Holidays in New York City

My new year's resolution is to tell my stories in real time. Luckily for me, this is holiday season, and I'm living in fabulous New York city and something is always happening here. Living very close to Time Square has its ups and downs, especially in New Year's eve. The neighbourhood gets very crowded during this time of year, and even a simple task of crossing the street can be a challenge. I was invited to a party to celebrate New Year, and was tasked with bringing the desert. Although the weather outside was 32 degrees Fahrenheit and some of the streets were closed by the police as part of preparations for the ball drop celebration, I decided to go out to buy pastries from Magnolia Bakery. My main goal was of course the famous banana pudding.

Unfortunately, after standing in line for almost half an hour, I discovered that they ran out of their famous pudding. They suggested me to come back an hour later. This was a perfect opportunity to enjoy the festive atmosphere in the city, so I decided to make the most of it and went for a photo walk in the area. The Rockefeller Center is not to be missed any time, but during the holidays its definitely a must. The ice skate rink down under the huge Christmas tree is probably the most symbolic image of the winter season in the city.

Just across the street from there, the Saxs Fifth Avenue store is another must see location. The store has unique holiday display window decorations on the outside, but the inside offers a winning combination of warmth and photo opportunities. I defrosted, made a few photos and went back to the bakery.

I could not ignore all the people on the streets, queuing up for the ball drop, so I looked for a good viewpoint to capture the crowds. I found a great spot on the second floor of the M&M store on Broadway.

Last, but not least, as I'm already late for the New Year's eve party, for which I finally was able to get the banana pudding, I want to share this last photo. One of New York's most colorful streets is in the Dyker Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, which is famous for its Christmas lights decorations, and becomes a major tourist attraction this time of the year. This place is definitely recommended for anyone who wants to get into the holidays spirit.

Happy New Year!

Zoo Photography

Some of my best animal photos were created at the zoo. My Kung-Fu snow leopards photos were taken at the Central Park Zoo in NYC. If you want to get special moments at the zoo, my first recommendation would be to get a member card, because getting to know the animals is a big advantage for a photographer. The people of NYC have a great deal: we pay 119 USD for a one year membership card and get free unlimited visits, plus one guest, to all 5 NYC zoos: Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and New York Aquarium (located at Coney Island).

From the 5 zoos, the Bronx Zoo is, without a doubt, the most attractive. The Congo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo is gorgeous and I can spend hours watching the gorillas. Knowing Julia, the female western lowland gorilla, for quite a while, I knew she sometimes communicate with the visitors by sticking her tongue out. So, I brought my friend Alex with me and guided her on how to amuse Julia and interact with her. This is an abnormal behavior on Julia's part, but, on the other hand, she successfully creates a lifetime memory for the zoo visitors. By doing so, Julia takes a significant role as an ambassador for her own critically engendered species.      

Another advantage of getting to know  the zoo is becoming familiar with the feeding schedule. Feeding time is usually very interesting to watch since the animals are actually moving instead of resting or hiding. Also, you can prepare your gear before the keepers bring the food out to the exhibit.  I find that my 70-300mm lens is the best for photographing at the zoo.

At the zoo, watching baby animals is always a safe bet. They are very cute, they are playful and they interact with different members of their group. They are also very curious and will investigate any new object in their exhibit. Baby apes are extremely lovable because of their great resemblance to humans. I will always remember the first time I photographed the Bronx Zoo new baby gorilla because my heart missed a beat when I looked at him through the lens.

Black Background

I know that you really like my black background photos and a I've been receiving a lot of questions about it....so I decided to write my first article about how to create a dramatic image with a black background without going to a studio. The first thing you should do, which is very obvious if you think about it, is finding the black background for the scene you are shooting. For example, my baby gorilla photos were all taken when the baby was carried by his mother. Since Mama gorilla is black you can get a nice effect. This is not the traditional black background but you get the idea.

One of the most frustrating situation for a photographer is watching a wonderful scene with very little light. You can't focus, the ISO is high so you know the photo will come out grainy and...you can't focus. Some of my best photos were taken on a very low light and I hardly ever use flash. If you shoot RAW you should try to shoot RAW + JPEG and don't forget to set your aperture to the widest aperture possible in order to get the background blurry and limit your ISO to ~1600. The black background will reveal itself once you start shoot JPEG and with that you can find your best angle for the shoot.

Water can be a perfect black background under the right light. I used water to get the black background for the flamingo. Shadows can also do the trick. At the zoo we tend to ignore animals behind bars and under low light but this can be your perfect shoot. After taking the shoot you can adjust the contrast and watch the background turning black and your object popping out.

If it is a sunny day and you don't have enough shadows it is probably not the best situation for taking a black background photo, try to do something else.... Maybe a light background photo?