at times. For more about the museum and more photographs from our visit continue after the jump…
When shooting Street Photography, sometimes it is worth waiting a few seconds, observing an interesting scene. Below is the first photograph I took of that scene I observed in a New York subway station sometime after midnight. It was the high heeled lady holding the flowers that first caught my eye, standing elegantly in front of the rugged backdrop of the subway exit.
I moved to the front a bit, as I wanted to align the red flowers with the likewise red emergency exit sign behind her, wanting to create a visual line between the red and black subject (lady) and likewise red and black background (exit gate). The all of a sudden her companion put his hands in front of his face. Realizing this gesture I pressed the shutter once more, capturing a street photography with both visual interest, lots of gesture and a story behind (guess for yourself….)
Photo was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs are 1/80sec @ F/4 and ISO1600, 75mm focal length. RAW conversion and post processing in Lightroom Classic CC.
If you are looking for inspirations around photography for the weekend, check out my free Learning Center .
