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I recently traveled to Newark, NJ - which was meant to be all work and no play - but noticed that I had a four-hour block where I was free one evening. With New York City being twenty minutes away (or so I was told), I jumped at the opportunity to head there and photograph/experience something. I had never been, and wondered where I would go for these four hours - Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park, etc?
I got into my rental car (oy, a mistake) and hit the Holland Tunnel, where reality kicked in harder than a foot to the groin. Traffic there was, well - a nightmare. I can only compare the insanity and nerves to that of driving in Mexico City. What's hilarious looking back is how crazy it was, yet no one was going over 20MPH. I consider myself a decent driver, but the locals sure didn't think so; at one point I was told to, "go suck an orange, asshole!" My rental had Florida plates, you see.
Anyway, I finally got out of that damn tunnel nearly an hour and a half later. It was the weekend, it was late, and I figured that in order to return back in time, I would have an hour tops to now spend in the city. Times Square would be the spot that would deliver the most photo opportunities, so off I went.
Driving there, I could see why this place is the so-called center of the universe. The diversity and scenes were mesmerizing, and these were just some neighborhoods. Growing up in the midwest, this place puts things into perspective. I always wondered why so many shows, stories, references, etc. were based in New York City. With the exception of the maddening traffic, it all sort of clicked together rather quickly.
I needed to devise a game plan before shooting. I didn't know whether I should just take 'touristy-like' photos, concentrate on the people, or what specifically. As I continued driving, it was that diversity and eccentricity that I kept seeing photographic visions of appear; it was the people that made this city, making it so special. It was settled - photographing people became the priority.
As of late when doing street portraits, I like to approach people, talk to them, know what they do for a living, let them know who I am, and ask if I can take their shot. This time around, I was going to take a candid mentality of snapping first, and talk/approach only if necessary. I didn't have too much time, so I needed to concentrate on capturing as much as possible, while still taking in the sites and sounds on a personal level (it's important to separate the two sometimes).
After parking and a long walk, there I was - in Times Square. I understand this isn't necessarily the true New York, (tourists, abound!) but it was still fantastic - a great punch to the senses. I mean that, actually - there was a myriad of sighs, smells, sounds and everything inbetween that made you remember specific scenes - most cities don't have that going on in such a deep way.
What came to mind after being there a few minutes was that I started to compare it to Las Vegas, in regards to the sights. However, even with all the tourists, this place became analogous to America as a whole. Whereas Vegas is about the spectacle and power of the dollar, this place had everything - rich, poor, happy, sad, thriving, despair, diversity, etc. Even with the explosion of advertisements, this all felt real, raw. Vegas is fake, whereas this had a balance of futility and raw power that was impossible to avoid.
Photo-wise, I took a few sample exposures to test the crazy lighting. I rarely shoot at night unless it involves a (landscape) long exposure, so this was going to be a new challenge for me to tackle. When I got there, I actually thought to myself - why don't I shoot more at night?! Obviously this locale had different lighting conditions than most would have at night, but it's still something I want to do more of in the future.
I knew flash was out of the question, so everything would be shot using available light. Although a zoom lens' focal lengths would have been convenient, a prime was the way to go - I wanted something fast, sharp, and fixed so everything had the same distance; the same look. I've found that prime's (specifically, 35mm and 50mm) seem to work really well with street portraiture, so I put on a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L on my 5D Mark II and off I went. After some brief experimenting, I went with a mix of manual and shutter priority modes, going at f/1.4 and 1/320 to better freeze the action as there was a lot of movement. I set the ISO to automatic (works fairly well with the 5DMkII) and found that most scenes had ISO's between 800 to 3200 - quite a range.
Going to automatic ISO was great in this situation because it meant one less thing to worry about. This was fast shooting, so all I had to (and could) concentrate on was capturing the scene, and making sure it was in focus. The 5DMkII's auto-focus doesn't work so well in low-light conditions (a Canon plague that needs to be fixed), so I had to switch back and forth between manual and auto depending on the area I was at.
Regardless, having a fast lens and a camera that handles ISO well meant I was able to achieve what I was after. I know I preach the best camera is the one you have with you mantra (the equipment doesn't make the photographer), but it sure was nice to have these advancements and gear for shoots like this; it would have been much, much more difficult for me to capture as I did here with gear from just three years ago. That's not an invitation to go crazy buying the latest and greatest gear, but simply to know your tools and their strengths and using them accordingly.
Finally (and this obviously occurred after the fact), I decided to convert everything to black and white and have very minimal retouching. Apart from B&W working more with that journalistic-type-look I was going for, the crazy lights presented lots of odd color casts that didn't quite work so well in some shots, so I cheated and went with monochrome instead. As for retouching, apart from cropping and a quick S-curve adjustment, everything is straight out of camera. I wanted to maintain the raw/real that I felt as I was taking the shots.
If you're a fan of street photography, this place is a dream - and have a feeling shooting at night is best. I felt almost cheated that I could only be there an hour, yet it was great from a photo standpoint to have limits set in place. As mentioned, I tried to limit myself to not speak to people this time around due to the time constraint, but found it challenging. Sometimes it's as important to speak to your subjects as it is taking their photo.
I managed a few conversations, and sort of regret not going deeper with some. The man below was crying, yet he wouldn't say why. "It's personal. You wouldn't understand." I had another person who said they had just moved there that morning, no job in place. "It's worth a shot, right? I know it's stupid, but it's something I need to do." Another guy had lived there his whole life. "Tourists are like pigeons - rats with wings." (I didn't understand the analogy.) Spoke to a cop (and goodness, were there cops) who called the city, "the best and worst humanity has to offer; dreams and nightmares happening daily."
So I suppose that's it. Only so much that can be said about spending an hour in one place. Either way, it was an amazing hour, almost a tease of what the city has to offer. I can't wait to return, and know that I owe it to myself to return. It's a place that inspires, and hopefully I'll have more than an hour next time...
An Hour in Times Square 10/27/09
This is a post that New Yorkers will probably cringe at. It'll make me seem like such a square, but I don't care (much).
I recently traveled to Newark, NJ - which was meant to be all work and no play - but noticed that I had a four-hour block where I was free one evening. With New York City being twenty minutes away (or so I was told), I jumped at the opportunity to head there and photograph/experience something. I had never been, and wondered where I would go for these four hours - Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park, etc?
I got into my rental car (oy, a mistake) and hit the Holland Tunnel, where reality kicked in harder than a foot to the groin. Traffic there was, well - a nightmare. I can only compare the insanity and nerves to that of driving in Mexico City. What's hilarious looking back is how crazy it was, yet no one was going over 20MPH. I consider myself a decent driver, but the locals sure didn't think so; at one point I was told to, "go suck an orange, asshole!" My rental had Florida plates, you see.
Anyway, I finally got out of that damn tunnel nearly an hour and a half later. It was the weekend, it was late, and I figured that in order to return back in time, I would have an hour tops to now spend in the city. Times Square would be the spot that would deliver the most photo opportunities, so off I went.
Driving there, I could see why this place is the so-called center of the universe. The diversity and scenes were mesmerizing, and these were just some neighborhoods. Growing up in the midwest, this place puts things into perspective. I always wondered why so many shows, stories, references, etc. were based in New York City. With the exception of the maddening traffic, it all sort of clicked together rather quickly.
I needed to devise a game plan before shooting. I didn't know whether I should just take 'touristy-like' photos, concentrate on the people, or what specifically. As I continued driving, it was that diversity and eccentricity that I kept seeing photographic visions of appear; it was the people that made this city, making it so special. It was settled - photographing people became the priority.
As of late when doing street portraits, I like to approach people, talk to them, know what they do for a living, let them know who I am, and ask if I can take their shot. This time around, I was going to take a candid mentality of snapping first, and talk/approach only if necessary. I didn't have too much time, so I needed to concentrate on capturing as much as possible, while still taking in the sites and sounds on a personal level (it's important to separate the two sometimes).
After parking and a long walk, there I was - in Times Square. I understand this isn't necessarily the true New York, (tourists, abound!) but it was still fantastic - a great punch to the senses. I mean that, actually - there was a myriad of sighs, smells, sounds and everything inbetween that made you remember specific scenes - most cities don't have that going on in such a deep way.
What came to mind after being there a few minutes was that I started to compare it to Las Vegas, in regards to the sights. However, even with all the tourists, this place became analogous to America as a whole. Whereas Vegas is about the spectacle and power of the dollar, this place had everything - rich, poor, happy, sad, thriving, despair, diversity, etc. Even with the explosion of advertisements, this all felt real, raw. Vegas is fake, whereas this had a balance of futility and raw power that was impossible to avoid.
Photo-wise, I took a few sample exposures to test the crazy lighting. I rarely shoot at night unless it involves a (landscape) long exposure, so this was going to be a new challenge for me to tackle. When I got there, I actually thought to myself - why don't I shoot more at night?! Obviously this locale had different lighting conditions than most would have at night, but it's still something I want to do more of in the future.
I knew flash was out of the question, so everything would be shot using available light. Although a zoom lens' focal lengths would have been convenient, a prime was the way to go - I wanted something fast, sharp, and fixed so everything had the same distance; the same look. I've found that prime's (specifically, 35mm and 50mm) seem to work really well with street portraiture, so I put on a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L on my 5D Mark II and off I went. After some brief experimenting, I went with a mix of manual and shutter priority modes, going at f/1.4 and 1/320 to better freeze the action as there was a lot of movement. I set the ISO to automatic (works fairly well with the 5DMkII) and found that most scenes had ISO's between 800 to 3200 - quite a range.
Going to automatic ISO was great in this situation because it meant one less thing to worry about. This was fast shooting, so all I had to (and could) concentrate on was capturing the scene, and making sure it was in focus. The 5DMkII's auto-focus doesn't work so well in low-light conditions (a Canon plague that needs to be fixed), so I had to switch back and forth between manual and auto depending on the area I was at.
Regardless, having a fast lens and a camera that handles ISO well meant I was able to achieve what I was after. I know I preach the best camera is the one you have with you mantra (the equipment doesn't make the photographer), but it sure was nice to have these advancements and gear for shoots like this; it would have been much, much more difficult for me to capture as I did here with gear from just three years ago. That's not an invitation to go crazy buying the latest and greatest gear, but simply to know your tools and their strengths and using them accordingly.
Finally (and this obviously occurred after the fact), I decided to convert everything to black and white and have very minimal retouching. Apart from B&W working more with that journalistic-type-look I was going for, the crazy lights presented lots of odd color casts that didn't quite work so well in some shots, so I cheated and went with monochrome instead. As for retouching, apart from cropping and a quick S-curve adjustment, everything is straight out of camera. I wanted to maintain the raw/real that I felt as I was taking the shots.
If you're a fan of street photography, this place is a dream - and have a feeling shooting at night is best. I felt almost cheated that I could only be there an hour, yet it was great from a photo standpoint to have limits set in place. As mentioned, I tried to limit myself to not speak to people this time around due to the time constraint, but found it challenging. Sometimes it's as important to speak to your subjects as it is taking their photo.
I managed a few conversations, and sort of regret not going deeper with some. The man below was crying, yet he wouldn't say why. "It's personal. You wouldn't understand." I had another person who said they had just moved there that morning, no job in place. "It's worth a shot, right? I know it's stupid, but it's something I need to do." Another guy had lived there his whole life. "Tourists are like pigeons - rats with wings." (I didn't understand the analogy.) Spoke to a cop (and goodness, were there cops) who called the city, "the best and worst humanity has to offer; dreams and nightmares happening daily."
So I suppose that's it. Only so much that can be said about spending an hour in one place. Either way, it was an amazing hour, almost a tease of what the city has to offer. I can't wait to return, and know that I owe it to myself to return. It's a place that inspires, and hopefully I'll have more than an hour next time...
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