Tag Archives: portraits

Basketball and Rooftop Photo Shoots

21 Mar

Happy Monday everyone – it’s nice and dreary outside in NYC today.  It seems to be sort of spitting from the sky… hence, I’m still in my PJ’s catching up on indoor kinds of things.  Taxes anyone?

Anyway, first off, I’d like to welcome any new readers to nellsdish!  Last week I noticed a spike in traffic and a bunch of new subscribers (from all over the world… amazing!) – and I discovered that nellsdish was picked up by a site called PopPressed.  I am now listed as a featured blogger on their site – the tagline being “The Freshest in Culture”.  Fantastic!!  Thanks PopPressed! I’m rather excited. :)

As for this weekend, we spent a lovely seventy degree Friday evening walking around our dream neighborhoods in Brooklyn – Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill - and then had dinner with some friends at a restaurant called Breuckelen in Cobble Hill.  It was a great dinner – nice atmosphere (definitely a bit upscale) with delicious eats.  In between our appetizers and our mains, the chef brought out a taste of one of his favorites…capellini with meyer lemon, AOK roof chilis (? – no idea… looked them up and don’t know what this is), parsley and cold-pressed olive oil.  This dish is a testament to the idea that quality ingredients prepared in the simplest of ways can create magic.  This was probably my favorite dish of the entire meal.

On our walk before dinner, we stumbled upon these adorable little girls jumping rope in an alley adjacent to Cobble Hill Park. A perfect scene for photo 343 right?

Photo 343 out of 365 – “Jumping Rope in Cobble Hill”

"Jumping Rope in Cobble Hill" - Settings: ISO 400, f/2.2, 1/400 sec, 50mm lens

On Saturday we watched a LOT of basketball and did a little spring cleaning.  We don’t normally watch basketball, but we filled out a March Madness bracket at Adam’s office, so we’re suddenly super into it.  The games have actually been really exciting.  These guys are so young and passionate and they want it so badly!  I actually jumped to my feet and screamed at the TV a few times… that’s how into it I’ve been.  Kind of hilarious.  Then Saturday night we celebrated our friend Mark’s birthday at a lovely little West Village restaurant called Palma.  The party was in the restaurant’s charming and cozy carriage house out back through the garden.  Here’s a picture of the birthday boy:

Photo 344 out of 365 – “Max Blows Out the Candle”

"Max Blows Out the Candle" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2.2, 1/50 sec, 50mm lens)

On Sunday Adam was my model for a photo shoot I had to do for my portraiture class.  Now, this is the part of photography that still makes me the most uncomfortable.  I have this fear about being the director, being the one who creates the vision, the one who has to make decisions about the styling and the mood and the poses… I find it completely intimidating.  Adam was a great help to me in this regard. Since he himself is a director, he was good at coaching me through it.  We picked out some outfits for him and styled his hair and I did some research on poses and moods I wanted to create.  It was fun!  I definitely need more practice to chase those nerves away, but this was a good start and I’m really happy with the photos!  Here is photo 345 in addition to some of my other favorites from the shoot.  He’s such a stud! :)

Photo 345 out of 365 – “Adam”

"Adam" - Settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/250 sec, 10-22mm lens (18mm)

And a few more…

And finally, many of you have probably already seen this already, but I just saw this today on Laughing Squid and I think its absolutely hysterical!  It sort of made my day.  Enjoy!

Moody Monday

21 Feb

Well, there’s no denying it.  I’m in a bit of a grumpy funk today.  I attribute it to this winter weather.  We had a glimmer of spring a couple days ago… two days in a row of fifty and sixty degree bliss.  The energy of spring was in the air.  I walked and walked and walked, camera in hand, a lightness in my step and a new outlook on the city around me .  New York is awesome when springtime starts poking around the corner.  Everyone is outside, coats off, smiles, a crackle of excitement in the air.  Hope and possibility on our minds as we collectively breathe a sigh of relief that we survived the winter months.

So that happened on Thursday and Friday and then Saturday came roaring through with fifty mile per hour freezing cold winds and then Sunday brought us snow.  And now here we are…  white wintry sky, snow once again on the ground, a thirty degree chill in the air and those forty-eight hours of spring feeling like just a big tease.  I’m grumpy.  I need a change of scenery big time.

But I am happy to say, my mood started to lift a bit as I began going through and working on my photos from over the weekend. The lack of inspiration I’m feeling inside is not really apparent in the photos I took.  I’m actually quite pleased with several of them.  So that helps. :)

Photo 314 out of 365 – “Old Man in Washington Square Park”

"Old Man in Washington Square Park" - Settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/800 sec, 50mm lens

I took this on Thursday – it was beautiful outside and Washington Square Park was buzzing.  I spent about an hour there, moving around to different areas of the park, observing and taking pictures.  I was sitting on a bench when I caught a glimpse of this man approaching.  I love the way he looks – his long serious face, his hat, his wool coat… he looks like a man who has stories to tell.  I’m so glad I was able to snap the picture before he was gone, though I wish I had more time with him – to learn about his life and to take pictures of his super expressive face.  I played with the coloring and vignetting in Lightroom later on to give the photo an aged look.  I’m really pleased with the way it came out.

On Friday I met another interesting character… Captain Bob .  I was waiting for the bus to take me up sixth avenue and Captain Bob was waiting alongside me.  I got the vibe right away that he’d be open to me taking his photo, which he was.   Then, as we parted ways, he gave me a hand-drawn business card with “Captain Bob” on it along with a cartoon drawing of a Captain, an NYC address and phone number complete with an extension.  Again, I wonder what Captain Bob’s story is… is he really a Captain?  Does he have any family?  Did he work for USA Today?  Is he a little quirky?  A little crazy?  I don’t know, but I had a nice moment with him and he came across as very kind.  People are so interesting to me.

Photo 315 out of 365 – “Captain Bob”

"Captain Bob" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2, 1/4000 sec, 50mm lens

On Saturday we stayed in most of the day until later on the evening when we hopped a train to Brooklyn for “game night” with some friends.  We got there a bit early, so we sought shelter from the gusty freezing wind in a cozy little place called Brook.Vin in South Park Slope.  We had a glass of wine and a taste of a delicious cheese called Von Trapp, Oma.  It is a raw cow’s milk washed-rind cheese from Vermont, made by the Von Trapp brothers and aged at the Cellars at Jasper Hill.  It’s meaty, perfectly pungent and delightful.  I took this photo while eating cheese and drinking wine at the bar.  I played with the color a bit in Lightroom to give it this cool, moody look.

Photo 316 out of 365 – “Blossoms Against a Brick Wall”

"Blossoms Against a Brick Wall" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/1.4, 1/15 sec, 50mm lens

And to finish off the weekend, yesterday I went wedding dress shopping with my lovely bride-to-be pal, Pam.  I just love looking at wedding dresses!  Though I took lots of pictures of Pam in several knockout dresses, I cannot post them, as the dress must remain a surprise!  But on the walk home, I snapped this photo of a tree on 2nd Street that had about fifty pairs of sneakers hanging from its branches (rumor has it that marks a gang territory… anyone know if that’s really true?).   Anyway, I took lots of photos – some capturing all the sneakers, some from underneath, some from across the street, but this one is my favorite.  I like the framing of the shot with the branch running along the top of the frame, the brick apartment buildings in the background and the solitary pair of yellow sneakers.

Photo 317 out of 365 – “Yellow Sneakers”

"Yellow Sneakers" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2, 1/250 sec, 35mm lens

So… that’s all for now.  Adam and I are going to go do a mini shoot on the roof.  I hope everyone is having a lovely President’s Day and that’s IT winter!  I’ve had enough of you!  Go away!  I’m ready for spring.

Photo 160 out of 365 – “Daniel”

17 Sep

"Daniel" - Settings: ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

This is Daniel.  He’s so cute right?  I met Daniel yesterday on my way home from Barnyard, where I was picking up some delicious cheeses for my cheese post.  Barnyard is on Avenue C between 9th and 10th streets and my favorite tree in all of Manhattan is located right on the corner in the little garden on Avenue C and 9th.  It is actually two trees I think… two weeping willows that are so massive, they create this amazing canopy of droopy green dreaminess in the middle of the gritty east village.

After my awesome shopping experience at Barnyard, I walked over to say hello to my tree and to take some photos (which didn’t come out well), when I ran into little Daniel and his dad. I told Daniel this is my favorite tree in all of New York and he told me (in a funny little child-language), “it’s like fireworks – boom! boom!”,  he said as he made big firework gestures in the air with his arms.  I totally get it – they do resemble fireworks – at least when you tap into your imagination.  It was really quite adorable – and added to the magic of the tree for me.

It was hard to reproduce the essence of the tree with my 50mm lens.  A wide-angle lens would be a much better choice for capturing its size and impressiveness.  I’ll have to go back before winter starts with a better lens!  Now I’m signing off… let the weekend begin baby!

Playing catch-up again! Photos 144 and 145 out of 365…

2 Sep

Photo 144 out of 365: “Max on the Job”

"Max on the Job" - Settings: ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/160 sec, 50mm lens

I took this photo on Tuesday and was supposed to post it yesterday but I was too crazy!   This is Mark – the best man at our wedding and Adam’s close friend for over ten years since they met out in LA.  Mark and Adam call each other “Max” – a nod to Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”.  Mark/Max and I have been working closely together on this Food Network job and we’ve been having such a blast!  Here, he is using the macro lens we rented to get some extreme close-up shots.  You can just see his intense concentration!

Photo 145 out of 365 – “Jessica”

"Jessica" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/4.0, 1/160 sec, 28-105mm lens (70mm)

This beautiful lady is my friend Jessica – I have known her since we were little babies!  Jess and I had an awesome photo shoot session last night.  I am helping her out with head shots and she is helping me out with head shot practice AND Alexander Technique sessions.  Bartering is fun!

Anyway, our head shot session last night was a blast!  Before we started,  I was a little nervous about my ability to direct a photo shoot – to recommend poses, to find the best light, to put my subject at ease, etc.  That’s why it was good for me to start with Jess.  I have known her for so long, that both of us were really able to relax and have fun!  Of course, it didn’t hurt that we started off with a glass of wine…  or two. :)

Jess is so pretty and has such a natural ease in front of the camera, that it wasn’t too hard to get some great shots.  My only gripe, looking at them today, is that I was shooting with a manual focus the entire time and I have several pictures that are beautiful, but a little soft (not entirely in focus).  I thought they’d come out better if I used manual focus – but in hindsight, I would use auto focus more next time.  Good to know… I’m learning on the job!

I have a few more photo gigs coming up in the next couple weeks – I’m doing head shots for another actor and I’m doing engagement photos for some friends.  I’m much less nervous about the directing – now that I know some spots with great light and some poses that really work.  I think I’ll just get more confident with each job!  Though I might make a glass of wine standard at the beginning of each shoot… a little vino buzz only enhances the creativity!

Now… I’m going to go eat some cheese and write about it.  Stay tuned  - it’s cheese Thursday.  Are you ready for some dairy deliciousness?

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