Category Archives: Photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Journey

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Journey.

At dawn, some leave on their journey…

… just as others arrive from theirs

More photos from that day are here.

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Other nice Journeys:

The Puddle

By Vladimir Brezina

In New York City’s Central Park last Saturday. A cold, gray spring day. The cherry tree blossoms are already falling…

Seals and Swells on Sunday

By Vladimir Brezina

On Sunday, Johna and I paddled once more to Swinburne Island to see seals.

Swinburne Island, a small island in New York Harbor just south of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, hosts a healthy population of seals every winter. We’ve already visited them once this winter. But now in April, especially with spring arriving so early this year, we were wondering if the seals would still be there.

We were not disappointed!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Arranged

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Arranged: “… find something in your environment which was arranged by a human hand …”

Hmmm…. how about a human hand arranged?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Through.

Crowds of photographers gather as the magic moment draws near. What are they waiting for?

It’s Manhattanhenge! On two days in the year, for a brief moment before it sinks below the horizon, the setting sun is perfectly aligned with the cross-streets of Manhattan’s rectangular street grid and sends its last golden rays straight through its canyons…

These photos are from the first occurrence of Manhattanhenge last year, on May 30, 2011. More photos are here and here.

This year’s magic days will be May 29 and July 12!

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Some other nice interpretations of “Through” I’ve seen:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unusual

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Unusual.

Even for jaded New Yorkers, this picnic in the park was perhaps just a bit unusual…

(Click on the photo to enlarge)

Update March 18, 2012:

OK, I confess. This wasn’t quite an ordinary picnic in the park, even a New York City park…

It was a performance piece called Imaginary Picnic by the Push Pops that we saw at last year’s Figment NYC, a two-day art festival held in June on Governors Island in New York Harbor. We wrote about our visit here, and more photos—some of them likewise a bit unusual!—are here.

Unfortunately, it rained pretty steadily the whole day of our visit. Consequently the Imaginary Picnic was a bit wilted. But its full glory can be seen here:

To see, and photograph, more unusual scenes, visit this year’s Figment! Figment NYC 2012 will be held, again on Governors Island, on June 9-10. We’ll see you there!

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Some other nice interpretations of “Unusual” that I’ve seen:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Contrast

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Contrast.

And New York City is a city of contrasts, photographically and otherwise:

A couple of these photos are already elsewhere on this blog, but I do like them and they seem to fit well this week’s theme…

More New York Cityscapes are here.

Some other nice interpretations I’ve seen:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Distorted

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Distorted.

Sometimes it’s the smoothest mirror that gives the most distorted picture…

Other nice interpretations that I’ve seen:

In Preparation for Landing, Please Return Your Seat Backs to Their Full Upright Position… and Take Out Your Cameras!

By Vladimir Brezina

Like everyone who travels often enough by airplane, I’ve seen breathtaking things from the plane’s window: towering cloud formations, lightning storms, the brilliant colors of sunrise and sunset, and the map-like pattern of land and water sliding into view below.

But until yesterday, I’ve never taken out my camera. Looking out through a misted, scratched window at a cramped angle not under my control, the photographic situation didn’t seem too promising.

Still, I’ve always been tempted in one case—when landing in New York City. When landing at LaGuardia Airport, especially, if the wind is right the plane flies along the length of Manhattan, offering spectacular low-altitude views of the city.

So yesterday, when it looked like we were following that flight path once again, I got out my camera. And I was not disappointed!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Indulge

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Indulge.

I think the photo says it all…

Other nice interpretations that I’ve seen: