Today's Pic is from Grand Central Station. A place where life doesn't stop. Thousands of people weaving in and out, up and down, back and fourth, all day every day. It was really cool to see a place like that and have my camera there to try and capture the mood of that legendary location. I have other shots that show the grandeur of the architecture and design, but I wanted to start out with this shot to capture the speed of life from any given moment at Grand Central Station. 

Hope you Enjoy :)

Hand held long exposure 

Saturday night I went out with a photography meetup group here in KC. The group did a poll and decided to go Kaw Point for some night shots. Kaw point is a spot west of the city that looks down the Missouri river onto the city skyline. There were a couple dozen photographers out there, shooting down the rivers and finding different spots. 

So I initially set up with  a long lens to shoot the skyline, a pretty standard shot. Then decided that I wanted to get something different. So you know me, I love my wide angle, so I threw on the wide angle and started walking. I went down to the actual rocky point where the Kansas river meets the Missouri, and took a few long exposure shots hoping to get the streams flowing in different directions. That wasn't that impressive. So I walked around a bit more and saw a beautiful shot in the walkway. It had a nice leading line and put the city in the corner, I loved it. I am all about foreground interest to make my shots a bit more dynamic, and I am pleased with this shot.

I ventured into central park 3 different days on my 5 day trip. Not because there wasn't anything else to do. If anything there was too much else to do. But because it was so vast, and around every corner was another photo waiting to be taken. 

Many of the photos I took were of the beautiful arch bridges throughout the park. The texture and beauty of these simple walking paths was contrasted by the city in a way that just made you stop and take it in for a second. 

This particular bridge was a stone's throw away from a large ice rink. Which they happened to be melting down and draining into this stream. You may not be able to tell from this shot, since I took some extra time to adjust the color of the water. But the initial image was with very strange white water flowing under the bridge. It was not the prettiest thing, and I found it distracted from the bridge which I wanted to be the focus of this shot. 

Are you tired of my lighthouse posts yet? Well sorry ;). Though this may be the last one for a while. It's just that besides on hwy 1 out on Big Sur in California, I had never taken photos of a lighthouse before. And even then, it was foggy and I couldn't really get a good shot. So I took my time and made the most of my lighting and scenery at the few beautiful lighthouses I visited during my day drive up Long Island. 

I was trying to hurry to get a long exposure since I had family waiting on me, so this was all I got of this scene. This scene did however manage to get me very wet as a wave came rolling in and took me off the rock I was standing on. But it was worth being soggy and cold the whole drive back as long as I got the shot.

NYC as you all know is a pretty busy place. Though, it isn't difficult to get around. There are various choices to get you from point A to point B. Many people choose walking. And walking is a very efficient way to move about the city. It would be much more efficient if it weren't for the crosswalks. 

The big city is go go go 24 hour a day. But when you choose to walk about from block to block, you are forced to stop. Sometime I think that may be the only time New Yorkers do take the time to stop, and it is because they don't have a choice. Unless they can pull a Kobe and jump a car while crossing the street.