When it’s Christmas Morning on the Night Before Summer...

...from a photographer's notebook

Empire State Building from Madison Avenue

No matter how many years are on the odometer, I am delighted to say that I never run out of “Kid on Christmas Morning” moments when I’m in New York with a camera or three.

And when one of those cameras happens to be my first full-frame D-SLR, the exquisite Canon EOS 5D MkIV – and so glad I waited – purchased especially for this trip and its planned twilight open helicopter flight (let’s call it an early Christmas present I’d no intention of waiting for Christmas Morning to open!)…

I suppose this image, taken on the night before summer, might serve as Exhibit-A. For at the end of my first day exploring new territory in the city, enjoying for the first time Madison Square Park, a few blocks south of my hotel on Madison Avenue, and a nice dinner at a sidewalk café along the north edge of the park, I’m walking back uptown and look up to see the iconic spire of the Empire State Building, lighted in some of my favorite colors against a crystal clear night sky.

Yes, Santa Claus is coming to town – Heck, he’s already landed that sleigh with a great big bundle of megapixels inside.

The ESB was captured here through my trusty quarter-century-young 28-80mm f/2.8-4 L-Series lens at its 80mm setting on the new 5D. The photograph (see it larger here) is available in archival gallery-quality prints in several sizes, and can be ordered on several stocks including metallic media. Please be in touch for specifics.

It was actually a fine afternoon and evening for viewing and shooting iconic spires in Manhattan, notably also the gold-domed roofs of both the New York Life Building and Met Life Tower along the east side of Madison Square Park, both against afternoon- and twilight-blue skies on this photo-perfect day... Let me share these with you soon.

©2017 Steve Ember

P.S: That 28-80L lens, incidentally, was purchased back when my EOS-1 film camera and its “junior partner,” the lovely little RT were new and has since meshed its shiny little gold electrical contacts with those on my EOS-3 and 1N RS (big brother to the RT). It was nice (but not surprising) to see it got along splendidly in NYC with the full-frame digital EOS.

"Focal Point" Photography Exhibit Opens at MFA

   ...from a photographer's notebook

Detail from "Stadelhofen Impression No. 1"

I was honored to have three of my favorite photographs from across the Pond selected for the Maryland Federation of Art’s “Focal Point - Fine Art and Creative Photography” exhibit, which opened this week at the MFA’s Circle Gallery in Annapolis.

The three, two from London and one from Switzerland, are making their first gallery appearances in this exhibit.

The strong, sweeping forms of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and the near constant activity of handsome SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) S-Bahn double-deck trains at Stadelhofen, a commuter train nexus not far from Zürich's Hauptbahnhof, combined to inspire this digital impression, created from an original Ektachrome transparency.

Calatrava's redesign of the station in 1990 was to accommodate a third track for this busy mainline, under the promenade to the left, part of his design in reconstituting the embankment excavated to make way for the new track - and provide the track and its platform with natural lighting from above. I know, very dry to describe, but exciting to take in first-hand, whether a railfan, architecture aficionado, or photographer. All the more exciting if one happens to be all three…

“Stadelhofen Impression No. 1” is making its first gallery appearance, in an archival pigment print on fine art paper. It is part of a limited edition of ten prints.

"Convergence" 

“Convergence” is another large impression, depicting the Milennium Bridge over the Thames. The original photograph was one of several taken in 2013 from the South Bank, with the span’s sloping walkways leading the eye across to Sir Christopher Wren’s iconic dome atop Saint Paul’s Cathedral against a moody November late afternoon sky. The archival pigment print is from a limited edition of ten.

"Bicycle, Bayswater Road"

The following November, I enjoyed several evenings shooting some “Nightscapes” in several parts of London, of which “Bicycle, Bayswater Road” is one of my favorites. Come along with me on the shoot.

I hope you can join us at the “Focal Point” reception Sunday, March 8, from 3 to 5 PM. The exhibit will be on view through March 28.

The Circle Gallery is located at 18 State Circle, just across from the Maryland State House.  The Gallery is open Monday – Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM.

 

"Rainy Night in Glasgow, No. 1"

And speaking of Nightscapes in the U.K., another image from my nocturnal prowling with camera, “Rainy Night in Glasgow No.1,” is on view in the MFA’s concurrent “Stormy Weather” exhibit at the Annapolis Maritime Museum, across Spa Creek in Eastport, through March 15.

©2015 Steve Ember

A new London Nightscape...

 ...from a photographer's notebook

A Photo-Moment podcast about the shoot...

A November afternoon in the classical beauty and serenity of the Italian Gardens in London’s Kensington Gardens had given way to twilight, as I stayed on to photograph the twinkling lights on the bridge over The Long Water. 

At this time of year, twilight can rather quickly give way to full dark, and that’s what was happening as I left the park through the Marlborough Gate, just across Bayswater Road from Lancaster Gate Tube Station.
  

I love London. Even the streets are courteous, with bold lettering on the pavement telling us which way to look before crossing. I don’t actually know how long that’s been going on. I do remember almost coming out second best in a confrontation with a very large lorry on a busy downtown London street in 1984. Perhaps that street did come with a warning message and I was looking upward rather than at what my feet were about to do.

Or maybe they just got tired of cleaning up body parts of Yanks and others whose inborn inclination is to look the “wrong” way when crossing the street. In any case, in the last few years of visiting London, I’ve been much more aware of these useful messages just ahead of my shoes.

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