96th Street subway, uptown side, Oct 2009 - 25

Check out these dog behavior problem images:

96th Street subway, uptown side, Oct 2009 – 25


Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published as an illustration in an undated (Nov 2009) Mahalo blog titled "How Long Does Swine Flu Last?", at www-dot-mahalo-dot-com-slashhow-long-does-swine-flu-last. It was also published in an undated (Oct 2010) Lens BH! blog, with the same title as the caption I had put on this Flickr page. And it was published in an undated (Nov 2010) Digital Camera Products Review blog titled "What’s Small, Compact, and Captures Memories?"

Moving into 2011, the photo was published in an Aug 29, 2011 blog titled "Avoid Punishing Your Dog by Rewarding Good Behaviour."

***************************************

The streets were wet when I got up this morning, and the weather forecast called for rain throughout the day. As it turned out, the forecasters were wrong; but not wanting to expose my digital camera to a potential downpour, I decided to spend my half-hour of free time, during my lunch-break, down in the local subway station, where I knew I could stay dry. It was also my second opportunity to try out the combination of a new 70-300mm VR full-frame zoom lens with the high-ISO capability of my Nikon D700 full-frame camera. So I set the ISO meter to 6400 (yeah, yeah, I know that the newly-announced Nikon D3X can go all the way up to ISO 110,000 — but 6,400 is still a pretty awesome to me), found a quiet bench on the downtown side of the 96th Street IRT line (as opposed to last week’s adventure on the uptown side), and sat patiently to see what would happen across the tracks, on the uptown side…

For the first 15 minutes, I didn’t see anything at all worth photographing. But then, little by little, interesting people began shuffle past, or sit for a few moments on the wooden bench across the tracks. Or maybe they were there all along, and maybe it just took me a while to get "in the zone" and begin to appreciate why they were interesting and photogenic. I got a consistent sense of solitude, isolation, wistfulness and even loneliness in today’s collection of subjects; maybe the gloomy weather up above made them all pensive, or maybe they were just tired at the end of a long work-week. Or maybe they just had a lot on their minds, what with the economy and the swine flu and all of life’s other frustrations and disappointments. Whatever the reason, there were only one or two cases where I saw people laughing, smiling, or chatting cheerfully with one another.

I also took a couple of shots of people inside a subway car — sometimes through the window of the uptown train on the other side of the track, and occasionally of the downtown train when it stopped right in front of me (temporarily blocking my view of the activity across the track). In one case, the subway door opened right in front of me, and a young woman stared vacantly in my general direction while various other passengers wandered into, and out of, various subway cars. I pointed my camera in her general direction while I sat on the wooden bench, opened up the zoom as far as I could — i.e., 70mm — aimed it in her direction, and pushed the shutter button. With a wide-angle lens, this kind of "hip shot" often works reasonably well, even if I have to do a lot of cropping; but it was sheer luck that I got the woman framed almost perfectly with the 70mm setting on the long-telephoto I was using today.

As with the last subway group that I shot at ISO 6400, there’s a little bit of noise/graininess in these images — but I decided to leave them that way. I did adjust the "hot spots" (areas over-exposed from the fluorescent lighting in the subway station) and "cold spots" (shadows and dark areas), and punched up the color a little bit. But aside from that, this is yet another view of the typical daytime scene on a typical NYC subway line…

*******************

Over the years, I’ve seen various photos of the NYC subway "scene," usually in black-and-white format. But during a recent class on street photography at the NYC International Center of Photography (ICP), I saw lots and lots of terrific subway shots taken by my fellow classmates … so I was inspired to start taking a few myself.

So far, I’m taking photos in color; I don’t feel any need to make the scene look darker and grimier than it already is. To avoid disruption, and to avoid drawing attention to myself, I’m not using flash shots; but because of the relatively low level of lighting, I’m generally using an ISO setting of 800 or 1600 — except for my most recent photos with my new D700, which are all shot at ISO 6400.

I may eventually use a small "pocket" digital camera, but the initial photos have been taken with my somewhat large, bulky Nikon D300 DSLR; and today’s were taken with an even bulkier Nikon D700. If I’m photographing people on the other side of the tracks in a subway station, there’s no problem holding up the camera, composing the shot, and taking it in full view of everyone — indeed, hardly anyone pays attention to what’s going on across the tracks, and most people are lost in their own little world, reading a book or listening to music. But if I’m taking photos inside a subway car, I normally set the camera lens to a wide angle (18mm) setting, point it in the general direction of the subject(s), and shoot without framing or composing.

So far it seems to be working … we’ll see how it goes…

Happy Tails: Lucas in red


Image by LollypopFarm
Hi Lollypop Staff and Friends:

My name is Marisa, and my boyfriend and I adopted a Jack Russell Terrier named Lucas from Lollypop Farm at the end of May 2007. I thought I would attach some photos of his growth and progress, he is very cute!

Lucas had some problems adjusting when we first brought him home. He was an intense chewer, boycotted housetraining, and loathed the crate.

After taking a 2 week vacation from work following his adoption, Lucas made a complete 360 in his behavior. He was promptly housebroken with positive reinforcements for going outside, he loves his crate now, and some sour apple spray quickly took care of the chewing problem (3 pillows and pairs of shoes later!).

Lucas is very happy, and healthy in our home. We love to power walk every morning before school and work, and he made a best friend Jackson, who is also another Jack Russell Terrier (although he does not have the best rapport with male dogs!)

He listens very well, and can do many tricks such as sit, paw, double paw, jump, and dance. We love to play tug of war with his rope, and most of all he loves cat naps. He also enjoys watching Animal Planet while crated.

I appreciate the work that Lollypop Farm does to ensure the safety and well being of our furry friends. It is important that these animals find homes to become loving pets in, and I support the work of your institution.

I am so happy to have found Lucas at Lollypop; he is such a positive addition to my life, and he is well loved and cared for, he is a member of our family (he even has his own stocking each Christmas!)

With a lot of love and attention, Lucas became a pet that is every owner’s dream. Enjoy the pictures, and keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

Marisa V.

96th Street subway, uptown side, Oct 2009 - 25