If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or you can register for email updates. Thanks for visiting!

This weeks PhotoFriday, “Crooked,” is another one where I thought someone else must have got there before me (especially since I’m two days behind the “Friday” schedule). But, as far as I can tell, no one else has gone for “The Crookedest Street in the World.” Also known as Lombard Street in San Francisco.

(My second choice would have been potentially libellous images of banks or stock exchanges. It maybe just as well I didn’t need to go down that route.)

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Sky-High.” I’m entry number 229.

Last time I went to New York I wrote a reasonable amount about it so I’m not sure that I have much to add this time. Instead I’ll mainly just let the pictures do the talking.

The hotel I was staying in was not far from Times Square, so I passed through on a number of occasions. It’s always busy, especially early evening when this image was taken¹.

I always wonder about the artists who paint pictures and caricatures of passing tourists (I saw exactly the same thing in Montmartre the previous week). On the one hand they’re making a living from their art, something that probably most artists are unable to do. Yet I’m sure it’s not what they set out to do.

The following day I decided to cross this river and head into Brooklyn. Since I’d just read about it in Wired and because it’s a “classic,” I decided to cross over the Brooklyn Bridge.

As with all American monuments and significant structures, it has a flag flapping away at the top.

Even half way across the bridge you get some great views back over Manhattan. And looking a little further left you can even catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. But whenever you stop to look or take a picture you have to be very careful that you don’t walk into someone or that a cyclist doesn’t accidentally knock you over. The footbridge was very busy.

Once on the other side I wandered around, had some excellent ice cream and considered my options for the rest of the day. While pondering I stumbled across this view of the Empire State Building through the legs of the Manhattan Bridge.

Back on the other side of the river I took a stroll near Central Park.

The following day I realised that while I’d seen the Empire State Building up close, I’d never really seen the Chrysler Building, which is nearly as famous, just as distinctive and only slightly smaller. I was looking forward to seeing the art deco interior but it was closed and I couldn’t get in. Instead I had to make do with this reflected shot of the outside.

Finally, on my final way back to the hotel with my camera, I realised that I’d seen a lot of these street vendors selling sun glasses and other “high end fashion at knock down prices”! I had to fire off a few shots.

And then it was back to the airport and home. Never a good thing but for some reason I was less affected by jet-lag than usual. In some sense, that made the weekend even better.

1. I thought that “Live View” on my DSLR was a bit of a gimmick but it does allow me to take pictures like this where I wouldn’t be able to get my eye to the view finder. [↩]

• March 30, 1848: Niagara Falls Runs Dry – Bizarre.
• Twitter fixes oAuth for desktop and mobile with xAuth – Just as I add Twitter support to Yummy, they change something. Typical.
• Famous Movie Quotes – Movie quotes visualised. (via @kottke)

People are impressed by the Academy Awards ceremony, all the glitz and glamour, the celebrities and the recognition for their work. However there are much easier ways to pick up your own Oscar statue.

This weeks PhotoFriday, “Nature,” is a much broader theme than we’ve had in the last few weeks. So lots of choices this time — too many — and in the end I figured that showing the vastness of a natural area, barely touched by man was the way to go. This image is originally from my tribute to Ansel Adams.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Lightness.” I’m entry number 220.

“Surfaces,” this weeks PhotoFriday theme, is kind of an odd subject, I mean in some sense almost everything is or has a surface. But what I liked about the Getty Museum in Los Angeles is that the whole building was strange shapes and surfaces, something that I tried to get across in this image. Which I thought made it a decent candidate for this weeks challenge.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Distant.” I’m entry 189.