New York is pretty overwhelming. Everyone I knew who had been here was telling me to catch the subway or walk. I was out on a mission in New York. I had always planned to increase my street portfolio here as it is always buzzing. The X Pro 1 was going to get a work out here period. The only downside is that I had to fit it all in along with the usual sites in just over 48 hours (you cannot miss the Statue of Liberty can you). I was there 2 nights and 3 days but it all was all non stop. I didn't really explore the food, I probably had about 3 cups of coffee and as many bagels. Plus a couple of bottles of juice and a slice of pizza and some hot wings from my cuz, who happened to be visiting for business on the night I arrived.
On my second day I had a meeting organized with Peter Hurley (master head shot photographer) as I was going to get a Hurley ProBoard from him. I was stoked to meet him personally at his studio and was grateful that he would spare me 30 minutes of his time before a client shoot. We sorted out the ProBoard and I managed to allow him to preview some of my head shots I had taken on the X Pro 1. I was over the moon that he would even look at my head shots. Lots of improvement needed but I hope to line up some people and use the ProBoard.
I went to the camera shrine, B&H and it is phenomenal. It is a shop on steroids. I picked up some Westcott gear and dumped it all in the ProBoard bag and walked 10 plus blocks back to the hotel but it was all for photography and I'm happy as some of the stuff you just can not buy here in Oz (ProBoard) and the Westcott kit cost twice as much in Oz than in NYC. One word, KNACKERED, that's how I felt after the walk.
I challenged myself to use the 35mm as much as possible and I tend to shoot my aperture wide open, this means more misses than hits but when it hits it is a high rate keeper. Many of the street shots are with the 35mm. The tourist shots were mainly done using the zoom.
The touristy shots I checked off were Empire State Building, Rockefeller Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Times Square, Central Park and catching the Mets play against the Marlins @ CitiField. Everything was done in the freezing cold, no snow but for those who know Celsius measurement it was probably no more than 7 degrees during the day with the cold chill and in the evening it was probably closer to 2 degrees with an even colder chill.
Writing this blog during transit stops as I'm awaiting my torturous NYC to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Honolulu, Honolulu to Sydney flights, all coach class and terminal lounges.
