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.

NYC Subway Station

Trees in Central Park

Park Bench

Reflection

Tree & Stone

Man & Dog

FDNY

FNDY Ladder 10 Engine 10

Holiday Lights

Wall of Snowflakes

Holiday Trees

Cartier NYC

Yellow Taxi Ornament

Skating at the Rink

Tree at Rockefeller Center

The First SLR that Started My Passion for Photography

OK, so a couple of posts ago I mentioned that the first camera I remember using was the Kodak Brownie Starflash. After about a year or so, I “found” a very nice sample of the Nikon F 35mm film camera. The camera, like most of the ones that were my grandfather’s, ended up going to his first born son, my dad.  As most fathers know, cool stuff that you own eventually ends up in the hands of your kids. I was probably about nine years old or so when I first started using the Nikon F. I know that sounds young, but back then all you had to do was get those split images to match up, put the needle in the middle and hope for the best. No finicky AF lenses, or crazy 25,600 ISO (like on the D700), or other custom functions to worry about. It really was just all about what you saw, and how you captured it on a piece of chemical film and hopefully the end result was an interesting photograph. It really is kind of nostalgic when I think about it.

The things that I remember about this camera is that it was big, and heavy, and yet, so COOL. I thought it was amazing that you could use this to create such fun projects like, what can you find while walking around in your yard, or interesting things you found while investigating the local park, and sometimes, maybe even some goofy shots of your siblings during a lazy afternoon. All in all, I stated to feel like I was becoming a photographer. Maybe not a fantastic one, but at least one that stated to understand the difference between a great photograph and a snapshot. There is a difference.

All in all, I think using the Nikon F is what made me a die-hard Nikon user today. I have never been swayed by other products from very good companies. I can say that there have been times when I wanted to jump ship to get to the other other side of the fence, but for some reason, I just stuck it out. Today, Nikon is in a strong position and is again just as great at capturing images in digital form as it was back on the film. Although, I have to say, that there is a small sentimental attachment to the old film days since I guess in many ways, photography was a much simpler art.

Seen in the image above is the same Nikon F that I used so many years ago. Along with it is a very interesting find, the Nikon Flash V. It is electronic in that it uses a charge to flash a bulb. I dig that cool umbrella effect that it uses as a diffuser. The diffuser expands and collapses with such fine precision, it is kind of amazing. Once it is put into its most compact size it slips into a small leather case, ready for your camera bag. Are there any other Nikon F users out there? Still using it at all?

The Control Side of the Flash

The Collapsing Aluminum Umbrella Diffuser

All Closed Up and Ready for the Camera Bag

Tomatoes Large and Small

Well, one would think that as we head into September and the time for football is upon us that summer should be over. However, here in the California Bay Area, this is actually a great time of year. The days are still warm, and sometimes surprisingly even warmer than the earlier days of summer. When I was a kid, we all used to call this warm autumn weather the “Indian summer.” Supposedly, the word origins state that the American Indians were the ones to predict this kind of weather, and let the European settlers know about it and the creation of the word phrase. In any case, what I remember are days free of fog with the sun still beaming with clarity and the weather inviting us to be outside.

One of the nice things about mild weather like this is the ability to grow some of our own vegetables in some planter boxes in our yard. My wife was the one to suggest that we try to grow some for ourselves. Last year we had some great zucchini and some cooking herbs. This year, we went for some tomatoes. These were all grown from seeds. It is pretty amazing to see those little green sprouts pop out of the soil and then suddenly grow to these large plants. When we saw the small fruits popping up in the branches, we were pretty excited. We have one plant that is a yellow and red pear shape tomato plant and another red tomato plant. My wife is the grower though. She was diligent about getting outside to give those little plants water and fertlizer after she got home from work. Good job, Annie! I have to say, they all look tasty.

So, as I was outside, I thought it would be nice to capture these red and yellow orbs of tastiness with our Nikkor 105 f/2.8 Micro VR lens (it’s on the third page through the link.) I have had great luck using this lens for portraits as it is razor sharp even at its widest aperture. The VR is helpful, but the autofocus at close range can be a bit finicky as it hunts for a high contrast area. Sometimes it is best done by hand through the viewfinder. Be sure you view your image on the display though, as the depth of field is extremely shallow – especially on a full frame camera which I was using (Nikon D700.) All of these images were shot in our backyard, and on our kitchen table with a little sunlight as back-lighting. I hope you enjoy these little fruits (tomatoes are fruits you know) and enjoy the last days of true summer.

Vine Ripened Tomatoes

Some Red and Some Green

My First Camera

Do you remember the beginnings of what help you to become who you are today? Do you remember the times that got you passionate about what you do, and how it all started? For me it’s a bit sentimental, but still a powerful memory of how photography became such an important part of who I am today.

When I was very young, maybe seven or eight, I was with my parents visiting my grandparents’ home. My grandfather had taken quite a few photos in his day along with a few of me and my parents. Sadly my grandfather passed away when I was only three, so unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to know him well at all. Thankfully, my father was still very close to his mother and my family visited her at her home often.

Since my late grandfather was a photography hobbyist he had a few cameras in his collection. It was an exciting time back then with the high-tech American space program in full launch (no pun intended), and with my gadget-itis in an early effect, playing with a camera seemed like a cool thing indeed. Of course, back in yesteryear, there were only film cameras – you pretty much had to get it more or less right in the camera. The camera was just sitting in a box of my grandfathers old belongings and I thought it was pretty sweet. It had buttons and hinges, and a shiny flash reflector. The film it used was and odd size (size 127), but that didn’t really matter. As all I wanted to do was to start taking photos. It was an old Brownie Starflash.

The camera was from the late 1950′s, and was very old school. Nothing fancy, just a viewfinder, shutter button, a color or B&W button, and a flash that took actual bulbs. Unfortunately, I don’t have the camera anymore. I’m sure it was discarded or given to Goodwill many years ago. It would make a nice sentimental piece in my small personal film camera collection (I’ll be showing more of them in the future.) The Brownie Starflash was where it all started for me. Do you remember which one started your photographic journey?

Note: The cool vector graphic of the Starflash up-top is found from at an artist’s who is called Stinky9. I’ve used the Starflash icon as a replacement icon for Aperture on my Mac. It’s kind of like remembering old-times down there on the dock I guess.