I always had this thing about photographing NYC street needing a yellow cab. If you wait long enough you'll have one.
I don't consider NYC to be most scenic nor comfortable city. Its a concrete metropolis with some nice streets but a compromise when you compare it to Paris, Amsterdam, or even Berlin. There is very little that draws you to old tested tradition lasting far back. I am not saying NYC lacks history but the history it does posses is mainly of a staging port to which millions of emigrants laded first. Hard labor, scams, and exploitation made this city into a financial capital of the world. The sheer power of capitalism has made an undisputed champion of commerce and labor market.
Aside from the big and cold image of the powerful NYC there are more subtle elements. People actually live here. They come and make their dreams here. And underneath all the grim and grind of the NYC fast lives there are moments like the photograph today. This was shot on Saturday in my continuation of building a portfolio for the Wedding website.

A whole month later and 6 weeks with Canon 5D. I am getting used to digital workflow. I am now running all image editing off the MAC. Everything is a big change. Learning digital is learning gadgets. Photography theory remains the same. There is a lot to get used to and understand as far as using tools. I am having fun with both. Light tests with Pocket Wizards and Profoto Beauty Dish adds to eliminating any free time during the weekend. Now I am searching for models to further get some practice. So far a shoot is on for this Saturday afternoon in front of Flat Iron Building around 5:30pm. Will post results here.

Tonight are three photographs from my daily commute via Train to my day job.

I have been posting here infrequently but all has its reasons. I look forward to share more here on the blog.

It took a wine glass and some Bob Dylan to get into this trance. Going to California again in some 7 weeks. My last (first) visit to the state of California has left me loving it. I'm curious what will happen this time. Its cool not to know yourself.

Wine. San Francisco. Driving along Highway 1. Los Angeles. Photo Shoots. Seeing Don. San Diego. Priceless.

I wish I could bring along the Vespa and have Don ride it. I'm not sure he ever rode a scooter. There is something about the Vespa that makes you appreciate that it won't go 80mph+. I push the limits of any motorcycle to get myself scared but on vespa I am stuck enjoying the ride. I actually really like it.

Need to shop for some portable strobes for location shooting. The image tonight is from a photograph taken after work last Friday. I was waiting by the bar before scouting to see a location in Central Park for a engagement portrait I shot on Saturday.

Easter is as important as Christmas in the catholic calendar. I appreciate it more somehow because it does not get distorted by the mad shopping rush and the sales. It’s amazing that it can still shut down the New York Stock Exchange and all trading in the USA. But it is not the day off from work, as much as the importance of the day. My biggest problem with the Catholic Church is the corruption and the preaching of how to go about it. So I don’t go to church that often. I live my best way based on some moral principles. I like Buddhism for the Zen chapter where you sit back and think about nothing. There is a strong element of concentrating how to be in charge of your emotions.

I am including 4 images from Saturday. One is from a passenger window of passing though a ghetto. In a run down part of town stands a shiny black Cadillac. Perhaps this could be a good metaphor for the current state of American car industry. I hope they break out of it. There was some amazing engineering that now needs a new age efficiency.

The other 3 images are from the church mass itself. I heard the rumor that only Polish and Italians bless their food on the day before Easter Sunday. Oddly enough because of the internal politics of this church the all Polish tradition was done in English. There is a deeper story here but since I do not have hard facts I will pass on it.

It is now March 21st, 2008 and this is the first post for 2008. A lot of changes have been happening and a lot of great things coming to life.

To begin, I am now beginning to shoot Digital. Somehow I was torn on the idea of cheating myself by making this change and a lot of ethical questioning went into the decision. Somewhere near the end I asked my friend Don if that is indeed the case and his response was "Cheating against who?". And so I purchased a Canon 5D and have begun working with the camera and digital process. I still shoot film for my personal work and will as long as will be manufactured.

In addition, one thing I absolutely love is Magnum and photojournalism. Far from being in the front line of news I am venturing into Wedding photography with a business partner. Since we both have day jobs with somewhat of a career track our focus is networking and opting to photograph high end weddings. The income generated from these weddings will be there to fund traveling and business expenses. The idea is to do something I absolutely enjoy. And if I do not have to photograph weddings every weekend but selected few in a year I will be able to work on my photojournalistic reportage though a somewhat orchestrated event.

Late last year I also made a decision to get back on two wheels after 4 year absence. With 2007s left over at the local dealer I got a great price on a brand new Vespa GTS. I love the little Vespa. At about 70-75mpg this is the ultimate warm/hot weather transportation around the NYC Metro area. It will go as far as 76mph but its hard to tell via the speedometer because they tend to be always inaccurate at such high speeds for scooters.

So posts now will be on everything from scootering/photographing to photographing and lighting. My life is photography. It always reinvents myself and gets me to be more involved into observing. It is what I love about it. I was considering altering the title of this blog which I might still do but for now I need to think of what the name could be. Discipline is the biggest lesson I have learned in the last few months. I intend to use it to help me vent here on the blog over ideas that have been in my head.

In this post, the pictures are of no significant photographic value other then display the cool Italian design of simple transport.

OK, it looks like last time I posted was at the end of October. I have color film I still need to develop but all my trips to the NYC have been anywhere but 20th St. area. Since the films vary there will be a sense of surprise on what is on them. I like that feeling but more so with time as evidence where I been and what I chose to focus on in a given moment in time.
The PC got fixed after I got fed up with the web browser and uninstalled whole bunch of crap. The Mac has truly showed me a new way. The mere consistency and the ease of workflow make the PC a true separation from leisure and work. I even think that sometime in the further future I'd get one of those cool 24' Macs that the whole thing is built into the monitor. So cool!

In the midis of winter I'm looking to get back on two wheels again. This time I am thinking locally with a little kick to go further. I paid a visit to the local dealer which 2 years ago upgraded its facility and took on Ducati and Vespa for products carried. Oh how cool! The prettiest (in Men terms) bikes and the cool (pretty in Women terms) Scooters. All stereotyping of definitions of aside, the Vespa GTS in Black has stuck with me so strong that given the financial promotion going on it has became a research vehicle. The styling is amazing and the general opinion is nothing but thumbs up.

So what does any of this have to do with photography? I guess the explanation that this blog has not died not became abandoned by me. Simply a transition for me into some significant changes. Once the Vespa issue is set I'd like to get more landscapes here but it would have to be somewhere in March since its the earliest here when the weather gets more stable.

I've been reading a lot. I have few books on a stack to be read. Combined with my weekly Economist magazine (which I came to appreciate tremendously) I have more writing to do here on the subject of photography.

And I will start posting more about wine here because after drinking it for over 4 years seriously I want to pass some of that experience to anyone it might help.

No photograph tonight as I needed to write. Next post I'll include one.

The great news is that the old Arca Swiss 4x5 has found a new life in my hands. The bad news is that the experiments from last night, some 10+ minute exposures on HP5 filled by Full Moon came out nothing more then mediocre. BUT! if I was to go tonight and do it I would improve on the things I did not like from last night. Locations would be better screened along with bringing few things which would make my life easier in the dark of the night. but that's all night photography.

I am now going to use this for some portraits. Natural light with the 90mm lens. Hopefully some environmental ones. Others will be some reflections on American towns. I can only shoot on the weekend now due to days getting shorter. Soon I'll be leaving for work in the morning and walking out of y building in the dark of night. So the weekends are what's left. Plus, some work with the Pentax 6x7 to do as well.

Tonight a photograph from last night. Stand developed overnight in Rodinal at 1:200. Same town and both after 10pm. Next time I'll choose the location more carefully to be more in the dark. The street light and local traffic over expososed some elements of both photographs