The last few days have afforded me some time for reflection, and I am so looking forward to the promises and opportunities that a new year brings. This past year has been huge for me — a new consulting career, a new house to renovate, new friends and coworkers. I’ve risen to challenges, redefined my goals, and redrawn my boundaries — and not always in the healthiest of ways. Only in the past few weeks have I realized that despite all the newness of the past year, I haven’t taken enough time for myself.
Last night in Red Hook, as the sun set one final time in 2011, I made a silent commitment as I looked out over the bay. I’m not yet sure what my resolutions will be this year, but they definitely include far more *me* time. Bring on the selfishness! Today I celebrated by taking a decadent walk through Prospect Park. The sunshine was wonderful. Out with the old and in with the new, indeed.
Here’s to a great year ahead, and may your 2012 be filled with lots of *you* time!
Boy, have I been steeped in nostalgia since autumn began this year. I should probably attribute it to holiday stress or too much work, but I’ve been overly sentimental for the last couple of months. I still have yet to figure out exactly why, but I suspect it has something to do with ignoring my creative outlets.
In mid-October, I had the chance to visit Chicago for a weekend with my college roommates. I swear that Chicago had a special effects team overhaul the city for our trip, because the 80-degree temperatures and golden weather were perfect. For most of the years I lived in the city of big shoulders, there had already been snow on the ground and a nice -15 degree windchill off the lake by mid-October. SO MISLEADING, CHICAGO.
Because the weather was gorgeous, we headed south to Hyde Park one afternoon to kick around for a few hours. I ended up taking a lot of photographs while we traipsed around campus to visit our old coffeeshop and the crazy new glass dome of a library, among other things. After I developed my rolls of film once back in Brooklyn, I realized that many of these photographs make me nostalgic for super weird reasons. Envisioning the classroom in which I grew to hate calculus proofs? Apparently nostalgic for me. Fondly thinking back to the times I spent making minimum wage working in a neurology lab? Yeah, that too. The human brain is so capable of recalling totally useless information.
I had almost forgotten how unbelievably gorgeous the University of Chicago really is.
So I know I’m light-years behind on posting about these, but recently I was reminded of one of the coolest photography techniques I’ve seen in recent years: the Vertorama.
What is a Vertorama? As Photojojo joked, they’re “just like panoramas, only more vertical.” Basically, a vertorama is comprised of two or more horizontal images stitched together vertically with image editing software. There are several advantages of creating vertoramas, but the two most compelling to me are 1) far greater detail in both the foreground and the background and 2) the (simulated) huuuuuge viewing angle.
I’ve included some of my favorite NYC vertoramas below, featuring work from two of my favorite NYC photographers, Peter Kruger and Vitaliy Piltser.
If you’d like to see loads more, check out this great Flickr group. And if you’re interested in trying out the technique for yourself, here’s a quick tutorial! Any vertorama veterans, please feel free to leave tips in the comments!
“9/11 Tribute Lights,” [a four-photograph composite image] by Vitaliy Piltser:
“A Brooklyn Sunset,” [a 31-photograph composite image] by Vitaliy Piltser:
“Manhattan Bridge Vertoramas,” [two three-image composite images] by Peter Kruger:
“Universally Applied,” by Peter Kruger:
I’ve been loving all the updates to the Instagram blog — especially the series called “How I Shoot,” which provides great insight into how photographers turn mobile snapshots into some seriously great photos. This interview with Anthony caught my attention last week, and I immediately followed him at @takinyerphoto. You should too!
Anthony’s candid street portraits really capture the collective imagination of life on the streets of NYC. His shots have been inspiring me to keep my head up and take more photos of all the people around me: on my commute, on my lunch breaks, on the subway and more. Be sure to check out his work and just for fun, I’ve included a few of my recent snaps inspired by his work. If you’re on Instagram and I’m not already following you, message me @loveofbrooklyn. (I’m addicted.)
Sunday, January 1st, 2012 by Jill
tags: instagram, prospect park, slow down
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