Pic of the Day: Hardly Soft Nature

There's this Church I often pass.  The exterior archetecture is often passed by without notice by the thousands of people who pass by it each week.  One day I set out to photograph this beautiful church.

While on my way there, I took out my Canon 5D afixed with a 200mm 2.8L.  I initially saw a young man sitting on the steps of the Church.  I wanted to take his photo, but as I stopped more than 80 feet from him, to take out my camera; he looked right at me.  I said to myself, "Ok, I'll get you later."  I focused on shooting the church's exterior; looking for little hidden treasures.  However before I was able to truly obtain an unobstructed point of view, I found myself looking through beautifuly lit leaves.  My eye was drawn to stone leaves in the collumns flanking the church windows.

This photo shows an example of contrast.  Color vs. Monochrome.  Softness vs. Hardness.  Bightness vs. Darkness.  And finally Leaves vs. Stone.

I hope you enjoy.

Pic of the Day: Stripes

Why stripes?  Well beyond the obvious, I love the movie :)  Any chance of paying homage to that classic comedy (staring Bill Murry, Harold Ramis and John Candy), I jump at it :)

From Left to Right:

  • Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
  • Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
  • Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
  • Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
  • Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Pic of the Day: Chandelier

This photo was taken at Grand Central Station with my Canon 5D Mark II and my Canon 200mm 2L IS II lens.  This is possibly my favorite lens.  I say possibly because everyday I learn more and more about myself, my camera, my lenses and my environments.  Yes I love this lens.  If I could only have one lens, I think it would be this one.  Why?  Because it's incredibly crisp, I can shoot without getting into your face and I've yet to take a horrible pic with it.  If there's a fault it's mine.  Other than that, I can't recommend this lend any higher.  

There was a challenge, (as there always is when using a 200mm lens) when I was shooting at Grand Central.  The lighting changes simply by rotating your body 15 degrees.  I could capture a scene with an aperture of 5.6 and a speed of 1/125 then turn and must have an aperture of 2.8 and a speed of 1/50.  This was the case with this photo.

My ISO was 640.  I dared not rise above it for this photo. Why?  I didn't want a lot of grain.  This was the challenge.  I didn't have a tripod with me.  This photo was taken completely freehand.  So I took a firm stance, held my breath and clinched my entire body down from my lungs to my jaw and took the photo.

This photo was not touched up at all!

As I look upon it now, I think to myself perhaps I'll venture out to that old iconic building and take photos of this bare bulbed chandelier (Bare bulbs were considered to be be opulence at the time of these chandeliers' creation.) with my tripod.  All I know is that was the moment to take that photo... and I did.  I hope you enjoy.

Pic of the Day: Achieving A Smile

As always I am extremely careful regarding posting photos of children I shoot.  This photo was not touched up at all.  What you see here is exactly what was shot with my Canon 30D and my Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM.  This young girl allowed me to achieve the capture of the perfect smile.  I am very grateful to her and her parents.  Thank you :)

Pic of the Day: A Classic Bureaucracy

 

One of the first photos taken my with my Canon 24-105mm 4L IS USM.  It's a great lens and easily over looked for it's speed.  I know many photographers rather go for the Canon 24-70mm 2.8L USM.  I choose the 24-105mm because it has been updated with newer lens technology.  The 24-70mm 2.8L, although a faster lens with a more shallow depth of field (a.k.a. DOF); it does not have Canon's Image Stabilization technology.  The 24-70mm is due for an update.  Rather than chase technology, I choose the lens which will offer me a better resale value, if in the event the 24-70mm 2.8 IS USM is developed and becomes available.  If/when that updated lens becomes available, I'll sell the 24-105mm 4L IS USM and pick up the newer better 24-70mm IS USM lens.

Now back to the photo.  :)

This photo was extremely sharp and very well exposed.  However I wanted to capture an "Old Timer" feel to complement the interior architecture.  This is the main hall of the Main New York City Post Office.  This iconic building may change soon as it is slated to become the new Penn Station.  Who knows what will happen to this beautiful building.  How much will the exterior change?  I am very sure the interior will.  If you've not had a change to visit this often passed by building, please treat yourself to how architecture in NYC was a century ago, next year (100 years old in 2012).  By the way, it's open 24 hours a day!

Pic of the Day: The 4th From 33rd

I usually don't crop my photos.  Especially this dramatically... but yes it's a crop.  I took the photo keeping in mind that I would crop the image.  Why?  All because of my location.  Too much street and not enough scenery.  However NYC on the west side of Manhattan... it's all scenery on the 4th of July.

I hope you enjoy the collection of photos.


CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS POSTING FOR MORE PHOTOS


Pic of the Day: A Childhood Stomp

I took this photo at the beginning of spring 2011.  I waited all this time to post this photo because of the tender age of the boy.  The photo was taken at a usual spot I visited.  I knew the boy wasn't local.  I am sure he's back home now.

This boy was having the time of his life!  As he splished and splashed and stomped and jumped in the water, he reminded me of Gene Kelly's splish splash bit, in the movie: Singing in the Rain.  It was that scene caught in my mind which lead me to take my time and hope this young boy would mimic one of Mr. Kelly's moves.  He did...  And I was happy :)

Pic of the Day: Wonderful Psuedo Mist

This photo was taken with my Canon 5D Mark 2 and the Canon 135mm 2L with a B+W NL-5 Close Up Lens.  The NL-5 Close Up Lens is a screw on lens... it looks like a thick version of the B+W standard UV filter.  It's an amazingly tricky add-on to work with.  The Depth of Field (aka DOF) is incredibly short.  Literally moving centimeters will affect the DOF dramatically.

After buying it, my friend and I had a lot of fun exploring what it can do.  It's not cheap though... it runs about $60 USD.  But give it a shot.  Who knows what you can pull off with it.  As for me, I'm going to continue placing it onto the front of my lenses. :)

Pic of the Day: The Brides Bouquet

There are very few photos I would share from this collection.  This photo was taken while attending a wedding.  Out of respect for them, I have chosen to limit the photos I share from the wedding to a very small number.  And I will spread them out as not to dominate or provide the appearance of being a Wedding Photographer.  Those photographers work very hard and have a specific well trained eye.  My eye is geared more towards other types of photography.

I just wish my friends a very wonderfully loved filled life together.  They were Married July 30th.  Congrats.

Pic of the Day: Race For Dominance

This is one of a great number of photos I took of these seals while roaming about the Central Park Zoo.  These two seals were racing for the rocks.  The seal further away was dominated by the closer seal.  In fact the closer seal dominated all of the seals.  He/she played up to the crowd the most... sealing much of the attention away from the other seals... but I paid attention to them all.

Pic of the Day - Loosing My Religion

 

I took this photo at the American Photo Model Shoot.  I have a ton of photos from that shoot.  Unfortunately my camera's focal point malfunctioned on me and most of those photos came out soft.  I generally will avoid placing an image online if it's soft.  However the I love the composition of this photo.  There's an additional photo... read the rest of this post to see the other photo.  WARNING:  not work safe.


Stuff

I had to clean all this stuff!!!  My gear minus 2 lenses.  A 28mm 1.4 prime and a 24-70mm 2.8 zoom.  Soon a 70-200mm 2.8

Pic Of The Day - Int'l Man Of Relaxation

 

 

Today was my first day back from little Blog Time Out. :)  I took my trusty Canon 5D mark II out along with my Canon 200mm 2.8L lens; and went around Columbus Circle in NYC, taking photos of almost everything I saw.

I found the man in the photo interesting.  He reminded me of a retired "James Bond" type of person. I found the lines his body & umbrellas made in contrast to the sharp rigid lines of his environment. I hope you find this contrast as interesting as I did.