After dark Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Waiting to cross 3rd Avenue.

Waiting to cross the road, taxis whooshing past on the
wet streets, a few flakes of snow in the air.
It's bloody freezing and we can't wait to get to the warmth of the bar at St Mark's Hotel. It's always handy having a bar in your hotel... with pizza right next door!

Scanned in colour mode - hence the colour. I always set the scanner to colour mode when scanning black and white film, it tends to capture a bit more detail. Not that that was necessary with this one, with all that black.
Sometimes I convert to greyscale in PP, sometimes I don't, usually when I like the strange colours that come out of the scanner.

Kodak Tri-X pushed to ISO 1600.

bombilla, broglia, robiuk, Wanda1 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ommishra (1129) 2007-09-18 10:14 [Comment]

Show Comment

bombilla (3402) 2007-09-18 10:15

Ah, if only it were the St. Marks of old, a rundown echo of the Left Bank, with the scent of reefer and patchouli wafting past the Cafe Orlin and Theatre 80. Before the arrival of Gap and Starbucks. But, still, there's only one. And the poetry project lives. And traces of bohemia still lurk in shadowy corners.

Good one, Ben. Ideally, I guess, the St. Marks signs on top of the building wouldn't have flared out so much, but it's obviously hard to control. Nice nocturnal impression. Best, -Hugh

delic (6735) 2007-09-18 10:18

And I was going to ask you if you tried to convert to B&W. Himmm, my monitor must be broken as I also see yellow and orange. Kidding aside, this is a great street shot, Ben. I can feel the cold and snow. Cheers,
Hakan

broglia (3341) 2007-09-18 11:57

Fine night shot Ben - full of life & motion. Love the speeding "yellow" cab & the sign for the hotel seemingly floating in mid-air. Excellent, Roberto

bantonbuju (48630) 2007-09-18 12:22

hi ben,
one has to stay with this photo for a longer while to enjoy it fully...
this effect of sketching the shapes in the image is enormous here...i find it most attractive to see the completely dark areas versus the ones which are slightly burned out with a positive "sense" as to outline the shapes of the things in the night....
this is a well thought stuff, with no mercy to the tech aspects and what is the key thing here is this "i'm in a frantic city now but i'm not mad yet" feel...
really a good thing here, ben!
best, j.

robiuk (10763) 2007-09-18 13:42

LOL - and I do like these copper/orange tones!
This is the first one in a looooooong long time
taken at night, on a street - that I like.
With all its darkness it realistically conveys the
true state of light and colours, especially when
we're out there and freezing and have no time for
noticing details... yes, and then the reality looks
just like this!
Cheers,
Robi

AnimeshRay (8886) 2007-09-18 22:11

I have also notice this very intersting color cast on tri-x scans. Very nice play on the original bw they render. Your composition is nice. Good stuff!

rbcy1974 (20742) 2007-09-19 3:51

HellO Ben
INteresting urban view its almost a classic,
the colouring provided by the scan gives it a nice hue, I cant help but feel that there is something missing even though I cant quite put my finger on it.
IS this St Marcs hotel a few blocks away from Times Square, if so I spent a couple of memorable nights in 1997 over there as it was one of the cheapest hotels I could find and it was populated by very interesting characters.
Cheers
Daniel

Wanda1 (10945) 2007-09-19 22:33

Hi Ben,
There is a nice dark old fashioned feeling to this shot, once again nice and gritty, helped along by the sepia reddy tone. Love the blur of movement and the bright lights sparkling through the dark.
Regards
Wanda

Angshu (33645) 2007-09-20 20:51

Hello Ben
I tried this type of shot in Singapore, cannot say I was successful though. This colour works better than B&W in my opinion, the contrasts between the lit up and the dark portions are more soothing to the eye & hence more appreciable..actually there are three shades you've got here including the one on the speeding cars. Seeing this picture for a longer time, I enjoyed it. Good work Ben.
Regards
Angshu

vincent24 (9038) 2007-09-22 5:23

Hello Ben,
I love the mood here...night street traffic,the scanner gives a kind of pleasant warm sepia...even it seem that the weather was cold ;-)
have a nice week end,
vincent