This is the last of the New York City blog posts (from my three-day trip in July), and boy, it was a long time coming.

I’d shot Times Square at f/1.4, then switched back to a more functional aperture, then switched back to f/1.4 for a few more shots in Chinatown. Here they are.

© 2011.

© 2011.

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If you know anything about me, you know that I love a good Chinatown. Strangely, so does my mom. I guess it runs in the family.

My Uncle Doug is a living, breathing Urbanspoon, so we always refer to him when we want to know where we should eat for various types of cuisine in New York City. A few hours before I left New York, he led us through the crowded sidewalks of Manhattan’s Chinatown and to an excellent Chinese restaurant, where I was too hungry and greedy eager to bother taking food photos. Sorry, y’all.

© 2011. Departing Big Wing Wong restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown after eating lunch there. From left to right: my Uncle Doug, my brother, me and my Uncle Arthur.

I also may or may not have had my camera pressed up against my face as we walked off to find a Chinese bakery.

© 2011.

Just a couple of more New York City entries before I’m done blogging about this trip!

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I’m not sure why, but when we were in Times Square on Tuesday morning, I decided to open my lens up all the way. f/1.4, baby.

Unfortunately — and I did already know this — the Canon 50/1.4 lens is not sharp at f/1.4. I usually shoot it at f/2.8, at which the sharpness is usually great. But I guess that morning in Times Square, I didn’t give a damn and decided to try shooting at f/1.4. Sure enough, the photos aren’t quite sharp, but I don’t mind. The narrow depth of field and lack of absolute sharpness make Times Square seem almost dreamy.

© 2011. The pedestrian-friendliness of Times Square will never strike me as normal.

© 2011. Body art by Andy Golub.

I continued shooting at f/1.4 for most of the rest of that last day in the city. You’ll see a few of those shots soon.

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The night of Monday, July 25, was the best. I have wonderful friends.

© 2011. Control Room 1A during NBC's broadcast of "Nightly News with Brian Williams" in the Rockefeller Center. Dexter, a fellow 2010 Poynter College Fellow, gave us an extended tour.

© 2011. Veniero's Pasticceria and Caffé, where my mom, brother and I met Lisa - a 2011 Poynter College Fellow - for amazing dessert and amazing conversation.

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…it’s a helluva town.

© 2011. July 25: A storefront window on W. 14th Street.

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The week before we met in New York City, my mom said she wanted to see the High Line. I immediately became excited.

Here’s why: The last time I was in New York City, it was 2009, the High Line had just been opened and, at the Washington Post Digital office, I’d just edited a photo gallery about a woman who lived right next to the High Line and who sang cabaret from her balcony to the park visitors below. So when Jeff and I visited New York City that July, we wanted to see the cabaret. Since her website and Facebook page were still in development, I emailed her to find out when the next show was.

Turned out, we wouldn’t have been able to make it. We were slightly crestfallen.

This time around, I was again slightly crestfallen when my mom made the executive decision that we would walk the High Line on Monday morning. At 9 a.m. Certainly, as Jeff noted, we would not be hearing any cabaret.

As such, I will return to the High Line next time I’m in New York City. And I will go at night. But in the meantime, here’s a slew of photos from our 9 a.m. foray from W. 30th Street all the way down to Gansevoort.

© 2011. Grasslands!

© 2011.

© 2011. A canvas of urban art?

© 2011. My younger brother, being my younger brother.

(more…)

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I’d never been to Coney Island until this recent trip to New York City.

© 2011. My younger brother, waiting for the sidewalk and my frame to clear before posing for a photo.

It was our first outing upon my arrival in the city — my mom and brother had arrived the day before — and it was a sweltering hot day. None of us had thought to bring swimsuits or towels, so our options were limited to Nathan’s and the boardwalk. I was fine with that: It was too hot to wait in line for the rides or to do anything but eat at Nathan’s, walk around and then eat mango-on-a-stick and Italian ice.

© 2011.

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Three of my four uncles live in New York City, and my mom, brother and other uncle (and his wife and daughter) came up to visit last weekend. So I took the train over there and joined them for a few days.

It was my first time taking the train — as in, a train that’s not public transportation — which freaked me out at first. But despite some delays on my return trip, I think I prefer rail over air. Much less hassle, and far more relaxing. The extra leg room is nice, too.

Some pictures from my train ride and one of the first subway rides we took over the weekend:

© 2011. Lancaster Amtrak station.

© 2011. Somewhere in Pennsylvania, between Lancaster and Philadelphia.

© 2011. Approaching 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.

© 2011. Lexington Ave./63rd Street station.

© 2011. F train from Lexington Ave./63rd Street station to Coney Island.

More photos to come.

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Summer in the city

After Jeff and I ate at Grimaldi’s, we went to the waterfront off of Old Fulton Street to catch the fading light over the East River.

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Let me tell you: This was the first and only time I wished I’d had a tripod with me on the trip.

Brooklyn Bridge.

We left the waterfront, wandered to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, got a little lost in Brooklyn while looking for a bus stop and finally made it back to Manhattan via subway.

Then we took the midnight ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

Panoramic composite of several images.

Of course, we took the ferry right back to Manhattan, and then the M15 back up to my uncle’s apartment in the Lenox area of upper Manhattan.

And that was the end of our first full day in New York City.

Check out a few more photos I didn’t post here!

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90ish days of summer

A favorite inside joke Jeff and I had during our three-day stay in the Big Apple was: “Nobody’s ever taken this photo before!”

This was a particularly frequent utterance while we were walking the Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn.

We were being completely sarcastic. These photos have been taken before, by thousands if not millions of other people who have visited the same places we did.

Manhattan skyline.

Check out some more photos I didn’t post in this entry.

Coming up next: DUMBO… also known as, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

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90ish days of summer

Our plan, after hitting up lower Manhattan and Wall Street, was to cross the Brooklyn Bridge by foot, eat dinner in that borough and return to Manhattan after dark.

Our plan had to change when we were done with Wall Street just after noon.

So we went to Little Italy.

Touching up Marilyn Monroe, in Little Italy.

We walked around, thought about having a second lunch (we’d bought food earlier from the vendor with the longest line on Wall Street), decided against it, had gelato instead and then — upon realizing we still had at least three hours to kill before going to Brooklyn — took the train uptown for a detour to Columbia University.

Pretty big detour.

As we were changing subway lines in Times Square station, we heard the strangest music.

Edwardo Alvarado.

It was a wizened man on a keyboard. Whatever he was playing sounded like something you’d hear while on an animatronics ride in Disney World — it was lively, fast-paced and not something anyone would put on the radio.

The man was Prof. Edwardo Alvarado, and Jeff and I looked him up after we returned from the Big Apple. We found a Village Voice article about Alvarado, complete with Alvarado’s background and how he became a sanctioned performer with Music Under New York. We also found a video story by the Associated Press:

(You should really check out the video — this music is not to be missed.)

Not bad for half a day in New York City… so far.

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