February Retrospective

Update: Just in case people were worried (hah!), I'll only be in AEC for 2 months, so don't worry—8 more months of NYC will follow!


I wish I could be more profound about my photos this month, but when I look at them, the most prominent characteristic is that many reflect the cold. From the ice at Harlem Meer to the dogs playing in the snow to more than one picture of snowmen—it's clear that I was drawn to capturing winter! I guess that when most of your transit time is spent outdoors and in the cold, it really becomes an obsession.

I have one more month left in New York City, and then I go to Awesome European City. I'm looking forward to a new setting, although I know I'm already extremely lucky to be in such a fertile ground for subjects as NYC. It should be interesting to see how our photographic subjects change as we move on during the year. This is a demanding project, but my fellow participants (and known and unknown viewers!) really give me the motivation to continue.

59/365: We're melting!

58/365: Harried

57/365: Get me down from here, you fools!

Having survived an overnight snow-and-ice storm, Sir Gawain fights for his life.

56/365: A More Successful Return

The return trip was considerable more successful. We were only delayed about 20 minutes at the gate and 15 minutes on the tarmac. And we were treated to another lovely sunset which no one stopped me from photographing. In fact, we're lucky that we weren't more delayed, since Manhattan looked like this as we emerged from the subway.

(This was going to be my photo today, but I decided that not everyone might be as ecstatic about photos of my sister's babies as I am.)

55/365: First Birthday

A big cake for a little baby!

54/365: Chaos at Delta

I had better pictures from today (though all airport related and none of them that interesting), but this one best represents my day. First of all, when I took this, an airport employee told me that taking pictures wasn't allowed. I'm so sick of these bogus security regulations. As if my taking pictures of airplanes is a threat.

Second, our flight to Small Southern City was delayed for almost 2 hours. That in itself would have been normal, but what irritated me was that until they finally boarded us, not a word was said about the status of our flight. This is because we left out of a commuter gate where many other flights were taking off around the same time (see photo), so they were just focused on getting those people out. Still, although many flights were delayed, they updated the status of a lot of them, yet completely neglected to say anything about ours. When we finally got on the plane, we waited another hour for take-off (since our plane was 30th in line on the tarmac).

Lesson: do not fly Delta Connection out of JFK at rush hour.

53/365: Spicy

Super G thought this one looked too much like vomit (nice recommendation, eh?), so instead the spices made the cut.

52/365: Some renovation would be nice

The hallway in my building isn't really this dingy, but it's close.

51/365: Busted

I really thought I was going to use this picture today, but when I saw the expression on the detained guy's face, I decided on this one. It's almost like he's thinking, "Aw, shucks!" I wish I knew what he'd been stopped for.

50/365: Ain't the snow lovely?

This is the first time I haven't taken out the Digital Rebel (I should name it) since, oh, the second week of this project. I feel a little bad neglecting the 50th picture, but damn, it was cold today and I wasn't about to walk around taking pictures. I did have the PowerShot A95 though, so this is what you get. Today is supposed to be the last cold day, so hopefully tomorrow this nasty snow will be gone.

49/365: A dog's idea of fun

Despite the deep freeze today, the dogs were having a hell of a time. (The third dog, the lightest one, is my friend's dog Lady Brett.)

48/365: Snowmen!

Someone in Rittenhouse Square has a sense of humor. Luminouslens and I freaked out the minute we saw this.

47/365: Cafe au Lait

I had to get something notarized today, but at the moment I went to the bank, the notary was out for lunch. As I waited for her to return, I decided to treat myself to a cafe au lait at a new coffee shop. It has a large seating area and free wireless, and I've been meaning to try it for weeks. The coffee was excellent. I intend to go back.

46/365: No one wants to come out and play with me

45/365: Mama's Food Shop

When you don't have any chairs for your tables, just get a pew.

44/365: Odd Bear Out

Even though they were all a bunch of drunks falling over each other, all Alex could think about was how much he wanted to be part of their crowd.


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Inspiration for this photo comes from John Carleton, Kristen Thiele, and Pilgrim/Heretic, who unwittingly started with me. Also, Overread and I are clearly on the same wavelength this week.

43/365: Late afternoon coffee

It was a toss up between this picture and this woman chilling in Tompkins Square Park. I have to admit I'm very partial to (read: jealous of) her RedTango bag (warning: the website flashes and sings).

42/365: Washington Mews

I think I was subconsciously inspired by this photo by luminouslens. Subconcious because I didn't go out today to try to get a similar shot, but inspired when editing it to increase the contrast in a similar way.

You may have noticed some formatting (and title) changes. I'm trying to make this more like the other photoblogs out there, which primarily means bigger images. I hope it doesn't mess with anyone's monitor, but if you want to see it smaller, you can always click on the picture to see it at Flickr.

41/365: Frozen Harlem Meer

On our way to the Museum of the City of New York today, we stopped to take some photos of Harlem Meer. I was surprised to see that it was frozen, although of course—why wouldn't it be? I wasn't that happy with most of the photos, but it was fun to watch the Canadian geese skate along the ice. I almost chose this sparrow for today's photo, but I'll save the bird pictures for the spring.

40/365: Upside down in a vase

As I was working at the dinner table, I noticed for the first time that the base of the vase on my windowsill was reflecting the buildings across the street. Now I'm trying to think about other places to bring the vase to get a cool reflection.

39/365: Snowboarder in Watercolor

The Union Square Street Sessions, a snowboarding competition, was held in, well, Union Square today. I went up hoping to get action shots, but there were too many people and too much jostling to get anything good. I did get a few, but the decent ones were before the snowboarding even started.

I did get this one kind of interesting action shot, though. I totally did not Photoshop this picture, but it came out looking like I applied the watercolor filter. I think it must just be motion blur, but I kind of like the effect.

38/365: At the dog run

While the rest of us are huddling indoors, dog owners have no choice but to brave the artic conditions two or three times a day. This guy may have an advantage when it comes to withstanding the elements.

37/365: Shower Curtain

The light in my bathroom is truly awful, so I had to make this black & white. But that's OK, because the shower curtain is white with silver swirls. I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but the swirls are made of silver glitter glue.

This meme is well timed, as it is arctic outside.

36/365: Bunny Gargoyles

How weird are these modernist bunny gargoyles? They're guarding a 3rd or 4th story window at a big, old bank building.

I had to try 3 times (on 3 separate shooting occasions) before I could get this picture to come out. The first time, I didn't bring my tripod, and the blurriness was out of control. The second time, I brought my tripod, but I still couldn't get a clear shot. I realized later that it was because I had mistakenly left the ISO at 200. But tonight the final epiphany occurred when we discussed using flash in my photo class. I realized that between jacking the ISO up and using the flash, the picture was sure to come out. I even learned that the exposure of the flash can be controlled, so that the subject isn't totally washed out.

I was going to follow Scrivener and Billie and jump on the shower curtain meme, but since I had to go outside anyway...So maybe tomorrow.

35/365: I can't remember

Tiles for America is a 9/11 memorial on 7th Ave in the West Village. We were walking by it today, and I noticed this one for the first time. It's a little like a PostSecret postcard, but it also jumped out at me because this sentiment seemed like one that I would have if I'd been in this person's terrible position.

34/365: Madame C.J. Walker Way

A group of Harlem residents were asking passers-by if they would sign a petition to rename a section of 135th St. after Madame C.J. Walker. When we asked who she was, we were told, "She made hair care products." In fact, her story is considerably more interesting than that.

There are more photos from Harlem on Flickr.

33/365: Fun with candles, blue bowls, and darkness

32/365: Twilight Tai Chi

I got my hands on a tripod! To celebrate, I went out after dark. My goal was to take a stereotypical shot of the Washington Square Arch, but I'm not in love with the ones I got (I did turn it sepia, though). I think the angle is wrong. So that made it hard to pick a photo for tonight. When it comes down to it, I think this one is probably better than the one I chose, but it seems that my preference for the human subject has prevailed as usual. This man was standing up next to the arch, practicing tai chi. Even though my tripod isn't optimized for zoom lenses, I quickly set it up when I saw him and waited to see what I could get. He ended up looking so peaceful in this shot, despite the below freezing temperature.