City Alive Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

This was a tough shot to get. I had just walked through the southern part of Central Park and came upon this pipe spewing smoke in the middle of a busy avenue. I dodged traffic and quickly crouched down with my 10-20mm lens and banged off a couple of fast shots in the middle of the busy street as New Yorkers looked on in disbelief from the safety of the sidewalk!

From a Raw photo - cropped, dodged & burned in Photoshop CS3. Smoke smoothed out with the softening program, NeatImage.

Clairedelune, jaywalker, Jeppo, ALIRIZA, worldcitizen, Traczewska, abulafia has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Clairedelune (4885) 2008-02-17 7:07

Gosh! More New York than New York itself!!! :))
In its book Learning to see creatively, Bryan Peterson writes:
"How will you share the busy sidewalk view if the idea of lying down on the sidewalk is too intimidating?" So, you crouched down there and got the shot you wanted, even though people were wondering about your mental health! GOOD!
And the result is good!
In fact, when I opened the thumbnail, I thought it was a big, big tower spitting flows of smoke into the air. Then I read New York. Such a tower in New York? And then I realized what you did. And tell myself "Bravo! He did it!"
Well, in case you did not understand, an excellent point of view, and a very good use of your extra wide angle lens!
Still... take care of yourself Doug! :)
Claire

tinuta23 (51) 2008-02-17 7:27 [Comment]

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wawa (498) 2008-02-17 7:28

This shot is really impressive. Difficult conditions and great angle. Very original as well
Thumbs up
Warren

smarcell (14641) 2008-02-17 7:39

A very original POV and a great technique. I just ordered the sigma 10-20 myself.
Excellent composition, with the smoke which seems to invade the street.
Stefano

jaywalker (12302) 2008-02-17 7:45

Hi Doug, It is an amazingly composed photo &, in the end worth all the danger you put your self in, the texture is excellent, wonderful angles &, it really shows the amount of rubbish one pipe churns into the air, I love the slightly dim light, it suits the shot perfectly, kind regards Wilson.

chantalina2007 (40) 2008-02-17 8:07

Bjr Doug,

Un très gros BRAVO pour cette prise originale. Tout est excellent: de la prise de vue au traitement! Très très NICE!

Chantal

Jeppo (12072) 2008-02-17 8:24

Hi Doug,

a very particular POV on the big apple.
a pov from below...going upper and upper till the sky!

great idea and execution!

ciao
Silvio

batalay (21185) 2008-02-17 8:45

Hello Doug,

This is a fabulous shot from conception to implementation. Superlative hardware and software put to best use! Initially, I thought of reducing the "tunnel effect" of the very wide angle lens, the way I saw it recently applied in a weekend Nikon School, but the effect is very powerful. Well done.

Warm regards,

Bulent

maglex (1612) 2008-02-17 11:25

This is just a phantastic PoV! Great result from your effort. Thanks for sharing...

Alex

mirarer (4423) 2008-02-17 11:58

Hola Doug,
Muy buena utilización de esa chimenea y el humo en esta excelente composición.
Great shot.
Regards,
Mirari

ALIRIZA (16197) 2008-02-17 13:07

Hi Doug,
A very original and impressive POV. An excellent composition, with the smoke. Well done my dear friend...
All the best...
Ali Rıza

worldcitizen (2301) 2008-02-17 13:43

Hello Doug,
Your effort in composing this phot was worth it! This is truly a representation of NYC: grit and glamour in the same frame. I love the POV with the pipe and smoke framing the entrance to Trump Tower. You also managed to get some yellow taxis in the shot. :-) I often look at the orange and white pipes and think about coming up with a clever composition. You certainly succeeded!

Traczewska (7271) 2008-02-17 14:30

Superb point of view!! the Armagedon is coming :) So urban.. dirty, dynamic.. so vivid.. I can almost hear the sounds of traffic..
Bravo!
with regards, Agnieszka

Csilla (1782) 2008-02-17 20:27

Hi Doug!
Very good, exciting and impressive shot with superb POV.
Thanks for sharing!
Regards, Csilla

cdmonson (2761) 2008-02-20 10:59

Hi Doug:

This is a really cool shot! I'm very impressed, and of course I think you're crazy to run out into New York traffic. :) Well done.

Clark

abulafia (4802) 2008-02-23 19:40

Well it does indeed look alive Doug, and judging from your note, you are lucky to be that as well:)
Great angle, i love the textures on the smoke stack.
Definitely an unusual composition
Harry

Tibo (1842) 2008-03-26 23:05

Hi Doug. Excellent composition and great angle.Distorsion like this may be risky at some point but when the result is this great, we can just speak about art. Great work! Tibo

scalerman (25787) 2008-07-08 12:50

Doug: now this is a shot - if only the distortion could be controlled a little bit more on the edges but it can't. Great work, again, c

kramel (92) 2008-08-23 4:26

Very unusual pov, i like it
Jacky

Manamo (3474) 2009-04-06 7:35

You mentionned about Land's End being your fave point in SF, so it got me wandering in your american shots, and here I am...
This is extremely clever. The angle you chose make the street sign look like it's a skyscraper. Very good metaphor which should keep my brain busy for alittle while this morning...
You have a signature in your post-processing. It is very textures, very catchy, very HDRed-even if not (but not exxagerated).

This one is very inspirational.

Marc