Ah, The Bronx

, originally uploaded by dreamparade.

I love the subways in the outer boroughs because you're like seven times more likely to be above ground.

Shooting people

, originally uploaded by dreamparade.

I've been trying to shoot people lately. Shooting strangers is a weird thing. I don't know how photographers get away with it. I've always tried to stay away from it. I think New Yorkers are more used to being photographed than most people. Still, I don't feel very comfortable sticking my huge camera in people's faces and capturing their soul. I'd still rather try to talk it out of them.

A-a-a-atacama

I went to the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile a few weeks ago. It is the driest place on earth, about 1000 miles north of Santiago, on the Bolivian border.



Photo-wise, the trip was a little disappointing but a learning experience nonetheless. After all of these sunrise and sunset city photography, trying to shoot in the desert on the tropic of cancer in the middle of the day was something else. I didn't have a polarizer, and I tried to compensate by converting some of the glaring daytime shots into black and whites.

This is one of my favorites, in the Valle de la Luna. I'm told there are Valleys of the Moon all over the world.

Malaysia and Singapore

I didn't shoot photos in Malaysia and Singapore. All I did was eat.

Food court at night in Singapore.


Noodle man in Ipoh.

Highbridge Park

Highbridge Park up in Washington Heights is a peculiar place. I avoided it for a while because it is literally depressed in both senses of the word, and I like to shoot places at sunrise. You can't really see into it from the street, because it's sunken from view into the Harlem River and...you just don't know what goes down in there, although you can imagine. But I really wanted to get down there. I'd heard about some crazy parties that go down there, and the Old Croton Aqueduct makes for some fantastic shots. Several months ago I ventured down there with some friends.

There were, as you can imagine, a few squatter settlements, including this penthouse suite.

Hudson River Parkway

Red Hook

Van Cortlandt Park

The Staten Island Farm Colony

The Staten Island Farm Colony has been one of my favorite shoots for my AbandonedNYC project. Here's a sampling of photos, one in the snow at sunrise, and one not in the snow, at sunset. It's pretty easy to get to, in the sense that you don't have to worry about climbing anything crazy, or getting chased by cops. Sunrise shoots are a big commitment though. I discovered that the Staten Island ferry at 5 a.m. is a mini-ferry.

Here's a map if you want to get there yourself.

Rossville, Staten Island

Officer's Row