NYC in Spring with an X-T1

KillRamsey

Hall of Famer
Location
Hood River, OR
Name
Kyle
The family drove down to New York City for 4 days to bike around, see a bike expo, and watch some of the massive 5 Boro Bike Ride, which is 35,000 bikers taking a 40 mile route around all 5 boroughs of the city. They take hours to pass a single spot.

At any rate, I brought the XT, the 18-55, the 35 f1.4, and the XC 50-230, all in the little Domke F5B bag. I used the 18-55 well over 90% of the time, largely due to being "on duty" for the wife's website, which requires various kinds of shots for new city pages. So I was going wide to long, back and forth, constantly. Settings were one of two: In grey overcast light, it's velvia with sharpness +1 and NR -1, which gives me colors I can work with most easily in post. In bright light, it's Classic Chrome with NR -1, Sharpness +1, and Color +1. Again, that puts me in a good starting place for post, able to adjust color curves separately and selectively bring up colors.

A sampling:

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KBRX0833
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The 230 tracks well enough.
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KBRX0926
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX1048
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX1145
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX1165
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Some girls having a little picnic, Brooklyn Heights
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KBRX1191
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX1198
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The Nap Fairy visits the High Line. No one is safe.
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KBRX1306
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The 230 lens helps me stack up a shot
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KBRX1323
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Sunset.
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KBRX1415
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Rooftop views at night.
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KBRX1437
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

At the bike expo, a booth was selling kids' capes. She REALLY wanted one, so we let her choose, and she went Frozen (of course). Later, biking through Manhattan, we passed a cop van, and the lady driving got on the loudspeaker to say "I LOVE your cape! You are MY super hero!" And for the rest of the day, she kept saying "remember when that police lady said I was HER hero?!" Probably my favorite moment of the trip.
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KBRX1570
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX1611
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

The 35 lens and panning technique pulled out three pretty crisp shots of this girl biking past. This was much, much harder than it looks.
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KBRX1671
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Peanut gallery looks on
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KBRX1830
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

I thought they were adorable, so I asked if I could take their picture.
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KBRX1946
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Sums up what it felt like for me, most of the trip, except I normally rode that bike and towed our daughter. Easier to photograph riding the little Brompton, sans-kid.
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KBRX2011
by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
Very nice Kyle, and I'm a sucker for NYC, so I REALLY enjoyed these. Love the super hero story!

Where is "rooftop views at night" shot from? My first instinct was Brooklyn Heights, but then I thought it seemed up too high and the arrangement of buildings seemed a bit off for that view as well.

I used to think I wanted to ride the 5 boro ride someday, but like riding across the US, it's no longer on my list of "want tos". Just happy to be riding again, sort of...

-Ray
 
Nice set of images that give a different view into life in New York, really enjoyed it.

There are two images (...1165 and ...1437) that really fascinated me, outstanding work!
 
Like a cuter, smaller Braveheart
Speaking of which, I love the one of the kids on those little trike scooters. I think one of the most entertaining things my wife and saw in NYC a few weeks ago were little TINY kids hauling ass down the sidewalk, often two of them in heated competition, with a mom or dad following along a half block behind, trying to catch up to their kids. This was on busy neighborhood streets all over Manhattan and Brooklyn and was invariably entertaining as hell. Your shot really captures that with the determined look on the face of that little girl in the pink helmet and her brother (I'm guessing) chasing from down the block...

-Ray
 
They learn early on how to navigate their neighborhoods by scooter / bike, and it's awe (or perhaps terror) inspiring for people from the suburbs who are afraid to let their kids out of their sight. We do our best to teach ours how to take care of herself, albeit slowly and under massive supervision. At one point we were biking through Chinatown (I think.. somewhere in lower Manhattan) on one of those new separated cycle tracks in the center of an avenue, and came up behind this 6 year old and his dad...
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KBRX1225
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

as they navigated block to block to block. And the kid was GOOD. Really really good, he knew the drill, man. Stopped when he should, looked both ways, left room for passers, kept a steady rate, rode predictably. We chatted them up, and were so inspired.
 
Great shots!

Last weekend, we walked to the Guggenheim from Grand Central and back thru the Central Park and wished that I had my bike... The weather was very good. However, this week started to feel like Summer. The Spring is going away fast.
 
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