Black and White Photography Blog, Vol. I

This blog runs from 2005 to June 2008.

NEW BLOG IS www.DaveBeckerman.com/blog

SO UPDATE YOUR FEEDS, BOOKMARKS ETC.

Whenever I get a new camera - I like to go out and do the 59th street bridge. So I’ve had the 40D for a while but got around to it tonight with the 70-300. I was also curious to see how IS would work with this shot which has given me trouble before. Worked like a charm. I even liked the fact that the padded drapes are on the bridge for whatever maintenance they’re doing. Seem to give it more character than it usually has.

For those who don’t know New York - that’s Roosevelt Island on the left - and the view is looking downtown towards the other bridges.

Anyway - I waited for about 45 minutes for those clouds to drop down into frame.
Here are those pesky details: ISO 800, 70mm, f11, 0.7 secs, mirror-lockup, and I covered the eyepiece. Eric reminded me the other day to cover the eyepiece so that stray light doesn’t bounce around during the shot and I have found that if nothing else, if you don’t cover the eyepiece and there’s a strong light behind you, it will effect the metering.

Okay - my ISP is going to move DaveBeckerman.com from a Windows box to a Linux box today.  Hopefully there won’t be any down time.  I expect some issues will pop up but I don’t know what they are yet.  After that I’m going to install wordpress on that box and do a test blog of some sort…  and eventually I will point BeckermanPhoto at that blog after importing from one to the other…  It’s not a bad move even if I don’t move the blog because the Linux plan is cheaper than what I pay for Windows hosting.

I’ve been trying to photograph the hands of people as I give them spare change.

“Midway through life’s journey I was made aware
That I had strayed into a dark forest,
And the right path appeared not anywhere.

Ah, tongue cannot describe how it oppressed,
This wood, so harsh, dismal and wild, that fear
At thought of it strikes now into my breast.

So bitter it is, death is scarce bitterer.” - Opening of Inferno - Mr. Dante

Result of too much Inferno reading.

So right now - this blog has it’s own domain on a different server from my main site - DaveBeckerman.com

Was that a dumb idea in terms of google ranking? If I were to move it to the same domain as DaveBeckerman.com would it be better for both the blog and main site ranking?

Seems to me that the answer is probably yes. The reason I put it on a separate domain was that I wanted to test (this is some time ago) the other hosting company and also because the blog is hosted under Unix and the main site is Windows 2000. I’m thinking of moving the main site to a Unix server and then moving this blog there as well.

As far as “Page Rank” goes - they’re both the same right now - at 5.

Frankly - I should prob. leave it alone since I’ve got more work than I can handle right now anyway - but I guess that SEO desire doesn’t die easily.

I did some tests yesterday to determine how large I could go with images from the 40D. I’d say that 20 x 30 inches is about the max before too many artifacts are introduced. (ProZoom II). I’m being a little bit picky with this evaluation - yes - serious pixel-peeping. I have in fact done two prints that were larger for a client and no complaints. But I would feel more comfortable with an extra 6 mp or so.

12 x 18’s are no problem at all.

As far as this image — the Q Train and most of the trains to Coney Island eventually emerge above ground.  If you catch the train at the right time the light pours in and there are interesting lighting opportunities.  This was with the 30mm.  You don’t need to worry as much these days about the “sound” of the camera since just about everyone in the city is plugged in.

I bought www.Beckerman.us and for now it’s pointing at DaveBeckerman.com

Also redid the home page for the millionth time.  I find it relaxing, and there was a lot of personal stuff going on the last few days that of course I can’t write about, but it all turned out okay.

Anyway - tomorrow is the Mermaid Day Parade - and I think I’m going. To be honest I’m sort of bored with the whole thing by now, I don’t know how many times I’ve done it. But I did want to try my high-angle cloud chaser there and for once the weather isn’t going to be scorching. So if you do go and see this weird gadget poking the clouds - that’s me. The shot I had in mind was the parade itself, rather than all the stuff in the pen, and that I could get about two blocks away and shoot down surf avenue. Maybe do a bit on the boardwalk as well.

Frankly, I shouldn’t be doing any of this right now as orders are pouring in and I’m falling behind again.  You know - small business people - I think they’re always complaining about something.  Too many orders - complain.  Not enough orders - complain.  It’s not just me, I notice it with many of the shopkeepers in the neighborhood that I’m friendly with.

At first, just the homeless guy on left is sprawled on the corner. A few minutes later this white guy in shorts has joined him. Later, I walk by (no camera) and there are two upper-east-siders and the homeless guy on the corner as if it were beachfront property.

I think that I can walk from 2nd avenue to 3rd avenue and always find at least one thing that’s strikes me as odd. Maybe that’s the whole secret of photography - finding things odd and wanting to document them for others.

Well - it did make me think of the original French film, Boudu sauvé des eaux, which I must have seen when I lived on the lower east side near the revival theater - what was it called - off 2nd avenue - and then the later American remake with Nolte which was okay I guess. But nowhere as good as the French version.

I realize that NASA is looking for signs of life on Mars - or at least water.  But I think I could list about ten mysteries of the upper-east side that should be looked into first.

Example: I wonder why the Duane Reade bags are the bag of choice for the homeless.  The little brown bag was the bag of choice for the upper crust for the longest time, but I don’t see them much anymore.

Check this out at full screen size. If you want to make one of these, use the labloop - which is how this was done. The normal slideshow they offer is sort of cheesy.

A few days ago I watched A Hard Day’s Night again. When I was a kid, I had a reel-to-reel tape recorder and somehow had the soundtrack of A Hard Day’s Night (the film) on it. Me and my friends would just sit in my room and listen to it over and over until we knew all the lines. It’s tough to juxtapose those days with this memorial.

People dropped coins and other things in the guitar hole. It was very crowded today, and there was a careful, precise flower arrangement. A man with a guitar case walked by, and suddenly raised the case in the air, and just as quickly walked on.

I never feel as if I’ve done the thing artistic justice. How can you. It’s just a circle with a single word asking us to imagine a world that for me at least is beyond my imagination.

I don’t know if today was some special date in John’s life but it was especially solemn at the circle.

I don’t know if this is proper form or not - but to my surprise there are private croquet courts in Central Park.

Just another one of those things that are there, that you walk on, but don’t really see the pattern at street level. Speaking of mosaics — next stop on the list — I’ve got to take another crack at the Imagine Circle. I know it’s been done a billion times — but it feels like time for a visit.

I ran into Lewis who has been doing portraits at Coney for 35 years. I think the images are still being done with polaroid film.

One day I ran into Lewis near the photo store and he asked me how it was going and I was complaining about something.  And he just looked at me calmly and asked, do you like what you’re doing?  And I say, yeah.  And he says, so don’t complain.

It’s good advice, I suppose.  But you can’t change your personality with good advice.  When I ran into him at Coney, and he asked how I was - I said I was tired and hot.  He didn’t say anything this time - just gave me a look and I realized that I was complaining again.  So I just sat down in the shade next to him and waited in silence.    Eventually, I cooled off and walked about 40 feet away and took this shot.  Figured that it wouldn’t turn out too well since there was the bright beach behind him, and he was in the shade - but there was enough detail to pull out - so I can’t complain.

D Train - 300 mm - last stop - Coney Island.