Winter in Manhattan | NYC | Travel

Monday, January 4, 2010 Posted in Art, Gear, Travel

Grand Central Station

The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place to live; however, there are other cities that are just as interesting, exciting, and offer some great opportunities for photographs. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I took a short trip to Manhattan, New York. It was great to get away and to do some exploring in another fantastic city.

NYC really goes the extra mile during this time of year with decorations for the holidays. The lifestyle there is fast paced compared to SF. The streets are bustling with people and crammed with traffic. Yellow taxis zipping around and many with their horns blaring. The tourists are from other parts of the country, but many we met are from other parts of the world as well.

We met couples from England, Germany, and Canada. Some very friendly NYC locals gave us some tips on some great street food near our hotel (Halal Street Gyro Vendor at 53rd and 6th) – and yes, just like the photos on the above link, there was a line of customers twenty people long. Do not be fooled, the vendors on the other three corners of the street just do not have the same recipe. Not sure what the secret is, but I have to say, the food platter was great, especially for just six bucks.

We enjoyed the typical visitor activities like seeing a show (Wicked), a NYC movie premier, and running around on the subways to various parts of the city and Chelsea Market. I even made a trip out to B&H Photo to pick up a new memory card and to just to see the place. Lots of cool gear there.

Although we wished we could have spent a few more days in the city, I still had a chance to take a few photos while walking around midtown on the West side near the park. These photos were taken with a Nikon D700 and a Sigma 12-24mm lens and a Panasonic LX3. The D700 was used for most of the images; however, the LX3 was great since it was small enough to fit into my cargo pant pocket (barely.) I hope you enjoy the photographs, and Happy New Year to all of you.