#project365 [day 83] On the move, Grand Central Terminal

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NewYork_20150324_053

Another one from the beautiful Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Where the main concourse is so finely detailed, even the passage to the tracks is a work of art. After you pass through this doorway though, and the industrial minimalism is king, This was another waiting game. Find a passage that had few distractions to create a nice frame, and wait until somebody gets to the position where it ties it all together.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 80] Hello, from the Grand Central Terminal

Late morning commuters hurry about NYC's Grand Central Terminal trying to get to their lines, or getting out of the station. These public telephones are ignored by everyone that passes by.  In some ways akin to fossils, a remnant reminder of an era long gone. A time where thinking about carrying your own phone seemed futuristic or just ludicrous. Even when mobile phones started to appear most people couldn't afford their price, or would refuse to carry around a briefcase sized phone that weighed more than most briefcases. Before the ubiquitous pervasion of the mobile phone, these would be essential and almost mandatory in all places where groups of people would gather. A lifeline at times, or just to tell your significant other that you would be late for dinner. I loved the golden color of the metal plates where the phones are secured to, making them feel high end. And also the lack of signs of use on the handsets, that seems like they have just been refurbished. Probably a side effect of the lack of usage, since no one approached any of them while I was there. Not even to check for leftover change from previous users. 

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 73] Ghosts of Grand Central

Mid-morning on a Tuesday. The Main Concourse of NYC's Grand Central Terminal is bustling with commuters, tourists and assorted people in transit. The natural sunlight coming from the huge windows located on either end of the concourse is balanced with the warm artificial light emanating from the huge chandeliers that decorate the side walls. This is a cavernous space, 84 m long, 37m wide and 38m high, and always filled with crowds of busy people.
Photographing this beautiful station is usually on the list of everyone visiting the city, and you should expect all the usual locations to be filled with camera, smartphone and tablet wielding people. At this time of the day, the natural light is exceedingly strong and hard to balance with the interior lights, making the stone floor very bright. It took me about 45 minutes to take all the shots that make up this image, 20 of those just to get the spot I wanted on the stairs that lead up to the Apple Store. And then, over the course of 25 minutes, proceeded to get exposures for all the light levels, and also to remove most of the stationary persons that wore standing in the middle of my composition. The final image is made up of 12 photographs and took me around another 45 minutes to compose with a mixture with HDR and layer blending techniques.  

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye
-- Post
Lightroom : HDR photomerge, initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Manual layer blending, sharpening, colour blending and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 59] Customer Service @ Grand Central Terminal

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NewYork_20150324_051

A stern face lady faces of against a pleading man at the Customer Service window on NY's Grand Central Station. Eventually she would smile at him, and he came out seemingly satisfied. But still this scene was a lot more interesting in setting up a story, the everyday scene repeated inumerous times that most of us can relate to. The ornate booths that fill the walls of the iconic station main concourse are a beautiful example of the care taken when creating this sort of building on the beginning of the 20th century, but unfortunately are falling into disuse with some being repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone, final crop and vignette
Photoshop: Minor clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Toning, detail extraction and black & white conversion

#project365 [day 32] Metal Rats of NYC’s Grand Central

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On the canopy above the entrance to the Grand Central Station near the corner of 43rd St and Lexington Avenue are three cast metal rats just below the rat guards on the support rods. Evidently the architects (Sloan and Robertson) of the building had done prior buildings with a nautical theme; but I couldn’t find any explanation for their presence in this building.

A wonderful and enigmatic detail that most commuters, and tourists, pass under daily without noticing.

One of the great advantages of carrying a long zoom lens, 18-135mm [27-203] in my case, is that it allows me to capture small details that a standard zoom wouldn’t isolate. This has become my default lens when travelling and in most walkabouts around town, since these days the f5.6 max aperture doesn’t really hinder me that much.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction