Rodney Campbell's Blog

After a very very long day of travelling we’d finally arrived in New York

We left on Friday evening and landed in Hawaii ten hours later (and incidentally before we’d left), a couple hours later we were on another ten hour flight to JFK

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

We’d arrived early on Saturday morning local time and thankfully our rooms were ready at our Apartments (in The Marmara Manhattan). Whilst the rest of the family slept my eldest daughter and I went out to explore on foot

We were staying on the upper east side of Manhattan (on East 94th) so we headed up to 5th Avenue on Central Park and started walking towards along the park towards down town Manhattan

New York

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

35 blocks later we were at 59th street and the end of the park. I’d read that this north east corner of the park was a good spot to get a good view inside the park with the city overlooking it

Central in Spring

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 100

We then headed back to 5th Avenue to check out the famed shopping strip – first stop the flagship Apple store

The Big Apple

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Many many shops later we’d arrived tired at 42nd street so we headed east towards Grand Central Terminal railway station

Grand Orbs

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/25 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1000

The classic view inside the massive main concourse of Grand Central

Grand Central

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 2.50 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Grand

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/25 sec at f/4, ISO 200

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/25 sec at f/4, ISO 250

We walked up Lexington Ave till we reached 59th street and now tired of walking we purchased a weekly Metro Card each (which allows us unlimited travel on the NYC MTA subway and bus network for $31 – a great deal since individual trips are $2.50) and caught our first subway train back to where we were staying

Goodnight from NYC

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 25.00 sec at f/10, ISO 50

I’d mentioned in my previous post that I was initially rejected by security from taking images inside the magnificent foyer inside 1 Bligh Street. Undeterred I visited their web site and contacted the buildings owner explaining my personal project and requested if I’d be able to get permission to take photos within the building. Thankfully she arranged it for me so my next visit was a lot more successful

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Looking straight up in the middle of the central core of the building – a fantastic piece of architecture

Welcome to my Heart

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 100

There were so many interesting possibilities just in this one open space – I only wish I could have gone up to the top and taken some shots looking down as well – still my twenty minutes was up quickly enough

Inverse

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/50 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Lift me Up

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/60 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Offset Beat

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/50 sec at f/4, ISO 100

What Goes Up

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/15 sec at f/4, ISO 220

Open Heart

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/30 sec at f/4, ISO 100

My daughters are growing some miniature capsicums (peppers for our northern hemisphere readers) on a single quite prosperous plant in our front garden.

We’d just picked a couple and since I had the camera and tripod out I figured we’d take some shots here on the kitchen bench. I plonked the tri-grip diffuser over the lot and shot away.

I shot a couple stacks of images to later focus stack but here is one of the straight shots I liked with a deep aperture (f/22) to gain some depth of field

This is on of the monochrome conversions I did with this shot that I quite liked. I also did a dark one – where the red skins are quite dark – but I prefer this almost snowy infrared looking rendition

Pepper Smile

NIKON D600 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 2.50 sec at f/22, ISO 100

and the original colour version

Little Reds

NIKON D600 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 2.50 sec at f/22, ISO 100

On many recent mornings Sydney has been blanketed in fog – which is quite unusual this early in the year – it’s normally May before this starts to happen and even then it’s a pretty rare event

On this morning the fog was about the heaviest I’d ever seen and was still going very strong well after sunrise which seemed unable to burn it off

I was actually on my way to work this day and had just dropped my daughter off at school in North Sydney and since I had my camera with me (just the camera and the 24-70) I figured I’d make a quick side trip to Kirribilli and see what I could shoot

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

This is 8:30AM and I’m just under the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it vanishes in the fog even before we get to the main northern pilon only 100 metres away and forget seeing the harbour just a few metres beyond that

Bridge to Nowhere

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 29 mm, 1/100 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

An eerie feeling and hard to believe this is almost 90 minutes after sunrise and the sun is actually quite high up in the sky by now

Time for the classic shot under the harbour bridge looking out across the water towards the Sydney CBD. Normally here we’d be seeing the sails of the Opera House on the left and the city skyline on both sides – here we’re lucky to see the waters edge on this side

Raising the Bridge

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200

The view from near Luna Park with the ferries out in the harbour sounding their horns so they don’t crash into each other

Running to the Edge

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/160 sec at f/11, ISO 200

9AM!

What Lies Beneath

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/160 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Headed further around towards Kirribilli and shot back across the water towards the side of the bridge which just extends out into space

Link to the Past

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/100 sec at f/11, ISO 200

and finally around 9:20 the fog starts to burn off and we can just make out the city on the other side of the harbour

The Other Side

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 27 mm, 1/200 sec at f/10, ISO 200

My journey with my one lens, one focal length for one hour in one location, on a nice overcast day project continues in World Square.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

The Bull

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/30 sec at f/4, ISO 100

The Glass Half

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/15 sec at f/4, ISO 180

The Dragon

NIKON D600 + 15.0 mm f/2.8 @ 15 mm, 1/20 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100