Times Square, NY - January 2011

Having picked back up a camera after years of just point and click, its nice to re-gain control of the lens.   Not sure what took me so long,  but the marvels of digital has impacted my vision .  Honestly, I thought digital would take away from my experience.  Having spent 1000's of hours in a darkroom, I feared I would miss the film development process.  I now realize that's just not the case.  Software like Lightroom or Photo Shop are the digital era's answer to stop bath and film drums.  So much to learn and master.


That whole realization led me to start taking photography seriously again.  I am investing my down time from my day job into classes and finally getting the academic core I never really had.  The International Center of Photography (ICP) is located on 43rd Street and 6th Avenue in New York.  An amazing place under the streets of Manhattan. Several of my classmates and instructors have quickly inspired me.


Recently I attended a weekend workshop on the basics of Lightroom 3 software.  My instructor, Ports Bishop (http://www.portsbishop.com/home.htm) requested us to bring in raw picture files to work with in class.  Everyone came prepared with amazing shots, leaving little room for him to demonstrate the software's tools.  At lunch on the first day, he challenged us to take 15 new photos over the next hour.  So lunch quickly became homework where I needed to compose 15 photo's of things other than my feet and be ready to share with a classroom of critics.  The exact learning environment I craved.


I headed for Times Square and was able to find a scene to capture.  Please meet Kat and Frosty...


The "Ladies" were in Times Square distributing information on the disparities facing gay couples in New York.  Politics aside, you could not find two more enthusiastic models.  Needing no encouragement, they jumped into the lens like a bolt of light.  I snapped the shutter and knew, knew I had captured that energy.  Never looking at the imagine until I loaded into the computer at class and boom, it just jumped off the screen.  Ports worked with me to bring out the texture of the building in the background and the right cropping angle to frame the scene.  So much better than feet!?!