I'll Introduce Myself w/ Union Square

Rider

I'll not bore you with lots of detail--there's brief bio/background information at my photo website. My father introduced me to shooting, and it's something I've enjoyed all my life. It's just a hobby at the moment, but my work life lets me travel to interesting places and shoot.

I took all these recently at Union Square in NYC. I wanted to break in a new lens and thought NYC would be a good place to do it, so I hopped on a plane and gave myself one hour in one city block. Here are a few of the images. It was a fun creative exercise:



























Anyway, I'm glad to join you all here and look forward to hanging around!

Darren Troy C

Great shots. Probably more suited for the Street style/PJ forum but either way....nice eye!

Rider

Darren Troy C wrote:

Great shots. Probably more suited for the Street style/PJ forum but either way....nice eye!

Oops! I'm still feeling my way around--if anyone has the power to move the thread, please do so.

lizzard_nyc

WELCOME!
Yes I hope this thread finds its way to PJ/Street, I think it will be well received.

I love your series--all of it. Some work better than others but it' s great.
Great use of color.

rutt

These are really nice! Looking at them helps me to remember why I used to think that B&W was a cop out (before I fell under B.D. spell.) It's an inspiration to work harder on color.

Please post more. How's your color in NYC wintertime?

lizzard_nyc

Just went to your photo site--you do get around!
I saw you shots in La Paz, Bolivia, I'm Bolivian--I can't believe you were only there for two days--last time I was there it took me two-three days just to get acclimated without my head spinning everytime I stood up from the altitude.

Wish you had more photos of La Paz--maybe next time .

rutt

These also fly in the face of another of B.D.'s teachings. That 200mm f/2 lens used well hasn't lost you intimacy and it has bought great DOF control. This is especially true of #1 where the shallow DOF is integral to the story itself.

Thanks again. These are just what I needed to see.

W.W. Webster

Rider wrote:

I like this shot.

However, as a matter of interest, is it common knowledge whose photo (on the t-shirts) this is but, more importantly, whether s/he is getting royalties for licensed use?

If it was my image and it was being ripped off everywhere, I'd be pissed-off!

Huzband

I've seen these somewhere before...
Hi, David.

bdcolen

Rider wrote:

I'll not bore you with lots of detail--there's brief bio/background information at my photo website. My father introduced me to shooting, and it's something I've enjoyed all my life. It's just a hobby at the moment, but my work life lets me travel to interesting places and shoot.

I took all these recently at Union Square in NYC. I wanted to break in a new lens and thought NYC would be a good place to do it, so I hopped on a plane and gave myself one hour in one city block. Here are a few of the images. It was a fun creative exercise:




Anyway, I'm glad to join you all here and look forward to hanging around!

Nice group of shots, though you might want to go back in and adjust the color balance a bit.

Rider

rutt wrote:

Please post more. How's your color in NYC wintertime?

I actually live in Nashville, but it's more colorful here in the winter than in NYC.

These all used a drop in circular polarizing filter.

Rider

lizzard_nyc wrote:

Just went to your photo site--you do get around!
I saw you shots in La Paz, Bolivia, I'm Bolivian--I can't believe you were only there for two days--last time I was there it took me two-three days just to get acclimated without my head spinning everytime I stood up from the altitude.

Wish you had more photos of La Paz--maybe next time .

I almost wasn't there even two days! The left-seat pilot--the only one on this AA flight who had experience landing there--got food poisoning on the flight. So we landed elsewhere first to get a pilot who DID have experience. It made us really late, though.

One downside of only being there a short while is that my body didn't get used to the elevation that quickly.

Rider

rutt wrote:

These also fly in the face of another of B.D.'s teachings. That 200mm f/2 lens used well hasn't lost you intimacy and it has bought great DOF control. This is especially true of #1 where the shallow DOF is integral to the story itself.

I actually found that the 200 was just about right, because it let me get lost against a streetlamp or signpost. The lens itself is "attention getting" which is not good in that setting, so I could get far enough away from the subject(s) to not be gawked at by what I was trying to shoot.

I do like #1. It was a weird feeling seeing him lying in the grass. I knew there was something there, but it escaped me. I shot him from the side, first, and that obviously didn't work. But shooting from the head first, long and low, the light bulb went off.

Rider

bdcolen wrote:

Nice group of shots, though you might want to go back in and adjust the color balance a bit.

I'm new to DGrin, so I don't get the inside joke. Hopefully it's not at my expense.

You must be B.D, I gather, so I'm in some hallowed hall here.

bdcolen

Rider wrote:

I'm new to DGrin, so I don't get the inside joke. Hopefully it's not at my expense.

You must be B.D, I gather, so I'm in some hallowed hall here.

Nothing hallowed, and no joke - on my screen virtually all of these shots have a bit of a purple cast and they'd be better without it.

As to the 200 - There's no question it has its used, particularly in terms of isolating subjects. But I wouldn't use it as a 'go to' lens on the street, because it does isolate subjects, it draws attention to you, and you end up 'sniping,' rather than connecting with your subjects. None of which isn't to suggest that you don't have a nice group of images here, because you do - have a nice group of images.

Rider

bdcolen wrote:

Nothing hallowed, and no joke - on my screen virtually all of these shots have a bit of a purple cast and they'd be better without it.

Thanks--I'll check on that. I didn't have calibration running when I first edited these images. None of the color is adjusted (that I can recall), so maybe it's something with the filter.

As to the 200 - There's no question it has its used, particularly in terms of isolating subjects. But I wouldn't use it as a 'go to' lens on the street, because it does isolate subjects, it draws attention to you, and you end up 'sniping,' rather than connecting with your subjects. None of which isn't to suggest that you don't have a nice group of images here, because you do - have a nice group of images.

Thank you! Very kind of you.

I definitely agree about the walk around lens. It's too damn big, for one thing. My two walk-around lenses are the 24-70 and 70-200.