RIP Rex

My family lost another loved one this past weekend, our beloved chihuahua. My three your old daughter has handled it better than my wife or I. We miss him tremendously already.  The house is too quiet now.

This is the last picture I took of him about a week ago. 

RIP Rex.

WAW Honoring a loved one

This past weekend, my family and I flew to Texas. My mother-in-law passed away, and we had come for the memorial service. She lived a good life and had lots of people who loved her and will miss her. The show of support at the funeral home was amazing. After the service, we went to a small Baptist church that her brother was a member of for a pot luck style lunch prepared by some of the members of the congregation. 

I had brought my camera with me on this trip because I wanted to get a family shot since my brother-in-law and his son would be there. After I ate my lunch, I excused myself and went outside to the lake to spend a little quiet time by myself. It was a beautiful day outside. A big snowstorm had came through New York the day before we were to leave, so I was happy to enjoy some warmer weather. I grabbed my camera from the car and decided to capture some of the scenery. 

Arrowhead Baptist Church
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, f/8, 1/800s, 160ISO, 18mm

Rest in Peace Paula. Your family will miss you.

Frozen Smoke

I have started getting in the habit of trying to take some personal shots on my way home from photographing an event. I'm out already with the gear, might as well take a little time and try to capture some great images.

Frozen Smoke
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 13sec, 100ISO, 40mm

 The shorty-forty lens was used to take this shot. I always grab it and take it with me if I have another lens attached to the camera; that's the benefit of the pancake design. The long exposure makes the smoke from the large chimney look frozen.

Watery Wide Angle Wednesday

 

Nightfall as viewed from the venue
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 2.5sec, 100ISO, 11mm

I have been photographing a lot of our company events, but have not done much in the way of photographing for my personal work since the new year. The first big snow storm of the year yielded a couple of action shots of my three year old playing in the snow, and I tried to get a couple of photos from one time when I was prepping dinner (the lighting from the kitchen window was too good to pass up).

This past weekend I found myself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn photographing a 40th birthday party. When I scouted out my trip there on the map, I noticed a public park just a block away called WNYC Transmitter Park. As the name says, there used to be a transmitter for WNYC located there, but now it is a park with a pier that takes you out over the East River. I decided that I needed to make time before I left the area and grab some shots for my personal portfolio.

After I was done getting the room shots for the event, I left and made my way to the pier. It was a cold night, though in the high twenties as opposed to the teens as it has been. The wind whipping off of the icy East River did not feel good though, so I stayed out there for maybe 20mins before I decided to pack it up.

Williamsburg Bridge linking BK to Manhattan
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 25sec, 100ISO, 11mm

Post Processing was done by tweaking the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom. I tweaked the white balance towards the cool side because that is the mood I felt these pictures convey to me, but it may be I am still frozen. I usually crop to the original aspect ratio or 16x9, but this time, I decided to do 2x1 aspect ration. These cityscapes just felt very wide to me and 16x9 wasn't wide enough.

Midtown
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 11mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

Serene Farm View
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, f/8, 1/400s, 320ISO, 18mm

I took this photograph in the Putnam Valley area on a site visit on the last day of July 31st, 2013. This was the site of a wedding that would take place about a month later, my vantage point in this photograph is about where the cocktail catering tent would be located. Several tents would be brought in, sound system, tables, food, lighting, restroom trailers, and a generator would all come from somewhere else. But on this fine July day, the only thing there was this stunning view.

Skyline

Big Apple Skyline
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 100ISO, 40mm

Wichita Falls Wide Angle Continued

Gibson's
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 160ISO, 16mm

As stated in the last post, I had some grand ideas when packing for our holiday trip to Wichita Falls. Reality kept me from those plans, as sickness fell upon my wife and daughter, so the time I spent shooting in Wichita Falls turned out to be brief. However brief it may have been, I was able to capture many of the buildings in the depressed downtown area. 

Warehouse Row
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 320ISO, 16mm

Parking was not an issue in Downtown Wichita Falls, as it was a Saturday morning after Christmas. Though I have a feeling parking is never the issue it is in Queens. I was able to let me wife and daughter sleep in the car and drive a couple blocks, hop out to walk and shoot, then return to a warm car.

Diagonal Boards
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/80sec, 160ISO, 16mm

It technically was one of the worst times of day to shoot. It was a little after 10a, the sky was covered with the winter grey cloud from the snowfall early morning. The light was harsh, but it was the only time I had available to shoot.

 

Producers Creamery Co
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

The buildings closer to the railroad tracks are mostly large warehouses, which would make sense. A few of them are still occupied today, but there is a large majority of brick warehouses that sit empty. Most of them have sat vacant since I started visiting the town in 2000.

American Glass
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 160ISO, 11mm

There are some businesses scattered throughout downtown that are still open.

Cars?
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 160ISO, 11mm

A few former car dealerships in the downtown area as well...

 

Four Story
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

Plenty of office space available in Downtown Wichita Falls!

The old Sears
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/125sec, 160ISO, 11mm

I have always liked the old Sears building. It was designed so that you parked your car on top, and then went down to the ground level for the store. There were signs of some renovations happening inside the store, though I could not tell what the project was for or what store was moving into the space.

Diner
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 160ISO, 13mm

Last time I was in town, December of 2012, this diner was still open. I believe it closed in January of 2013. Anyone interested in starting a diner, it is available still!

Diner
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

As soon as I saw the diner was deserted, I pulled over to park and grabbed my camera. Diners such as this are disappearing in New York City, so I assume that they will start disappearing from all over America.