Flatiron Detail

Another of my favorite buildings, the 1902 Flatiron Building (Fuller Building.)

Built to take advantage of the triangular lot formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street, H.G. Wells proclaimed when he first saw it:

"I found myself agape, admiring a sky-scraper the prow of the Flat-iron Building, to be particular, ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the afternoon light."

Please see a schedule of some of my photo tours of NYC for Washington Photo Safari here.

Chrysler Building Details

The Chrysler Building at Lexington and 42nd St is the iconic Art Deco skyscraper, and my own favorite. This view shows off the stainless steel "gargoyles" at the 31st floor level. They're modeled after the radiator cap of the 1929 Chrysler. You can also see the mosaic cars that race all around the 31st floor.

The Chrysler Building is one of the many great photo-worthy sites we'll visit during my Photo Safari to NYC next Saturday, April 2, 2011. Photo instruction, including composition and how to get the most out of your camera is all included!

Register here

NYC Artist Makes It Big

Talk about making it big!

I was walking to the Lexington Avenue subway station on E. 23rd Street when I looked up and saw this giant work-in-progress. There were actually four men working on this - two each on two platforms.

I had my Tamron "super-zoom" 18-270mm lens on my camera. I racked it to full-out telephoto and started to watch the painters. The 270mm position was just enough to show a small but detailed figure against a large section of the painting.

From a superb workshop I took with Karen Schulman, I knew that in an image like this, gesture is important to keep the photo from looking too static. "Gesture," in that context, could mean a lean of the body, an arm or leg extended, in other words, just about anything that departs from "just standing there."

For this situation, I figured that "gesture" would be in the form of reaching out with the paintbrush. It took about 20 minutes, but sure enough, I got a few shots of two of the guys in a good lean-and-stretch. This one is the one I liked best, as he's putting his whole body into it.

In case you're curious, the... er... I don't know what to call the painting-on-the-side-of-a-building... is for a remake of the 1981 film, Arthur.

Man With A Mission...

... as he walks by this blue wall in Manhattan's Flower District on W. 28th Street early Saturday morning.

Join me on my next Photo Safari to Midtown Manhattan on April 2, 2011 at 1PM.