Tag Archives: Bryant Park
Ice Skating at Bryant Park on Film
On Monday night, I met Kate at the Bryant Park Ice Rink* to soak up some holiday spirit. I took my Nikon D90 (digital) and Nikon FM2n (film) cameras. It’s a good thing I had both, because the D90 froze up and wouldn’t take pictures after about 20-30 minutes in the near freezing temps. I’ve been told since to “try to keep it warm, like in a warm bag, and that shouldn’t happen again.” Kind of a weird answer. It’s a camera. A tool. It should work when it’s 32 degrees out. Luckily, my trusty FM2n worked just fine in the cold. It’s all mechanical, so I’m not surprised. The D90 is basically a computer with a lens slapped on the front, barely a camera it seems…
The light was pretty tricky for metering. You have the bright white of the ice rink surface surrounded by the night and then up top a nice layer of lights from the looming skyscrapers ringing the park. Before it froze up, the D90 in Aperture Priority (I use this sometimes when Kate and I are together, so I don’t have to think as much and can pay more attention to her) gave me all kinds of underexposed and overexposed shots. I kept looking at the screen and thinking, “WTF?” I did switch to manual, but shortly after that the autofocus on the lens went and then the camera itself just stopped responding.
With the FM2n, I just metered for the scene and paid attention to what I wanted. Happily, none of the shots were too far off. Some of them were shaky because of the cold, but other than that I’m happy with how the film shots turned out. These are on Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600 ISO and developed in Kodak D-76 for 9.5 minutes.
Walking up to the Bryant Park Ice Rink
The Empire State Building makes a nice backdrop for the skaters
The Bryant Park Fountain
Skater Girl Falling
Skaters and Tree, Abstract
And I had a couple of frames left on the roll, so I snapped off a close up of our tree. I probably won’t be blogging much until after Christmas. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!
*We did not partake in the skating. After healing multiple bone injuries from overtraining in the Nyland-Hoke house, we were visibly cringing over all the skaters falling and hitting the ice.
“Walk the Walk” by Kate Gilmore in Bryant Park
This week Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” popped up in Bryant Park Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30am and 6:30pm. Working in shifts, a group of women perform an improvised choreography of everyday movement elevated above a curious public. Free to perform their walk as they wish, they must all wear a uniform of yellow dresses, matching tops, and beige shoes.
Inside the open structure visitors are able to hear the reverberating sounds of the women’s feet striking the platform above.
Men Watching, Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” in Bryant Park, NYC
Two Men Peering, Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” in Bryant Park, NYC
Women Walking, Woman Standing, Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” in Bryant Park, NYC
Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” in Bryant Park, NYC
