Polar Bear Plunge, January 1, 2012

This was my first time at the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge out at Coney Island. I have no idea if it’s always this crowded or if the unusually sunny and warm day brought extra people. It was really a blast.

See the series on Flickr or Google+

Autumn Afternoon, Prospect Park, November 2011

Last week I checked the LightTrac app on my iPad to figure out the optimal time / place for late afternoon sun streams. Here are the resulting photos.

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LightTrac

Halloween, October 31 2011

After a cold and snowy weekend, the weather turned mild for a Monday night Halloween parade. Had a great time wandering the crowded streets with my new friend Eric. Unfortunately, in the dark I didn’t notice that the camera got switched to MF halfway through the night, so many good shots were otherwise ruined.

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Occupy Wall Street, October 2011

The first time I stopped by OWS the tourists, photographers and police outnumbered the protesters. My second visit a few weeks later showed me a very different scene. It looks like they are settled in for the long haul. Let’s just hope that the city and NYPD can keep their cool.

See the series on Flickr or Google+

Lunar New Year Parade, February 2010

I had a gay old time photographing the Chinese / Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown, NYC. Unlike Tiger (2010), Ox (2009) and Rat (2008) the Year of the Rabbit brought quite a bit of whimsy to the event.

Not everyone was all fuzzy ears and smiles, however:

Stade Olympique, October 2010

Last fall I spent a whole afternoon wandering around the spookily desolate olympic stadium grounds in Montreal. Aside from a few athletes, a handful of Japanese tourists going to the tower, and a kid practicing parkour, the place was deserted. (wikipedia)

Snowy Prospect Park, 2011

I was out of town over Christmas, so missed the big snowmageddon. But mother nature gave us another 6 inches or so for me to play with.

Bronx Zoo, Winter Visit 2011

Although some of the less hardy animals are on vacation (do they go to Miami?) a winter day makes for a nice crowd-free visit to the zoo.

Opening reception photos (on facebook)

TOM GIEBEL’s solo exhibition of photographs, XYLEM AND PHLOEM, was on display at the SOAPBOX GALLERY in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn from Friday, November 12th through November 25th, 2010

Halloween 2010

I’m not normally a Halloween person, but this year I photographed the festivities in Fort Greene, Jackson Heights and SoHo while participating in a weekend workshop given by Mary Ellen Mark.

Alaska 2010

Highlights from my awesome trip to Alaska with Muchmore include the Anchorage to Seward ride on the Alaska Railroad, the Kenai Fjords boat trip, the Mount McKinley / Denali park visit, flying lessons over the Knik Tundra with Greg, hiking the Winner Creek Trail with Nancy, and a lot more!

Prospect Park Zoo, 5/22/10

The Prospect Park Zoo is only a few blocks from my house, but someone in all the years living here I never visited. Until now. The zoo is small but very fun and interactive. Not a lot of exotic animals, but the ones that are there are lively and close up. Everything is arranged in a circle around a the central sea lion pool, so the visit is easy — you won’t get tired or lost like at the big Bronx zoo. Kid-friendly and highly recommended for an easy afternoon.

Hanami, 4/23/10

After a hectic work week I managed to get to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and get some photos of the cherry blossoms before they drop and before the crowds descend on the esplanade for Sakuri Matsuri, the BBG’s annual Hanami festival.

Faces of Holi, 3/7/10

Last week was one of my favorite annual events, the Hindu spring festival Holi (also called Phagwah or the Festival of Colors) out in Richmond Hills, Queens. It was my third time attending, and in addition to group photos I also concentrated on a series of portraits.

The weather was beautiful, with bright skies and a bit of a breeze to kick up the colors. Enjoy the photos, and if you see one of yourself in there post a comment and say Hi!

Mexico City

Seven days was just not enough time to explore Mexico City. A week after being home and I still find myself daydreaming about the streets and the people there.

Winter Reconnaissance

Somewhere in the title there’s an anagram with Wisconsin in it, which is fitting because these photos were taken on the short flight from Appleton to Milwaukee. The window in my favorite seat (2A) was a little scuffed, so these are not the clear shots I would have got if Midwest Airlines still had it’s new Boeing 717s. Nonetheless, the shortness of the flight (20 minutes) means we never get too high, so it’s easy to make out all lots of detail on the ground. The snow helps too, adding lots of contrast and making it easier to pick out the larger features.

Excitement, euphoria (Stage 1)

Disenchantment (Stage 2)

Search for the guilty (Stage 3)

Punishment of the innocent (Stage 4)

Distinction for the uninvolved (Stage 5)

Farmers Market Photos: 5/30/2009

The farmers’ market at Grand Army Plaza is really picking up steam.

After dropping off a bag of clothes at the clothing recycling booth, I paid a visit to the sexy Madura mushroom man (above) and picked up some baby bellas and another fungal delight I forgot the name of. He promised it would taste “nutty.”

Next on to the Tellos Green Farm egg lady, who was selling blue-green eggs. When asked, she assured me with a straight face that they were from blue-green chickens.

I stopped to look at the asparagus (so big!) but ended up buying a bag of spinach instead. Hoping for those Popeye arms.

Check out the full photo series for more!

Beach 116 Street, 4/26/09

The weather was great and the train ride wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, despite all the routing changes. The beach was pretty crowded even though all the “Beach Close” signs were still up. Stay tuned for more photos to be posted later.

Map of trip via Google Earth