Tag Archives: Holiday
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.
Midtown Holiday Store Displays
There is no place like New York around the holidays. Everywhere you look, you’ll find gorgeous lights, trees, and holiday displays. Some of the department stores in Midtown don’t stop at fashioning festive window displays; they transform the store facade itself into a display.
Saks
Cartier
Radio City
And the ubiquitous Rockefeller center tree, which is really not that impressive. Never mind the dinky crowded skating rink that huddles below it.
Look for more holiday displays in the next couple of weeks. We have a nice looking tree already up in South Street Seaport and they light the Wall Street tree next week. On a side note, I’ve been lured up to Midtown more times in the past two weeks than the whole time we’ve lived here. I’m like a moth to a flame with these damn lights and holiday displays…
Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Windows
After the Macy’s Parade balloon inflation, we zipped over to check out some store windows. Well, I checked out store windows, while Kate checked out the selection of Diane Von Furstenburg dresses at Bloomingdales.
The themes were Alice in Wonderland and Fantastic Mr. Fox interrupted by interludes of concentrated color and texture. I liked the intense detail of the window featuring paper.
This window, decked out in metal and mirror, was a real crowd pleaser.
These green horses were richly textured. Kind of reminded me of Swamp Thing.
The wooden window, with it’s dizzying level of detail, was probably my favorite. The twisting staircases leading to one absurdity after another were gorgeous.
Red
Card party from Alice in Wonderland
I am the walrus
The Fantastic Mr. Fox windows across the street were so adorable that we rushed out to see the movie today. Highly recommended! Kate posted some pics of the Fantastic Mr. Fox windows over at Embarrassment of Riches.
Hope everyone had a good holiday!
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Inflation
Okay, there’s a reason I don’t go north of 14th Street – there are too many people up there. Kate and I went to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon inflation and it was like a gigantic people explosion. Miserable tourists with hungry, cranky kids were cursing the steady, but thankfully light rain. New Yorkers were cursing themselves for thinking that it wouldn’t be as crowded as it was. It was as crowded as they thought. It was more crowded than you can imagine…
After one quick lap around the north side of the balloon inflation area, I had had enough. Snoopy, Horton, and a Smurf would have to suffice. New York City’s finest were leading everyone into a cattle catcher area with blocks of people lined up to see Spongebob Squarepants and Spider-Man on the south loop. Kate could tell by the panicked look in my eyes that we were done. We passed the south staging area and after a dozen blocks finally escaped the crush of people looking for food, drink, and bathrooms.
It was only when we hit the Barnes & Noble at Columbus Square that I started loosening up a bit. I had briefly thought about attending the parade tomorrow, but we will be sticking close to home. Kate has made her killer apple pie and we’ll hit an Indian place tomorrow for dinner. Enjoy the parade, but by all means do so from the safety of your own home.
