Loosening Up

Sometimes I just need to turn off my brain and take pictures. I need to put the fun back in  photography and not take myself so seriously.

In that spirit, I have finally joined the instagram crowd. This will be a place to post casual photography, snapshots, and all the stuff that is just fun to shoot. For now they will mostly be from my cell phone, since that's the only way I know to get pics to instagram, and the easiest tool for walking around and snapping casual photos - no feeling conspicuous or self-conscious because of a big SLR. At the moment blogger is not allowing me to embed pics directly from instagram, not sure why.

This picture is from a little playground with a giant sculpture overlooking the Queensboro Bridge. Just a snapshot, but I like the two people sitting apart from one another - I wish the one on the left were not in the shade...

Follow me, I will follow you...

Down by the Railroad Tracks

Another from yesterday's walk along the Hudson.

Summer in the City

Oldie, hot summer a couple of years ago (June 2012).  Cropped a bit.

Back to school hectic still keeping photography and blogging at a minimum for now.

The Long Shadow

The last of my surveillance series, for now.

Sign of the Times: Surveillance

This week's photograph club assignment: Sign of the times. I chose surveillance as a theme. This is the best I have for now, I took a lot of shots of different types of cameras around the city this week, but it's hard to get an interesting angle on them - having some people in the scene would be nice, but to back out far enough to have a view of both people and the camera, the camera gets lost - they are small and usually high above the crowds. Still looking though.

Minimalist Bike

In the Chelsea neighborhood today.

Obsolete

Well, almost, anyway. Not everyone has a  cell phone these days, and you can't exactly make an anonymous call from a cell phone.

Another night in the city.

Citi at Night

This weeks photo assignment was "night in the city" and I shot this before realizing the pun. Another really sharp-cornered structure that Manhattan's imperfect grid often produces.

And a hospital building in the New York Presbyterian complex.

Elevated Subway Beams

Openings of the subway tracks themselves illuminate the bright beam.

"Breakfast"

My photo club has gone from monthly assignments to weekly assignments with a goal of just getting kids to shoot more. The assignments are supposed to be focused enough that anyone can think of a suitable picture but open enough to allow for some variety. This week's assignment was "Breakfast" and I chose a bake/pastry shop that serves the kinds of sweets we associate with breakfast, shot in the early morning on a cold December day with a a lot of condensation on the windows distorting and obscuring the interior open kitchen visible from the sidewalk.

Snow-Speckled

Once again click for the larger image to see the color and contrast as intended. From my replacement G15, so far no signs of sensor issues. but I'll shoot some clear skies tomorrow to be sure.

Time & Reflection

From a stroll around Fort Lee, NJ, yesterday evening.

Salt & Pepper

International Street Photographers Day

It's not what I do, but for the occasion I bit the bullet. To borrow from Charles Darwin, I felt like I was committing murder. OK, a little over the top maybe - more like theft.

GWB Bus Terminal

The M5 bus stop outside the terminal. Working class, immigrant neighborhood. Still an ugly building with a major piece of retail space on street level shuttered up for years now (behind the waiting riders). I think the Port Authority is working on a plan to revitalize the terminal and the surrounding area, but I haven't seen anything yet.