Photophelia

Well, it appears that photography has supplanted writing as my passion du jour, at least for now. I don't know if it's a passing phase or what, but all I've felt like doing lately is taking pictures and learning about photography. I think it may be because I'm a time-obsessed, visual person, and there's something about capturing a moment in time and an image that compels me that I really like. Writing, on the other hand, takes so much more time and thought and preparation, unless I'm letting loose and just writing whatever the hell is in my head. Maybe I need to do more of that. Writing is also solitary, it takes you out of the world, puts you in a room by yourself with your own thoughts. The way I'm built, I get entirely too much of that, on a daily basis. With photography, you're out there in the world, on the street, documenting everything. It's more socially immersive than writing. I like that.

That said, I'm still an amateur. I never took a photography class in college and never worked with film, so I'm kind of learning as I go here. I never realized how F'ing complicated real digital cameras are if you don't want to let the camera do it all itself, what with that white balance and exposure and F stops and metering and ISO and shutter priority. And don't even get me started on Photoshop! I've had it a year; I bought it thinking I could just follow the instructions on the DVD. Not even close. The instructions, if I could find them, wouldn't help me at all. So I've been hunting and pecking and self-learning. Last week, I finally bought a dumb it down book to learn how to use it. The book is like 900 pages. Learning Photoshop is a bit like trying to learn calculus again.

While most people are happy doing the ol' point and shoot, once you've used a real camera and seen the results, it's hard to go back. I want more control. I want to get better. I haven't felt that way about anything since I took my first Gotham Writing class three years ago. Another disadvantage of using a real digital camera is that DSLRs are heavy as hell. I have a Nikon D200, which I bought before my trip to Japan in 2006, and it weighs over 3 pounds when you put a lens on it. Because it's so heavy, it's not easy to carry on my way to work every day for those spur of the moment shots around the city. In fact, I discovered that even though I live in one of the most photographed cities in the world, I was only taking pictures when I decided to make a day of it and lug out the D200. I wasn't taking any candids or fun shots, which is half the fun of photography. So a few weeks ago, I dropped some cash on the brand new Olympus EP-1, which is a little bigger than a point and shoot, but it comes in this new format called Micro Four Thirds, which is halfway between the compact point and shoots (Nikon Coolpix, Sony Cybershot) and a big DSLR like my Nikon. That's a picture of it up there. It doesn't have the huge sensor or mirror of my DSLR, but the sensor is way bigger than the miniscule one on a point and shoot. More importantly, it has the capacity to change lenses, which you can't do with a P&S. While clothes may not make the man, a good lens can make the camera.

I don't have any EP-1 shots ready to post yet, but will do so soon. In the meantime, attached for your viewing pleasure, are some of my favorite pics from this past summer using my Nikon. As I said, I'm still learning, and unfortunately, Blogger's software washes them out quite a bit when I post them on here, but you'll get the idea. (Click on them to see full size).

This is Jersey a/k/a "Jer Jer," A.C.'s French Bulldog, hanging at the dog run on the Upper East Side. Jersey has brought a great deal of fun into my life (not as much as A.C., but close). He enjoys rubber bones, marking his territory in strange lands, doggy treats, Del Frisco's porterhouse leftovers, wrestling, doing the Indy 500 around the apartment, cooling off his undercarriage, and sleeping in my bed. Notice his wagging tongue, which practically blurred out the entire picture, and the Red Sox collar that I bought him. Love that dog. He's going to get his own post one of these days.



Lighthouse & flag @ Montauk, last June.



New Yankee Stadium, my first visit when they played Boston in May, back when the Red Sox were still winning.



Montauk pier.



Ortiz kid. Exposure's off, but I still like the picture.



Yankee Scoreboard.



Chambers Street subway stop. I couldn't duplicate this if I tried.



Williamsburg sunset. So purdy.



A&W sign near Lake Placid. Great friggin' burgers.



Ski jumper #1. We were tooling around the ski jumps, checking them out, and all of a sudden we saw these guys practicing, in the middle of summer! So I whipped out the camera and tried to capture a few of them in the air. It wasn't easy and impossible to use an autofocus when they were moving like that. These are the only ones that came out halfway decent.



Ski jumper #2.



Ski jumper #3.



Wait. I didn't take this. How did that get in there?



On the ski jump. I just thought the numbers looked cool.



Fifth Avenue, looking uptown, late July.



6th Avenue, near Saks.



Back to Yankee Stadium, Old Timer's Day game.



Yankee Stadium from the subway platform on my way home. I really like this one.



Chrysler Building. One of my favorites.



And last, but not least, my beautiful niece, with Dad in the background. I love the look on both of their faces.