My month in New York City

It's been an amazing month not for only for you, but for all of us Ray! Thanks for the great series of interesting photos! It's not too late to move to NY City. Just imagine how you will be able to visit BH, Adorama, Photo Village, etc, etc, etc ... everyday! And just happen to run into a hard to find camera when you are "least" expecting to find it. :)
 
Ray,

You certainly have not worn me out with your postings. You made some amazing photographs during this month and I really appreciate your having shared them with us. If you do put a photo book together, I would love to see it as I would definitely consider buying it.

Cheers,

Antonio
 
Thanks for all of the kind words folks. It that much nicer if other people enjoy it too.

I finished packing early and went for one last outing, hopped the subway over to 4th Street and 6th Avenue and walked back through that same portion of the Village I saw for the first time yesterday. Its a beautiful morning and the street fairs are popping up on that part of Bleeker, around the beautiful little park at Hudson and Bleeker, and all of 8th Avenue is closed off from 14th to 23rd for a big Chelsea street fair. New York City at its very freakin' best...

I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!!!!!

I miss my wife but if she and her job could miraculously move up here and we could miraculously afford a real place to live. Oh well, I'd probably take it for granted eventually - now it can always be that fantasy place I get to visit from time to time... Now just counting the minutes until I walk up to Penn Station and head back to PA...

-Ray
 
Ray, at least you're only a couple train rides away. For those of us more than a thousand miles distant, it's a bridge too far...

Thanks for the great photos - I especially enjoyed seeing Greenwich Village again, after an absence of nearly forty years. Great!!
 
It has been super fun following this thread, Ray. Thanks for the stories and great, great photos. Thanks for nothing for the GAS on two new cameras. :D

I can't remember if you said this on the podcast, or here somewhere, but I would be very curious to know how many total images you have from the month?
 
It has been super fun following this thread, Ray. Thanks for the stories and great, great photos. Thanks for nothing for the GAS on two new cameras. :D

I can't remember if you said this on the podcast, or here somewhere, but I would be very curious to know how many total images you have from the month?
You're welcome on the GAS. :D

Total exposures - good question. I've already deleted tons of useless shots, so the only way to be sure would to be restore everything from my backup drive, which I probably won't do barring an iPad catastrophe. But I generally came back with between 250-300 shots from a day of shooting. A couple of times more, a few times less. Took a couple of days off, so I'd say probably in the range of 7-9000 total?? All for maybe a couple hundred decent ones and a few really good ones? Sounds about right. :cool:

-Ray
 
I've only begun what promises to be an overnight upload process, but I've seen the stuff I processed on the ipad on the big screen now. And I realize that I just can't see what I'm doing on the ipad well enough to know when I've gone totally overboard... The processing on a lot of them is fine - the processing on a lot of others of them is NOT fine! Or at least not what I had in mind. I just literally couldn't see well enough to realize. I've still only processed a few from yesterday, mostly on the train down. But, for now, I'll just leave you with this one - one of my favorites from the month, actually in a long time...

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-Ray
 
Hi Ray. I know all about leaving NYC with a heavy heart. Wonderful city, eclectic, pushy, vibrant, ethnic diversity, rich and poor cheek by jowl, what you want when you want it, noisy, exasperating, heart poundingly exciting, big yet room for small too. I just love it. The best thing? I discovered my paternal great grandfather lived there (in the Bronx) in the 1930's having travelled across the states as a theatrical performer. I think he died there but cannot find a record. Another excuse if any needed to go there. A great month for you. Thanks for sharing your camera exploits and thanks for taking time out of your schedule to make comments on others work.

Cheers

Pete
 
Great description Pete. And good story too. I also have all sorts of roots in New York, even though I never lived there (until last month!), but I think that's true of a pretty amazing percentage of Americans, at least those of European descent.

I finally mostly worked through the last day's shooting. The Flickr set is overflowing with a combination of pretty good and not so good. I'll winnow it out one of these days, probably put a book together, but no idea when. I have a lot to do first, but if I wait too long it'll never get done...

Here are a few from the last couple of days. Thanks again for all of the interest and encouragement. This should do it for this thread unless and until I get some sort of book together, at which time I'll resurrect it for a quick announcement and link.

-Ray

For those who were asking what stuff looked like without all of the crazy processing, these are basically SOOC but for a bit of contrast and the borders - the first is the Fuji, the second the Olympus:

A little pocket park in the West Village - the place is swarming with beautiful little spots like this:
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Another view in the Park:
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And finally, the street I lived on for the month, as I head back down the block to pick up my stuff for the last time and head out. A wonderful place to spend a month...

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On tonight's podcast, I outed myself as having gotten an OMD from B&H last week - I've been shooting with it for most of a week now and many of the shots I've been posting, particularly the street shots and shots at odd focal lengths have been with it. This is a shot I hadn't posted yet that really shows off the IBIS of the camera. This was a one HALF second handheld exposre at Grand Central. You can see how thoroughly the woman in the foreground is ghosted, with only her boots really showing up. But if you look at the larger version, the lettering on the far wall is sharp as a tack. At a half second hand-held. I find this pretty remarkable personally...

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-Ray

Ok, so now I don't feel too dumb.

Sorry for replying to an older post, and I've been rather busy, but I saw your post on DPR about the OMD. The set you posted saying you used the OMD had some pictures you mentioned a few pages back that you used the E-PL3. Not sure if this was intentional or accidental. I'm just glad I'm not losing my mind.
 
Ray,

Also, on the third image of post number 151, that has to be one of my favorites out of lots of amazing photos. That photo though really has a ton of impact.
 
Thanks - I like that image as well, the musician in the shadows...

I'm not sure exactly what I said when or where about the cameras. I tried not to outright lie and call something the EPL3 when it was the OMD, but tried to say something like "I shot with the Oly" today. But I may have slipped up at some point. Sorry for the confusion - I just didn't want to get caught up talking about the GAS or the gear while I was still so consumed with shooting in New York. Now that I'm back and have barely lifted a camera other than to sell a couple, I'm open to any slings or arrows.... :cool:

-Ray
 
Thanks - I like that image as well, the musician in the shadows...

I'm not sure exactly what I said when or where about the cameras. I tried not to outright lie and call something the EPL3 when it was the OMD, but tried to say something like "I shot with the Oly" today. But I may have slipped up at some point. Sorry for the confusion - I just didn't want to get caught up talking about the GAS or the gear while I was still so consumed with shooting in New York. Now that I'm back and have barely lifted a camera other than to sell a couple, I'm open to any slings or arrows.... :cool:

-Ray

Hehe, none from me. An excellent month of images. I do have a question though. What do you like shooting with more, the OMD or the XPro-1?
 
I really dig the shot of the bottom half of the lady getting the cab. Not many people (The fragrant Mrs Petach included) would consider it a worthy shot....but this one is proof that often less is more. It speaks volumes about NYC Girl. And....bless you, you got the shadow of her hand on the cab door handle!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I really dig the shot of the bottom half of the lady getting the cab. Not many people (The fragrant Mrs Petach included) would consider it a worthy shot....but this one is proof that often less is more. It speaks volumes about NYC Girl. And....bless you, you got the shadow of her hand on the cab door handle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely one of my less "literal" street shots - not in your face. But I just saw her trying to wrestle the many bags and the very stylish dress and boots into the cab as the story. I sort of like it. My wife liked it but suggested letting the cab stay yellow - which I tried but it pulled the eye way too much off of the woman and onto the cab. I never noticed the shadow of her hand on the door... In any case, I'm glad you like it! BTW, I have a couple of shots of the whole woman during the process and they weren't even remotely interesting to me - this one was at least worth a shot.

-Ray
 
Ray, I'm waiting for your answer to Djarum at #156.

:D

Honestly, I probably shouldn't have asked it in this thread and I appologize. Maybe if Ray would be so kind to make a new thread or in another thread discuss his experiences with both.

Keep in mind I have no dog in this fight. Both cameras are out of reach for me financially and I've hit a photographic slump anyways. This thread should keep to the spirit of the original subject.
 
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