#project365 [day 59] Customer Service @ Grand Central Terminal

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A stern face lady faces of against a pleading man at the Customer Service window on NY's Grand Central Station. Eventually she would smile at him, and he came out seemingly satisfied. But still this scene was a lot more interesting in setting up a story, the everyday scene repeated inumerous times that most of us can relate to. The ornate booths that fill the walls of the iconic station main concourse are a beautiful example of the care taken when creating this sort of building on the beginning of the 20th century, but unfortunately are falling into disuse with some being repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone, final crop and vignette
Photoshop: Minor clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Toning, detail extraction and black & white conversion

#project365 [day 57] Church of Letters

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Located in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City, the Church of the Transfiguration is a Roman Catholic church built in 1801 in the Georgian style. It was designated a landmark in 1966. On one of the corners of the building you can find a very unusual statue, it is a memorial to Father Varela, a Cuban priest who became a defender of immigrant rights when he moved to New York.
The Memorial consists of a statue of Father Varela surrounded by a mandorla of anodised aluminium letters that together spell out The Lord’s Prayer. The base of the sculpture is fashioned from black granite from the lot used to build the September, 11th Memorial.The mandorla was conceived and designed by Father Andrew O’Connor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, architect Hans Roegle and Chris Knight, a Manchester, England based sculptor.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone, final crop and vignette
Photoshop: Minor clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 53] St. Bartholomew's Church, Park Avenue

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Another cold morning in NYC, but this time with a glorious sunshine to help keep our spirits up and our pictures illuminated. Located in Midtown Manhattan on Park Avenue, one of the busiest avenues in New York, is a fine example of Byzantine Revival design erected in 1916-17 was designated a landmark in 1967. This Episcopal Church is noted for its pipe organ, the largest in the city of New York and one of the ten largest in the world.
One of the services available at this church, which I found very surprising, is Brunch + Bible which combines bible studies with food for the body, it even has a vegetarian option.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone, final crop and vignette
Photoshop: Minor clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 48] USS Maine National Monument pt2

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Back on day five of my #project365 I showed the detail of the figures that reside on the base of this monument. So I thought I should also show the beautiful statue the sits on top of the USS Maine National Monument on the corner of New Yorks Central Park by Columbus Circle.
Sculpted by Attilio Piccirilli in 1912 the three bronze gilded figures representing Columbia Triumphant, her seashell chariot being drawn by three hippocampi,  make it almost 20 meters tall, and shine on a sunny day like this one. The monument is dedicated to the men killed aboard USS Maine when the ship exploded in Havana harbour. The bronze for this group reportedly came from metal recovered from the guns of the Maine.
 

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 47] The Little Chapel That Stood

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The St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. It's an episcopal chapel located at 209 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. It was built on land granted by Queen Anne, designed by architect Thomas McBean and, upon its completion in 1766 it was the tallest building in New York.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, in part by being the oldest public building in continuous use in the city. It also survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776, when a quarter of the city was burned following the British capture after the Battle of Long Island.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 43] Reading in Central Park

Central Park is perfect for a lot of activities, high on that list is jogging or running, but on a sunny  wintery day reading seems like a very good option. I spotted her on top of a rock, and her blonde hair lit by the sun really stood out against the more pastel colours of the rest of the garden.
Using the long end of my default travel lens, the great XF18-135m by Fujifilm, I was able to isolate the subject although she was a bit far away. Later in post I decided to go with a panoramic crop, that would cut out unwanted dead space above and below her, and also give a more dynamic feeling to the image. And, although the original colours had their merit, it begged for a black and white conversion, which gives it a more nolstagic feel.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Tonal balance and image finishing
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Black and White conversion, and detail extraction

#project365 [day 41] Times Square through a fisheye

This is probably the most filmed square, if not location, in New York. The site of the annual New Years Eve celebration shown all over the world, where a ball of light is lowered to signal the arrival of the new calendar. You can actually see the spot where that happens on the top left part of the image, dating the year of the image. This is not a big square, even for european standards, but the sheer size of the building that surround it, makes you feel tiny. Actually the only way to fully capture the square from ground level is through the use of a fish-eye lens, which thankfully has become one of my trusted travel companions. On the building across the street you can see one of its tourist traps, the Hard Rock Cafe, but on the foreground I wanted to capture a more famous icon of the city, the NYPD. Ubiquitous all around the place in the states is also their flag, here as a big neon sign at ground level. 

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening, colour blending and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 40] 33a S.SCHWARTZ

This is another photo from last week's photowalk, in the bustling Spitalfields area of London. This area is home to three main markets: Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market and Petticoat Lane Market. As part of London's East End, traditionally the less affluent part of the city, it has been taken by several waves of immigration. In the 19th century the Jewish refugees settled to live and work in the textile industry. In the late 20th century they were replaced by an influx of Bangladeshi immigrants who took over the local textiles but also made Brick Lane the curry capital of London. And now is a prime destination for street artists from all over the world. This mix makes this area very special and distinctive in the huge metropolis that is London. But being so close to the City, the financial heart of London, it is also becoming prey to housing speculation and gentrification. Some streets are bustling with stores and cafes, while others show the decay of disuse.

If you're visiting London this is a must see area, and if you have an interest in street art there are a few very interesting walking tours that will help you understand the reasons why it is so popular here.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Fujifilm XF35mmF1.4 R
-- Post
Lightroom : Tonal balance and image finishing
NikCollection Silver Efex Pro 4: Black and White conversion, and detail extraction

#project365 [day 39] Photowalking in Spitalfields

Scott Kelby's World Wide PhotoWalk 2015 happened last Saturday with a thousand walks happening all around the world.One of the walks was on London's East End, a region known as Spitalfields. Around 50 photographers went scouring around the streets for the photo that would best translate this neighbourhood's rich and troublesome history that goes from Jack the Ripper, through waves of immigration, becoming a world hub of street art, to the current gentrification wave.

Captured here is one of my fellow photo-walkers looking for the photo, when it seems to be right behind him. The colourful huge mural is one of the many examples of street art that are present throught the streets between Spitalfields, Shadwell and Brick Lane.

Just added the WWPW2015 gallery to the site, so you can see my photos from the day. just follow this link.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Fujifilm XF35mmF1.4 R
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening, colour blending and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 33] Madame Tussaud’s NYC

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Midtown Manhattan, the chaos of the skyscrapers, crazy big adverts, neon lights, thousands of cars and even more people crowding the sidewalks and streets. In the middle of all that, a hand holds a sign over a building. A very big golden hand, that catches my eye in the middle of all the visual noise. It signals the building that houses the Madame Tussauds NY collection. I think about trying to isolate the hand from the rest, but end up deciding on including its surroundings, and show a bit of the sensory overload that is NY.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction