Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
I came across these stairs somewhere on the east side of Manhattan. I liked their curved lines and the arch that separates the two staircases. Also the vertical lines of the railings and the contrast between the light tones of the stairs and the deep blacks of railings. The shiny balls on top also contrast with the textures of the stone.
I have a very clear memory of taking this shot. It was taken in June 2012 and I’d been walking around in NY City all day. I’d been down to Adorama where I’d just bought a new lens for my NEX 5N: a 30mm Sigma f2.8, which I hadn’t yet used. It was a very hot day and I was feeling rather tired so I decided to pop into a bar for a cooling drink. While I was waiting for it I took the lens out of its box and put it on the camera. In my eagerness to try it I took this picture of my beer. There was only one other person in the bar and I attempted to take a picture of her. Unfortunately she picked up on what I was doing and asked me to delete the picture. I was on private property and she had asked politely (i.e. with no overt anger) so apologizing profusely I complied.
I don’t know much about cars from this time period, but a card on the windshield states that it is a 1927 Ford Model T Tudor. The extract from Wikipedia below indicates that the Model T was only made until 1927 so this must be a very late model.
According to Wikipedia:
The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, T‑Model Ford, Model T, or T) is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class American; some of this was because of Ford’s efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting.
The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Type 1, and with 16.5 million sold it still makes the top ten list of most sold cars of all time (ranked eighth) as of 2012.
Taken September 2013 at a old tractor show at Tilly Foster Farm – with a Sony NEX 5N and 30mm Sigma F2.8.
This was taken inside a toilet at Law Memorial Park, Briarcliff Manor, NY. As I was leaving I noticed this mirror. It was made of very shiny metal rather than glass and it had obviously been vandalized extensively. I also noticed that my reflection in the mirror was distorted because of the damage – rather like with a funfair mirror. I rather liked the effect and thought it would make an interesting and somewhat different self-portrait.
My wife and I went into New York City yesterday for a retirement party for one of our former colleagues. It was late afternoon of a bright, sunny day and at street level much was in dark shade. A touch of brightness caught my attention. The bright sunlight was hitting the top of a nearby building, which had some colorful rectangles painted on it. There were also some faint vertical lines and cutting across them the more diagonal lines of ropes on one of the platforms that are used to clean windows (and I guess other surfaces as I didn’t see any windows on this side of the building). When I took the picture I thought I would include the platform and the people on it, but ultimately I decided to leave it out and focus on the more abstract look of the colorful rectangles, vertical and diagonal lines.