Below the Big Apple
Well, hello! It seems I forgot I had a blog for… nearly two years. Ouch.
I’ve been busy lately with several projects in mind, which I’ll get to sharing in due time… For now, I thought I’d get my photoblogging back on track starting with a small post dedicated to New York City’s underground world. Because with all the stations, signs, tunnels and trains, photographing the subway system never gets old.
Enter at 23 Street Station, near Madison Square Park. After a stop at the Shake Shack (probably most likely definitely).
Next, photograph strangers behind their backs.
“Warp Tunnel” felt like an appropriate title for this one… This is actually the train I was supposed to get on, but I skipped it just to get the shot. I’m not sure how long I waited for the next one, but it was probably too long.
Killing time at 110 Street Station, about to head back downtown after a long walk around the Northern end of Central Park. Not the only time I’ve ever photographed a station sign like this, but probably my favourite time.
Whitehall Street station, deserted. Well, almost… This one’s like Where’s Waldo; if you look carefully enough, you’ll find someone. Let me know how that goes.
Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Bridge
Last Friday, May 24, was the Brooklyn Bridge’s 130th anniversary. In her honour (bridges are female, right?), here are some of my favourite shots from my trips to New York City.
Brooklyn Bound
Brooklyn Is a Feeling
Wish You Were Here
Love and Arches
In 1875
A Bridge Not Too Far
Brooklyn’s Web
And, a good ol’ Instagram photo.
Pet Portraits: Okami
Here is a shoot I did last winter with a young and handsome husky named Okami. He is a really beautiful dog and I loved shooting him, especially while he was running – you could tell how much he was loving it!
Pet Portraits: Jasmine (puppy)
Jasmine is my mom’s Dachshund. She is a chocolate and tan dapple, and although she can be a little brat (like all dachshunds), she is also incredibly adorable (like all dachshunds). Note the blue in her left eye.
These photos were taken when she was 2 months old; she is 9 months old now so I’ll need to update with a more recent photo shoot soon, but the puppy pictures were just too cute not to share – even if they’re overdue!
(As a side note, I’ve just realized that WordPress has made the photo posting process much quicker – this means I will most likely get back on track with regular posts. Hooray.)
And my personal favourite, the frolicking in the grass set.
[This Bike Climbed] Mount Washington
Last summer, my boyfriend and I took a bike trip down to New Hampshire, where we drove up Mount Washington (and of course, we got one of those “This Bike Climbed Mount Washington” stickers, which is now proudly stuck to our fridge rather than on the bike). I hadn’t started my blog yet back then so I’m posting these photos now, in anticipation of our next bike trip at the end of the month.
Our first stop to look at the view, about halfway up the mountain.
Mountain layers.
Close to the top = entering the fog.
Tip Top House at the summit.
Back in the day, these were the “guest rooms” in the Tip Top House.
Not much of a view… The sky was mostly clear but a cloud was sitting right over the mountain.
Coming back down.
Clear view just below the fog.
Our bike enjoying the view before the drive back down.
Papillons en liberté
Butterflies Go Free – a spring exhibit at Montreal’s Botanical Garden.
Quebec’s Ice Hotel, 2012 Edition
What better way to welcome spring than with… Ice Hotel pictures. Ahem.
I really need to work on my timing. I took these in February but am only getting around to posting them now. The hotel itself is still open for another week, however.
There was a wedding that day, and we happened to be there when the bride arrived.
The rest of the hotel photos can be viewed on my Flickr album.
Ice Cloud / Nuage de givre
More new artsy things in downtown Montreal… This is kind of a follow-up to yesterday’s Place-des-Arts post, since the photos were taken just outside, on the same evening. I didn’t put everything together because I felt each place deserved its own post.
The location is called Place des Festivals and, as the name says, it is where several festivals (mostly of the music variety) are now held. It was also renovated recently and includes a long strip of sidewalk fountains in summer, as well as different urban art installations throughout the year (when there are no festivals). The following photos are of a display called Ice Cloud (Nuage de givre) which was set up there from December 15 to February 2nd, and consisted of rows of hanging water “containers” reflecting lights onto the snow at night.
My next stop at Place des Festivals? The High Lights festival in a week or two. More photo opportunities!
Patterns of Place-des-Arts
The hallway of Montreal’s newly-renovated Place-des-Arts includes a big video wall with several screens creating various coloured patterns, while the extra-shiny black ceiling reflects the whole thing. When I saw it for the first time, I stood there watching the patterns change for several minutes and, of course, photographed it. There were several colours involved, but I decided to go monochrome and thus focus on the patterns. One of the displays also had running text through it (the word “charabia” repeatedly, which means “jibberish” in French) that can be seen ever so slightly in the second picture… And, I couldn’t resist getting a few silhouettes of passers-by in there, too.
A photo contest winner is me.
I somehow forgot to post this news here, which is pretty silly of me.
Each month, PhotoLife (a Canadian photography magazine) has a different theme for their email newsletter photo contest. The theme for December 2011 was “Winter Forests”, and I won with the following photo:
I had been runner up in one of their contests before, but this was my first actual win. The prize was a Fujifilm Finepix F550EXR, which I may start taking with me whenever a dSRL is not possible / not allowed. (As soon as I receive it.) It was pretty sweet seeing my photo and my name published in the January 2012 newsletter, too!
Nancy Falso 