Through the Eyes of a Lotus

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 20 April 2013

With a little instruction from Mom, this little one learned how to admire the pretty flowers without hurting them.

I most love photographing people going about their lives in public spaces. One of the things I struggle with, though, is the idea that not everyone wants to be photographed. (That has become less of a struggle as I’ve continually reminded myself it is a simple matter to apologize and delete the photo, if someone sees me photographing them and is not happy about it.) I still wonder how I would be able to use those photos in an exhibit, though, without getting a model release. When people are moving quickly past my lens or are some distance away, it would be impossible to stop them to ask for a model release, even if I had one on me and wanted to approach them. Do those photos stay buried in my personal library, never to see the wall of a gallery? I don’t know, yet.

Time for a new series of photos, this time from my April trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with friends.

20 April 2013

By the way, the water isn’t cloudy. That is the sky reflected in the crystal-clear water of the lily pond.

Yesterday I found two flat kids in my PO box and took them with me into Brooklyn for the afternoon. After being folded up in an envelope for so long, they were very excited about riding the subway.

Flat Maurius and Flat Noemy riding on the subway.

Flat Noemy, Flat Maurius, and me at Pier 1 in Brooklyn. You can see One World Trade Center in the background, on the far left. The Flats are from Phoenix, AZ and were very excited to visit the city.

We had lunch with friends, then spent a couple of hours at a nighttime photography meetup.

Jane’s Carousel lit up in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, with One World Trade Center in the background.

It was a long, fun day! They say thank you for sending them to New York City.

Manhattan, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park
18 May 2013

It has been months since I have done any night photography. I look at this photo, and I wonder why I took so long to take my camera out at night.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 20 April 2013
Fujifilm 400 scanned with my DSLR.

I got my first batch of negatives back from ABC Photo Lab and am distressed to see they scratched my negatives. (The scratches are clearly visible on the left side of the scan.) I’ve contacted them to see if they will refund my money. I had expected they were still at the same level of quality they were back when they went under the name Mystic Color Lab, so I was very excited to discover the staff had started their own company after Mystic Color Lab was sold out from under them to York. I was not expecting this.

This may be a fluke; I will see if and how they make this right. If they do not, I will have little choice but to go with a more expensive lab here in NYC. The extra cost will be worth it to make sure my negatives are processed unscathed.

Parkchester, Bronx, NY
27 April 2013

What do you see when you travel through gritty, urban areas? Can you find beauty, or do you only see what you don’t like?

Bronx, NY
27 April 2013

The position of the sun allowed me to experiment with using sun flare. It’s not something I often, deliberately capture, but I wanted and like the effect here.

I don’t know about you, but I am shocked to realize May is already half over! You know what that means…it is time to get this show on the road!

Some participants have asked what the setup will be for the shoot. It will be very simple: I let you loose on a playground for about two hours to play, and I photograph you while you are playing. That’s it: no posing necessary! The idea is to allow you adults age 25 and up to enjoy yourself playing while I enjoy myself photographing you playing. It can’t get any simpler (or more fun) than that. To that end, the use of jump ropes, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and other such toys is wholeheartedly encouraged.

Now that the weather is (thinking about) getting warmer, I am looking for a centralized location for us to have our shoot. I like Central Park, though I am running into an unexpected challenge: the playgrounds I’ve found so far have signs saying adults are not allowed, except in the company of children. But Central Park is large, so I hope to find an adult-friendly play area after further searching. If you know of any, by all means, let me know. In the meantime, I will keep searching. Once I have a location, I can pick a date. I’ll keep you posted.

If you are or will be in the NYC area this summer and would like to participate, feel free to subscribe to the newsletter.

Original Project Description

Cyclists heading south on the West Side Greenway, towards One World Trade Center, 6 April 2013.

This is the end of my series from my cycling outing. All in all, it was a lovely day and a lovely ride!

Battery Park Village, 6 April 2013