NYC Street Candids

[schmoo]

Last fall I finally took my camera into the city. I grew up not far from Manhattan but rarely ever took any photos of the place, even after I got into photography seriously.

Sometimes we do (or do not do) strange things.

The nice thing about New York is that a lot of people are so wrapped up in their own urban cocoon, they don't really care if you take their photo. Of course, I found this wasn't necessarily the case in Chinatown, but maybe it's just a cultural thing. :scratch

Street seller
http://www.schmootography.com/photos/452108721_Zc2Tk-L.jpg

Reflection in a restaurant window:
http://www.schmootography.com/photos/443415947_yAcQE-L.jpg

Hearing the news
http://www.schmootography.com/photos/443393029_QyxJZ-L.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/443416131_rLz7K-L.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/443416346_QpDv8-L.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/444802226_fN7dG-L.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/444799920_rW2TJ-L.jpg

One of my favorite treats from Japan. I don't eat sugar anymore and joked that the ONLY thing I would cheat for is Beard Papa... and not 10 minutes later we find this shop on the street corner in the USA!

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/448916384_TF642-L.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/448916636_29DSA-L.jpg

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/448917135_MrywD-XL.jpg

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/448926612_KNQ5k-L.jpg

This doesn't have people in it, but I have just one lone shot of the Manhattan bridge left:

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/448916075_PdcVs-L.jpg

After shooting the frigid sunset (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=112801) on the rocks of the river, we went into the nearest pub to warm up before heading home. As we thawed, the restaurant was getting ready for the dinner crowd and we chatted with the oyster shucker behind the bar. He told us about his work hazards, and showed us a few occupational injuries by candlelight:

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/452121979_UqpkD-L.jpg

And this image wasn't from that trip but from the same area. My sister lives right across the water from the city and I captured her in the lamplight of the pier. The skyline is, I think, the perfect kind of glitter for a person like herself.

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/443353373_6xFQM-L.jpg

Thanks for looking, folks. :thumb

[Andy]

Mmmmmz, really nice. I think you did the same route that Travis and I did :D

[Mitchell]

Great series. That last one of your sister is my favorite. I also like the first shot capturing the chaos of Chinatown. Nicely done.:thumb

[Flyinggina]

Wonderful series. I think my favorite is the couple in the restaurant (pub?) with the red window, though it is really hard to choose.

I love your use of tilt. (Is "tilt" a technical term?) Why is it that it looks "right" in your photos and almost always looks like I just didn't hold the camera straight in mine, even when I do it on purpose?

Anyhow, seeing these brought a big smile to my face and is a great start for the week.

Virginia

[schmoo]

Thanks! I did ask Trav to just take me around because there's just too much to see, even as a regular and especially with new photographer eyes. I was tempted to get the Wedge Salad too but it looked a little intimidating.


I love your use of tilt. (Is "tilt" a technical term?) Why is it that it looks "right" in your photos and almost always looks like I just didn't hold the camera straight in mine, even when I do it on purpose?


I think this is pretty funny to me because the tilt was really bugging me. I also think that it looks really good in other people's photographs, but never mine. The secret here is that I was using a 90-degree scope. It's a kind of spy lens I got as a toy and I was trying it out for the first time. Because you can rotate it 180 degrees and shows you a mirror-image through the viewfinder, sometimes it's very hard to get it to be level -- particularly when pedestrians are walking by you very quickly. So the tilt here is not on purpose :D

This is also why you see a ton of vignetting on most of these photos. You have to zoom in to at least 70mm I think (on a 1.6-crop sensor) so sometimes I just wasn't completely ready to take the shot.

I appreciate the comments!

[Tentacion]

Nice work, love the "Breakin' the News"....nice emotional capture!

Love the couple in red, and the last shot of your sister....Great Character Captures! Oh and the underside of the bridge.

Kudos!!
Tentacion

[Agnieszka]

FUN set! I especially like the pigeon shot ... but all of them were just really interesting to look at! :clap :barb

[Briggie]

Very Cool Series, Schmoo!! Fave is your sister pic! Phenomenal! :clap

[divamum]

These are all fantastic but I especially love that first shot of Chinatown and the tilted crossing the bridge (I love tilts too, but have the same reaction when I try to use them! How funny - must be a disjunct between what we remember as the reality and the image afterwards, I guess)

:clap:bow:bow:bow Beautiful series.

[Qarik]

awesome set..you do a good job of actually showing your personality in your pictures.:clap

[lisap]

Nice series, schmoo. I'm waayyyy to chicken and shy to do street photography. I think it's so cool to be able to do that.

I really enjoyed looking at these. I think the 'Hearing the news' and the one of your sister are my favs. Thanks for sharing these. :)

-- Lisa P.