Benson Scrap Metal

Walking along Smith Street, in the late afternoon, I noticed the shadow of the machine that moves the metal and its operator on the oil storage tank. The intensity of the color was very striking. I took 5 or 6 quick shots getting this before someone came over to me and asked me not to take any more pictures. Funny how they really really don’t like photography there but at the recycling site on 6th street, they really don’t care how long I stand there or how many photos I take.

Grand Central

Richard Hanley asked me if I would go to Grand Central to get a crowd shot for an issue of the Journal of Urban Technology on mobile media. I went up last Friday morning. It is very dark inside the terminal. At first I was shooting with a 50mm lens that opens to f1.4. But I wasn’t going to get a crowd scene with that from up on the stairs. I tried from the escalator but it was too fast for me.

I then decided to try resting the camera on the railing and put on the longer lens 70-200 which is effectively 300mm on the 20d. I got this lovely shot which I think gives the sense of the isolation from one’s immediate environment created by mobile media.

In the end, Richard decided to use something I shot in China three years ago.

The Met

We went on a family visit to the Met today. We spent most of the time in rooms I have never been in before like the family center and movie theater and the southeast Asian art area. It was great to see The Way Things Go by Fischli and Weiss again. Much messier and pyrotechnic than I remembered. I also learned the story behind Ganesha’s broken tusk. Started thinking maybe I need to find out what god would control waste and garbage in the Hindu pantheon for my recycing series.

Mei Ling in Starbucks

Mei Ling and I were sitting in Starbucks in DUMBO. The day was warm and the door was open. A ray of sunlight hit her face and transported us out of everyday life.