New York City: Walking the streets and a visit to The MOMA

Last week was yet another trip across country for a visit to New Jersey and New York City. I taught classes (Night Photography and Sports Photography) at two of my favorite places, Unique Photo in NJ and B&H Photo in NYC. And as always...whenever I have any spare time, I go out and take photos.

Usually my spare time is at night, but on this trip, since I was presenting during the evening, I went out and shot some images while it was still light outside. Even though it looked like it might rain at any moment, I took a long walk from my hotel to visit the Museum of Modern Art (otherwise known as the MOMA). Along the way, I walked by a fire station, and ever since September 11, 2001, I see these places differently. Even though it has been more than 10 years since the attack on NY, I still feel the sadness almost as much as a decade ago.

From sadness to Love. :) I have walked by this location many times before, but wanted to capture some images that were a little different this time. It was an overcast day in NY, so I knew that blue skies were not an option. Taking advantage of the lower light conditions, I decided to slow down the shutter of the camera to 1/4 of a second (ISO 100, f20 on the Canon 5D Mark III) to show the motion of people walking around the iconic piece. I did not have a tripod with me, so I braced myself against a nearby wall and shot this photo staying as steady as I could.

Even though I have been to NY City countless times, I had never taken the time to visit the MOMA. First of all, I am not a huge fan of museums. Generally, when I have free time, I would rather experience a city being out and about, as opposed to being stuck inside. And secondly, I am not a huge fan of modern art. After entering the museum, I was drawn more to the people watching the art, than the art itself. I also decided to stick with my slow shutter to try showing motion inside the museum, to match my images from outside.

 

I was intrigued by these three white canvases, with different colored borders. Still a little confuing to me, but I like the overall effect.

 

This one really had me laughing. Now, I don't mean to offend the artist or those of you who like this, but I just kept thinking "is this really art?" Serious? A wall pitted by a single air rifle shot? Hmmmm.

No comment...

This was one of my favorite photos of the day. I saw this white canvas on a white wall, and was still in my "what the heck?" frame of mind, when I saw this guy checking his phone and decided to shoot a photo of this. I loved the fact that everything was stark white except for this guy in a red shirt. I also love the fact that he is all alone in this room and not paying attention to the "art". The funny thing is...this guy became part of my "art" without even knowing it. How about that?

I did see some really cool (and very colorful) art in the museum. This is a close-up shot of a very large piece which was made completely in colored cloth fabric.

Another close-up shot, showing the third dimension of drip painting by the well known artist, Jackson Pollock.

More motion, this time taken from the 5th floor of the museum.

I really liked the clean lines of this staircase and decided that it was as interesting as many of the art pieces in the museum.

And then it was time to walk back to my hotel to prepare for my classes. But not before stopping by Radio City Music Hall and shooting a little more. At this point, I had shot so many images with a slow shutter, that I decided to keep shooting this way, and that this would be my theme for the day. Both of these shots were shot using the "motion pan" technique. For these, I kept the shutter at 1/8 sec and panned at the exact same speed as the taxi cabs. This is the same technique I used at the Olympics, and I actually have practiced this many times following taxis in NY.

Cutting through Time Square, I happened to walk right by the Naked Cowboy. I went behind him (but not too close!) and shot this image with Time Square behind him.

I love this shot, because the girl who is walking into the frame from the right, is sneaking a peek at the Naked Cowboy, with just a slight smirk on her face. Too funny!