When you ask someone to name a famous place in New York, I believe you’ll find that most people will respond with one of three responses…. Times Square, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.  Those are, in my opinion, the “big three.”  That’s not to state that there aren’t other places that people would mention — New York has lots of great places, but I believe those three would dominate the answers given.

That being said (and the fact that I work in Times Square), I figured that Times Square would be the best bet for a photo.  As it is, I’ve had some success shooting in Times Square in the past.  In fact, one of my favorite photos was taken two years ago in a snowfall in Times Square:

There is so much constantly going on in Times Square that there are plenty of different ways to shoot the scene.  You could focus on the people, telling their stories.  You could focus on the brilliant signage, instantly recognizable anywhere.  You could focus on the buildings and the famous brands that have storefronts there… and on and on.

I didn’t have a chance to shoot during the day… during the winter the day is short and I’m usually stuck indoors working during the daylight hours.  So, considering I was going to be shooting at night, I decided to focus on the colors and lights and activity of Times Square.  I was going to try to soak up as much color and light as possible for my shot.  I found a spot off to the side of Broadway (you can’t shoot in the middle of the street at rush hour!), attached my camera to my tripod, zoomed my lens out as wide as it would go and shot.  In the end, I shot from several locations around Times Square and came away with two shots that I really liked.

Here’s the shot I submitted:

Times Square on a winter evening.

Here is the one I did not submit:

I would have loved to submit both, but in the end, I had to pick one.  I asked several people for their opinions and most of them chose the top shot, which is the one I was leaning towards too.

What do you think?  Did I pick the right shot?  Or do you like the lower one better?  Let me know…

Zev

For 52Frames, the weekly assignment was Street Photography and, truly, if there is anyplace in the United States that is idea for street photography, it’s Times Square.  The choice to shoot there was made easier by the fact that my day job is right in Times Square, on the corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue.  Street photography isn’t as much about the street itself as it is about the human condition, about capturing people in their “natural environment,” without the fancy poses and lighting and all that.

I had a plan to try to shoot Times Square empty of people.  You might ask how I could possibly do that, since there are *always* people in Times Square, 24 hours a day.  Well, there is a way you can do it by taking a series of photographs and, using the magic of Photoshop, edit the people out.  Unfortunately, for technical reasons (including my failure to think it completely through!  ), it didn’t quite work out.

Nonetheless, I still had a bunch of shots that I took that day.  If I couldn’t get rid of the people, I reasoned, perhaps I could combine the shots.  I found four shots that showed interesting people in Times Square and blended them together.  I believe this shot shows not only the hustle and bustle of the city, but also how people — residents and tourists alike, enjoy being at the Crossroads of the World.

Zev

P.S.  If you like photos of New York City, please be sure to check out my New York City photo gallery!

I chose to try my hand at the Tiny Planet technique.  This is a technique where you take and bend it upon itself (that’s the best way I can describe it) to create a panorama in the middle with the sky all around it.  You can see examples of this sort of thing here.  I decided to try something like that, but to do the opposite — where the panorama is on the outside and the sky is in the middle.

The first step to doing this is to create a 360 degree panorama.  I chose to create a 360 panorama of Times Square (shown below) .  Times Square is such a vibrant and active place that I was sure that this would be a great subject for this type of shot.

A 360 degree panorama of Times Square.

Afterwards, I took it and imported it into Photoshop.  After fooling around with it for a bit, I came up with this image:

As always, comments, criticisms and critiques are welcome, encouraged and appreciated.

Zev

About thirteen years ago, I went on a trip to Israel.  For that trip, I bought my very first digital camera — a Canon Powershot A20.  It was a simple point and shoot 2 megapixel (2 MP!) camera.  However, it had a panorama mode and as soon as I discovered it, I began fooling around with it.  Fast forward thirteen years later and I’m still creating panoramas.

This is a 360 degree panorama that I took in Times Square earlier this week.  I happen to like Times Square as it’s one of the most vibrant, active and colorful places in the city.  You can hear almost every language known to man spoken here.  You can find people dressed in almost any conceivable fashion, style or costume.    It truly deserves the moniker “Crossroads of the World.”

A 360 degree panorama of Times Square.

I created this panorama because (a) I like them and (b) I actually need to use this for another, upcoming photo project.  Tune in next week to see what I do with this. 

Zev

As it turns out, that week happened to be “Greetings From..” week in 52 Frames and so, I submitted this shot to the album.  It was well received and was named the #3 picture in the album.

By one of those odd quirks of fate, this past week we had a major snowstorm here in New York City and, again, it was also “Greetings From…”  week.  I decided to try and capture a similar scene, but this time showing the other end of Times Square.  This shot is the result…

What do you think?  Does this photo live up to last year’s?  Or was last year’s better?  Please feel free to let me know in the comments.

Zev

This is the shot I submitted.  These are the famous red stairs by the TKTS booth in Times Square.  I took this shot while seated on the ground in front of the stairs.  I thought about the best way to try to capture these iconic steps.  My first few shots were okay, but nothing to write home about.  Eventually, I hit upon the idea of tilting my camera to the side to give us this unusual view.

Among the other shots I took that day include:

A tourist on the red Times Square steps.

This is a variation of the shot I actually submitted.  I debated back and forth between this shot and the one I actually submitted.  Ultimately I went with the other one because I love the diagonal tilt.

Other shots that I took again include:

The two shots above are from Central Park.  I went on a photo walk the previous Sunday in Central Park by Belvedere Castle.
This last shot was taken by the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue.  To be fair, this is not an original shot — I saw it in a blog post on stair shots.  Nonetheless, I went there to see if I could find an original take on the shot.  I didn’t have a lot of time to spend there and so I didn’t really have a chance to experiment much.

What do you think?  Did I choose the right shot?

Zev