Category Archives: new york

David Robertson for NYT

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A couple outtakes from an assignment (David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony at Carnegie Hall) I shot earlier this month.

I’ve been in over a dozen performance venues in the city, but from a photographer’s perspective, nothing compares to the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The world famous concert space is impressive not only aesthetically, but in that it seems to have been designed, or at least retrofitted, to accommodate photographers a bit better than most.

Check out more on the venue at the Carnegie Hall website, or go see it for yourself : http://www.carnegiehall.org/SiteCode/Events/MonthCalendar.aspx In May, Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida will be performing.

School closings

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February 3, 2011 – Brooklyn, NY : Protesters, including students, teachers, union activists and elected officials, came out in great numbers to oppose the shuttering of 12 New York City schools at a Panel for Education Policy meeting held at Brooklyn Technical High School in Ft. Greene on Feb. 3.

The noise at the Feb. 3 PEP meeting, at which they decided to phase out twelve New York City public schools (including John F. Kennedy in the Bronx), was earsplitting. Outside, politicians and union officials’ voices bellowed over loudspeakers and megaphones. Inside, the roar of a discontented populous (first photo) delayed, and then drowned out, the opening remarks by newly appointed schools chancellor Cathie Black (second picture).

Read the article, HERE.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 3200 / 14mm / mode: A -0.33 / f-stop: 2.8 / exposue: 1*125th

IPPIES & SNA accolades

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(Karsten Moran)

I had the pleasure of attending the New York Community Media Alliance Ippies Journalism Awards dinner this past week. The event, which took place on a boat and was EMCEE’d by WNYC’s  Bob Hennelly, served to honor outstanding work by the ethnic and community press.

My pictures and layout for a feature on a local barber shop (accompanied by an excellent article by reporter Adam Wisnieski — thank you Adam) took home top honors in the photo essay category.

The full article is available HERE. To learn more about the NYCMA and IPPIES, click HERE.

**UPDATE** The SNA just announced its annual editorial contest winners HERE and they selected the same photo essay (above) as their #1 pic for Best Photojournalism in the 8,001-16,000 non-daily category. Press reporter Adam Wisnieski also won a first place award–which I contributed reporting to–for spot news coverage of the Riverdale Tornado.

Squashed

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January 28, 2011 - Tuckahoe, NY : The Riverdale and Horace Mann squash teams faced off against each other on Jan. 28. Riverdale came away with a 4-3 win, defeating the Lions for the second time this season.Riverdale came away with a 4-3 win, defeating the Lions for the second time this season. Above, Riverdale's Aaron Horowitz, front, competes against Horace Mann senior Josh Goodstein. (Karsten Moran)

January 28, 2011 – Tuckahoe, NY : The Riverdale and Horace Mann squash teams faced off against each other on Jan. 28.  Riverdale came away with a 4-3 win, defeating the Lions for the second time this season. Above, Riverdale’s Aaron Horowitz, front, competes against Horace Mann senior Josh Goodstein.

Our sport editor, Raphael Sugarman, knows how much I enjoy photographing sports that fall at the fringes of the normal high school athletics curriculum. So I was more than happy to make the trek up to Tuckahoe in Westchester county to shoot the Horace Mann and Riverdale Squash teams. (ARTICLE)

I find that using a rubber lens hood allows me to get up close and personal with the players–and literally press the front of the lens against the glass, without worrying about reflections or scratches to the wall.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 3200 / 20mm / mode: M / f-stop: 4.0 / exposue: 1*500th

Foot patrol

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January 21, 2011 – Bronx and Manhattan, NY : Five-oh officers Flick, left, and McCoy patrol the Marble Hill houses on a frigid late-January night.

The 50th precinct beefed up their presence in certain areas surrounding Riverdale recently and were kind enough to let me tag along on a night patrol.

I have the utmost respect and appreciation for these guys. What they do is tedious, thankless and often dangerous.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 3200 / 24mm / mode: M -.33 / f-stop: 4.0 / exposue: 1*40th

Snow drifts

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January 25, 2011 – Bronx, NY : A man enjoys a morning jog through the snow in Van Cortlandt Park on Tuesday morning… and other snowy scenes.

We got some big, fat photogenic flakes at the end of last month and I took the opportunity to wander through Van Cortlandt Park and make some photographs.

As a side note, I don’t know what I did before I got an Aquatech Sports Shield. Nothing else i’ve tried even comes close.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 400 / 300mm / mode: AE -.33 / f-stop: 2.8 / exposue: 1*1250th

Not in Kansas anymore

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January 20, 2011 - Bronx, NY : Toto, played by 'Lucky,' and Dorothy, played by Sara Friedman, share a quiet backstage moment during a dress rehearsal of the Riverdale Children's Theater's performance of the Wizard of Oz on Jan. 20 at Lehman College's Lovinger Theater. For upcoming showtimes, visit www.riverdalechildrenstheatre.org. (Karsten Moran)
January 20, 2011 – Bronx, NY : Toto, played by Lucky, and Dorothy, played by Sara Friedman, share a quiet backstage moment during a dress rehearsal of the Riverdale Children’s Theatre‘s performance of the Wizard of Oz on Jan. 20 at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theater.

I am a sucker for backstage photographs, because they provide the audience a rare glimpse at the un-curated, behind the curtain aspects of a performance.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 1600 / 24mm / mode: M -.66 / f-stop: 1.8 / exposue: 1*80th

Morning snowfall

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January 21, 2011 - Manhattan, NY : Washington Heights Bus Terminal 7:04 a.m. // Pedestrians cross Ft. Washington Ave. at West 181st St. in front of a row of parked MTA buses in the snow at 7:04am on Jan. 21. // Credit : Karsten Moran for The New York Times (Karsten Moran)

January 21, 2011 – Manhattan, NY :  Pedestrians cross Ft. Washington Ave. at West 181st St. in front of a row of parked MTA buses at 7:04am on Jan. 21.

Another snowy morning in Washington Heights. Less than an hour after this picture was taken, the sun came out and we were treated to a blue sky sprinkled with puffy white clouds.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 3200 / 125mm / mode: M -.33 / f-stop: 2.8 / exposue: 1*160th

Vespers of 1610 for the Times

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I had the distinct pleasure of spending Sunday the 2nd at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Midtown Manhattan, where I photographed the Green Mountain Project’s performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610.

Two images ran in the Tuesday Art Section–one on the front. For the full account and to see the images, check out writer Steve Smith’s piece at www.nytimes.com.

Snowpocalypse NYC

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December 26, 2010 – Manhattan, NY : Icy wind and snow whip down the Hudson River, beneath the George Washington Bridge and past the little red lighthouse at dusk on Dec. 26. *LICENSE THIS IMAGE*

Just a quick post — above is a photograph from Dec. 26, when New York City was hit by a fairly heavy snow storm.  My brother–who was visiting me over the holidays–and I trudged down to the little red lighthouse, which sits beneath the George Washington Bridge at dusk to make this photo.

We dragged a few lenses and my tripod down the steep hill from the heights to the river and set up.

The first image above was shot, facing into the wind, with a slow shutter speed and a pop of my on-camera flash to illuminate the snow. That the snow appears streaked gives you an idea of the speed of the wind. The second photo was taken slightly further back from the river in the shelter of the bridge’s New York-side base, without the flash.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 200 / 20mm / mode: M / f-stop: 8 / exposure: 1 second

A happy, non denominational NYBG Train Show holiday!

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December 8, 2010 – Bronx, NY :  A model train whizzes through the New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show.

For the past few years, I have covered the New York Botanical Garden Train show for the Riverdale Press. The annual show is a popular event, which features model trains choochoo-ing past handmade replicas (made of twigs and leaves) of New York City landmarks.  In concept, I grant you, it sounds a bit kitschy, but in reality, it’s pure magic.

Because I did a full-page feature on the train show last year–I shot everything from the preparation and set-up to the final product–I decided on shooting this year’s show for the cover of one of our two holiday special sections.

The concept I had was to use a slow shutter speed and pan with a train as it rounded a bend… but I needed a vertical image with enough space, either above or below the train, for copy.  As I played around, shooting various trains at the show, I found that using a slow shutter speed zoom would be more effective and allow me to keep the train centered.

The technique, which requires zooming in or out while the shutter is open, is occasionally used in sports photography–THIS IMAGE by Washington Post photographer Jonathan Newton is a great example.

For my image, I found a small green and red locomotive, which came down a straightaway through a patch of similarly colored ornamental peppers.  I used a short 20-35mm zoom and a 1/20th second shutter speed. That allowed me to maintain a decent amount of focus on the train and still capture some movement.

We ended up running the image as the cover of our Christmas holiday section, with a red border and the title below the front of the locomotive.

Technical info
camera: Nikon D700 / iso: 200 / 32mm / mode: M / f-stop: 2.8 / exposue: 1*20th