LENS CAPTURE

Vol. 1 No. 43

Last Sunday my wife and I took a drive to Red Hook Brooklyn to visit the new IKEA store that opened in the summer of 2008. The 300,000+ square foot store is was built on the site of the old dry docks located right along the waterfront. The maze of a store is just one attraction.

The waterfront area adjacent to the store's parking lot has been revitalized. Huge spotlit gantry cranes majestically hold a place on their respective piers. The waterfront provides a place to sit and stroll while enjoying the views across the Erie Basin and Red Hook Channel.

Vol. 1 No. 42


Join me for a sunset photography session at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Thursday, September 24, 2009. We will meet promptly at 6:00 PM along the shoreline steps. Sunset is at 6:51 pm and the light waits for no one. The park is located along Plymouth Street between Main Street and Washington Street in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.

Here's where we will meet.

View Brooklyn Bridge Sunset in a larger map


Bring a tripod if you can. Sign-up here.


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Vol. 1 No. 41

After several months, the U.S. Department of Transportation responded to the American Civil Liberties Union inquiry regarding the alleged "no photography" outside DOT (Federal) buildings. In the response, the DOT apologized for their security staff routinely informing people that they cannot photograph the outside of the agency's building from nearby public places. The response goes on to state, "we are not aware of any law that imposes such a rule, and we do not believe DOT has the authority to impose such a rule."

Noteworthy is the Federal agency's inclusion of a Special Security Bulletin of the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service dated November 10, 2004. While this specific document covers properties in the National Capital Region, I would tend to believe the Federal policy towards photography of Federal properties from public places would be consistent with this document, regardless of the region. I am actively searching for policies that are geographically-specific. I'll post whatever I come across.

This bulletin, titled Photography of Federally Owned and Leased Facilities, goes on to direct security staff to conduct a field interview to confirm the individual (photographer) is not engaged in criminal activities. The bulletin directs staff to conduct all contact with the public, to include photographers, in a professional but polite manner. If the field interview does not yield any criminal/terrorist activity, the photography should be permitted to proceed unimpeded.

A pdf of this document, which I have already placed a hard copy in my camera bag, is available here.


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Vol. 1 No. 40


The summer is in its waning days. Why not venture out to record a few scenes typically associated with the warmer season? The days are growing shorter and the recent hurricanes traveling north-east off the coast, while keeping beach goers out of the water, definitely makes the cloud formations a heck more interesting.



Here's a great self-assignment, try and make a couple of photographs that represent summer. It is strictly your interpretation. What image evokes the feeling of summer, to you? I made these three images within a span of one hour. Could have done it quicker but, had to stop for a couple of corn dogs and some cheese fries.

Vol. 1 No. 38

And, I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks. In that time I worked the day job, shoot a couple of assignments, lead a photo walk to the High Line (more on that later), and bought a new workstation. There in lies my problem, I purchased a new computer. For two weeks I struggled through MS Vista, software and driver installs and re-installs, configurations and customizations - all fraught with an intermittent stream of blue screens. After running the manufacturer's diagnostic application, which scanned for more than a day, I finally surrender and returned the system to the store.

Spec-wise, the workstation was a powerhouse but a lemon. The replacement system, I can happily say, rockets through image uploads and photo editing. A Dell Studio XPS with an Intel Core i7 processor (translation - dual quad core) with a nice cache, plenty of RAM (8GB DDR3), and tons of storage (1.5TB). After several hours of re-installing applications and devices, and a few days to burn-in, I am back to posting.

So, the outing to the High Line was a successful adventure. On this very hot and humid day, I was joined by a dozen fellow photo enthusiasts. Some were alumni from the Worldwide Photo Walk, as well as a few new faces. The skill levels were as varied as the different points of view each participant brought along. I love these walks because they inspire me to constantly look at my environment from many different angles. As a native New Yorker, regardless of the scale and diversity this city offers, you fall into a routine. By that, I mean you start to look at things from the same aspect. Your approach gets stale, and your photographic prospects quickly diminish. There are several wonderful images made my fellow photo walkers that day, and you can see them by visiting the Flickr Lenscapture Group.

Here are a few photographs I made that day.