New York City 2015

This time around in New York City, I was going to focus mainly on the people. On my first trip to New York I was overwhelmed by the towering skyscrapers and parks and neighborhoods and I didn't really take many portraits. Two years later, I had already realized that travel (or landscape) photos are almost always more interesting with people in them... 

Very early in this four-day stay I had purchased a new 50 mm lens, this time at f/1.4 (refurbished or used I don't remember). That didn't seem like much of a step up from my older f/1.8 lens, on paper at least, but in reality, the quality gap was pretty big. This new lens gave stunning results, and could be opened up to f/2 before getting soft. My old $100 lens could barely stay sharp at 2.8, and at those apertures, every stop counts. I was also carrying around my trusty 105 macro and the Tokina 11-16 ultra-wide, a DX lens that's also FX "compatible" so that zoomed-in the dark corners were pretty small and could easily be cropped out. That's what you get for going to full-frame before having enough money to buy a full set of new lenses. 

NYC: Coney Island Mermaids

Finally the moment has come: the last post on my visit to New York... after three months of editing a trip of two and a half weeks.

All in all a good statistic.

So my last day in the city I made a trip down to Coney Island, where there is an amusement park and also a yearly parade.

Even though a lot of the participants were indeed dressed as mermaids, there were quite a lot of random costumes as well.

So... as commonly happens in any trip where memory cards are filled and formatted again, I had lost 80% of the pictures from this day due to a copying mishap. But some of the images were still on the memory card (yes you can recover formatted cards) and a few were on my laptop (also formatted since). A lesson learned about checking the picture numbers of each folder before deleting anything... and back to the parade...

NYC: Empire State Building

After my stay at Columbus Ohio, I came back through New York on my way home. So I had the chance to see a few more landmarks, and with the sunny weather expected for the weekend I thought now would be a good time to visit the Empire State Building.

I started the day fairly early and got lots of great shots of the city from above. Then I moved on for another visit to Times Square (in daytime) and did some more street photography downtown.

Friday morning had another surprise for me at times square, but more on that later.

So, enjoy the view.

NYC: Staten Island Ferry + bonus

My last day in New York was a long one indeed. The first thing on my plan for the day was the Staten Island ferry. The ride takes about an hour, passes next to the Statue of Liberty (which was obviously on my todo list) and best of all: it is free-no-charge.

So I wanted to have some sort of chance to take the shuttle before it got crowded, so I got there pretty early. It was still pretty much full. I also discovered that you need to wait around an hour for the ferry on the way back. While there, I started to notice something weird was going on that day... but more on that later...

NYC: Central Park

 Central Park. I think more than anything this was the most impressive site in NYC. I find it hard to comprehend how the architects of New York could have imagined how important it would be to save such a large part of the city for this purpose.

The park is enormous. It's really gigantic, and you can get lost walking its trails. Some parts of it are well traveled and see countless visitors every day, other parts are distant and out of the way and mysterious. All around it, like a wall, are tall buildings to remind you that this piece of real-estate is among the most expensive in the world. Still, the city of New York, with its costly skyscrapers and bustling businesses, does not creep into the area of the park. The welfare of the citizens outweighs the economical pressure. As I've said: truly amazing.

NYC: Downtown and Union Square

After taking a stroll through Brooklyn bridge park, I had come back to downtown Manhattan. The day was looking like it would clear up, and I still had many hours to go.

So street photography. Again. Quite a bit of architectural shots, too.

The shot on the left is city hall (I think). It was quite impressive.

I had walked north up to union square (about thirty blocks). There it was like paradise for finding interesting looking people to photograph.

But more on that below...

NYC: Across the Water

The third day of my NYC trip started with surprisingly good weather. I was still riding the jetlag, getting up at 5:00 in the morning (which felt more like noon because of the time differences). This, of course, is photography magic-hour. The streets are empty, the temperatures are still cool, and most importantly, the light is amazing.

I decided to head off by foot from my hostel in Bowery to the Manhattan bridge. I thought I could make a short trip in Brooklyn (the park near the bridge) and if weather wasn't good move on to the neighborhoods instead of landscapes.

Turns out the weather cleared up, and I had the time to see Brooklyn bridge park, and walk back again into Manhattan before 9:00.

NYC: Grand Central

The first thing you notice when going into New York's Grand Central station is how enormous it all is. Enormous and actually a lot darker than you'd think. I had no tripod. I had been unprepared.

I actually had really high expectations from this location. Like Times Square, I thought I would manage to get something different from what is probably one of the most iconic photo spots in the universe.

I didn't have a tripod and I didn't have enough time to make something outstanding, but that just leaves me wanting to come back for another go. I still got some nice, decent shots out of what was starting out as a fairly bad day for photography.

NYC: Day One

It's been a while...

Flying to the US for a work (or study) related trip, naturally I took a few days in New York City to photograph the attractions, the streets, and the architecture. Naturally I got some new lenses while I was there.

Three weeks over there, and as it usually goes: I take pictures on a trip for X days and then edit them for 2.5 X days after that. I have finally come to my senses and decided to upload some photos even before I finished editing the whole enchilada.

Below: several images and a few words regarding my first, oh-so-busy day in NYC...