Man Sitting on Landing, Brick Wall - a photo on Flickriver

Man Sitting on Landing, Brick Wall. New York, New York. August 19,2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

On a warm New York City evening, a man sits on the landing of a metal stairway on the exterior of a brick building.

We decided that we would visit the High Line Park in Chelsea early in our recent visit to New York City. Recalling some wonderful evening and sunset light at the park during last year's visit, we had something like that in mind again on this visit... but that is not quite how it turned out. Although it had been sunny earlier, when we arrived at this location late in the day we could see very dark clouds building over on the New Jersey shoreline and beyond. Even though it was at least an hour and a half before sunset the light was dimming quickly, and we began to see large flashes of lightning in the sky to the west.

While the anticipated warm evening light would have been nice - and was when we returned a few days later - the softer light of these overcast conditions provided some advantages, too. Shooting toward the setting sun, as I would have been doing in this shot, can be tough on the High Line - but this soft light allowed me to more easily handle what would have otherwise been a real exposure challenge at this time of day. Just as we approached this building, the man emerged from the curtained doorway and provided a focal point to the photograph of this wall.

He is looking back over his shoulder for a very good reason. A few minutes after making this exposure - or perhaps sooner! - the lightning began to flash and the thunder began to boom directly overhead. We decided that the elevated park was no place to be in an electrical storm, and we quickly found a way back down to street level as sprinkles started. By the time had headed a block to the east, looking for a place to eat, the wind began to howl and the skies let loose a tremendous downpour, forcing us to choose a restaurant on the basis of proximity rather than reputation!

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Taken on: August 19, 2011

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Sets appears in: • Architecture • New York City more » • People • Structures • Street/Urban « less

Groups appears in: • New York City • StreetPhoto more » • Buildings/Architecture • Manhattan • New York, New York • Silicon Valley Photographers • NEW YORK CITY DEFINED • New York City Architecture • SF Bay Area Shooters (sfbas) • Manhattan Street photography • New York Architecture • URBAN New York • PICTURES FROM NEW YORK CITY • Manhattan Island • Friends of the High Line • urban visions • American Typologies « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/4.0, 1/13 sec, 50mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens:	EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.077 sec (1/13)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh
Show full info

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