#project365 [day 49] Brooklyn Museum

This is the third largest museum in New York, at least in physical size, holding an art collection of roughly 1.5 million works of art. Founded in 1895 near the Prospect Heights neighbourhood in the borough of Brooklyn. The building designed by McKim, Mead and White it was planned to be the largest art museum in the world, the initial design was four times as large as the actual size, compromised by the specifications of the New York City government. The museum struggled to maintain its building and collection, until it was revitalised in the late 20th century.
The day was turning grey, after some respite while we were at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, with lots of menacing clouds over us (it would eventually rain). This made for a very flat light, which allowed me to capture the facade with lots of detail in the shadows, and added some drama to the sky. To be able to capture the whole front of the building, which is very wide, I decided to go with stitching 3 photos together and then cropping to a panorama.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Panorama stitching, sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 48] USS Maine National Monument pt2

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Back on day five of my #project365 I showed the detail of the figures that reside on the base of this monument. So I thought I should also show the beautiful statue the sits on top of the USS Maine National Monument on the corner of New Yorks Central Park by Columbus Circle.
Sculpted by Attilio Piccirilli in 1912 the three bronze gilded figures representing Columbia Triumphant, her seashell chariot being drawn by three hippocampi,  make it almost 20 meters tall, and shine on a sunny day like this one. The monument is dedicated to the men killed aboard USS Maine when the ship exploded in Havana harbour. The bronze for this group reportedly came from metal recovered from the guns of the Maine.
 

-- 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

#project365 [day 47] The Little Chapel That Stood

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The St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. It's an episcopal chapel located at 209 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. It was built on land granted by Queen Anne, designed by architect Thomas McBean and, upon its completion in 1766 it was the tallest building in New York.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, in part by being the oldest public building in continuous use in the city. It also survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776, when a quarter of the city was burned following the British capture after the Battle of Long Island.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 46] From the ashes, the WTC Transport Hub

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From the site of the old World Trade Center a new focal point for the city is rising. The One WTC building is up, and shines to indicate that this part of town is back in business again. But closer to the ground there is a new building rising. One with a lot more architectonic interest, or at least that stands out from everything else around him.

The WTC Transportation Hub designed by Santiago Calatrava, renowned neofuturistic architect born in Spain, who as designed such iconic structures as the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and one of my favourite train stations the Gare do Oriente in Lisbon.
Oculus is the name of the structure visible above ground, and in the words of Calatrava it resembles a bird being released from a child's hand. To me, at this stage in construction, and maybe because of the history of the place, it feels like a phoenix rising again. Hope to see it again once it is completed later this year.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 45] Walking south on central Park

Spring is trying to take hold on an almost frozen Central Park. Trees are mostly naked, grass is getting greener, the sun is shinning bright, but the cold is still here and the wintery feeling refuses to go away although it's almost April. Walking south, on the west side of the park, towards the Central Park Zoo, on the left you can see the buildings of the prestigious 5th Avenue.
Another in camera panorama, and I wanted to make use of that red bag that was being carried by the couple in front of me. The spot of bright colour in an otherwise pastel scene helps make it more interesting.

-- 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

#project365 [day 44] I'm on top of the Rock

Out of all the photos I took at the 'Top of the Rock', some of them with breathtaking views, this is the one I think translates better the feeling of being up there. The sense of being high above the streets, above most buildings even, and the city lights stretching almost infinitely in all directions. 
Below us is the Fifth Avenue, where you can see St. Patrick's Cathedral, a Neo-Gothic church built in 1879 whose twin-spires measure 100m tall and seem tiny from up here. This was taken from the 69th floor, 256 meters from the ground (that's 840 feet in imperial), and I can't recommend enough going there when in NY. Even the elevator trip up there has been transformed into a ride.
Again using the fisheye lens, this time to give more of the impression of really being there, not to try and include more in the frame. This tiny lens has found a permanent place on my travel bag.

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

#project365 [day 43] Reading in Central Park

Central Park is perfect for a lot of activities, high on that list is jogging or running, but on a sunny  wintery day reading seems like a very good option. I spotted her on top of a rock, and her blonde hair lit by the sun really stood out against the more pastel colours of the rest of the garden.
Using the long end of my default travel lens, the great XF18-135m by Fujifilm, I was able to isolate the subject although she was a bit far away. Later in post I decided to go with a panoramic crop, that would cut out unwanted dead space above and below her, and also give a more dynamic feeling to the image. And, although the original colours had their merit, it begged for a black and white conversion, which gives it a more nolstagic feel.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Tonal balance and image finishing
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Black and White conversion, and detail extraction

#project365 [day 42] New York Stock Exchange

Just off Wall Street, in Downtown Manhattan, you can find one of the world's top financial markets, the New York Stock Exchange. By contrast with Uptown and Midtown, the streets here are very narrow, more like the City in London. And contrasting with Soho and Tribeca, the buildings are extremely tall. This combination makes some of the streets almost devoid of sunlight for most of the day. Thankfully I was there just after lunch time, meaning that Broad Street was full of light. The building has been the home of the stock exchange since 1865 and has been designated a National Historic Landmark since 1978.

Again the fish-eye comes to the rescue, the combination of narrow streets and very tall buildings, makes this area complicated to capture. All the extra security around here, with sandbag walls, security houses, extra barriers, make for some very unattractive distractions which must be dealt with using some imagination.

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

#project365 [day 41] Times Square through a fisheye

This is probably the most filmed square, if not location, in New York. The site of the annual New Years Eve celebration shown all over the world, where a ball of light is lowered to signal the arrival of the new calendar. You can actually see the spot where that happens on the top left part of the image, dating the year of the image. This is not a big square, even for european standards, but the sheer size of the building that surround it, makes you feel tiny. Actually the only way to fully capture the square from ground level is through the use of a fish-eye lens, which thankfully has become one of my trusted travel companions. On the building across the street you can see one of its tourist traps, the Hard Rock Cafe, but on the foreground I wanted to capture a more famous icon of the city, the NYPD. Ubiquitous all around the place in the states is also their flag, here as a big neon sign at ground level. 

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

#project365 [day 40] 33a S.SCHWARTZ

This is another photo from last week's photowalk, in the bustling Spitalfields area of London. This area is home to three main markets: Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market and Petticoat Lane Market. As part of London's East End, traditionally the less affluent part of the city, it has been taken by several waves of immigration. In the 19th century the Jewish refugees settled to live and work in the textile industry. In the late 20th century they were replaced by an influx of Bangladeshi immigrants who took over the local textiles but also made Brick Lane the curry capital of London. And now is a prime destination for street artists from all over the world. This mix makes this area very special and distinctive in the huge metropolis that is London. But being so close to the City, the financial heart of London, it is also becoming prey to housing speculation and gentrification. Some streets are bustling with stores and cafes, while others show the decay of disuse.

If you're visiting London this is a must see area, and if you have an interest in street art there are a few very interesting walking tours that will help you understand the reasons why it is so popular here.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Fujifilm XF35mmF1.4 R
-- Post
Lightroom : Tonal balance and image finishing
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Black and White conversion, and detail extraction