The Great Lawn and Queensbro Bridge

This was another beautiful day in NYC. I decided to venture in the east side of NYC since I hang out mostly on the west side. I have to admit that I had a hard time getting inspired to photograph. It was a nice day so I started walking south east starting from 57th street. I walked east towards 1st avenue and then headed south. I walked up to 14th street zig zagging between 1st and 3rd avenue. It was a first time that I didn’t take one photo of anything. I needed to be inspired so I though about heading north and I had an idea of taking the RI Tram from NYC to Roosevelt Island, I heard that it had a great view of the city so I decided to head back north.
I got to the tram station and it turned out that it was still under renovation. I was really bummed out, I decided to keep heading east. Running along side the tram cables was Queensboro bridge (top photo). This was taken over a metal and concrete fence and right below it was FDR drive. It was kind of scary cause I had to climb up and take the photo over the metal fence, the fence was uninteresting so I didn’t want to include it in the photo. I think the photo turned out well, since it was a wide shot I had to fix a slight “keystoning†of the building in the background.
I was kind of exhausted at this point so I started to head home and went through Central Park. The park was full of people enjoying the beautiful day playing baseball, sun bathing, picnicking and just hanging out. I walked across between Belvedere Castle and the Great Lawn. I was actually trying to photograph Belvedere Castle but it was kind blah, so I turned around took the bottom photo of the Great Lawn. I like this photo better than the photos of the castle since this had more dramatic colors, the sky, the green lawn, trees in the background and the people enjoying the day. This was late afternoon and the castle was side lit, it was not very interesting to me and the sky over the castle was just not there for me. The lesson for me this week was not to give up easily, have a plan B and C if plan A doesn’t work out and if a shot was not working remember to turn around and see what’s behind you. I hope you enjoy the photos and see you next week. Please leave comments, questions, and suggestions.
DetailsBushkill Falls

I am going way back for this weeks post, this photos were taken early spring this year. Bushkill Falls located in northeastern Pennsylvania around the Pocono mountain, very close to the Delaware Water Gap, was a great find. I have been here several years ago but didn’t get a chance to photograph it, however I made sure this time that I had my equipment with me.
I was hoping to get there earlier that day but hit traffic on the way. It turned out to be a blessing since the park does not open till 9 am. It was a beautiful spring day. It was still early in the spring season, park still empty in the early morning hours, lush greenery, some flowers were in bloom, almost a perfect day to photograph. I love this falls because of those wooden walk ways built around the falls, it feels like your part of the environment and very close to mother nature. It’s also a wonderful hike around the falls and to the top of the mountain.
I said almost a perfect day to photograph because at some point during the hike the sun was just too bright to photograph specially the different parts of the falls. I had lots of shot that my highlights were blown out, lots of “blinkies.†As you can see on my camera settings my aperture were in the high end to get that “flowy†look on the water movement. I didn’t have any ND filters handy which would work great in this kind of situation. However, I think the photos still worked out great. The lesson I learned here was to work with what I’ve got and create the best photo I can with the situation I’m presented with. Enjoy the photos and see you next week. Please leave comments, suggestions, questions or email me. Thanks for visiting.
DetailsSunset at Pier54

It was sweltering hot this past few weeks in NYC and there was a day that was kind of pleasant so I decided to take my camera and shoot. I have been to Highline Park in NYC’s Chelsea area more than a few times now and I have an idea of what I wanted to shoot.
I have seen this view (top photo) of Pier 54 many times and photographed it during the day but I think this one had the most impact. The sun was about to set and the colors was just amazing. I wanted to use the structure for some type of framing but I think this one worked out ok.
For the second picture I wanted to focus on the actual park. The park was very beautiful, the flowers were in full bloom, lush greenery and lots of people enjoying the the cool breeze from the Hudson. I also wanted to try the high ISO on the camera, I heard all the rave about the ISO capabilities of the camera and I wanted to try it out for myself. I’m very happy with it and I think the picture came out great.
If you have any questions please leave a comment or send me an email.
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