PEDESTRIAN CROSSING, NYC

I always enjoy taking images of very abstract subjects like this pedestrian crossing. Maybe its part of my nature as the son of a painter, who loves painting.

THE LITTLE CHURCH, NYC

The Church of the Transfiguration is one of the most famous parishes of the Episcopal Church in the United States. It has had a rich history since its founding in 1848. I was attracted to the architecture which is more reminiscent of European architectural styles.

APPLELLATE COURT OF NEW YORK

Again, it has been some time since my last posting. Its been a busy time for me so I could not spend more time on my photography or my blog. So here is another of my New York pictures. In this case I noticed this building which is the appellate division ogf the supreme court of the state of New York.

HUNGRY

The Winter is a time of hardship for all animals and birds. The deer come into our yards to raid the bird feeders. This young deer had a hard time reaching a bird feeder but he was hungry enough to figure out how to empty the feeder.

VERY COLD

It has been quite a few days since my last posting. I had to spend some time preparing for my Winter course on Photoshop Elements. This week the weather turned bitter cold and to top it off The contractor came in to replace our windows, six of them including two big picture windows. I have to say, they worked very efficiently and by mid afternoon all the windows were in place. Of course the house cooled down quite a bit. Actually the temperature yesterday morning and also this morning was -36C. But we survived.

BACKLIGHTING

Crossing the street lat in the afternoon I noticed the building backlit by strong sunlight. The lines and shapes created the right subject for a good abstract image.

REFLECTION

Back to colour. I simply photographed the street reflected in the back of a parked car. What I like in this image is the illusion of the logo flying towards the viewer.

IN VIOLENCE WE FORGET WHO WE ARE

Walking by a gallery in downtown New York, I photographed this sign. Reading the papers, listening to the news or watching TV, I thought that this image reflects how I feel about the all the violence occurring in the world today.

MADISON SQUARE PARK, NY

Another black and white image. I took this picture in a small park near the flatiron building. I liked the unusual but beautiful shape of the tree, which contrasts nicely with the stark lines of the office buildings in the background.

THE FLATIRON BUILDING, NY

The holidays are over. It was a great time for my family and me but extremely busy. Now its time to get back to my photography. I did not get a chance to to take many pictures, except family shots, so I will continue with some more images from our New York trip in November. The flatiron building has always been a favourite site for many photographers. Just look at the great image made by Edward Steichen in 1905.So of course I could not resist photographing this unusual building.

SLEIGH RIDE

well, after a very nice visit to our families in Ottawa, we just returned to North Bay. Yesterday we went on a traditional sleigh ride, which was was great fun. So here is a picture of that event.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It has been a very busy two weeks but now everything is ready for the Christmas holidays. First of course I wish all my blogging friends a very happy holiday or if you prefer a very merry Christmas. I will be away till the 28th of December so I will not be posting pictures until after I return. A toast to all of you.

ANOTHER TIMES SQUARE PICTURE

I guess everybody is really busy getting ready for Christmas. Anyway this is another image from Times Square. The picture was made with a 10mm wide angle lens. The contrast at night was enormous and many of the screens were very bright. I still liked the image but enhanced the picture using two plugins. First the great curve plugin easy.Filter set to LAB mode and then I made some further changes using Virtual Photographer from optikVerve Labs. Both of these filters are free and I can highly recommend them.

TIMES SQUARE

Of course, when you go to New York you have to make a visit to Times Square. I have to say, at night it is spectacular. Its loud in your face commercialism but it works. In the daytime the square is merely tacky. Still fun to see and of course you can always get some interesting images.

ABANDONED RAILWAY TERMINAL

Returning from Ellis Island you see an old railway terminal. It is totally abandoned. The weeds grow on the strips where the original tracks were but which have been removed. Its a pretty dismal place. Of course I had to take some pictures even though the light was very poor. This must have been a pretty busy place when the immigrants came from the Ellis Island ferry.

SKYLINE NEW YORK

I took this picture from the walkway around the base of the Statue of Liberty. The weather, which changed the sky from blue to gray. Just the right light for this image with lots of atmosphere.it was quite dark so I had to shoot with the lens wide open. I should have used a tripod to get a greater depth of field but I did not have one with me. I still think the picture turned out fine.

ANOTHER SOLUTION

Nonie wondered about turning the the images into a sequence. That was my first impulse but instead I opted for a singular image made of the four pictures. My interest was to emphasize texture and shape. I agree,there are many different ways of designing this image. It just depends on what view point you like to express.* Just a note about the size of the images. I size my pictures for the blog to fit the screen.Just click on the image and it will fill your screen. I don't like to make them larger because then you will have to scroll. By the way the size is 900 pixels wide and 657 pixels high.

STATUE OF LIBERTY

Photographing a so popular landmark as the Statue of Liberty is a challenge. As a photographer you try to interpret the site in your own personal way. I decided to concentrate on specific details of the statue and combine them in a composite layout. Hope it worked.

WINDOW VIEW, STATUE OF LIBERTY

One last picture of Ellis Island. This image is for Nonie and Dave. I took many more images at this site but its time to go on. I like this image because through the windows in the great hall you clearly see the Statue of Liberty. One of the great American icons.I will have more pictures from that site.

VIEW OF NEW YORK

I took this picture through the fabric of a window blind on Ellis Island. This is the view immigrants would see before embarking for the mainland. I can imagine, as an immigrant myself, the excitement but also the anxiety of what the future would bring.