Blast from the past

[bakubo]

Fantastic views Henry. I'd never realised the Statue of Liberty was on an island.

Yes, it is on Liberty Island.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

[bakubo]

Especially like the portraits of the soldiers and somewhat abstract view of the first image of the Twin Towers. Looks kind of peaceful this way.

In the U.S., soldiers are in the Army. Member of the Marine Corps are called Marines. The correct spelling is as I wrote: soldiers (not capitalized) and Marines (capitalized). Marines insist on this. I don't know if this is a tradition held over from the British Royal Marines and the British Army or not. The U.S. news media generally writes Marines rather than marines since it is probably in their writing style book, but occasionally you will see it mistakenly written as marine. It is rare to see the mistake of calling Marines soldiers though, but on rare occasions I have seen it.

[bakubo]

In the U.S., soldiers are in the Army. Member of the Marine Corps are called Marines. The correct spelling is as I wrote: soldiers (not capitalized) and Marines (capitalized). Marines insist on this. I don't know if this is a tradition held over from the British Royal Marines and the British Army or not. The U.S. news media generally writes Marines rather than marines since it is probably in their writing style book, but occasionally you will see it mistakenly written as marine. It is rare to see the mistake of calling Marines soldiers though, but on rare occasions I have seen it.

I am reminded of this quote:

"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" -- Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945

Yes, I know that there are many peaceloving people in the world who truly believe that the reason fires exist is because there are firemen, criminals exist because there are police, and wars exist because there are military. Then there are others who think the reason firemen exist is because there are fires, police exist because there are criminals, and military exist because there are wars. Let's all drink a beer for the day when there are no more fires, criminals, or wars!

[sury]

Taken in 2006 December. Malaga, Spain, Christmas Holidays.

[mvanrheenen]

@ Henry: it's all tomátoes/tomàtoes to me
P.s. don't tell the Marines that

@Sury: I was in that exact same street a few weeks ago! Lovely to see it at Christmas time. Much more crowded then on the thursday morning in March we went

Mark

[Omega892]

Manhattan February 1972

Ark Royal was finally moored off Staten Island after having pulled her first mooring due to the tonnage of the ship being a surprise to the local port authority, British carriers weighing in rather more, size for size, than US ones of the period. So we had to take a ride on a harbour vessel to Staten Island and then the Staten Island ferry to Manhattan. A long trip and even for New York the weather was cold with the brackish water at the mouth of the Hudson River freezing.

These shot were taken at about the time on the caption whilst waiting for the pedestrian lights to change from No Go to Go. Temperatures are Fahrenheit. Hand held despite the cold, no room to store tripods aboard ship anyway.

Looking east along 42 Street across Broadway.



dropped by two degrees F in about a minute or so



Reading the documentation with the A77, or A700 for that matter, it would appear that such temperatures are way out of the camera's specification. Hum! Food for thought there.

[Birma]

Interesting shots Lionel. There has been a thread started on Dyxum recently (and repeated on DPR) by someone just back from 6 weeks in the Antarctic with his A77 and he seems to be pleased with the performance in the wet and cold. I think these mainly electronic cameras still have some way to go to be completely reliable in the cold though. I seem to remember reading recently that an Arctic expedition used film Leicas because of this issue.

[Omega892]

Another hand held time exposure taken in February 1972 in Manhattan looking along Broadway.



Now one looking NEbyN from the top of the Empire State towards the Canadian boarder.



finally in this sequence a fixer for Ark Royal, not a particularly good shot but note the WTC buildings still under construction

[Omega892]

Another NY shot this time looking across to Lower Manhattan from Liberty Island



Missing out the obligatory picture of the Statue of Liberty from outside, yes I do have a few of these looking pretty with the snowfall, I'll take you straight inside.



Two flash guns were used off the camera on a synch' cable splitter and using improvised diffusers, paper tissues. One was a Sunpak flatish battleship grey thing that when fitted atop the camera made the whole thing unbalanced because of its shoe screwed near one rear corner of a large flat assembly. No thyristors even in those days so full power or nothing. Similarly with the little Metz gun. I cannot recall what the guide numbers were but neither were much more powerful than our built in pop-ups. The Sunpak batteries had to be charged in-situ, not very friendly. I held one flash in my left hand with a colleague holding the other out to the left and low down from the steps.

In the next shot image quality is poor because it was shot through the windows of Liberty's Crown. A small flaw appeared early on in that transparencies life, my sisters used to give impromptu slide shows whilst I was away, which I have not Photoshopped out. I will leave you with your thoughts on this one

[Omega892]

I seem to remember reading recently that an Arctic expedition used film Leicas because of this issue.

Interesting.

From the pictures I have seen in one of the books these people have produced http://extremeicesurvey.org/ I think they use set up digital Nikons for tracking glacier movements over time.

James Balog and his colleagues have produced many stunning images worth browsing around.

[sury]

Thank you for sharing Omega892. I certainly enjoyed that walk back into time.

With best regards,
Sury

[Dr. Harout]

Hehe, it's becoming more of a NY thread...

here's one from Albany, NY
Nikon F3 + 28/2.8 AI-S Nikkor

Albany, NY by Dr. Harout, on Flickr

[bakubo]

It is cool to see all the old photos!

This is a photo of the Empire State Building in NYC on a foggy morning in 1989:



Young women I met in Spaccanapoli, Naples, 1994:



Tree at Pt. Lobos, California in 1986:

[sury]

Very nice set Henry. I love the vivid colors of the dresses those young ladies were wearing.
Such bright colors are typical of Indian dresses too.
Pt. Lobos has been popping up at various places of late and
I am getting restless. It is in my backyard (well, within couple of hours or driving anyway)
and seems to be a great spot for photography.

Sury

[bakubo]

Very nice set Henry. I love the vivid colors of the dresses those young ladies were wearing.
Such bright colors are typical of Indian dresses too.

Thanks, Sury. These two ladies were so nice and we spent an hour or so together. I had been walking around Spaccanapoli alone with my camera and I met them. Their English was poor and my Italian was non-existent except for a few simple words, but they wanted to talk to me and practice their English. They suggested places for me to visit in Italia and other things.

Pt. Lobos has been popping up at various places of late and
I am getting restless. It is in my backyard (well, within couple of hours or driving anyway)
and seems to be a great spot for photography.

Definitely you need to get to Pt. Lobos. I have been there dozens of times back in the 1980s and 1990s. From Silicon Valley just head south on Hwy 101 past Gilroy and then further south take Hwy 156 over to Hwy 1. Go south past Monterey and Carmel and just a bit after Carmel there is the Pt. Lobos sign on the right. Note that if you go on a weekend be sure to get there early since they only allow a certain number of cars in at a time so if you arrive later you will probably be in a line waiting until a car leaves so that one more car is allowed to enter. On weekdays you will probably not have any problems. Mornings are wonderful inside Pt. Lobos. I have not been there late in the afternoon/evening, but it must be great too. Here is some info:

http://www.pointlobos.org/

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571