gabriel biderman ~ fine art photography

Is it really April already? I finally have time to post pictures of some amazing adventures that have happened this last month!
February ended with a blizzard and visit from my sister and nephews. On their first trip to NY they did the mandatory “Gabe tour” of walking the Brooklyn Bridge and Museum hopping. So this time I had to come up with a new itinerary. I just finished reading Metropolis, which is a very engrossing historical fiction account of NYC during the 1860′s. The author’s main character is the city itself and two aspects that she goes in-depth about is the building of the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the construction and maintenance of the sewer system. The highs and lows of the city are mirrored with many of the other “Gangs of New York” type characters throughout the book. So this got me to thinking about how New York is such an incredible infrastructure city. My nephews would be fine and dandy just riding the subway their whole time. Sorry, New Hampshire barely has buses, so when I took them to the NY Transit Museum which incorporates the old Court Street station, they were thrilled! The boys weren’t too interested in the history of the sandhogs and the work that went into creating the first underground subway system in the United States. However when they realized that they had complete access to all the subway cars from the 1930′s-80′s,  I didn’t think we were ever going to leave!  The subway museum was one of the first places I visited when I moved here 9 years ago and I highly recommend it for learning more about what makes New York so NY.
So what next? Take them to the Empire State Building? I remembered my good friend and fellow Photo of the Weeker, Brandon, taking some amazing shots of NYC from the top of the Rockefeller Building. What was so great about being on top of the rock is you are able to see the Empire State in all of its glory, which is much better then being on it! So 70 stories into the sky and we arrived at the Top of the Rock! A little snow was in the air and had put a brilliant light white coat over the city.
Click.
The next week it was off to Vegas. I go there for business a few times a year and as I am not a gambler the Vegas shine has worn off. However, one of my favorite things to do in Vegas is put a Lensbaby on my camera and go shooting around Fremont Street in Old Town. The more nostalgic neon signs are a perfect match for the creative focus you can attain with the Lensbaby.

Next up ~ Valley of Fire…

Had a quick stopover in Portland last week to visit an old friend, Angus.  Plenty of bridges to document my ongoing Bridge Project, but it was this image of St Johns Watertower that won my photo of the week!
Ironically, this is the 2nd time that this watertower has won!  The last time it was captured via a pinhole camera.  This time I thought I would take “a shot in the dark!”

The wide tower is truly part of the neighborhood, it is approachable from all directions, and has no gate to keep people out.  All are welcome to take in this unique view of an urban park.  How often do you get to gather under a water tower?  Most are 10-20 stories high in the sky with security fences surrounding them.

The tower was built in 1953 by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel companies and holds over 150,000 gallons of water.  And it has a twin, St Johns is actually home to two of these unique watertowers.
So next time you are in Portland, get a different perspective from under the watertower!

What to do in Reno for fun?

First off, I’m sorry.

You can go check out the strip which is like old old old town Vegas, with many of those shuttered $39.95 Neon Hotels no longer flickering. However with Northern Nevada having the largest Basque population in the United States, I highly recommend taking in some delicious Basque food. We had an amazing 5 course meal at Louis’ Basque Corner just off the strip and the double cut lamb chops at the Santa Fe Hotel look scrumdiddlyumptious as well.
After that, I recommend getting out of town. Take Pyramid Way for 30 minutes north and you’ll come to Pyramid Lake. I had been to Pyramid Lake once before, on my way to the Playa for a pre-Burning Man festival. I remember walking along the lake and I getting some great surrealscape shots. The lake is surrounded by mountains and has many tufa formations in and around the lake that enhance the primordial landscape.

Pyramid Lake will probably become a more sought after destination once Apple’s iPad starts shipping in late March. The screensaver on the iPad is a night shot taken on an 8×10 camera in 2004 by Richard Misrach.  I can see it now, Apple will inspire the masses to dust off their 8×10 cameras and flock west. The next time you go to Pyramid Lake, good luck, there will probably be a wall of tripods that you will have to contend with to get your shot!

Now, I like to stay a little ahead of the game. So when I asked for the map of Reno at the rental car office, I had to smile at my luck as to how close Pyramid Lake was to Reno!  The next night a group of us headed out. I can’t really tell you much about the drive through the desert to the lake, except that it was really dark. With only a crescent moon lighting the way high ISOs or real long exposures were going to be the only option.
As we struggled in the dark to find a shooting location we finally stumbled across a marina in Sutcliffe, which ironically looked like a similar location to where Richard Misrach took his photograph. My high ISO test shot didn’t reveal anything good on the back of screen until 30 seconds at 2.8. Normally I like to shoot in the 6-8 minute time zone, but with the star trails circling and reflecting in the lake I definitely wanting to take it a little more extreme. The final product was a 20 minute exposure at f4 and ISO 500 with noise reduction on, which meant I had to wait 40 minutes to see the image! I think it was worth the wait, and what really surprises me about the images is the different colors in the star trails. I have never seen orange and blue star trails before and if anyone can explain it please share. We were all awestruck with the amount of stars that could be viewed. I fired off one more image below that was four minutes long and captures more of that celestial feeling that we got standing at edge of time as the stars shone all around us.

UPDATED ~ From Lance Keimig, night photographer pioneer and educator.

Gabriel- The colors in the stars have to do with their chemical composition and age. The younger, hotter burning ones are bluer, and older, cooler ones are more orange. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but it’s true.

Snow definitely brought a change to the landscape of New York this week. It snowed all day and night and when I got back to Brooklyn I was inspired to get the tripod out and risk the elements. Wonderful images can be captured in the rain and snow but no matter how weather sealed your camera is it is important to keep your camera dry. I’m a big fan of the kata rain covers which give you full access to your camera and controls while keeping your camera dry.

Lens hoods will also do a great job keeping the elements off the glass of your lens. For the image above I did shoot into the snow so having a lens cloth to dry off the lens in between shots is also helpful. When I was shooting in Pittsburgh last month the temperatures were in the teens and I noticed that my rechargeable batteries were quickly dying. I extended the life of my battery by warming it up in my hands every so often. I’d also advise keeping an extra battery warm in your pockets that you can swap out.
So don’t be afraid to get out in the elements, rain and snow can bring unique reflections and alternative ways of seeing.