biker, father, 6 train

three men in blue

I'm forcing myself out of the office at lunch and I'm enjoying getting some snaps again. As many street photographers may tell you, the hardest part is to choose and edit the photos and then put them up. I've got a lot of things that I feel have potential and just lack the time to do anything with them. I enjoyed these three guys very much. They were engaged in a pretty animated conversation.

vinny's stars

Superman in Dingos

This guy is often hawking perfume in Herald Square. I'll try to get a better shot of him in the future, but I was late getting to the subway. I have had absolutely no spare time lately, and it's only going to get less. Announcements forthcoming...

don't go anywhere

Confusion reigns for a few seconds at 231st St.

master of the obvious

We take a break from "artist" photos to bring you an example of your tax dollars at work.

shopping dogs

beauty in the bronx

There is beauty to be found everywhere, if you are willing to be flexible in the way you look at things. The first photo below is from a nice group of shots I took a about a week ago. The second shot is from a distance a way so you can see the whole scene. This flowers are growing in front of a gas station in the Bronx.

flaw in chemistry

This was taken very close to this one during a street fair. If you are really, really know Manhattan well, you might be able to tell me the closest cross street based on one clue in the picture.

chicken plant

Not too long ago, while Sandy and I were walking out of our building, Sandy noticed this uprooted plant that had been apparently thrown out of someone's window to the ground. We hid it in the bushes and went back and got it later that night. It's still alive, I can tell it's pretty thankful for the rescue. Kind of like an herbal version of this story.

golden gate

What photo site is complete without a nice, warm sunrise shot of the Golden Gate Bridge? None, I say. I risked a pretty hefty parking ticket to get this one.

novel romance

"I wonder", thought Greg, "If I continue staring blankly at the pages of this very thick and impressive looking novel - will she ever notice me?"

meter made

As much as I love getting shots around NYC, sometimes it just isn't practical to keep my camera bag with me. Then there is the added complication of being out of town nearly half the month of July, and being limited in the things I could take with me. Nevertheless, my enthusiasm is unabated.

Couple of things I'm happy about. I've finally decided to start thinking about possibly learning how to post process photos. Most of the shots you see here have had precious little done to them out of the camera. While I doubt I'll ever do a ton of editing to my photos before posting (I think it would make me lazy when taking the photos), I'd be kidding myself if I didn't admit that they could benefit from such a thing. The first step is getting the software, which I'm planning on getting tomorrow.

Venice Canal and Courtyard

Venice was unbelievable. By unbelievable, I mean that it doesn't look real. It looks like a place made by someone at Disney that was hired to make something that looked very much like Venice.

This effect was heightened this particular day by the fact that the cloudy sky was almost completely white. I grew up with skies like this, and the effect it sometimes has is that the world looks fake - everything stops at the sky, and the sky really isn't a sky at all, but a flat white canvas that hasn't been finished yet. Venice seems like that in this picture, a painting someone started but left incomplete.

graffiti in little italy

If all I ever wanted to do was take pictures of graffiti, I could do it forever in NYC. However, what's in my neighborhood or in the area at work might not be as entertaining as this (I'll put a shot of graffiti in my neighborhood tomorrow and you can decide). The reason I put this one up, even though it's of shaky quality, is because of the time and effort that this guy took to deface a wheat paste poster which, depending on where it was posted, might also be considered by some to be a defacement.

happy pillar

This was taken right outside a crepe shop in San Francisco, somewhere north of Geary Street and west of Union Square.

tenderloin bug

Taken near Post St in San Francisco. I forgot about this batch of photos.

looking south in st kitts

Here is another photo from St. Kitts. I really enjoyed being there; the whole country has about the same population as my home town. At this point I had hiked to the top of a hill and was standing among cacti and strange droppings which I finally determined to be made by wild goats.

So, thanks to the commenter on a past post, I downloaded Gimp, but I realize I don't have the foggiest idea how to use a photo post processing program, so don't hold your breath waiting to see retouched wonders.

coconut

Hey, look, a color photo! There are times that I wish I had Photoshop or some kind of photo post processing software, and this is one of these times. Some of the photos I took in this last trip could be improved by some fiddling, because they didn't turn out as beautiful as the actual sights that I saw. Of course, on the other hand, this way you know that if you see something you like on this site it's a result of careful composing and either accidental or purposefully setting of the exposure to get a pleasing result, rather than someone recreating an image on the computer. I still want Photoshop, though.

parrots amok

I hope Blogger fixes it so I can post pictures directly again, because I had to jump through some hoops today to get these up here.

These aren't awesome pictures, but as the little dog below the subject supercedes the composition. When we were in Australia I was amazed and delighted at the hundreds of cockatoos you could see coming out of the forest at night to feed. They are so plentiful there that some Aussies consider them a nuisance. They were really fun to watch.

blue two

Artistically marginal, but I can't help it - I had to post it. I still remember the authority that little guy had as he strode down the sidewalk.

abstract grazing

Taken while speeding around in New Zealand. I think we were on our way to Akaroa.

new zealand beach

This was taken on a lovely beach in gorgeous New Zealand. I've given up any kind of chronological accuracy from our trip back in September.

kiama rocks and surf

Back in September we spent some time with my bosses in Australia and had a great time. One one day we visited Kiama and the famous blowhole. Unfortunately the tide wasn't high enough to get any shots of geysers of water coming through the rocks. This shot was taken nearby.

shell

From Hermosa Beach, CA

please be quiet

Taken on the lower east side.

light and chrysler

I think the reason that like this image is the repetition of the verticles but also the contrasts and details. Took it while at the Bryant Park Holiday market.

fountain in faenza

In the never-ending quest for Italian ceramics, Sandy and I made our way down one evening from where we were staying in Ravenna to Faenza, a city of which I had never heard. We arrived just in time to dash about before the 7pm closing time and ended up buying two pretty amazing clocks. More amazing was how well Sandy spoke Italian to the shop owners. I shot a picture of this fountain on the way to find Madge (our car).

cell phony

This isn't an artistic photo, but there is a storyette attached. This guy brushed by me in Herald Square and was shouting a steady stream of obscenities, accusations, and threats into his cell phone. Then I realized he didn't have a cell phone.

leaf it alone

Taken on Hermosa Beach, CA on a recent trip to the west coast.

christmas tree

Today my parents and my sister come for a Christmas visit. Since I've been gone for a week we finally got around to getting our Christmas tree yesterday and stayed up pretty late last night decorating it and getting the apartment ready.
Nikon D80

la jungle

I took this photo off the top of a shopping center in Century City, CA.

two more from como

Ok, I didn't have the patience to post one a day. Two more from our wild ride up Lake Como.
Sony Cybershot DSC-P31

photos from lake como

The next three days I'll post photos from a portion of our trip to Italy. These aren't the best shots, but they were taken on a really memorable trip driving up the west side of Lake Como. It was fun to share the stereotypical thin thread of road with ragingly fast Italian drivers. On at least two occasions we had to bend in the side mirrors of our mammoth Volvo to make it possible to pass between another vehicle and a sheer rock wall or building. Because of all the impatient cars breathing down our necks we didn't have the chance to stop and take a photo as often as we would have liked.
Sony Cybershot DSC-P31

aosta hotel

This is another shot from our long trip a few months ago. This was our first night in Italy, in a town called Aosta. This hotel was really gorgeous and run by some very nice people. I asked about the history of the building and they said it had been around for 10 years, but shortly after it was built the owners went bankrupt and it sat empty until just recently. Hard to believe. Not a really great quality photo, but it's nice to remember being there.
Sony Cybershot DSC-P31

hong kong street

The sign builders in Hong Kong are faced with increasing pressure to make sure their sign isn't blocked by the others, so in the end the view of the sky just has to go. [again, having problems getting photos to post - have patience]
Sony Cybershot DSC-P31

gas station sunflower

This and other sunflowers grow every year beside a gas station across the street from where we live in the Bronx.
Nikon D80

david blaine's latest stunt

I don't know much about what happened, but you can probably find more things here. I just happened to be in the neighborhood.
Nikon D80

new yorker

Nice windy day, as I remember.
Nikon D80

looking down from victoria peak

Another one from Hong Kong. We took a train at an impossibly steep angle to the top of Victoria's Peak, which is on the island. You can see across the harbor to Kowloon, which is where we stayed while we were there. Breathtaking view, for sure.
Nikon Coolpix 5600.

hong kong veggies

I loved walking around Hong Kong's many street markets. The farmer's market was our favorite.
Sony Cybershot DSC-P31.

garment district

I like the way these moody buildings look like they are leaning over the street. I know that's a distortion of the lense, but it works for me here.
Nikon D80

kermie

We have three finches. This is our little male, Kermie, the father of Katelyn and Charlotte. We also have a parakeet, Rupie, who I've mentioned before.
Nikon D80

italian countryside

Taken while driving through Lombardy in our diesel Volvo wagon with the lovely GPS system we fondly named Maggie.

ravenna church

In Ravenna, Italy. I got to see some of my favorite mosaics in this church, but none of the photos of Justian and Friends turned out.

susa square

Taken from our table on the balcony of a restaurant in Susa, Italy.

cicada

This little guy was bumbling around Inwood awhile back.

how do you like your city?

I take pictures out of my office window constantly. The view of the city changes all the time; it is really amazing. For example, see the photos below, all of basically identical views. I didn't manipulate these pictures at all - just took them at different times.


This first one was taken last Friday, on the clearest day I can remember.


This one was taken at dusk on a much less clear day.


This, after sundown on a foggy day. I think I used a long exposure setting of some kind.

something old, something new

engrish sampring

These are a few shots from my trip to Japan. I didn't have time to take many photos, and then there was the problem with the batteries that take 13 hours to charge, so... all my Tokyo shots have a decidedly snapshotty feel to them.


This is the first thing I saw at baggage claim. The second thing I should have seen was my luggage, but I didn't for about 36 hours.


This store is tough but friendly!


That's what I call a niche market.


Click on this so you can read the poetic description of a gambling joint.

tokyo temple

very small rain storm

Builders squirting water off the top of a building on 33rd and 5th.

germ factories

Somebody partied too hard in Palm Beach!

views from my office window

Our office is 40 stories up in the Empire State building, so we get some good views when the days are clear. Here are a couple of photos I shot about 2 weeks ago at the end of the day.

east village graffiti

freaky barbie doll window display

This picture was taken the same night as the one below. Location of this window display was E. Houston.

collapsed synagogue

This is one of the strangest pictures I've ever taken. This was taken with about 2 seconds of exposure through a hole in a piece of plywood that formed the wall around a building in the lower East Side that is being demolished. The way it was told to me by the waitress at Teany's, the roof just fell in one day and that further investigation found the building to be so unstable that it couldn't be repaired.

Anyway, the post nuclear attack look of the whole thing is probably due to the light from the street from behind me, because the lot itself had no direct light. I didn't mess with it at all after I took the picture. I should also tell you that almost every shot on this blog is taken with a little Sony Cybershot DSC-P31.

front car of the 1 train

This is a sampling of photos I took while riding in the front car of the one train the other day. I got some weird affects with long exposures.

be very careful

This was taken in a park near our apartment in the Bronx. This path is not a point of no return. It actually leads you down to the road that runs beside the Hudson River. Nice and quite around there. Had to get some green in for March 17th.

eyen park

I hesitate to put this picture up, because there isn't really much going on, but I think you'll agree the colors are nice. Again, all these look better bigger.

famiglia

again

8th St. and Third Ave. Near Chickpea.

church downtown

I'm wracking my brain, but I can't remember where this church is. It's between 8th and 10th St. but I can't remember the Ave. Near the East Village.

empire state

This is the Empire State Building from the south.

henry hudson bridge

This was take under the Henry Hudson Bridge the morning of the MTA strike, when I had to take the Metro North to work. Later that night I would crack my head on the 40th floor of the Empire State building when I fainted. What a day!

yellow tree

Same day in Central Park.

fall in nyc

Sandy (left) walking down the Central Park Mall.

little chair

very big spider

Taken in Savannah, GA on one of the famous squares.

a bee

See, I can take color photos, too.

incongruent

These signs were right beside each other on the subway. Do you think they cancel each other out?

liquid in glasses

Taken in 2003 during a meal with Sandy and my parents.