At last, it had to happen: New York

[Andrea Taurisano]

Hi guys

After traveling much of the world, including both polar regions and countries that most people gladly keep off (e.g. Afghanistan and Iran), I eventually ended up on my first visit to the States, staying a week in N.Y...

I'll let you know my impressions, if you ask, but when it comes to photography, which is what I wanted to share, I enjoyed traveling light, as usual.

I carried only my GR1v (exposing only 3 rolls of Kodak 100 Iso color film) and my Leica M6 with nothing but a pinhole cap, exposing 3 rolls with that too. Totally, 6 rolls in 7 days. That was it, and the other million images will stay recorded in my mind as long as neurons hold...

Some sample images here:

N.Y. pinhole
N.Y. - Kodak 100

PS: it was a trip with girlfriend, not one of my photo journeys.. and that shows..

Cheers!

 

[kbg32]

Cool! You have to come back!

 

[burancap]

Wow, both are great! I look forward to viewing them in more depth!

 

[robert blu]

Great! A special view of one of the most photographed city! Bravo!
robert

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

I must confess that today's (or, more properly, last week's) N.Y. felt fairly different from the N.Y. I had pictured based on hundreds of iconic images from the 1900s.. but how could it be otherwise?

In any case, I'm glad I resisted the temptation of bringing my Ricoh GR and, instead, only relied on 6 film rolls. Had I gone digital on my first visit to N.Y., I'd still be editing files a week later.. ;-)

 

[shadowfox]

In any case, I'm glad I resisted the temptation of bringing my Ricoh GR and, instead, only relied on 6 film rolls. Had I gone digital on my first visit to N.Y., I'd still be editing files a week later.. ;-)

You realized something precious that most photographers in this digital age dismiss as nonsense.

 

[FredtheLlama]

Brilliant pictures on both links.

I'm a huge B+W fan, but I really enjoyed those colour images.

Please share some more 🙂

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Well, thanks for the nice feedback, guys. It took me over 10 years of G.A.S. and many travels where I was often annoyed by a heavy camera bag and the worry for possible loss of it, to realize what now seems to me obvious:

- less is really more. Yes, I will miss some shots by only having a 35mm (or 50, or whatever prime lens), but that's life. Even if I carried zooms or several prime lenses I'd still miss some shots while making choices..

- travelling really light makes the whole thing so much more enjoyable.. A compact camera with a decent prime lens does not give me significantly "worse" images than I'd get from very expensive and cumbersome gear. But it lets me blend in with the people around not attracting attention and, the most important thing: it moves my focus from photography to travelling! I take fewer photos but they mean more, at least to me. And even if my pictures still suck for everyone else, they wouldn't be better by simply being more numerous..

- last but not least: why struggle with LR presets to try and reproduce the look of good, old days film, when good, old days film is still available and delivers exactly that look I'm after?

While in N.Y., last week, I entered the Leica store in Soho, having my M6 around my neck. Seeing it without a lens, but with a body cap on, the store guy welcomed me in full of expectations saying "Good afternoon sir, I see you need a lens". And I went: "sorry to disappoint you sir, this is my trusted pinhole M6, and I just wanted to take a look at your photo exhibition". Then we ended up trying my pinhole body cap on the new M240 (with results that didn't please me much, too clean even at 10 000 ISO).

Cheers

 

[markus_h_photography]

Wow! When I first read your post about your gear I thought WTF?!?

Then I checked out your links (have bookmarked your website btw!) and was totally blown away! I have to say it again. Wow!

 

[robert blu]

I agree with your comments Andrea, less is more not only in the image but also referring the gear you have when traveling. When I went to NYC with my wife last spring, it was not a photographic journey but we wanted only to enjoy the city I had with me an old Zeiss Super Ikonta with B&W 120 film and the small Leica x1 to be used in interior or in difficult light situation. And it was ok, we enjoyed the visit and we managed to get interesting good photos! Now, your pinhole choice on the M6 was a courageous move and you got the maximum out of it!
robert