Sunday at Citi Field

My brother and I went to today's New York Mets game. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The Mets beat the Florida Marlins 3-2. This is a picture from our upper deck seats.

Back to Yankee Stadium

I went to another Yankee game at their new stadium on Monday night. Unfortunately, because of a steady rain, the start of the game was delayed over two hours.


Once the rain lessened, the Yankee Stadium grounds crew worked quickly to get the field in playing shape.



At the start of every game at Yankee Stadium, the fans in the bleachers chant the name of each Yankee player on the field. Here is Yankee left fielder Johnny Damon acknowledging the bleacher chants.



Phil Hughes made his second start of the season for the Yankees.



Hughes struggled with his command over his pitches and lasted only 4 innings.



Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano has had a good start to his season. However, this night he went hitless including this fly out to center field.


This is Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, last year's American League Most Valuable Player.



Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira has started the year slowly with a batting average under .200. Monday night he hit two home runs. This was his second one.



Yankee righthander Edwar Ramirez pitched in relief.



Another picture of Edwar Ramirez. This is my favorite picture of the night. In the end, the Yankees lost to Boston by a score of 6-4. The game ended after 1:00 a.m.

Gate 6 at Yankee Stadium

My First Game at the New Yankee Stadium

The best baseball stadium I have ever visited is, hands down, the new Yankee Stadium. Last night was my first game there. The Yankees beat the L.A. Angels 7-4.

The New York Yankees have a rich team history. They've won 26 World Championships, more than any other major league team. They began as the "Highlanders" in 1903 and their home field was "Hilltop Park". The Highlanders were renamed the "Yankees" in 1913 after moving to the Polo Grounds. In 1923, the first Yankee Stadium opened. From 1974-1975, the Yankees played at Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium underwent a major renovation. Yankee Stadium reopened in 1976. The new Yankee Stadium was built next door to the old Yankee Stadium and opened this year.

The new Yankee Stadium does a great job of celebrating their team history. My favorite aspect is the dozens of large photographs above the concession stands that surround the field level concourse. These photographs include action shots from memorable games and snapshots of players in non-game situations. In my opinion, these photographs, more than anything else, connect the stadium to the team.

I really like the New York Mets new stadium, Citi Field, too. However, I hope the Mets use the new Yankee Stadium as inspiration and do more at Citi Field to celebrate the history of the Mets. The 1969 and 1986 championship Mets teams created incredible memories. The Mets fans, who have supported their team over the years, deserve to be able to bask in those memories when they go to Citi Field.


Here is a panoramic shot from my first game at the new Yankee Stadium. I'll post more pics later.

Canon 5D with 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, 1/160 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800

Concert Photography at Sullivan Hall

Last month I stopped by Sullivan Hall in NYC and took some pictures of the bands playing that night. High and Mighty Brass Band and Dawn Drake and ZapOte each played a set.

Like most music venues, the lighting was dim. I wanted to shoot with the available light so I used a Canon 5D (excellent in low light) and cranked up the ISO to 3200. I shot with the Canon 35mm f/1.4L and Canon 135mm f/2.0L lens.

High and Mighty Brass Band:

(1) Canon 5D, 135mm f/2.0L, 1/160 sec., f/2.0, ISO 3200



(2) Canon 5D, 135mm f/2.0L, 1/80 sec., f/2.0, ISO 3200.



(3) Canon 5D, 135mm f/2.0L, 1/80 sec., f/2.0, ISO 3200.



Dawn Drake and ZapOte:

(4) Canon 5D, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/125 sec., f/2.0, ISO 3200.



My favorite photo taken this night:

(5) Canon 5D, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/80 sec., f/2.2, ISO 3200.

The Ground Zero cross

In the days after 9/11, I remember watching television and seeing images of a group of steel beams in the shape of a cross amidst the debris of the World Trade Center. The steel cross became a symbol of hope and faith to many. In fact, many people began leaving messages on it.

I never saw the cross in person until yesterday. I had just left the Post Office on Church Street next to Ground Zero when I noticed the cross had been placed next to St. Peter's Church. The cross was lit by spotlights which created a very dramatic feel. At night and under these lighting conditions, the cross evoked feelings of inspiration and sadness at the same time.






Photo info:
These photos were all shot with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 pocket camera using dynamic black & white film mode.

My photography was on the Today Show!!!

Maria, one of my favorite clients, was interviewed on yesterday's edition of the "Today Show" on NBC. Maria is married and was part of a segment that discussed what is the right age to get married. I am excited to write that during her interview, the "Today Show" displayed one of the images I took of Maria and her husband Louis last year during a photo shoot in Manhattan's Financial District. My blog posts of our photo shoot can be found here and here.

Thanks to Maria and Louis for submitting the photo to be used on the show. The video of Maria's interview can be found on msnbc.com. Here is a screen shot of my image that was displayed.

Shira & Jason's Engagement

A couple of weeks ago, my very good friend Jason told me about his plan to propose to his girlfriend Shira. His plan was to propose to her at the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge at approximately 8:30 p.m. and then take her to the River Cafe for dinner.

Jason asked me if I could "surreptitiously" photograph the engagement so that he could surprise her with the pictures the next day. Of course I agreed.

In preparation for the shoot, Jason and I went to the Fulton Ferry Landing the week prior to check out the lighting conditions in the evening. What we found made for a very challenging photo shoot. There were NO LIGHT SOURCES on the pier of any kind. No lamp posts, nothing. The only thing providing any light at all was the moon. Needless to say, we could barely read our watches in the darkness.

I knew immediately that I would have to shoot at a slow shutter speed with a tripod in order to capture the lights of the Manhattan skyline. In addition, I would need to use a powerful flash in order to illuminate Shira and Jason from a distance of approximately 40-50 feet.

The equipment I used for the shoot was a Canon 5D camera, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, a Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash, an external battery pack for the flash and a Bogen Manfrotto tripod. The external battery pack was necessary in order to provide fast recycling times for the flash in the 45-50 degree weather.

Jason proposed to Shira on Monday night and it went perfectly. She was so excited that she did not even notice the flashes going off. It was so dark that I had to quickly focus the lens manually for each shot as I changed focal length because the camera's autofocus did not work accurately in such low light at such a distance.

Here's a quick shot sequence:







Here's Jason giving me the "thumbs up". Congratulations Shira and Jason!!!



Photo info:
All photos in the sequence were taken at 1/6 sec., f/5.6, ISO 800, manual mode, ETTL flash at -2/3 flash compensation.
1) 70 mm focal length
2) 155 mm focal length
3) 155 mm focal length
4) 200 mm focal length
5) 90 mm focal length, slight panning.

NYC Pics #6: Manhattan Municipal Building

The Manhattan Municipal Building is located at 1 Centre Street at the intersection of Chambers Street and Centre Street. At 40 stories tall, it is one of the largest governmental buildings in the world. Construction of the building was completed in 1915.





Photo info:
1) Canon 5D @ 24mm, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200, manual mode, high contrast b&w conversion
2) Canon 5D @ 35mm, 1/80 sec, f/14, ISO 200, manual mode, b&w conversion

Man smoking near subway

Photo info: Canon 5D @ 35mm, 1/160 sec., f/10, ISO 100, manual mode.

NYC Pics #5: Statue of Atlas

These pictures are of the statue of Atlas at Rockefeller Center facing Fifth Avenue, opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral, in Midtown Manhattan.

NYC Pics #4: Midtown Manhattan at Sunset

These pictures of the Empire State Building and Midtown Manhattan were taken at sunset from the observation deck at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

My last regular season game at Shea Stadium

I went to today's Mets game at Shea Stadium. We were thrilled to watch Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana pitch a masterful, 3 hit, 9 strikeout, complete game shutout to beat the Florida Marlins by the score of 2-0. The victory moved the Mets to just 1/2 game behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Wildcard race. The Mets have only one game left in the regular season. As I type this post, the Chicago Cubs have a 4-1 lead over the Brewers in the eighth inning. If the Cubs can hold on and defeat the Brewers, the Brewers and the Mets will be tied for the Wildcard going into tomorrow's game.

Today's pitching performance by Santana came on only 3 days rest after he threw a career high 125 pitches in his last start. As Santana pitched the ninth inning, the Mets crowd chanted "Jo-han, Jo-han" in appreciation for their ace pitcher coming through with a great performance in the Mets most important game this season to date. Santana ended up finishing with a record of 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA in his first season with the Mets.

Here is a picture of Shea Stadium just before the start of the game. Just beyond the outfield is the Mets new home starting next year, Citi Field.

NYC Pics #3: Tweed Courthouse

Tweed Courthouse is located on the north side of City Hall Park, behind City Hall, on Chambers Street. This is the second oldest city government building in New York City. The building is currently home to the New York City Department of Education.

NYC Pics #2: Federal Hall on Wall Street

Federal Hall is located on Wall Street in the Financial District and is where George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. Federal Hall was also home to the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch of the government when New York City was the nation's capitol.

These pictures are of the statue of George Washington in front of Federal Hall. The first two pictures were taken with the Sigma 8mm fisheye lens; the last two with the Canon EF-S 10-22mm wide angle lens.

NYC Pics#1: Trinity Church

I've lived in New York City all of my life and have enjoyed visiting many of the historical and cultural places in the City. On most days, I am usually in either Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn.

Today I am starting a new series of posts with pictures of different places around New York City. Many of the places are very familiar and have been photographed countless times. My goal is to try to capture images of these familiar places in a fresh way from my perspective.

Last week, I was in the Financial District and made a quick stop at Trinity Church which is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. I used to live a few blocks from Trinity Church, but never visited this historical landmark during that time. I was surprised to learn that this was, in fact, the third Trinity Church at this site. The first Trinity Church was built in 1698 and was destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776. The second Trinity Church was built in 1788 and was later torn down because of severe snowstorms in 1838-1839. The Trinity Church of today was built in 1846.

Here is Trinity Church:










The original Trinity Church burial ground includes the graves and memorials of many historical figures including Alexander Hamilton (the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and a Founding Father) and Robert Fulton (developed the first commercially successful steamboat).

My last game at the current Yankee Stadium

I was at Yankee Stadium on Thursday to watch the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox by a score of 9-2. Starting pitcher Mike Mussina picked up his 18th win of the season. This was likely my last game at the current Yankee Stadium because the Yankees are moving to a new stadium across the street for the 2009 season. This Sunday is the last regular season game at the current stadium. The Yankees are in third place in the American League East and are not expected to make the postseason.

Emilio "Millito" Navarro threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Thursday's game. Mr. Navarro was the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues. He is also the oldest living professional baseball player at the age of 102.

I watched the game from my seat on the main level, but later in the game I went to the upper deck to take this wide angle shot.


After the game as I waited on the subway platform for my train, I took a picture through the metal bars of the platform fence. This picture shows the current Yankee Stadium on the left and the new Yankee Stadium on the right which is still under construction.

2008 U. S. Open

I went to a few sessions of the 2008 U.S. Open tennis tournament at Flushing Meadows, New York. The best match I got to see was the 4th round match between eventual men's champion Roger Federer and 23rd seed, Igor Andreev. Federer was expected to win the match easily, but Andreev played very well. Federer won in 5 sets, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Federer went on to defeat Andy Murray in the finals to earn his 5th straight U.S. Open title.

Here is Federer serving to Murray:



I also had fun watching an exhibition match between Michael Chang and Todd Martin. Both these players have been retired for several years, but they still played at a high level.

Michael Chang was one of my favorite players. He was the youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17. Possibly the most exciting match I ever saw was the 4th round match of the 1989 French Open between Chang and then World No. 1 ranked player Ivan Lendl. The 17 year old Chang showed a tremendous amount of determination and toughness in beating Lendl. I was glued to the television and became on instant fan.

Here is a short synopsis of the match between Chang and Lend from Wikipedia:

1989 French Open match vs Ivan Lendl

Perhaps Chang's most famous match took place at the 1989 French Open, which was Chang's only Grand Slam singles title. In the fourth round, he faced the World No. 1 and three-time former champion Ivan Lendl. Conventional wisdom made Lendl the heavy favorite to win the match against the 15th seeded and 17-year-old Chang.

Everything seemed to be going to form when Lendl comfortably took the first two sets 6–4, 6–4 and then broke Chang's serve in the opening game of the third set. But Chang broke back immediately and went on to claim the third set 6–3. Part way through the fourth set, Chang experienced a severe attack of leg cramps. Fighting to stay in the match, Chang resorted to some novel tactics. For a period, he began taking all speed out of the match by playing "moon balls", causing Lendl, who was known to be one of the calmest players, to lose his rhythm. He began to swear at the umpire and the crowd, especially after losing a key point in the fifth set when Chang shocked him by delivering an under-arm serve. Chang later explained, "I was trying to break his concentration. I would do anything to stay out there." (That underhanded serve achieved cult status among amateurs and, at least in Chang's hometown area of Southern California, it was not unheard of to see juniors emulate the swing in desperation while trying to come back from behind in a match during the 1990s.)

Barely able to stand, and screaming with pain after many of his shots, Chang continued to battle on. Despite being on the verge of physical breakdown, he fought his way to a 5–3 lead in the fifth set with two match points on Lendl's serve. Aiming to break Lendl's concentration one more time, Chang stood well inside the baseline, almost at the T-line in the centre of the court while waiting to receive Lendl's serve (normally an almost suicidal position when facing an opponent's serve). The tactic worked as Lendl produced a double-fault to give Chang the victory, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 in four hours and 37 minutes. Chang sank to his knees and broke down in tears at the conclusion of the match. Seven days later, he became the youngest male champion in Grand Slam history.

Here is the now 37 year old Michael Chang in an exhibition match at the 2008 U.S. Open: