Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
This is the view eastward down 23rd Street from the High Line park in Manhattan. The road at the bottom of the shot is 10th Avenue. While I’m all for curves, the clean sight-lines, coupled with rows of high-rise buildings, make for some nice photo opportunities. The slightly faded tones of the Portra 400 have replicated the feel of the very warm day on which the shot was taken quite nicely, I think.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Portra 400.
Taken on 27 May 2019
You can’t fail to be struck by the advertising hoardings in Times Square, whether it be the high-tech animated electronic boards, or the more traditional versions like in today’s photo.
I’m a little disappointed with the roll of Ektar I shot in NYC – not due to the film itself (the colours are glorious), but because of my results. Apart from a couple, all the shots (including the one here) show at least some minor signs of softness. I know the camera is capable of sharp images, so this is down to camera shake or DOF blurring when using wider apertures. Although it wasn’t badly lit on the day I shot the roll, the light meter app on my phone was giving somewhat long exposure times when I metered the shots, so I was shooting with longer shutter speeds and / or wider apertures than I’d have liked. As this was a family trip, not a photography expedition, I was also taking less time than I would have liked to compose and take many shots, which probably exacerbated things too.
I wish I’d have taken my Sekonic L-208 meter with me instead of relying on the phone app. The phone app is normally ok, but on this occasion seemed to be giving me somewhat variable results even when readings were taken in similar conditions. I think the L-208 would have been a more reliable companion.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektar.
Taken on 27 May 2019
We ate breakfast here on the first morning of our NYC trip, although it wasn’t the first time we’d visited – having eaten here on our first visit to New York back in 2012 where we came upon it by chance (as it wasn’t far from our hotel).
It’s a worthwhile place to visit with a somewhat unique feel. This is because the waiting staff are all performers in various Broadway and other theatre shows and, in between serving food, they each take turns to belt out various musical numbers while strutting between, on, and above the tables where the diners sit. It’s loud, but an experience well worth seeing at least once (assuming you like live musical numbers being sung while you eat!).
It’s a popular place (as can bee seen from the queue in today’s photo) but customers are seated by table availability and group size, so if you’re the only couple at the rear of a big line of families, it’s likely that you’ll get to skip ahead when a place for two appears (or vice-versa). The food was good, although a good 50% more expensive than the place we ate breakfast on most days (The New York Luncheonette on E 50th Street).
The photo below was taken a few days after we ate at the diner when I went for a quick pre-breakfast wander with my camera on the last day of our trip.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
On the streets of Manhattan it seems there’s barely a corner without a hotdog cart pitching their wares. I seem to recall that tlast time I visited NYC that the carts sold mostly hotdogs (and maybe pretzels), but the variety seems to have increased to include gyros and other foods now. Almost all of the carts are Sabretts, although there was the odd Nathan’s vendor (didn’t there use to be another prolific hodog cart brand in NYC too?). Sadly, I didn’t have a hotdog on this visit (although I did get a Philly Cheesesteak), but here are a couple of photos of carts.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
No, not that old Mel Gibson / Goldie Hawn movie, but part of some art installation at Rockefeller Plaza. 🙂
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
30 Rockefeller Plaza.
We visited the “Top of the Rock” observation deck last time we were in New York back at the start of the decade, but this time I only walked around the bases of the Rockefeller Center complex and the only observation deck I visited this time was One World Trade Centre – which was a great experience but not as nice a view as the one from Top of the Rock, I don’t think.
It’s a nice building and I like how it looks like it’s been put together from Lego bricks in this image.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 29 May 2019
On our last full day in New York, the boys were tired after walking around for most of the day and didn’t want to go back out to get something to eat (plus they’d both eaten burgers pretty late in the afternoon, so weren’t especially hungry), so my wife and I left them to their Youtube videos in the hotel room and went out as a couple. As our boys tend to be a little fussy with what they’ll eat, the world was now our oyster when it came to dining choices, but we couldn’t seem to find anything we fancied – it was either cafe’s and Pret a Manger type places, or the pricey touristy stuff around Times Square, so we ended up wandering down to Bryant Park where I took the photograph in today’s post.
In the end, we ate in the food-hall area of the Wholefoods Market across the road from the park on 6th Avenue, where we bought a box of whatever took our fancy from the buffet (it was priced by the pound) and then ate it while looking out over the park and watching the world go by. It was pretty nice actually.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
There’s something iconic about the man-made canyons created by Manhattan’s road grid structure and I took a number of shots similar to the one below looking down some of the avenues. I’ve yet to scan all of them, but this one is particularly nice thanks to the sheen of rainwater on the pavement which gives a lovely specular sheen down the centre of the frame.
I was slightly disappointed to discover that “Manhattanhenge” took place on the day we flew home – Manhattanhenge takes place on four days each year where the sunrises and sunsets correspond with the east / west streets of Manhattan with the Sun being placed at one end or the other. My disappointment was reduced somewhat by the fact that it was thundering and raining heavily on the evening of our flight so I probably didn’t miss anything.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
Another photo from Times Square.
Now, you could argue that this is a picture that would work better in colour – primarily due to the huge illuminates Stars and Stripes display in the middle of the frame – but, well, I had HP5+ loaded in the camera, so that’s that. I do have some colour digital shots from the same location, but they won’t appear on here (and I’ve not loaded any onto Flickr as yet).
Anyway, despite the lack of colour, I still really like this photo. Once again, the rain makes it – the silhouette of the man with umbrella against the sign, and the wet, empty tables in the foreground work well I think. I also think that, despite the blazing colours all around, that Times Square suits black and white very well – possibly because it evokes older, classic shots of the location that I’ve seen over the years.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 28 May 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 