7 posts tagged “manhattan”
Jersey City, NJ offers, unquestionably, some of the best Manhattan views.
And it has a semblance of a skyline itself. The Goldman Sachs building (see below) is undoubtedly the crowning glory of the JC skyline. The Colgate clock next to it provides an interesting contrast. Seen from the riverfront next to the Hyatt (which kind of juts into the Hudson), you also see the Verrazano bridge all lit up.
This post is about my experiments with photography
I have been experimenting a little with this technique called HDR in photography. This essentially involves taking photos with different exposures and combining them. You can see that I am using a trial version of this software called photomatix. Today was a particularly clear day, well suited for this kind of an exercise.
Another one of my better HDRs is teh following one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bharatsrao/3417087770/
I also have a couple of slide shows
1) Earth Hour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bharatsrao/sets/72157616051107502/show/
2) Cruise Ship: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bharatsrao/sets/72157616051107502/show/
I have not really seen the "transition" in the New York skyline at 8.30 pm on earlier Earth hours, so I decided to check it out armed with my faithful SD1000. For those who missed it, "Earth Hour" basically involves dimming or turning off lights between 8.30 pm - 9.30 pm wherever you are in the world on Mar 28. Promoting conservation is the idea.
It was a wonderful day - a comfortable 50F, clear and no rain and not particularly windy. Here's what I saw of downtown and midtown before 8.30 pm: The spires of the midtown buildings were shining bright. In downtown, the WFC was resplendent
I was in downtown Jersey city - facing downtown NY and at an angle to midtown. A little before 8.30, I could see lights go out floor by floor in WFC. In midtown, the effect was more dramatic - the spires all went dark at once. In downtown, apart from WFC, the dimming was not that discernable. But notice the change in WFC.
Watch the slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bharatsrao/sets/72157616051107502/show/
I started walking back home when the thought of raising a toast to Earth hour crossed my mind and I made a quick pit stop at a pub. I asked the bartender if she had any Earth Hour specials. She goes "Sorry, what specials? did you ask for food specials? we have mussels....". So I gave her the dope on Earth day and she goes "Oh wow! How come I didn't know? What a good concept. You know what? We always keep our lights dim."
As I nursed my long island iced tea and nibbled at bruschetta, I thought if ever there was a case of making a virtue out of a necessity while, some may add, perpetuating a vice, this was it: A dimply lit pub claiming credit on Earth hour
Cheers to Earth Hour!
Q: Why is Earth hour not part of Earth day? It's so confusing!
More R160 train sets are definitely being introduced on the E and I have seen several cars in the 9300 series. My rides in R160s are getting more frequent as are sightings. It does appear that there are consecutive pairs of R160s running which makes sightings of two of them at WTC pretty frequent. The ride in the 53rd street tunnel is noticeably smoother and less noisy in the R160. No complaints on the lighting and temperature control front either. However, I’ve seen two recent automated announcement system glitches. The first one was when the automated announcement and the electronic display decided to play truant in tandem. Here I was on a WTC bound train hurtling towards Penn station and the announcement system insisted that this was a “Manhattan bound E Express train” next stop was “Archer Avenue JFK Airport”. The frustrated conductor would then come on line, apologize for the glitch and announce the correct stop. This continued till WTC. Even as it arrived in WTC, the loud and clear announcement was that the next stop was Woodhaven Blvd! creating confusion among some of the waiting crowd and elicitng quite a few what the f…? The other incident was when the audio announcement was correct but the electronic display was stubbornly stuck in Queens when we were at W4! In both cases, some kind of re-set ensured that the the audio and visual information was corrected before the trains left WTC. I wonder what kind of overrides do the conductors have?
All the signs are there - the nip in the air and early sunsets. Got a few nice skyline shots last Sunday - with skyline bathed in sunlight. Just before sunset is the best time to get the snaps. And Jersey city is unquestionably the best place. I am privileged to have sweeping Manhattan views from the office in Queen's, but the views from Jersey City views beat them hands down.
Talking of Jersey city, I seriously believe there is a housing glut. Will be interesting to see how rents move over the next year or so. Right now, I guess we're at a price-to-rent ratio of upwards of 25. The number of new condos and rentals coming is truly amazing. Looks like the purveyors of these fancy apartments are going to be facing a long, cold winter.
Model railroading and 'stitch' photography on the digicam are taking up a disproportionate amount of my leisure time - of which there isn't much to begin with! I am a rank amateur on both the hobbies and I am in awe of the folks who are at (or close) to the pinnacle of these hobbies. The technical language spoken in those rarefied circles - terms like marklin, bachmann and acronyms like GP40, A1916 etc for the former and detailed discussions on shutter speeds, aperture openings and optical zoom for the latter -can be quite intimidating for the wannabe hobbyist. Anyway another 'stich' shot that I got isn't as good as the previous one but captures a wider segment of the Manhattan skyline.
You can clearly see the curved waterline (unintentional!) which is a result of the individual snaps not being in sync. Need to work on this.
Ona separate track, I've also stumbled on a variety of renditions of "Canon" (Pachebel) - a jazz version, a rock version and so on. I particularly liked the adaptions by The Trans Siberian orchestra - unconventional to say the least!
So that pretty much accounts for Saturday - trying to build up my nascent hobbying skills while listening to various adaptions of Canon. Also intermittently watched CNN. It required some deft handling on their part to switch contexts seamlessly while simultaneously covering the deaths/funerals of Gerald Ford, Saddam Hussein and James Brown. It was almost jugglery - being appropriately respectful, sombre, matter-of-fact and investigative and switching between past and present - to weave a collage for each of them.
It's been a nice relaxed weekend. The weather has been gloomy enough not to tempt me outdoors but not so downright nasty as to come in the way of a jog or a stroll. So apart from devouring Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile", Economist's holiday issue, the New York Times and tinkering with my model railroad I have done little else. Actually tinkered with the 'stitch' feature of my digicam as well - and the result is not bad I thought. Need some more practice but this is pretty useful to get, for instance, Manhattan skyline snaps. I can string together 3-4 snaps and merge them to get a panoramic effect
I continue to be impressed with the hobby of model railroading -specifically the zeal of the hobbyists. I got outbid on ebay for a pair of motors that can be used on one of the "Athearn" locos. Bidding started at $1 but quickly escalated and reached $15. The bid closed when I wasn't online and my vigorious co-bidder trumped me to it. That meant a trip to "Red Caboose" on 45th between 5th and 6th. Al at Red Caboose had assured me that he had old motors and, sure enough, he came up with a couple. Red Caboose is quite a place and it doesn't take long for Al to find out that you're a newbie and his patience can wear thin at times. Anyway, some more soldering and tinkering finally did it - my old loco started running again. It's the yellow loco near the the top of the pic I am talking about
