Summer in the City & Beyond

For photo hunts do research on the waterways whether Manhattanbound or the Long Island Sound, say, on the trail of the Great Gatsby - at Sands Point, LI - or to another specific geographic coordinate where the Long Island Sound meets the Connecticut River. In short, scouting goes along with the territory. As to water, a precious and mysterious resource, Manhattan remains surrounded by it on all sides - the East River and Hudson River, which offer respite from the dog days of summer. 

New York City bridges and waterways with a mobile phone | RFK Bridge seen from Wards Island on the East River | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Architectural Forms at Lincoln Center

Creative doing leads to creative being.

Assignment: photograph Lincoln Center’s Revson Fountain at high and low shutter speeds. Focus on the architectural forms and leading lines of the Met Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, New York State Theater. For a technical exercise practice shallow vs deep depth of field for your pictures. 

View fullsize

Photographing architecture | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

South Street Seaport Landscape Photography

What happens when you shoot an image you like but it is, say, tragically overexposed. Digital files are a nightmare when the highlights are blown out (too white). The image loses definition. Instead of sending it to the Mac trashbin test your Photoshop skills.

Assignment: go to 'filter' and select any one of the filter options. Apply and see its effect on your art. In short, in the spirit of invention play around with all the filters until you get a look that you like. Record how you achieved the result and now you have created a style. Happy accident?

View fullsize

Accidental Photography | South Street Seaport | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Mobile Phone Photography Portraits

Photographing people with a camera phone allows photographers to ingratiate themselves and gain access to strangers, anywhere, anytime. In low light mobile phone capture is possible without flash and yes digital noise can be very artistic.

A sultry subject, patterned wallpaper, and pitcher of beer at Earl's Beer & Cheese (NYC) produces good results.

Earl's Beer & Cheese | mobile phone photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Keeping a Photo Diary

Try a picture a day for one year as visual notes to yourself.

Assignment: with an eye on spontaneity, what kinds of photographs, art, or statements can you make when you surrender yourself to chance? Your visual notebooks made in the moment may surprise you!

Suggested Reading:

Not Quite What I Was Planning edited by Smith Magazine

Negative Space by Norma Bar

A Photo A Day | Museum of Modern Art | mobile phone photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg  

The Best Camera is the One you have With You

Assignment: straight from your creator's mind allow random thoughts, passing emotions, uncensored dreams, unbridled five senses prompt you to shoot images ('mind pix') without much effort thanks to camera phone apps. The best camera really is the one that is with you.

Welcome to the democratization of the image that defines photography in the 21st century.

Mobile Phone Photography | Downtown Baptist Church, Malcolm X Blvd | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Selfies or Self-Portraits?

Photograph yourself - after all you are a willing and available subject.

Experiment after dark with an LED flashlight. Wave the light in the direction of the camera poised on a tripod with, say, a wide-angle lens stopped down to F16 for a 30-second exposure. Making pictures remains a series of experiments, go for it!

Assignment: self-portraiture at night. Add light painting.

View fullsize

Self-portraiture at night | Battery Park | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Go Island Hopping

New York City is an island, which is all too easily forgotten as we walk north and south and east and west on a relatively small expanse of land. Experience the city waterfront and beyond the 34 square miles that make up Manhattan. In short, go island hopping.

With dozens of islands to choose from in New York waterways - Governor’s Island, Roosevelt Island, City Island, Randall & Ward’s island, Riker’s Island, Coney Island, Ellis & Liberty Island, Staten Island, Broad Channel (Jamaica Bay), Breezy Point (Rockaways peninsula), etc, get ready to embark on adventure.

Island Hopping with a mobile phone | Queensborough Bridge and Roosevelt Island | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Suggested Reading:

A Far Rockaway of the Heart by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Here is New York by E.B. White

Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara

New York: A Literary Companion edited by William Cole

Low Life by Luc Sante

The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky

Saper Vedere or the Art of Knowing How to See

A perfect photo hunt adventure awaits at the Conservatory Garden, 105 & 5th Ave. Here you will find French-style, Italianate, and English gardens rolled up in one. Located in Central Park, the space is a designated quiet zone - perfect for contemplation, meditation, and exercises in creativity.

Assignment: shoot scenes with both shallow and deep depth of fields in mind.

Conservatory Garden | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Explore Harlem, a neighborhood where a community of old timers, workers, artists, hipsters, professionals, and activists are continually in flux. Against a backdrop of colorful and historical brownstones, Harlem welcomes tourists from around the world especially when they behave like inquisitive travelers on a photojournalistic mission.

The art of knowing how to see can be practiced anywhere and anytime!

Mobile Phone Harlem  | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg 

Look at great works by other photographers. Here are a few suggestions:

Alice Austen Barbara Kruger Jenny Holzer           

Berenice Abbott Diane Arbus Gita Lenz                     

Francesa Woodman Dora Maar Helen Levitt

Lee Godie Lillian Bassman. Ruth Orkin

Sophie Calle Tina Modotti. Varvara Stepanova

Vivian Maier. Inge Morath. Ruth Bernhard    

Annemarie Schwarzenbach

While photo hunts often push you to go beyond your comfort zone, practice makes perfect. Do photo exercises that encourage both mastery of the camera and jumpstart your creativity. Focus on 2-4 technical and aesthetic tips and tricks and practice them when shooting images of people, places, and things.

Assignment: while considering the rule of thirds and negative space for your compositions, create balance in your pictures.

Grand Central Station | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Mobile Phone Times Square | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg

Pershing Square |  photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg