Vaux's Folly

No, I’m not trying to say that Calvert Vaux, the co-designer of Central Park, was foolish; perish the thought!

In architecture, a folly is a building designed and constructed purely for the delight of those who behold it. Belvedere Castle is exactly that, and has delighted visitors to the Park since 1869.

Strictly speaking, an architectural folly is built for no practical purpose, but since 1919, the National Weather Service has operated a weather station at Belvedere Castle. You can just about make out some of the instruments, above the peak of the main turret, in this photo. So next time you’re in New York City and here a radio weatherperson says, “… and the temperature in Central Park is…”, you’ll know where it comes from.

Belvedere Castle is a major stop on my Central Park photo safaris, as the view from its ramparts is stunning. Also, the Castle itself, perched high on Vista Rock, is photo-worthy both from below and close-up.

This post is in honor of our friend and blog founder Warren, whose "everyone check in" email reminded me I haven't posted here for a while. Thanks, Warren!

Rockefeller Center - Dressed for Christmas

So even an old Jewish guy like me can't fail to be impressed, and yes, a bit moved, by the beautiful Christmas displays at Rockefeller Center.

I had wanted to walk down the Channel Gardens to get that classical view, from Fifth Avenue, of the angels along the Gardens and the Christmas tree straight-on against 30 Rockefeller Center - but there was just too large a crowd for me to even get close in the time I had left before catching my 6pm bus back home. I detoured west on 51st Street, which was less packed, at least in relative terms, and took this photo from the north side of Rockefeller Plaza.

St. Bartholomew Dome Interior

I got up at the proverbial oh-dark-thirty Saturday morning to take a 5:30 am bus to Manhattan for a lesson in post-processing workflow with the incomparable Dave Beckerman. Specifically, Dave shared with me his more than two years of using NIK Software's suite of impressive add-ins for Photoshop or Lightroom.

It was a great experience - Dave is very creative and an excellent teacher. If any of you get a chance to spend some time in NYC, try to look him up, or even better, take a lesson from him. You won't be sorry.

After our lesson, I went to St. Bartholomew's on Park Avenue and 51st Street. It's a beautiful Byzantine-style basilica. It's one of those special places where even if think you haven't seen it, you probably have - Hollywood loves it for scenes of high-falutin' weddings. Both the original and the remake of Arthur used St. Bart's for their wedding scenes. The church also had a very big part in the Angelina Jolie film, Salt.

I took several interior shots with a tripod at St. Bart's before a docent came up to me and said that tripods were not allowed. To get this photo of the interior of the dome, I laid my camera flat on its back on a table just underneath the crossing, set it for Automatic Exposure Bracketing, and triggered off the three exposures with my infrared remote shutter release. Back home, I assembled the three exposures using NIK's HDR Effex Pro to get what you see here.

It's very interesting... I could barely make out the detail in the dome, it was that dark. But thanks to 21st-century electronics, our digital sensors just keep sucking up photons until the image processing chip says "enough." And unlike film, long exposures don't suffer from reciprocity failure. What a great world we photographers now live in!

p.s. Sorry about that photo of Russel Brand running out of St. Bart's in his gatkes.

Man With A Mission...

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

Governors Island

Sandy and I spent a great two days in New York City this weekend, seeing Mama Mia! on Broadway and doing some sightseeing.

I'll have many more photos and, of course, lots to gab about, when I have some more time later this week.

But meanwhile, if you're visiting New York on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday between now and October 12th, be sure to consider a trip to Governors Island, a former military reservation just off the tip of lower Manhattan that's now a great venue for picknicking and sightseeing.