Need to get from twelve to five!

So the challenge is to show five. It started out north of 900.  Down to twelve from an "and return" sprint to DUMBO for a Joe DiMaggio Gleasons Gym/DUMBO workshop today. Once again wrong equipment (A7r), but was good, in the end lots of out-of-focus shots in 900+.  Ergo less to to chose from.

As of 10:45PM Saturday these are my top twelve, need to be  five by lets say 6PM tomorrow. Click here or on the snap below to check out the candidates. Sunday AM 4/27 added two more, now fourteen to five.

Main near corner of Fulton - DUMBO

Quoting the Boss...

"Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal". Likely fifiteen miles more or less east and west from Fultonville, NY.  Fort Hunter in the east and Herkimer in the west. In conjunction with Tillman Crane's annual photo retreat. Previously in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey, at least for this year, centered in Johnstown, NY.

Featured locations were the Schoharie Aquaduct and two churches, Herkimer Reformed Church and Palantine Lutheran Church. Didn't much like Palatine Church outcome so no snaps from there are shown (well the tractor is from out back). Between Herkimer and Palatine is, for lack of a better name, the 1769 church. No access but some good results through the windows.

The snap below is from Herkimer Reformed Church, it is in black and white and is the only one so presented. It, in particular, didn't look good in color so it didn't make the gallery, which are all in color. The last few galleries have all been black and white, so it is time to put some different spin on the ball. Color courtesy of VSCO Agfa Vista 100 emulation, pretty much all the cool or cool+ varients. Everything shot with the A7r using the Canon 24 Tilt-Shift.

Click here or on the snap below to see galley snaps.

Herkimer Reformed Church — Herkimer, NY

Up and at 'em

lots on the agenda today.  Get to Hoboken, stop in Manhattan for some photo ops on the way, watch the Ravens win and the Skins lose. Day was planned to start at at 4AM, which it actually sort of did but a check of the NYC weather showed snow was supposed to stop by 5AM so no sense rushing for that.  Back in the sack until 6AM, on the road by 6:45. Probably good I delayed two hours the NJTP south of exit 6 was an ice rink with cars in all sorts of places they wern't supposed to be. I am sure the two hour delay made my own passage far less stressful.

Parked on Mulberry and Spring, sort of the ven part of the diagram that would be the Bowery, Little Italy, Soho and Chinatown.  Finished about noon, headed to the W in Hoboken and watched the games, popping off a few snaps before the Ravens and Skins games. Multitasked the games and the images. A big load heading to smugmug, 154 to be exact - that is out of 1200+, since I was bracketing there were really was only a third of that. Click on the snap below to zoom off to the gallery.

For the technically inclined, all with the 5D Mk III, with the only lens I brought with me (70-300L) at 1600 ISO, apertures generally north of f/8.0 with a few maybe at f/5.3.  ISO 1600 you scoff, you wouldn't know unless I told you so. With a 154 of them I think they are pretty damn good. Also becuase there were so many not one saw Photoshop, all done in Lightroom 4.  

For the less technical inclined, being uploaded from the bar at the W in Hoboken whilst a Beefeater Martini, shaken not stirred, with a twist, is being consumed.

141...

shopping days until Christmas.  Reprocessed snap from in front of the flagship Saks store on Fifth Avenue on Black Friday 2011.  Should probably make that trip again in 2012.   All with HDR Efex Pro, with darkened, de-structurfed, de-contrasted Granny's Attic preset applied to the background masked off the subject, further finishing with Color Efex 3. Suggested by Nik webinar.

A couple of blocks up Fifth.

The other side of the Avenue.

Rock Center

Remember me to Herald Square!

The Strand - the final destination

A walk from the High Line southern end at 10th Avenue and Gansevoort Street to the Strand at 12th and Broadway.  Bunch of snaps along the way.  Lots more processing to do before they get to SmugMug.  In the mean time a peak at the destination and a snap of a couple of guys getting in a smoke before it is prohibited in NYC.

On Broadway

The Strand

Willie - Photographer

What follows below in italics is the original blog post, when I was under the impression that the guy with the camera was Louis Mendes. We asked the photographer for an eMail address and he said Louis Mendes via Facebook.  Looked it up, thought he didn't particularly look the same but... well the guy on Facebook was always wearing a hat and how many guys could be out and about with a Speed Graphic with a Polaroid back.   Well obviously at least two.   I sent a link to this blog post to Louis Mendes and he just volleyed that it wasn't him but his pal and protege Willie.  Apologies to Louis. It still was a ton of fun and all the rest still applies.  JEN 3/2/2011.

Louis Willie was outside Pastis when we finished dinner.  After a couple of Polaroid snaps from Louis's Willie's enormous Speed Graphic with a Polaroid back, I got to turn the tables on a New York photographic iconer with the 5D Mk II and a 35 f1.4L.  Louis Willie had the advantage of a flash (and talent), I was using what little light there was.  All my shots were taken at f1.4 at ISO 1600 with the shutter speed either just above or below 1/35.   B&W conversion was done with NIKSoftware's Silver Efex Pro asking for faux Ilford XP2 Super 400. Dodging and burning applied as needed to deal with the shadows and the lights and to make the Speed Graphic pop.

Click here for Louis's facebook page and here for a NYT photo essay and finally here for some scoop on Louis's tooling.  BTW, Louis is 70 and makes his living as result of hauling that huge camera around Manhattan.  Time to stop bellyaching about a DSLR and fast lenses. 

From the NYT piece:  “Most photographers don’t have a good picture of themselves,” he explained. “They think nobody can take as good a picture as they can. So, I prove them wrong. There’s good money there.”  

Here are the best of my attempts to get a good shot of Louis Willie, his of me is forsuredly better than mine of him. There assuredly is no photographic money, not good nor bad, to be found around or about here.  Hah!

 

The Maritime

Home base for the evening, in the center of the Meatpacking District, just down the street from the midpoint entrance to the High Line and the focus of this adventure.  Originally the HQ of the National Maritime Union. Nice, despite its beginnings as home to a bunch of lefties.

Top to bottom, the lobby, outside at night and morning looking west to the Hudson along 16th street.