Camera: Lumix G2
Lens: 14-42 Olympus ED
ISO: 200
Conversion to b&w: Photoshop via channel mixer and
gradient mapping
Print Size: 11.5” x 15” @270 dpi
Print: Epson 3880/ Pieozography K7 Inks/ Moab Lasal Paper
I originally had another photo prepared for this week, since
I tried to get a jump on things before the Jazz Age Lawn Party that was this
past weekend on Governors Island. I’ll save that shot for next week.
The photos from the vintage photo booth are here on
Facebook:
These were done using a special camera I designed and then
had built by sculptor Christopher Smith. The rig allows a digital camera to
capture the ground glass image from a 1950’s era press/view camera. It’s a
little tricky to use, but one soon becomes accustomed to its
idiosyncrasies.
I had wanted to do some shoot walks in the Big Apple for
some months now, but the timing and psychological space never seemed to work
out. Surprising myself at my efficiency in getting the party images
post-processed, I determined to seize the moment and spend some time in NYC
photographing. The walk went from Jay Street, Brooklyn in DUMBO to Pier 6 at
Atlantic Avenue, to Henry Street, across the Manhattan Bridge, into lower
Manhattan and uptown and west to Varick Street, where I again caught the
subway.
One thing I’ve learned is to simply go for the jaunt and see
what happens; forget about bagging the great photo and enjoy the landscape and
what unfolds. Let the mind wander along with the body. Luckily, I love to walk
and simply take in what’s there, the only destination being to arrive at a
state of being fully present. Alfred Stieglitz talked about the creative
photograph aiming to be “an equivalent;” that is, a formal expression of what
the photographer was feeling at the time the shutter was pressed. This is all
well and good, but on the practical end, there are other convergences that have
to take place. In fact, there are too many to discuss here, both internal and
external, and traveling the road that courts serendipitous moments is the real
work. While not the whole answer, a large part of getting the muse of chance
more on one’s side rests in getting behind the camera as often as possible.
The Brooklyn Bridge is too much a tangle of tourists and
bikes for my taste, unless it’s very early in the morning. The pedestrian walk
of the Manhattan Bridge (bikes travel on the opposite side), near lunchtime was
practically deserted. I could stop and take a shot as it pleased me. There is a
wire mesh fence to contend with, but the Lumix, because it is not a full-sized
dslr, but a micro 4/3, can stick its zoom lens right through with no problem
and leave a little maneuvering room to boot. The only problem to contend with
was the bouncing of the bridge from the Q Train that goes by. You don’t notice
it when simply walking, but look through the camera’s magnified spot for
focusing by eye, and the vibration becomes quite evident. Luckily, the weather
pattern was very stable, the Sun very bright and I could use a high shutter
speed to arrest any telltale motion plus a small f-stop for a deep field of
sharp focus. I patiently waited for the
wave phenomenon to damp down, using the time to frame a stronger composition.
The print was reasonably straightforward to make and could
be printed full frame. Being evenly lit, brightly but with a reasonable dynamic
range, it required minimal masking other than a special channel mixer layer
mask for the sky to make the clouds show. I used it to pull back the blue prior
to conversion to b&w. I applied a slight gradient to deepen the right side
slightly and improve the symmetry. The left foreground had some fairly dusky
areas and some planes that I lightened to make the overall image better tonally
balanced. It only took 19 small proofs and about a morning of work to arrive at
version with which I was tentatively satisfied.
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