VISION.:
The concept of what I wanted to do for this photography post was just to just go around town. (In this case Manhattan, New York.) And just randomly take photos during my travels. Now granted this concept is not a new idea, most people will just walk around with the hopes of getting an interesting or great photo taken.
And I know some of you are thinking “You did pick Manhattan, New York for your location.” My answer to the above question/statement is “No… I did not pick Manhattan as the primary location. I live in New York City and traveling to Manhattan is something that I may have to do once or twice a week to randomly take care of some business that I may have.”
There is nothing special about Manhattan New York if you ask me. (Now I know that some of you who are reading this and that have never been to New York City are probably gasping for air, mouth wide open. Clutching your pearls, and crossing your legs in fear as if I broke some sort of religious holy rule that will have me instantly combust into flames and burn in fire and brimstone.) And some of you might be saying “How dare you talk evil about Manhattan like that!?!?” As if Manhattan is some sort of magical wonderland that should be worshiped, and all areas around it are irrelevant.
Now Let me explain my reasoning… New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx,Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city back in 1898.
With the above said, We (or New York City’s tourism board) I should say promote Manhattan as the crown gem of the city. To me… “It’s just another part of town.” But each of the five boroughs are very unique and are worth exploring if you ever travel here.
With that said… What I wanted to do for this post was to just take random images of around town during one of my travels into the city. (Manhattan) I really did not take the time to plan this photo shoot, like I normally would do. No planned/or set location in mind, no planned subject to photograph. And no planning on film speed, ISO settings, lighting, lens filters, lens hood and so on.
Just “point and shoot” the images that I wanted to take. So to a small extent you will be seeing what I have seen during my travels of the day, my camera becomes my eyes and “vision” and what is posted is what one would have seen if you was walking with me during my travels.
Some of the photos that you will see are also taken in black and white for I thought at the time that some of the photos taken would look better than in color.
The journey of my day starts in Brooklyn New York, arriving at fifty-ninth street, Columbus Circle in Manhattan. After my appointment on the West-Side of Manhattan, I traveled (walked) down twelfth avenue and fifty-ninth street to an area in lower Manhattan known as the West Village.
It was a good, long walk with a few funny moments that had happened as well. That will all be explained later in the post. So for now… Enjoy the view of what I had seen.
York Street Subway Station Brooklyn, New York.
York Street Subway Station Brooklyn, New York in black in white.
59th Street Subway exit showing globe statue and the Trump Tower.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in black and white.
Statue at the entrance of DeWitt Clinton Park, DeWitt Clinton was the 6th Governor of the State of New York.
Intersection of 12th Ave & 34th Street, Manhattan. I really enjoy this photo for its rare that there is hardly any traffic on 34th street. (Or so I thought… I will explain shortly.) And off in the distance you see the Empire State Building. And now as mentioned, a “funny moment” needs to be told about the above listed photo.
I stated that there was hardly any traffic when the photo was taken. But what was behind me was major traffic turning off 12th avenue trying to get on 34th street. So I had to literally dodge, trucks, cars and tractor trailers trying to get on the street. You had about less than thirty seconds to get to the middle of the street, focus and shoot the photo before the light changes and traffic behind you starts barreling in on you.
And if that is not enough…
I went back to the middle of the street again to take the above black and white photo. Notice the cement truck on the right side of the photo, that was what had to swing around me as I stood in the middle of the street. The things I do for photography. 
12th Ave & 32nd Street black and white. Taking this picture and the next one “almost” got me in trouble with police. It’s another funny story, how is it funny getting in trouble with the police? I will explain.
While taking this photo I tweeted via my BlackBerry to my Twitter account the following tweet. “@LUIS_CASTRO_NYC: Why the cops spying on me? Leave me alone! I am taking #photos !”
What had happen was that there was an unmarked police car that suddenly stopped short in the middle of traffic, blocking traffic that was now forced to go around them and the officers inside the unmarked car were just watching me.
Why was they doing this? The photo below explains.
Granted… It’s the same area, 12th Ave & 32nd Street. But If you look to the left on the middle of the block, it’s where the Department of Sanitation stores some of its garbage trucks, one of many facilities around the city. So it seems that I was some sort of threat just taking photos of the area.
Mind you… I just ignored them and just kept taking photos, besides. It was and is a public area, with so sign telling me not to do so. So I just kept doing so. I was once told by another photographer when I once asked him to review my work and could be give me some advice. And he told me as advice. “Never be afraid to take a shot.”
Good advice if you ask me, and one that I will always remember.
This photo above is of a park on 12 Avenue and West 23rd Street in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. One of the many oasis for kids and adults to enjoy.
This photo of a FDNY Fireboat, was taken once I had gotten to the West Side piers and park. In the background you can see Jersey City New Jersey. The FDNY Fireboat was traveling north across the Hudson River.
The next photo below I felt just had to be taken in black and white.
The photo above is of The new World Trade Center that is currently being built after the 9/11 attacks. A view that you can see all the way from the West Side piers and park. In retrospect, here is a photo of one of the original World Trade Towers being built back in 1971.
A true rebirth in progress. Interesting how the photo taken in 1971 and the one I took yesterday (June 13, 2012) seem to have been taken under similar weather conditions. Low cloud cover with slight drain/drizzle coming down.
Now the photo below is one of the many reasons that I love New York City.
Yes… Canadian Geese in Hudson River!
Their was two of them floating around in the Hudson River. In such a metropolitan city such as New York, you do see nature.
The photo above is the Gay Liberation statue in Christopher Park (at the intersection of Christopher, Grove, and West 4th Streets.)
The final photo was taken just before going home back to Brooklyn.
This was just a random photo of 6th Avenue and Waverly Place in Manhattan. Just a simple photo of a local street with people walking about. And there goes a typical day for me, where you see my travels of the day, where my camera becomes my eyes and “vision.”
Lu Logic
