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Manhattan, 12 January 2010
Monday
© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

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Today my brother Steve and I took the LIRR into the city. I wanted to visit some of the stores like Adorama.

Inside Penn Station, New York

Inside Penn Station, New York, 12:31 PM. original © file (1.4MB).

With a fast f/2 lens, not the slow f/2.8 lenses of other cameras and SLRs, the S90 neatly grabs this shot as I chase my brother from the train up to ground level. With the fast lens, the S90 shot this at ISO 80 with no need for higher ISOs.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, Program Auto chose f/2.2 at 1/30, 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, no exposure compensation. Exactly as shot.

 

Inside the Post Office across from Penn Station

Inside the Post Office across from Penn Station, 12:36 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, Program Auto chose f/2 at 1/30, 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, no exposure compensation. With an ordinary zoom, you'd need at least ISO 160 or 1/15 of a second to do the same thing.

 

Post Office across from Penn Station

Post Office across from Penn Station, 12:47 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, Program Auto chose f/5.6 at 1/500, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, -2/3 exposure compensation, hand-printed (burned, dodged and toned) in black-and-white.

"Hand-printed" means I converted to grayscale, then back to RGB. I added a curves adjustment layer and lifted the red, and dropped the blue channels a bit in the curves layer to give the print a warm tone. I don't use anything bought or canned; I just fiddle with it until it looks as I want it.

Using more curves adjustment layers and adjustment layer masks, I darkened the corners. I made sure not to darken the endpoint: the guy on the steps. I used an overall curves layer to effect a higher contrast, about grade 3 or 4 paper, while retaining shadows.

This is exactly as I composed it, just as almost everything else here, except that I flipped the negative to make the image read from left to right instead of backwards as shot.

 

Working Man's Paradox, The High Line, West 20th St.

Working Man's Paradox, The High Line, West 20th St., 1:23 PM.

I don't get people who work in offices.

These people work all day and night inside buildings at jobs that they hate just to make "money," an intangible that's used to buy stuff they don't need. You know they'd rather be on the beach in Cannes.

The joke is that after they buy these things that they think they need so dearly (instead of enjoying themselves), they then have to work even harder to pay someone else to watch these innumerable Porsches and Mercedes while they go and do even more work for someone else! In this shot we see clean Boxsters, an GL320 Bluetec, an SL500, and Heaven knows what else, just sitting and waiting for their slaves to get out of the sulphur mines after it's already dark. Is "Boxster" the car's nickname for the man who has to work in a box all day to support the Porsche?

I'm fascinated by America's current slavery problem, where people willingly sell themselves into credit bondage at least as serious as hard slavery. They do this so that they can work-off intangibles like mortgages, car payments and credit-card bills, exactly as others used to get people permanently indebted to the company store in olden days. It's all the same: you're not free if you owe another man and have to work to pay that debt.

I had never realized that this evil cycle compounded itself like this: the people enslaved by these things are having to work to pay for them, as well as to pay someone else just to store them during the day, so they have to work even more!

See How to Afford Anything and The Two-Hour Rule if you're currently singing "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go."

The Man is clever: modern "soft" slavery gets The Man what he wants, your productivity, and he doesn't have to deal with your personal health or housing as he did 200 years ago. Today you don't know the name of The Man, and the sneakiest part is that most modern slaves don't even know that they're slaves. Very very clever, those rich people.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, Program Auto chose f/4 at 1/60, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, -2/3 comp.

 

Looking North from W 20th St, The High Line

Looking North from W 20th St, The High Line, 1:26 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/7.1 at 1/500, zoomed to 15mm (70mm equivalent), A3 AWB, -2/3 exposure compensation.

 

Pervert Hotel Looking over The High Line,

Pervert Hotel Looking over The High Line, 1:35 PM.

Well, at least that's what the locals called it. Apparently when it opened, guests enjoyed themselves in the rooms with the big picture windows to the delight of onlookers below.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/6.3 at 1/500, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, no exposure compensation.

 

Rockwell's Express by NYU

Rockwell's Express by NYU, 3:28 PM.

We were walking around trying to find The Automat, which my dad had wanted to show me many years ago (I think for my 9th birthday). Steve and I never found it after chasing some dead leads, but we did find Rockwell's Express.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/4.9 at 1/125, zoomed to 22.5mm (105mm equivalent).

 

Rockwell's Express by NYU

ATM inside Rockwell's Express by NYU, 3:30 PM.

 

Building, New York City

Building, New York City, 4:17 PM.

I don't know about you, but I'm loving the colors I'm getting out of the S90.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/4.9 at 1/200, ISO 80, lens at 22.5mm (105mm equivalent), A3 AWB, no exposure compensation.

 

666

I Didn't Ask, 4:47 PM.

As all of these shots, these were made as we went between appointments. I certainly didn't hang around this spot.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2 at 1/30, Auto ISO chose ISO 250, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), A3 AWB, -2/3 exposure compensation.

 

Film at Retail at Adorama, New York City,

Film at Retail at Adorama, New York City, 5:10 PM.

This is some of what Adorama has on the shelf. Their warehouse, from which the online orders are filled, has a zillion times more.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/3.5 at 1/80, Auto ISO chose ISO 500, lens at 12.8mm (60mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

 

Paper and Chemicals at Retail at Adorama, New York City

Paper and Chemicals at Retail at Adorama, New York City, 5:11 PM.

Again, they have a zillion times more in their warehouse.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2 at 1/30, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

If you're reading the tech data, have you noticed how the S90 is so smart that it raised the ISO to ISO 500 for the shot of the film above because I had zoomed the lens to a longer setting to give a shorter exposure time to prevent blur, and when I zoomed out for this shot of the Wall of Paper, it dropped back to ISO 80?

 

Paper in the Refrigerator at Retail at Adorama, New York City

Paper in the Refrigerator at Retail at Adorama, New York City, 5:11 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2.2 at 1/30, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

You might think that film is a big deal at Adorama, but they have a lot more of everything else digital. I just like to show by how much film is roaring back from it's temporary rest in the 2000s.

 

Night with Star in Sky, New York City, Winter

Night with Star in Sky, New York City, Winter, 6:04 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2 at 1/10, Auto ISO chose ISO 1,600, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

 

Jersey Transit, Penn Station, New York City, Winter

Jersey Transit, Penn Station, New York City, Winter, 6:23 PM.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2.2 at 1/30, Auto ISO chose ISO 800, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

 

Empire State Building

Brother Steve looks back, and in so doing, looks like Dad, 7:59 PM. © original file (1.2MB).

I'm snapping these as we're headed back to our train to Hicksville at Penn Station.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2 at 1/13, Auto ISO chose ISO 1,600, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

© original file (1.2MB).

 

Tourist Façade by Penn Station

Tourist Façade by Penn Station, 8:05 PM. © original file (1.2MB).

Even I know that mid-town is not Little Italy, and that Papaya Dog has nothing to do with Gray's Papaya or Papaya King.

This shot looks great for ISO 800. Again, the S90 bumped up the ISO automatically as I zoomed to eliminate the possibility of blur, all while I was running around Manhattan. Check out the original file.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2.8 at 1/40, Auto ISO chose ISO 800, lens at 9.6mm (45mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

 

Sbarro by Penn Station

Franchised Pizza by Penn Station, 8:15 PM.

Compositionally, I deliberately put "Sbarro" at the top right corner. Curiously, Sbarro's corporate HQ is also located in Melville, Long Island, NY, just like Nikon, Phase One, and soon Canon, all within a block of each other.

We'll see real pizza a little later on this trip.

With the fast lens of the S90, the S90 was able to shoot this one down at ISO 80.

Snapped with a hand-held 2009 Canon S90, Program Auto chose f/2.2 at 1/30, Auto ISO chose ISO 80, lens at 6mm (28mm equivalent), no exposure compensation.

 

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