New York City: A Walk through Central Park in the Winter

One of the great things about visiting New York City, and being a photographer, is that there is so much to photograph. On my last trip to the Big Apple, I had a free afternoon, so I grabbed my camera, a couple of lenses, my tripod and headed off to Central Park for a long walk. I started at 105th on the East side of the park, by the botanical gardens.

The winter weather had left all the trees bare, and a little snow on the ground. One might think that this has diminished the photo opportunities, but as you can see here, it is quite the opposite. I shot this image knowing that I would turn it black and white. I used NIK SilverEfex Pro to convert the image to B&W and to add contrast to the scene.

Since I was wearing my FitBit and tracking how much I was walking, I decided to walk around Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir before exploring more of Central Park. After a couple miles of exploration, I headed for the Bethesda Arcade.

I had been to the Bethesda Arcade once before, but not since they had restored the tiles in this amazing underground walkway. This first image was shot at at ISO 100, f16 for 2.5 seconds (mounted on my tripod) and exposed for the tiles.

This next shot was taken at ISO 100, f16 for 1/1.7 of a sec and exposed for the outside fountain. I actually shot numerous photos at different exposures to create an HDR shot here, but liked this particular shot as is.

Just after leaving the Bethesda Arcade, I came across a gentleman making huge soap bubbles. I saw someone doing this in London, when I was there for the Olympics, but did not have a good opportunity to shoot images at that time. This time I had a little daylight left and shot some photos, focusing on the bubbles. I like this particular photo because it highlights the bubble but includes the passers-by in the background, who were also attracted to these multicolored bubbles.

Since it was just before sunset, I waited for a bubble to blow in a different direction, so that I could grab a photo like this, with the bubble in front of the late afternoon NYC skyline.

My plan worked well, with me exiting the park just after sunset, so that I could shoot some evening shots by the Apple Store at 5th Ave and 59th.

To me, there is nothing more beautiful than great architecture highlighted in front of a deep blue night sky. After carrying the Gitzo tripod with me for the entire afternoon, I was sure glad to have it for these photos.



That short window of time, with the deep blue skies, had come and gone and I decided it was time to head back to my hotel to get warmed up and grab some dinner. But, when I came across this old street clock on 5th Ave, I couldn't help but stop and take another night shot.

This last photo was taken across the street from Radio City Music Hall, using the fountain as a reflection pool. This photo was taken at ISO 100, f18 with a shutter speed of 3 seconds. Overall, it was a great day of walking around the city. How far did I walk on this little photo excursion? I checked my Fitbit when I got back to the hotel and I had walked 24,343 steps for a total of 11.33 miles. And you know what? I enjoyed ever step of the way.