A Winter Weekend in Manhattan: Through the Lens

Early January weekend was planned to be a photography get-together with a community group, meeting up in Chelsea for a bustling day and a half of activities. Unfortunately plans changed due to a death in the family of the organizer, but I had already bought my Amtrak ticket and a one night stay in the boutique Evelyn Hotel.

So I decided to make it a solo vacation weekend of nonstop street photography and walking to my next bite.

For this trip I only brought my trusty Leica M4 and a Zeiss 50mm f2 Planar lens with some Kentmere 400 and Kodak Vision 3 500T. It was bitterly cold and windy, with sun just peaking through clouds every once in a while. I did my best to capture how I saw the city, somewhere between being a tourist and a street rat.

I've been trying to get better at "thinking in deep focus" as I like to put it, better known as "layering." Most of the time in Manhattan I was shooting around f4 or f5.6 if light allowed.

As a street rat tourist, I enjoyed having no specific goals or aims other than to see. It was quite a peaceful two days, with little to nothing on my mind, no airpods, just searching for another dollar slice.

Advertising specifically caught my eye this weekend. I am used to billboards of the local PA plumbing company or jewelry store, not celebrity endorsement.

The Meatpacking district was another spot that captured my attention. I decided to go see if a gallery was showing at the Leica store, and although there was no gallery, I did manage to warm up a bit while purusing some books they had out.

It was a lovely solo trip and I left with a new simple appreciation for the historic street photographers of Manhattan.