So for the 2nd straight week the photo of the week was taken north of the border! We were driving along the highway from Montreal to Ottawa and the landscape was, well, pretty dull. It was green enough with an occasional farm, but more importantly, it was a rare occasion that I was not driving. I enjoy doing drive by shootings, with cameras that is. You never really know what you are going to get and I consider this photo a beautiful mistake going 100km per hour. The lighting just changed and I was zooming the Nikon 70-300 lens all the way out and just trying to get some silo shots. Well this is what happens when you continue to shoot through a sparse tree line while tracking the silos. The trees have turned into puffs of abstractness and the photo is more painterly. And yes, the window was rolled down. Enjoy it with a cup of coffee and start your week thinking just a little differently.
Category: Photo of the Week
Canadian Photo of the Week (July 22-28)
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I’ve spent the last week in Canada touring Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto for B&H. I usually try to travel with the top of the line equipment but I had heard some good reviews on the latest Nikon 70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR lens that comes in at a modest price of $479. The VR or Vibration Reduction on this lens works really well and I was safely shooting at 1/60 second with the lens zoomed all the way out. This shot is also a perfect example of looking at all of your surroundings. I was with a couple of coworkers at the top of Cypress Mountain, which overlooks Vancouver. The sun started setting around 8:30pm, this shot was taken when I stopped shooting the city of Vancouver, and looked behind me at the mountain range. The beautiful pinks and purples were making their last gasp by 9:20pm and I zoomed in to make more of a selective landscape shot. It was a fantastic sunset which seemed to last forever and reminded me again why I love the west.
Photo of the Week (Jun 24-30)
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Underneath the Water Tower, Portland Oregon.
I’ve always had a fascination with Water Towers. They disrupt the cookie cutter layout of suburbia and are ubiquitous to the New York City skyline.
Water Towers became the way to transport water to the communities and buildings all over the world first starting in the 1300’s but becoming more feasable in the 1800’s. They replaced the often bacteria infected town wells as a new, clean way to pump and transport water to the masses.
The Chicago Water Tower is one of the most popular Water Towers in the United States, this amazing piece of architecture withstood the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The tower itself is now obsolete but the pumping station is still operational and the tower also serves as a major tourist stop.
During the 1800’s NYC required that all buildings higher than 6 stories be equipped with a rooftop water towers. Since 2006, the neighborhood of Tribeca requires water towers on all buildings, regardless if they are being used or not! Two family owned companies in NYC, who were originally barrel makers, have been outfitting the NYC skyline with wooden water towers since those early contracts in the 1800’s. No sealant is used to hold the water in. Tank walls are held together with cables and leak through every gap when first filled. However, as the wood swells, the gaps close and become impermeable.
Most water towers are off limits to the public, however the water tower atop Volunteer Park in Seattle is open to the public and offers amazing 360 degree views of the city. No fence was around this water tower in Portland, Oregon, and I was excited to shoot underneath the behemoth. The image was shot with a new pinhole camera purchase, the 8banners superwide medium format camera. I first saw this camera at the f/295 pinhole symposium and knew in my heart that I had to have one. I am a superwide kinda guy and as you can see that pinhole is pretty darn sharp.
Well, have a cup of water and enjoy the pic!
Photo of the Week (Jun 17-23)
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Coney is definitely on my mind as this dramatic shot of the Parachute Jump makes the Photo of the Week. The Parachute Jump, also referred to as Brooklyn’s Eiffel Tower, was the first ride of its kind. Thrill-seekers were hoisted 190 feet in the air before dropping from guy-wired parachutes.
Sound exhilarating or just plain death-defying?
As I started my walk down the boardwalk from Brighton Beach, I noticed the planks were loose and generally worse for the wear. Millions of bare-feet have trod on them spending happy summer days here. What was the future of Coney Island to hold?
Thor Equities purchased the two amusement parks, Astroland and Deno’s Wonder Wheel, as well as 6 acres of the surrounding area in 2006. Thor’s Mission Statement reads: Our mission is to provide the best possible retail and mixed use building environment within urban markets across the United States, for our customers, with a focus on providing attractive risk adjusted returns to our investors.
Hmmm, that doesn’t sound like a $5 ride on the Wonder Wheel.
Actually, their plans to mix a mall with amusement rides and condos have gone under extreme scrutiny in Brooklyn and the 2011 grand opening could easily find itself pushed back even further. What will remain and what will stay is my question. The Cylcone rollercoaster, one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the States (1927), and Parachute Jump, originally known as the Life Savers Parachute Jump of the 1939 World’s Fair, will live on as they are official New York landmarks. But already my favorite outdoor batting cage is rubble. My boys and I started off my bachelor party warming up in those cages!
Will the Wonder Wheel live on? Will the Mermaid Parade still draw the crowds? Will the Circus Sideshow move to the Lower East Side? And will that little Japanese guy win Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest again?
Coney has definitely undergone many changes since becoming a resort right after the Civil War. Astroland and Deno’s will soon pass into Coney History like LunaPark, Dreamland, and Steeplechase did before. But the summer hasn’t even started yet!
So go see the Mermaid Parade this weekend and check out my flickr site here to see more of my Coney Island photos.
Highest Photo of the Week Yet
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I had an opportunity to take Mr Photoshop, and good friend, Scott Kelby on a chartered helicopter last week. We went up and down Manhattan looping around the Empire State and Chrysler buildings as well as Yankee Stadium (no game) and finally Lady Liberty herself. I have never been in a helicopter before and it was a pretty amazing experience, however, I was concerned that the seat belt was really no better than what you would find in an economy rental car. There were 4 photographers, 3 of them with Nikon 70-200 2.8 lenses, trying to make the most of shooting through dirty distorted windows…as well as not knock each other out with our lenses! It was a pretty funny thing to witness and my favorite shot I took was actually taken on Scott’s camera ~ see his blog
For those of you not familiar with Scott, he is the #1 writer and trainer on Photoshop out there. He started the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a 70,000-member base of photoshop users and premier learning center for all things Photoshop. To learn more about them or to join check out their website at: photoshopuser
Next time Scott, we are leaving the door to the helicopter open!