First time in four years of owning an iPhone that this has happened to me. I guess I was due? I still don't really plan on getting a case. I might, at most, get one of the anti-glare screen protectors that I had on my iPhone 4, but I think that's it. I'll just have to not drop the replacement phone they (eventually) give me.
8 days later...
Brooklynites flocked to Cortelyou Road in Kensington for the Flatbush Frolic this past weekend. I hung around with fellow students from the Midwood Martial Arts and Family Fitness Center, as demo lessons in Karate, Zumba and jiujitsu were given.
I didn't make it too far down the street, as I was helping out with the demos, and distributing flyers and info about the school, but I did manage to get to my friend Auria's booth a few tents down the street, where she was serving up the most amazing spicy Malaysian beef sandwiches (I believe it was beef rendang, but I could be wrong).
The weather was amazing, the vibe was great, and a good time was had by all.
And here is another beautiful example of the intersection of two topics that are right up my alley: science and hip-hop. The nerds over at Backyard Brains hooked up a squid to an iPod and stimulated its chromatophores (pigmented cells) with some Cypress Hill, and the results are beautiful.
I thought it very considerate that they played the censored version of the song, perhaps out of concern for the squid's delicate sensibilities.
[via John Nack]
A young boy watches some street ball being played at the courts in the Parade Grounds at Prospect Park.
I accidentally got myself caught amongst the throngs of fashionistas swarming Broadway during Fashion's Night Out last week. Thankfully, I missed the rioting, but I did feel very pedestrian in my standard Old Navy/Banana Republic that I was probably wearing.
The stylish throngs massing on Broadway
Portrait of Andrea, shot during last weekend's festivities.
Chicago Tribune Historical photo of Al Capone
Fascinating historical photos of Al Capone, dug up from glass-plate negatives found in the Chicago Tribune's basement.
[via the loop]
The moon rising in the clear evening sky over Manhattan.
Images from Downtown Brooklyn and Christopher Columbus Park.
Two unrelated ads featuring the same stock photo model in the same subway car, just a few feet away from each other. Maybe she was Stock Photo Girl of the Week?
A few scenes from an intense summer rain storm in New York City. Shot as I walked from Chelsea to Union Square.
My wife and I made a visit to the always awesome Highline Park yesterday, where I made this portrait of the young sandwich artist (artisan?) who hooked up our excellent grilled cheese sandwiches at the Northern Spy Food Co.’s Highline outpost. Like many other photographers, it’s an ongoing goal of mine to shoot more portraits of strangers, so this was a small step in that direction for me. Sadly, I neglected to get my subject’s name — definitely a rookie move on my part.
Incidentally, the sandwiches were slowly crafted and went well with the gazpacho we shared. Gazpacho is one of those things that’s never my first choice, but when I do have it, I enjoy it immensely. We finished our meal off with a tasty treat from L’Arte del Gelato across the way. Delicioso!
One last note: I made my diptych above with Tych Panel, which was recently updated for compatibility with Photoshp CS6. For the unfamiliar, Tych Panel is a fantastic extension for Photoshop that allows you to easily create n-tychs from a group of photographs. I highly recommend it.
I stopped by the West 14th Street Apple Store, and having seen it in person, I can join in the chorus: Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Retinal Display definitely looks amazing. Thin, light, fast as hell. I’m in the camp that thinks it’s pricey, but will get cheaper in a generation or so (like the MacBook Air did). It’s the direction the notebook industry as a whole will invariably go in.
Shot on a short walk from 8th to 6th Avenue, and in the subway at Herald Square.
Interesting things are happening on the gestural/spatial computer interaction front. First up, Leap Motion garnered a lot of buzz a week or two ago. This little brick hangs out next to your computer and allows you to interact with it by tracking your gestures. It seems to be tracking movements at an incredibly high-resolution, too, as seen in this demo:
An SDK and app store are in the works, promising lots of fun stuff will be readily available when the Leap Motion ships at the end of the year.
T(ether), from the MIT Media Lab is an iPad-based 3D object manipulation and animation tool. Using motion capture and the built-in cameras on the iPad, it offers immersive interaction with the 3D data, and even allows multiple people to collaboratively edit the same virtual environment. The video explains it better than I ever could:
While you can pre-order the Leap Motion for the grand sum of $70, the T(ether) appears to be still in the concept phase. The future is here, man.
This week's commute includes a bit of anti-consumerist graffiti, a sleepy Yankees fan and an in-passing shot of the Manhattan bridge.
Here’s a vertical pano of the still-under-construction World Trade Center building that I shot a few weeks ago. I had rented a 100-400mm zoom lens from Adorama over the weekend, and wanted to get in a few last shots before returning it, so I could get the most possible bang for my buck out of it. I decided that a good way to do that would be to get up early and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge before work, and get some shots that I normally wouldn’t be able to with my own stable of lenses.
This shot is a vertical panorama stitched together from three shots, and at full size, it’s a whopping 3403 x 9236 pixels. I scaled it down to a more respectable 6000 pixels tall before uploading it to Flickr, but even at that size you can still see some construction workers if you look closely.
The development has had its share of problems (consider that the Burj Khalifa was started after and completed years sooner than One WTC), but I think it’s shaping up to be a gorgeous building. It recently achieved the milestone of surpassing the Empire State Building in height, becoming the tallest building in New York City in the process, and will ultimately top out at a very symbolic 1776 feet when construction is complete.
I spent some time visiting a friend of mine up in Massachussetts on Memorial Day Weekend. This is his baby, a ‘67 Shelby Cobra GT500, much like the one Nic Cage drove in Gone in 60 Seconds:
More photos over on 500px.
Shot with VSCO Cam on iPhone 4.
A week or so ago, a good friend of mine asked me to fill in for him on a photo shoot that he couldn’t make due to a conflict. The gig was for Jody Espina, reknowned sax player and maker of mouthpieces for saxophones and clarinets at JodyZazz.com. My job was to shoot a studio session with jazz saxophonist George Garzone, 2011 Best New Artist Grammy-winner Esperanza Spalding, and pianist-extraordinaire Leo Genovese. I was tasked with getting some casual behind-the-scenes shots of the artists as they interacted in the studio, and to make a few posed portraits as well.
I did my best to be as unobtrusive as possible, and to capture the interactions between the artists and engineers as they recorded several tracks for an upcoming album. Being absolutely ignorant about the nuances of jazz music, everything sounded equally incredible to me, but I watched them communicate their approval of specific phrases (that’s a word, right?) of the music either with subtle glances, nods or gestures — or sometimes with outright exclamations. It was as though they could hear some coded message in the music, or like watching people communicate in a secret language that only they know. It really is a pleasure to watch talented people work their craft.
The lighting in the studio was tricky, and I tried to make do with available light as much as possible, augmented in some spots by my Gary Fong Lightsphere. Towards the end of the shoot, I took advantage of a pause between recording sessions to set up my Westcott Apollo 28” softbox and 580EX II, and with that simple setup, was able to make a few portraits of George that I’m really pleased with.
Again, it was a great experience. The musicians were very laid back and, cool (as I guess you’d expect jazz musicians to be), and they treated me very warmly. The recording session took place at Systems Two Studio, a family-owned business that’s been operating in Brooklyn for the past 30-plus years. The gold records and Grammy award that line the walls are a testament to the long history of the establishment, spanning a multitude of genres from classical to heavy metal, and even movie soundtracks.
This shoot was very different from the kinds of shoots I typically do with families and kids. There are definitely things I’d do differently next time, but it was a great learning experience for me, and I look forward to being able to do a shoot like this again soon.
