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Post by minoltaman on Nov 27, 2007 18:18:54 GMT -5
Over the past 3 weekends I shot 2 rolls of film at Tibbets Brook Park, Yonkers, NY (just north of the NYC line). Here's just a sample. Minolta Maxxum 430si, Vivitar Series 1 zoom lens. Kodak Ultramax 400 film  Kodak Gold 100 film   |
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Post by olroy2044 on Nov 27, 2007 20:21:15 GMT -5
Nice stuff, Tommy. I haven't been able to get out the last few weeks like I wish, and scenes like these give my shutter finger the "twitches!" Which Series 1 are you using? I have a 70-210mm by Tokina, and really enjoy it. Roy
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Post by minoltaman on Nov 27, 2007 21:29:53 GMT -5
Thank you Olroy, and I hope you get out there soon with the camera my friend!!
The lens is a Vivitar 28-210mm zoom Series 1. It came with the camera and I'm impressed with the sharpness of the images....since I've always heard that zoom lenses are not as sharp as primes.
A zoom with a range like this is very, very addictive and very, very efficient and I doubt I'll buy a prime lens for this Maxxum.
I'm officially a zoom addict.
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Post by davesworld on Nov 28, 2007 3:59:14 GMT -5
Tommy, great shots! Loved the autumn colours, composition in the 3rd shot is just perfect, forgive my ignorance, but how far is this from New York City? It looks another world away from the expected. I have never been to NYC but I am always amazed at the diversity of this great city and state. Dave  |
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Post by John Parry on Nov 28, 2007 7:11:18 GMT -5
No 3 - Impressionist !
No I like them all. Isn't Yonkers where Barbara Streisand lived in Hello Dolly?
Zooms are convenient, but they eat light (at least the ones I can afford do!), and tend not to
focus very closely (unless they have a genuine macro setting).
Regards - John
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Post by minoltaman on Nov 28, 2007 9:11:30 GMT -5
Tommy, great shots! Loved the autumn colours, composition in the 3rd shot is just perfect, forgive my ignorance, but how far is this from New York City? It looks another world away from the expected. I have never been to NYC but I am always amazed at the diversity of this great city and state. Dave Dave, thank you very much, I appreciate your comments! This park, Tibbets Brook Park, in the city of Yonkers, literally borders the huge NYC park in the Bronx called Van Cortlandt Park.....which I live right next to and have a wonderful view of from our top floor apartment. If we walk to Tibbets from Van Cortlandt, it's about 25 minutes. Driving there would take 5 min. If you are in Midtown Manhattan, the drive up to Tibbets in Yonkers would take about 30 minutes. If you take Metro North Railroad, estimate about 35 minutes on the train and then a 10 minute drive from the station to the park. My wife and I were just up in the Catskill Region of Upstate NY, a little more than a 2hr drive from NYC. A mountainous region for serious hiking, canoeing, river rapids, camping, waterfalls, farms, hundreds of bald eagles, deer, bears, and other wildlife, antiques, hunting, fishing, big lodges, spas, etc, etc. Our friend's friend has a cabin in the woods. I took many pictures, which I'll have processed in the near future. But, yes, like you say, the biodiversity within a 100 mile radius of NYC is mind-boggling. It's a great place to be, although the citylife can really grind you down sometimes.....which is why I picked up photography......forces you to find and see beauty when you previously thought none existed in this decayed city. |
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Post by minoltaman on Nov 28, 2007 9:47:08 GMT -5
No 3 - Impressionist ! No I like them all. Isn't Yonkers where Barbara Streisand lived in Hello Dolly? Zooms are convenient, but they eat light (at least the ones I can afford do!), and tend not to focus very closely (unless they have a genuine macro setting). Regards - John Thank you John, I appreicate it! My wife actually helped me compose the waterfall shot. She pointed out the two rocks in the foreground and told me that those should be included in the shot. I climbed through the brush with my tripod to get the angle. You see, the reason I use a zoom now is because I'm often out shooting with my wife....and well, you know the patience of women!!......with a zoom, especially a 28-210, I don't have to "inconvenience" my precious wife spending extra time changing lenses and such...... My new catch phrase: "The Zoom Lens, saving marriages one frame at a time!!" Yes, Yonkers-Hello Dolly-Streisand, you are correct. Also, remember the Neil Simon play/movie "Lost In Yonkers"? Famous people from Yonkers, NY: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith grew up here, and actor John Voight as well. Current Pro tennis player James Blake also. Yonkers, NY was know from the early 19th Century all the way through the 1940's as the "city of gracious living". During the post WWII period, the city's population grew exponentially with families moving from the crowded Bronx and Queens to the suburban Yonkers, yet still very close by public transportation and/or car to midtown Manhattan. 90% of Yonkers was Italian, Irish and Polish, and 10% black. Yonkers' population had swelled to 250,000 by the 60's but by the mid 1970's the decline and urbanization of the city was picking up speed. Racial tensions and riots ripped the city into well marked segregated neighborhoods. However, the city still held together and property values remained very high in most of the city. I went to Catholic grade school and high school in Yonkers in the 1970's, graduating high school in the early 80's. In the early 1990's, a mean old NY District judge, who himself lived in a very chi-chi area of Westchester County, ruled that the city of Yonkers purposely segregated it's neighborhoods. No one thought "purposely segregated" was nice of the judge to assume and the city didn't "purposely segregate". There were many mixed areas of the city. Not saying that segregation is right, but many thought and pleaded that there were better places to build the housing, not right directly into residential, single family house neighborhoods. But, he ruled by decree that low income housing tracts must be and will be built in such neighborhoods. There were waves of protest for months and months. To no avail...... Long story short, the ugly housing was built, property values plummeted drastically, people moved away, more lower-income folks from NYC moved in, and most of the city's charm and allure has been greatly diminished. The infrastructure has greatly declined. Yet, there does remain some incredible pockets of beauty and history in this unfortunate city. Maybe I'll take my camera out and try to find some more of the old secret charms of Yonkers, NY like I did in Tibbets Brook Park. |
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Nov 28, 2007 11:22:18 GMT -5
Tommy,
You have shown us a very beautiful side of Yonkers.
Please let us see more.
I have the original Vivitar Series I f3.5 (at all focal lengths) Macro Focussing Zoom. Unlike any other zoom of its era it came very close to true macro at 1:2.2.
It is in a Canon mount and, despite its size and weight, still gets used occasionally.
Mickey
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Post by olroy2044 on Nov 28, 2007 12:09:23 GMT -5
Tommy: You have hit on one of the most important aspects of photography for me. After a 20+ year haitus from the hobby, I have found out how much of life and beauty I was missing by simply not having my eyes open. I saw this stuff back then, and thought it was gone. When I started looking thru a viewfinder again, I discovered that the interesting things had been there all along, and I had closed my eyes to them. Add to that the (for me at least) pleasure of using precision pieces of equipment that click, whir, and flash, all when I ask them to, and how I ask them to, that produce pleasing images of that reality, and you have the charm of photgraphy. Whew, waxing philosophical is hard work!  ;D Roy |
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Post by nikonbob on Nov 28, 2007 12:33:08 GMT -5
Tommy
Lovely images and composition. My hat is off to you for having the fortitude to actually drag a tripod with you and use it too. Works well though doesn't it. Goes to show you that any city really needs these green spaces for people to relax and unwind in. I view taking photographs as a way to forget about things in general and try to see things in a different light. I am looking forward to seeing some of your photos from your trip to Catskills.
Bob
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Post by minoltaman on Nov 28, 2007 13:21:32 GMT -5
@mickey, thank you very much, I'm much pleased that you like the shots! And it's good to know you still use that Vivitar lens. I think the one I have f3.5/f4.4. At 210mm the maximum aperature is f/4.4. With these landscape shots though, I'm using f/16 and f/22 all the time. roy, I'm in agreement with your philosophical thoughts around photography. I hope you continue to keep shooting Roy and enjoy it as much as the rest of us!! A older gentlemen that is a member of my church was a professional photographer for 50 years, working mostly with the Bronx Zoo and a local university. Last year when I started to really get into photography, I complained to him that there's nothing beautiful to shoot around here. He told me, "Tommy your just blind. The best shots you'll ever find are always right in front of your face. Everything God made is beautiful." At the time, I thought it was funny, but since that time he's been mentoring me to forget about everything concerning equipment and simply concentrate on making my vision of the beauty I see inside my mind appear on film. Since I'm dense, this has taken awhile to set in and even more difficult to make happen but he's been a tremendous influence on getting me tuned into what art is and how to make what you see into art. nikonbob, you know, I'm falling into the practice of shooting photos using high f/stops which of course have longer shutter speeds which forces me to carry the tripod everywhere I go now. Like you say, it does work well. I watch Art Wolfe's "Travel To The Edge" program every week on Public Television here in NYC. From watching his show all the time, he's inspired me to shoot from a tripod as much as possible, even if your shutter speed is sufficient for hand-held. But I totally agree with you about green spaces in a city, any city. It's vital for civilization to continue. And I agree about photography being sort of an escape into a different world....a peaceful place that's all yours for those precious short moments. I have a few shots left on the roll I took up in the Catskills. I also took my XG1 with me too for B&W shots and I haven't finished that roll either. I might've been too selective with my shots, but I'll burn off those remaining shots soon so I can see how the shots turned out. I wait with anticipation of good things. Cheers, Tommy |
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Post by minoltaman on Nov 28, 2007 13:35:16 GMT -5
A few more from Tibbets Brook. First two are Ultramax 400, last one Gold 100    |
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Post by John Parry on Nov 28, 2007 17:55:19 GMT -5
Wow ! I only asked a question!
Great reply though, thanks very much. Like your second series as well Tommy.
Regards - John
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Nov 28, 2007 18:39:48 GMT -5
Tommy,
Wonderful.
When one hears thr words "New York" what you are showing us is not what comes to mind.
It is magnificent.
Mickey
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Post by Randy on Nov 28, 2007 19:17:44 GMT -5
Great shots Tommy! I gotta get out and shoot some film...I'm having withdrawl symptoms.
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