“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough - there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.” ~ Robert Frank
Good morning; afternoon; and evening friends and fans! Namaste. As many of you already know, I'm still working on my 'New York City: Five Borough Tour' book and I still haven't come up with a subtitle for my book which will be on Blurb Books. I hope to self publish several books on street photography, as well as music and fashion. Don't get me wrong, I have an idea on what I want to do as I can eventually turn my ideas into reality and these are places I want to go within New York City. Since my camera is currently out of commission at the moment but feel free to refer to Photo Plus Expo 2018 blog and since it costs money to have my camera serviced but I'm itching to go on my photography walks again whenever time permits. Once when I find a place that would fix up my Minolta X-370 and it's going to be a challenge because I'm not sure how many places still repair Minolta cameras. I'd have to research more into the backstory of Minolta and nowadays people are proud camera parents of Canon, Nikon or Sony cameras. Sony cameras takes decent pictures but I heard they aren't the best. I hope to complete my project within the next three years and I hope it'll be worth it but to say the least, I hope to get back to school with what I have so far. Don't get me wrong, I have ideas on which films to use for each borough. For example: Staten Island Ilford Delta 400 Professional Black and White Film; Brooklyn I plan on using Ilford FP4 35mm Plus Black and White Negative Film (50 pack); Queens, I plan to use Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Negative Film; Manhattan: Ilford XP2 Super Black and White Film; and the Bronx: Kodak Professioal Tri-X Black and White Negative Film. Who knows I may throw in a random Ilford Delta 100 Professional Black and White Negative Film for any five of the boroughs. I have ideas of how I want to set up my book and I do want to have enough pictures for roughly two books, perhaps if I'm lucky, three books at most. Once when I've completed my project, I'll do a final blog based on my 'New York City: Five Borough Tour' book and I still have to come up with a catchy subtitle [that stands out from the rest] for my book that will get people curious to purchase the book!
- Staten Island: Ilford Delta 400 Professional Black and White Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures)
- Brooklyn: Ilford FP4 Plus Black and White Film, ISO 125, 35mm, 35 Exposures, Propack 50
- Queens: Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Negative Film (35mm film Roll Film, 36 Exposures, 50 Pack)
- Manhattan: Ilford XP2 Super Black and White Negative Film (35mm Roll FIlm, 36 Exposures, 50 Pack)
- The Bronx: Kodak Professional Tri-X 400 Black and White Negative Roll Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures)
As an update to my project I've started during my spring semester at LaGuardia Community College
for Intro to Photography in 2013. I'm still working on my project and
yes, I've already passed the class but want to complete my book. It's
mainly street photography themed for the moment and have three other
book ideas in mind, one of which will include a second street
photography book but in color. There's a professor I had during my first
semester at LaGuardia Community College that I continue to follow on
her WordPress
account and have been downloading her syllabus and have been saving
them onto my flash drive each semester, yes, I realize I've already
passed Intro to Photography but figured I'd keep up with the class for
the most part to keep my sanity. Yet, I hope to complete my project and
due to unfortunate circumstances, I've postponed my project due to
shutter issues with my trusty sidekick, Minolta X-370.
It's making me a bit frustrated because I don't have the available
funds to have my camera serviced and nor do I have the funds to upgrade
to a digital camera. However, if I had a choice of digital cameras, I'm
leaning towards Nikon and in the beginning, I was leaning towards Canon
since at the time I wasn't a fan of Ashton Kutcher because I thought he
was obnoxious (to say the least, I'm still not a fan of his). Since I
haven't seen many commercials featuring Ashton Kutcher being
spokesperson for Nikon much these days but you can find these Nikon
commercials on YouTube from various YouTube channels. I've found a link in regards of a debate on choosing a camera: Canon or Nikon and I will post 'The Great Debate: Canon Vs. Nikon' but however, I'm an avid [35mm] film user and have found another link for Expert Photography titled: 'The Complete Guide to Film Photography: 94 tips'
but will continue on with my research both internet and going to
B&H asking questions in regards to the cameras and testing them out.
I'm very excited about my book because I feel like I can learn about on how I can improve my photography skills and I also want to share my gift with the world, especially those who have doubted my talents!!! However, I'm aware that I may not "look" like much until people either see me in action and as well seeing my work. I pray that my photography will receive some positive recognition for my talents and I am so used to people speaking negatively about me or to me. For example: my stepfather's bible hugging sister, Mary Ellen had told me that I'd never make it very far as a photographer, and the same goes for my former ACCESS - VR counselor and a random Asian woman. I've had three different people telling me that I'd never make it as a photographer. Truth be told, I don't know why I've even listened to them. Don't get me wrong, I have the talent and two things that work against me are: Lack of employment opportunity and not having a college degree but specifically a Bachelor's Degree. I'll eventually have both under my belt so to speak and the talent is a piece of cake for me.
I have ideas on what I want to do with my project and figured I'd get a head start on this project then at least I can begin scanning my negatives for each borough. There are places of interest that I want to go to and I know Citi Field and Forest Hills Stadium are two of those places here in Queens to visit. There are several places in Brooklyn of interest that I want to go to: Downtown Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Bridge area; Dumbo; along the G line; Coney Island/Luna Park; New York Transit Museum; and all those awesome places. I'm not familiar with the Bronx other than Yankee Stadium (Let's go Yankees!) and Bronx Zoo or Staten Island. I'm more in favor of going to the Bronx over Staten Island any day, any time or unless if there's a family gathering such as a wedding, or a birthday celebration, whatever went for that day. Only place I can think of are the Staten Island Ferry and the Staten Island Mall but other than that I'm drawing up a blank. A third place is the Alice Austen House also in Staten Island. Since I have friends who reside in the Bronx and Staten Island, hopefully we can all meet up at some point and I could use some time to hang out with some friends, whether it's out to lunch or dinner. If need be, there's always Google search and do as much research as possible for different locations for my project and I realize this is a bit time consuming but I don't mind the research... I hope to find some possible leads on where to go in the Bronx and Staten Island.
I have selected three different reading materials to read at your own leisure and a fourth link for my upcoming project I've originally started as a class assignment! It'll eventually be somewhere in the Blurb Books portion of the site.
