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

Cheer New York is looking for male fliers. (Well, who isn’t?) Speaking of fliers, I’ve donated the use of a photo for their flyer (above) which you may see around town soon.

Newton Creek Superfish, 8/27/08

Three big photo-opportunities happened for me last weekend. (1) A long photo-hike through Sunset Park where we got harangued by a security guard and narrowly avoided getting bothered by police — luckily some law-breaking kids diverted their attention from us. (2) A four-hour marathon of fashion and flash photography at GMHC’s Latex Ball — a totally new experience for me. (3) Another long photo-hike through Williamsburg, where Trevor DID get busted — more on that later.

Unfortunately, on Monday morning my motherboard fried, and my brand new super-duper Photoshop computer is on it’s way back to Shuttle for brain surgery. So I won’t be posting many of the photos any time soon. My old setup is just too slow and painful to process the 25MB RAW files that the Canon 1DS MkIII makes.

Anyway, here’s one photo I took the time to process. After crossing a train bridge over the Newton Creek to see some graffiti, we noticed this effluent pipe with tendrils of black gunk slowly streaming out. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. Lots of fish swimming around it too — but they were too small to see if they had three eyes.

A post on yesterday’s City Room blog at NYTimes.com I see that the EPA is going to “develop a sampling plan” there, perhaps the first steps towards making it a Superfund cleanup site. Woohoo!

Today I took my nephew and mom to Coney Island and the New York Aquarium. Overall a fun day, although a bit hot. Ate at Nathan’s, walked the Steeplechase Pier, rode the Polar Run, saw some freaks and Shot the Freak. Well, Joey did. I almost put a dollar in the Waterboard Thrillride but chickened out.

It was fun to watch this group of intrepid boaters put their canoe in the water at the end of Huron Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It was a little tricky for them — this wasn’t an official NYC Water Trail landing site. After one dip in the East River, they managed to launch o.k.

I’m thinking of selling my macro lens and ring light flash, and perhaps even the 30D and 10-22mm wide angle zoom lens. I have only used the macro lens twice, and while the photos are impressive the technique itself doesn’t really interest me very much. I think part of the problem is that the focus needs to be excruciatingly precise for the images to work, and I just don’t have the patience.

Many more macro photos here

Saw some bulbous bollards yesterday in the Meat Packing District. Don’t know why I find these things so compelling. The people eating brunch in all the surrounding cafes thought I was a little odd.

Click here to view more from the series.

If you haven’t been to PS1 for a Saturday Warm Up recently, now is a good time to go. The current outdoor installation is P.F.1 (Public Farm One) from the WORK Architecture Company. Not as splashy as last summer’s art (groan — I know) but perhaps more visually impressive. Inside the museum there are so many great and interesting pieces, I’m definitely going there again in a couple weeks. Well worth a visit to Queens, but best viewed on a Saturday.

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The story behind his exploration has always fascinated me, since reading Voyage of the Beagle as a school kid. Two years ago the American Museum of Natural History in New York City had a great exhibit dedicated to Darwin — with live animals to illustrate. And last year I had the great fortune of traveling to the Galapagos for a ten day expedition.

Yesterday I went to the Mermaid Parade out in Coney Island. Hugely crowded. In fact, so crowded that I skipped the parade itself, and so missed the song-and-dance part of the show. I did see many amazing costumes in the staging area though. Which is the main reason I went. See my Mermaid Parade page for all the photos in one place.

I have three photos hanging in the group show “As We See It” currently on display at The Center. The show runs all summer, but the opening reception is Thursday, June 12th at 6pm and you are invited!

Visit my profile on the NYCPhotoClub web site to see my artist statement and other information.

As We See It
Fourth Annual Photography Exhibition
June 9 – August 21, 2008
Opening reception: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 6-8 pm
The Center, 208 West 13th St, 2nd Floor, NYC

Had a lovely day yesterday walking around Astoria (Queens) with Michael. Highlights of the day included running into some fun kids on the secluded beach under Hell Gate (bridge, above) and wandering through the fallow industrial environs of 1st Street. More photos to follow on Atomische.com.