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.

See the series on Flickr or Google+

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:

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.

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!

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)

Hidden Harbor / Working Harbor Sunset Tour, 2009

Last night I went on a sunset cruise through New York Harbor with Michael and his parents. The Hidden Harbor Sunset Tour was sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee, and for two hours the guide pointed out and explained tug boats–both pushers and pullers, graving docks, floating drydocks, container ships and ro-ros, ferries, fireboats, bridges, barges, tankers, cranes, warehouses and other industrial maritime features. We saw a lot of water traffic, and the guide pointed out that although there are much fewer container ships these days they are much bigger. It was awesome to see everything so close up.

Our boat started at the Pier 16 near the Brooklyn Bridge, and we sailed around the edges of Brooklyn by Red Hook and Sunset Park, and even went into the Eerie Basin for a bit. Next we passed Governors Island on our way to Staten Island, through Kill van Kull and past Snug Harbor. After slipping under the Bayonne Bridge we traveled up to Port Newark and Port Elizabeth. Finally we headed back, passing the Robbins Reef Lighthouse and the Statue of Liberty.

The weather was absolutely perfect, and the harbor looked bright and vibrant. I’ve posted quite a few photos here and will post more in the series over the next few days.

Gay Parade NYC, 2009

This year we arrived at our favorite spot before the parade actually started, so managed to see Dykes on Bikes! But the early start meant we also got tired of standing and I left about 3 hours into it … even though the parade was only half done. Other highlights were seeing my friends march with GOAL, and of course the after-parade scene in the West Village where revelers were all too eager to pose for the camera.

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

Holi, 3/15/09

Today was my second time attending the Hindu spring festival Holi (also called Phagwah or the Festival of Colors) out in Richmond Hills, Queens.

Last year I had no idea what to expect, and it took me a while to get into it. I was also worried about dust on the camera. This year I planned ahead and made a clear plastic camera cover.

There’s a short and sweet parade, mostly for sponsors and politicians. But the fun really starts at the end when the crowds gather in the park to exchange colors. Everyone goes a little wild, with kids throwing colored powder, baby powder, and also color liquid at eachother. The teenagers get really crazy, but the little kids and grownups get into it too.

The rowdiness is fun but never gets out of control. Everyone is smiling and laughing. The festivities really bring people together, and total strangers have no shyness about approaching eachother to apply colors.

In the photo of me above, each unique color was gently and lovingly applied by hand by a different total stranger.

Escalade EXT, 3/14/09

Went solo today, so made a very fast efficient trip. Sprinted to the G train, got off on Broadway and walked west, then up and down the streets of south Williamsburg until I got to the bridge, then over to Bedford and south again to Broadway, then east back to the G train. Round trip was about two hours. I took a total of 225 shots, including about 50 of a single, very interesting textured wall. More later, but here’s one for posting on Atomische tomorrow.

Winter Beach, 2/28/09

Yesterday I went on a photo safari with Trevor. He selected Coney Island as our destination, which was a great choice. I love the beach on a winter’s day. It was a little gloomy for photos, but just sunny enough. We started at the 8th Street/Aquarium stop, and walked to the very east end of the board walk, all the way to Sea Gate. (Talk about odd–I really need to figure out how to get into Sea Gate for some photos.) Along the way we diverted out to the end of the Steeplechase Pier. My eagle eye spotted a distinctive box in one of the trash cans, and sure enough it turned out to be the container that crematoria give cremated remains in. So we missed an ash-scattering ceremony. I wondered if perhaps the recently departed was one of the hard-core fishermen that hangs out there in the summer.