Bryant Park & Citi Pond

My husband gave me a wonderful early Christmas present - a 50mm f/1.4 lens! I just had to take it out for a test run, and I knew just the spot: the holiday shops at Bryant Park and Citi Pond. I knew the 50mm wasn't going to be perfect for every shot I wanted, but I had a feeling I'd get some great stuff with it and get a good idea of its capabilities. I definitely wasn't disappointed.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season!

Spectators

Make it Stop!

Got the Funky Flo

Skating Lessons

Watching the World Go By

All a Blur

Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain

Holiday Shoppers

It's Christmastime in the City

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. There's something magical about this time of year - the trees, the lights, the decorations, the traditions - and it all seems that much more magical in New York City. As much as I love the season, I tend to avoid the traditional holiday draws - Macy's, Saks, the tree at Rockefeller Center - because the crowds are just so overwhelming. This year, though, my husband is working up in midtown and I've met him at his office a few times over the past week, using it as an excuse to force myself out to take in the holiday sights. I have to admit that other than a bit more jostling than I'd like, it has been really fun to get out and photograph new subjects. I often take for granted that I live and work so close to sights that people travel thousands of miles to see (I almost apologized to my 365 project followers the other day for "yet another" Times Square shot). So without further ado, here are some favorites from my recent wanderings.

Lit Up - 6th Avenue

Ornaments - 6th Avenue

Radio City Swarm

Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Center

Angelic - Rockefeller Center

The Tree - Rockefeller Center

Breezy - Rockefeller Center

Holiday Market, Union Square

Believe - Macy*s

Window Shopping - Macy*s

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Sandra Murray, the winner of my very first giveaway! Sandra chose "Waterlily", which is one of my favorites - it even adorns some of my business cards.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered - I wish you all could have won! Don't worry, there will be plenty more chances. I'm only 19 followers away from 100...please share my page and help me get those last few followers to break the century mark. To celebrate, there will be another giveaway, plus there's something special in store for my 100th follower!

Gratitude

I know this is a photography blog, but I want to take a minute to be a bit mushy if I may.

The other day I was feeling pretty down about my photography and the success of my site. My Facebook page had stagnated at around 40 followers for a while - occasionally a new follower would trickle in - but I wasn't seeing much growth. When a friend posted about passing 660 followers on her page, I made a tongue-in-cheek comment about being happy if I ever broke 50. Being the wonderful kind soul that she is, *Autumn shared my page and before I knew it, I'd broken the big 5-0 barrier. And the numbers just kept climbing. In just two days' time, I'm up to 70 followers.

I truly appreciate each of you who has taken the time to like my page, browse my site,  and/or read this blog. At the end of the day, the part of photography that makes me happy is sharing and connecting with other people. If an image brings back a memory or takes you somewhere you've never been, if it stirs an emotion or sparks curiosity, I've done what I set out to do. And it's made me incredibly happy to see both friends and strangers enjoying and interacting with my photos. 

Of course, I had to do something to show my gratitude, so between now and October 4, go to my site, choose one photo that you'd like to have hanging on your wall and leave a comment on that photo. You'll be entered into a random drawing to win an 8x10 print of the image you chose. One entry per person, please. And don't forget, there are still a few days get 25% off any photo from my California gallery! I cannot say thank you all enough for your support and encouragement. You guys are the reason I keep going!

*If you haven't already, please check out Autumn's amazing photography and follow her on Facebook. Her work is incredible, and she hosts some wonderful giveaways and raffles (hint, hint: there's a raffle coming up soon!).

Giving in to Instagram

I did it. I caved.

I downloaded Instagram ages ago, but I never set up an account. I was already using Hipstamatic, and I didn't see anything that made Instagram better, or even that much different. But then dumb me went and downloaded a Pak that didn't support my sad old iOS version, and poof, there went Hipstamatic. I went without for months, but I have to admit, there's just something about those mock low-fi, square format photos. So recently I created an Instagram account and became an instant addict.

That lead me to wonder - what is it about these inexpensive little photography apps that's so appealing? I spent thousands on my DSLR and lenses so I can get the cleanest, sharpest, high-res images I can and my current obsession is a 2mp iPhone 3G camera and a cheap app that makes my photos look like they're from a bygone era? It doesn't make sense.

But it does. I used to carry my DSLR with me everywhere, and admittedly it got cumbersome. Let's face it, my phone's camera takes crappy pics - but it's light and always with me, and the effects make my shots a little more interesting. You won't find them on my site (at the very least not until I upgrade my phone), but they're fun for capturing things that grab my interest but don't warrant much more than a passing snap. And for the casual photographer who may not have access to expensive equipment and editing software, it's an easy, accesable way to make cool images that can be instantly shared with friends.

Here's some of what I've been snapping. Follow me (@mpike_27) to see more, and if you've got an Instagram account, share it in the comments so I can follow you too!

Times Square

Breakfast cart coffee

Mosaic

High Line throwback

Ghosted

Sand art

A walk down memory lane

A little over a year ago, my husband and I took a two week trip to California, and it turned out to be possibly my favorite trip of all time. That's no small feat, considering in recent years I've visited the Caribbean, the Florida Keys, Mexico, Barcelona, Paris, London, took a 10-day driving tour of Ireland, and most recently visited Iceland and Sweden. Our California adventure began in Santa Cruz and Capitola, and we worked our way down the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and San Simeon, cut over to Sequoia and Kings Canyon, up to Yosemite, over to Sonoma and then finished out the trip in San Francisco.

Today, in search of a shot to print for my apartment, I spent some time scrolling through my photos from the trip and had a great time retracing our journey. I felt like I was driving down the PCH again (only in my mind, I was in a convertible Mustang instead of the poor little Focus they rented us), or hiking in Yosemite or sipping wine in the Deerfield Ranch wine cellar. The memories are too many to list here, but here are some of my favorite photos that aren't quite site-worthy:

The Boardwalk, Santa Cruz

Walton Light, Santa Cruz

Walton Light, Santa Cruz

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Edward Sellers Winery, Paso Robles

The Organ - Crystal Cave, Sequoia National Park

The (terrifying) stairs to Vernal Fall, Yosemite National Park

Tucking in for the night - El Capitan, Yosemite National Park

Stars from our deck - Evergreen Lodge, just outside Yosemite National Park

Deerfield Ranch wine cellar & tasting room (we had it all to ourselves!)

Pinup girl graffiti - Haight Ashbury, San Francisco

Coming in for a landing - California Academy of Sciences rainforest dome (where I met with the amazingly talented Autumn Eden. Do yourself a favor and check out her site!)

To see more, check out my California gallery. I'll be adding more photos over the next few days, and I'm offering 25% off everything in the gallery through the end of September (offer code Cali11).

Well, duh

I don't know about you, but I'm terrible about learning the ins and outs of a piece of software. I take some time playing around and trying a few things here and there, and once I have the basics down that's about as far as I usually go. I've been using Lightroom for years now - I got a copy when it first came out - but it wasn't until recently (as recently as today really) that I've begun to learn to use it effectively. Just a few weeks ago, I figured out that I could (stupidly easily) export shots direct to my site instead of saving them out to my desktop and uploading from there. Duh.

Today I was poking around on Digital Photo Buzz, a fantastic resource for all things digital photography, and discovered some of the tools that have been staring me in the face all along like brushes and the gradient filter. Again I say, duh. These tools make it so much easier to make so many of the adjustments that I've learned to just settle for something "close enough" on. So now here I sit like the geek that I am, spending my Saturday night seeking out images in my catalog that I thought were hopeless throwaways and seeing what I can do to bring them back to life.

Here's a quick example of how I used the gradient filter to correct a shot from one of my favorite series that I'd assumed I'd just never get right. I'd exposed for the amazing sky but lost all of the detail in the land.

Before

After

I applied an exposure gradient to the bottom part of the image and a contrast gradient to the sky, then tweaked the white balance slightly. Still not quite perfect, but for less than 5 minutes of work, it's worlds better than I've been able to get out of this one before. Now I'm just wondering why I didn't take the time to learn a bit more about Lightroom sooner.

Something missing

I know I haven't written anything in a while... I've started several posts, but by the time I'm done writing, I feel more like they belong in the garbage than out in the great World Wide Web. I've felt a bit like that about my photography lately too. I was starting to feel like I was stagnating - taking the same shots of the same subjects over and over. Because I was. All summer long, despite having done some really cool things and visited some amazing places, I've felt like something's been missing. And today I realized that something was time spent on or at the water. I grew up on Cape Cod, and the ocean runs strong in my veins. Today I spent some time at the waterfront in Greenwich, CT and it breathed life back into me and my photography. It's amazing how sometimes all it takes is finding the right subject.

A year in the life, one photo at a time

About two and a half years ago, I started a 365 project, shooting at least one photo every day for a year. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to keep up with it but  figured it was worth a try and miraculously, I made it through all 365 days without missing a single one. I won't pretend it was easy - there were some pretty terrible shots in there - but in the end, it turned out to be a pretty amazing catalog not only of what had happened in my life that year, but also of the evolution of my photography. Whenever I start to doubt whether I've really made any progress, I go back to the early shots from year one and the difference becomes immediately apparent.

Taking a photo every single day pushes you to look at the world differently and try new techniques. As with anything, practice makes perfect, and you can't help becoming a better photographer along the way. It may be the single most beneficial thing I've done to improve my photography.

Two and a half years later, my project is still going strong (although I'm still behind from my recent vacation), and although I haven't had as much time to dedicate to it as I would like recently, I still love looking for something new each day, sharing with other photographers and interacting with and learning from a great group of people. On two separate occasions, I've been lucky enough to meet up with friends from the project and spend the day shooting in great company. Who knows how long I'll keep it up, but for now I'm enjoying recording my days one photo at a time.

Welcome

Now that I've gotten my site off the ground, I thought it was time to get around to creating the blog that I kept meaning to create "someday".  I've had so many experiences in setting up my business and in pushing my photographic comfort zone where I've thought, "I should blog about that!" so my hope is to share some of these thoughts here.

I always find starting a blog challenging. I've got all these ideas swimming around in my head, but once I get a layout done up I find myself staring at the "compose" screen, cursor blinking maddeningly, as if to say, "Well, when are you going to write something?" It felt a bit like that starting my website too. Creating a layout was easy, but deciding on the content was more than a little overwhelming. I found myself starting to second guess every selection I made. "Is this one REALLY good enough?" "If I hadn't taken this, would I want it on my wall?" Where I thought I'd be really excited to get my site off the ground, in reality I was dreading it. Where I thought I'd feel confident and proud as I looked at this group of hand-selected shots that I was in love with when I took them, I was self-conscious and almost embarrassed... "Is this really the best I can do? Are these all I've got?" I even pulled the site just after I did a soft launch to a couple of friends, although now I couldn't even tell you why - I'm guessing pure fear.

Thankfully self-pity, party of one, was unable to get a standing reservation and after a few days I was back at it with more determination than before. The thing I found about launching a business is that it never feels right. I didn't like the way this or that looked, I didn't know what to say in my bio, I didn't have enough photos in this or that gallery. Finally I realized that I could rationalize my way out of ever going live with little effort, but if I was serious about wanting a photography site, it was time to throw myself to the wolves.

After a few months of having my site live, I know I still have lots of work to do. That's the reality of having a business - the work is never done. But that's also the fun part of it. Having to generate new content means having that much more of an excuse to spend a few hours with my camera, seeing the world through my lens. And having my site is a reminder and a challenge to be critical of my own work and to keep learning and pushing my photographic comfort zone. If starting a photo site is something you've ever considered, go for it. I can't tell you it will be easy, but I can tell you it will be worth it.