Duane Street Summer - a new Tribeca Summer Impression...

...from a photographer's notebook

It’s been quite some time since I’ve engaged in one of those late night visual fugues and turned one of my photographs into something more impressionistic…or, as I like to call it, “messing around with a few thousand innocent little pixels.”

Fact is, I’ve been rather busy with the “literal,” especially since purchasing my first full-frame digital SLR, the exquisitely capable Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, prior to my recent week in New York.

Nonetheless, as Canon celebrated earlier this year the 30^th Anniversary of its highly successful line of EOS auto-focus cameras, causing me to realize I had been an EOS shooter almost from the git-go, jumping aboard in 1988 with one of the first two EOS film SLRs, this became a rather special month, what with jumping, no...plunging!... into full-frame D-SLR shooting with one of Canon’s high end statements (and so glad I waited to do it for what the 5D-IV brings to the party!).

But neither this little ramble nor the product of my “messing around” has to do with my new 5D. Rather, it relates to that first EOS film SLR that competed with my trusty Nikon manual focus SLRs for this photographer’s affection back in 1988, the EOS-620.

After serving me quite well for a couple of years, the trusty little 620 stepped aside in 1990, for no fault of its own, to make way for the industrial strength professional iteration of EOS technology, the EOS-1, which I had to spring for once it was clear EOS cameras would be part of my shooting tools, and which I happily still use.

However, in shall we call it a wave of sentimentality (and if you know me, you know those waves crash often upon this shore), I purchased a “new” EOS-620 a few years ago, remembering in this era of menu-driven camera controls just how straightforward was its operation by comparison – sort of a part-time return to a more “comfort-food-y” experience with a camera that had the basic essentials for getting it done without a lot of unnecessary fuss.

The 620 also reminded me of my first exciting visits to both Paris and the Swiss Alps. And, if another excuse was needed, well, the price was right – a minty 620 for twenty-eight bucks, shipping included! Yes, by this point, in 2012, digital photography had pretty much knocked the bottom out of most of the film camera market. And besides, the EOS-620 had been superseded several times by newer EOS film camera models with more features, so in EOS terms, it was a very “old” model. But it was those solid “essentials” I was looking to have in my film camera arsenal once again. So, a happy “new” addition to the ol’ tool kit…

Becoming aware of the 30^th anniversary of Canon’s EOS system, I wrote a story about my (almost) thirty years of snuggling my eye up against various EOS cameras’ viewfinders, including both the one that got it started for me, the EOS-620 and that “new” 620 I got hold of in 2012. To illustrate the piece, I started selecting images from my original and “new” EOS-620s – an interesting voyage of re-discovery for me, as it combined shooting from the periods 1988-1990 and 2012-present.

In seeking out some from the latter period, the search led me to the original image from which the impression you see (a portion of) up top was created.

That “new” EOS-620 had come along with me to NYC in 2013 and served me well alongside the D-SLR and another EOS film camera. Indeed, the 620 was in my pack on the delightful first day of summer late afternoon that I discovered the inviting motifs of Duane Street in Tribeca. And while I was doing most of my shooting with the digital camera, I did make sure to use the 620, loaded with Kodak Ektar-100 film, to capture some of those moments in the golden light of a New York afternoon. Some of that shooting was capturing the human activities aspect of Duane Street, richly back-lighted from my point of view looking west along Duane to Greenwich Street.

The shots were fine, but, if you’ve read my blog story or listened to the accompanying “PhotoMoments” podcast about discovering the delights of this short street in Tribeca, you know how magical I found the experience. I could not have discovered this venue at a better time of the day with that special kind of afternoon sunlight that New York provides. And, somehow, the Ektar shots were almost too “literal,” not quite catching, I felt, the special sensual experience of my visit.

And so, my exercise late last night, using one of the original Ektar images, which I think did better capture that special Duane Street ambiance and the warm glow I felt in experiencing it.

This “Duane Street Summer” impression (see it in full scope here) will be available in archival prints on fine art 100% cotton fiber paper in a variety of sizes. If you’d like to own this little golden sunlit slice of Tribeca in summer, please be in touch.

©2017 Steve Ember

Roberta Roller...What?

   (or Rabbit Redux)
     ...from a photographer's notebook

Sometimes a photo taken a while back will jump out and tickle the funny bone. That usually happens when some little detail in the composition not previously noticed…gets noticed, often with whimsical glee.

I suppose you’d have to know my whimsically warped sense of humor, which can put that funny bone into an “easily-tickled” state, but…

I wrote last time about exploring Duane Street in New York’s Tribeca, on a delightful late spring afternoon in 2013, including a reference to how the name of this attractive boutique brought forth a smile, as I imagined bunnies on roller skates scooting across the cobblestones in the late afternoon sun.

In illustrating that story, I used the photo above (you may see it in higher definition here). It was my favorite of the many I shot of Roberta Roller Rabbit, as I especially liked the foreground interest of the bicycle with basket tethered to the sign post, as well as the fact it showed the neighboring shop, Mondo Cane, also mentioned in the narrative for the musical association the name evoked.

So, there I was the other night, looking at the photo again as I prepared to upload it to my Foto-Community pages and, suddenly, instead of furry little bunnies on roller skates scooting about on Duane Street, perhaps stopping to munch on the greenery in Duane Park, I see another unlikely but, to me at least, equally smile-inducing scenario…as I notice that little detail not previously seen – the one letter covered (only in this particular shot of Roberta Roller Rabbit!) by the red parking sign.

Well, if there were travellin’ preachers in the Wild West that rode their horses from one town to the next to tend to their faithful, why not, in crowded Manhattan, a corps of highly mobile female…rabbis, also getting around on ball bearing footwear (or would it be bicycles?)…one of them headquartered right here in Tribeca!

OK, so I’m easily amused…but this photo, in addition to calling up my ever so enjoyable introduction to Tribeca – for reasons known only to my wicked little funny bone (and you, of course) – still makes me smile!

©2014 Steve Ember

Duane Street, you delight!

from a photographer's notebook...

Duane Street, in the special sunshine of a Tribeca afternoon...

I wrote earlier about some of the delights of discovering Tribeca in June of 2013.

This section of Lower Manhattan proved rich in all manner of photographic motifs, both color and black and white.

Whether in architectural detail, the human element, or some wonderful patterns of light, Tribeca was a feast for the senses – and most certainly the cameras, including the two film SLRs in my pack.

When discovering new areas, especially when they are as motif-rich as Tribeca, I often prefer to concentrate on small slices. It gives me the chance to relax, visualize, and drink in the ambiance. 

Even the pigeons cast long shadows in the Tribeca late afternoon sunshine

One such “small slice” was the two block stretch of Duane Street that runs from Greenwich Street on the west to Hudson Street on the east. Just two blocks, but lots of visual inspiration. 

The Duane Park Patisserie occupies the ground floor of this Duane Street loft building  ©Steve Ember

Loft buildings, five and six stories tall with lots of ornate details, festooned with fire escapes and adorned by ironwork fronts, calling forth a history of Lower Manhattan commerce, a trattoria, a patisserie, a sushi bar, and a variety of shops and neighborhood joints, all creating this inviting mélange of textures, shapes, patterns, and long shadows in the late afternoon sun.

But, also, as New York seems to do so well in unexpected settings, a delightful little triangle of green where the street bifurcates, called Duane Park.

Oh, yes, and pigeons. Lots of pigeons. 

Laurie is a composer of modern music living in one of the loft buildings. She loves pigeons…and they love her right back.

Other residents smile at the photographer balancing three cameras and a tripod in the middle of the street. Some stop to chat on their way home with groceries, or a baguette tucked under an arm. Residents meet…chat…walk their dogs...ride their bikes.

Along Duane Street, Roberta Roller Rabbit brings a smile to a visiting photographer, while Mondo Cane evokes a favorite movie theme

A boutique called Roberta Roller Rabbit brings a smile as I can’t help but conjure up bunnies on roller skates traversing this mini canyon of old brick and cobblestones. And a neighboring shop, called Mondo Cane, predictably sets the needle in the ol’ Gray Matter Gramophone down on Riz Ortolani’s sensuous “More” theme from that 1963 film, as I luxuriate in the sun of this glorious June afternoon, fifty years later.

"Staple Street, Tribeca" ©2014 Steve Ember

There's a narrow canyon formed by Staple Street, which intersects with Duane, and it provides a bounty of interlocking forms and textures, including a little detail I’d not even been aware of until a year later, when I had some large exhibit prints made of my “Staple Street, Tribeca.” If you look carefully, up in the scaffolding, there’s a solitary construction worker in a hard hat at work behind a plastic sheet. (*) Guess his mates had already called it a day…

I love the quality of the late afternoon sunlight that New York provides photographers, and anyone else with eyes and sensibilities to take it in and celebrate it…the long shadows, the strong shafts of sunlight filtering through the architectural canyons that alternately delineate forms or bathe them in a luminescent glow.

It created some lovely motifs, especially for the roll of “old look” Adox CHS 50 ART I’d loaded in one of the film cameras. It’s a great afternoon for walking in the low humidity sunshine of this last day of spring. Even the little guy in the illuminated “Walk” sign along Greenwich Street seems to have a “spring” in his step.

Detail from "Duane Street Afternoon" (Adox CHS-50 ART film)

It's a great time for enjoying the warm sun, while sitting, as well, as the diners in the outdoor café at Restaurant ROC would attest. That same spot would find my appetite-stoked self just a bit later for an aperitif and some tasty pasta, before heading downtown to take the PATH train from World Trade Center over to Jersey City to savor the Lower Manhattan skyline at twilight from the promenade at Exchange Place.

(*) OK, if you couldn’t find him…look above the bridge between the two buildings .

More of my photos of Tribeca, as well as other NYC motifs, can be viewed here.

©2014 Steve Ember