Through the Brooklens

Rocket out on the Loose Tooth!

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:28:00 +0000

early spring photos from prospect park

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:41:00 +0000

Parental challenges on East Broadway in Manhattan

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:08:00 +0000

The kids were curious about what they found on a wall in Chinatown the other day. Since then they've haven't taken us parents quite so seriously.

Saturday afternoon at the galleries in Chelsea

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 03:53:00 +0000

Couple recent photos

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:36:00 +0000

Jay Street subway entrance

Two from Prospect Park

Reflective playground

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:35:00 +0000

A few more from West Chelsea, art gallery central

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:30:00 +0000

Shot while heading to a book fair in Chelsea

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:44:00 +0000

Similar but different, while walking down 5th St.

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 03:55:00 +0000

Similar, but different views of a Chrysler side mirror, shot while walking down 5th Street towards 5th Avenue. A beautiful old car. Which do you like better?

A Fall afternoon on 3rd Street near the Gowanus Canal

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:31:00 +0000

1978 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:11:00 +0000

What a ride!

This Caddy still looks pristine after almost 30 years. The green and chrome looked great against the gritty gray background of Third Avenue below the BQE.

Learn more about this car at the Cadillac Coupe DeVille wikipedia page.

Great light on a Brooklyn pier

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:09:00 +0000

I was out on my bike and happened upon this public pier near the Brooklyn Army Terminal (different from the Navy Yard). You really need to know it's there as it's hidden behind a building. Here is the closest intersection.

Backways of Industrial Brooklyn

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 15:06:00 +0000

Prospect Park Portraits - Strangers in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 13:30:00 +0000

These are some casual portraits of people I came acrosss the other day while walking the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. I went up to total strangers and asked if I could take their picture. It's always interesting to see what you can get from just a few frames.

Stormy afternoon on the Staten Island Ferry

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:28:00 +0000

I took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry the other day. While we were enroute to Staten Island from Manhattan, a big storm swept in from the west. Heading back to Manhattan the skies were rumbling and very dark. I tried to capture some lightning coming down around the city but it was too quick for me. It was a great time to be on the ferry where you could see big swaths of sky and storm.

Spaghetti Telecomm Manhattan

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:40:00 +0000

When I saw this stuff I thanked my lucky stars that I am not a downtown Manhattan telecommunications lineman. Can you image trying to keep this stuff sorted out?

Precarious position

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:29:00 +0000

I'm sure it's sturdy, but to me it looks like the sculpture is about to swallow this couple up.

From another angle:

Brooklyn's rapidly changing 4th Avenue

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:17:00 +0000

The Brooklyn landscape of 4th Avenue near Park Slope is rapidly changing. Nondescript 1, 2 and 3 story buildings are being pulled down and 10+ story big buildings are going up, fast. This neighborhood will look radically different in just a few short years.

An evening at Coney Island

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:08:00 +0000

Foggy morning along the Gowanus Canal

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:18:00 +0000

I took a foggy walk the other morning along the Gowanus Canal. Fog simplifies backgrounds very nicely. You lose some details in your subjects, but that's not always a bad thing.

Wandering through DUMBO

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:28:00 +0000

Down underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (and therebouts) this is what I came across.

Puerto Morelos, Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 16:50:00 +0000

I don't do a lot of color travel\scenic photography, but sometimes certain scenes are hard to pass up. I shot this while walking along the beach in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula, near Cancun). I was looking for street portraits (I'll post some of those later), but I saw and liked the dramatic cloud over the water. The bird and boat help to give a bit of interest and perspective to the photo.

Stranger in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 14:40:00 +0000

I took this photo a few days after the big February snowstorm. This gentleman was taking in some late afternoon sun in Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library. His face glowed in the warm sun and stood out strikingly from the background shadows. I asked him if I could take his photo and he agreed. I took a few closer up, but I liked this composition of him sitting amidst the snow and chairs.

Here's the other photo, closer up. It definitely shows more of the character of the face, but less of the environment. Such are the tradeoffs in composition.

Flags on Fifth Avenue

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:53:00 +0000

In the image above, I like the compositional possibilities of these three flags, waving in a light afternoon breeze. With no control over the wind, this is the situation where you need to take a number of shots and then see if anything interesting comes out of it. This is much easier thanks to digital; I don't think I would have tried this with film.

In the image below, I liked the shape and contrast of the man's coat against the bright sidewalk and the backlighted flags.

Urban reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Gates) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:58:00 +0000

I took this photo on the corner of 43rd St and Madison Avenue. There was a big puddle at the corner that people were stepping around. The reflections of buildings, the lamppost, and the pedestrians made for some interesting compositions. I stood on the corner for about 15 minutes waiting for the right one to happen. I won't call it the 'decisive moment' (see Cartier-Bresson), but its a moment that worked better than the others.