Tuk-tuking in Phnom Penh

Tuk-tuking in Phnom Penh

This one was hard to resist. Sitting in the back of a tuk-tuk in Phnom Penh with a 5d II and Canon's 24-70mm lens, I stepped down the apature to 14, so that I could get a long enough exposure (1/50 seconds) and zoomed quickly with the shutter open.

Russian Market, Phnom Penh

Russian Market, Phnom Penh

I spent a late morning this weekend shooting people in and around the Russian Market in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. It's a bustling and colorful place with a lot of great subjects. I shot the image above after looking for an interesting light source. Once I found it, I used the focus tracking feature and waited to the right person to come along.

Little India


Little India, originally uploaded by pamhule.

A woman walks down a street in Little India in Singapore on November 22, 2010.

I spent some time in the Little India neighborhood in Singapore. It's a very colorful place compared to the rest of the city although not as packed as I would have expected.

Photo Essay: Charlie's Party (查尔斯·兰格)


Waiting for the Congressman, originally uploaded by pamhule.
On election night, I covered Congressman Charles Rangel's Victory Party at the Martin Luther King Democratic Club in Harlem. It was a small gathering of about 35 people of which almost half were from the media. Yet despite their party's losses and their congressman's uncertain future, the constituents who gathered here on Tuesday night celebrated Rangel with excitement. A somewhat subdued Rangel countered by giving his supporters his time. After a brief speech, he stayed for about an hour--shaking hands, singing, and chatting with supporters.

Read on to view the full collection of photos from the event.



Martin Luther Democratic Club, originally uploaded by pamhule.


Ballons, originally uploaded by pamhule.


Welcome, originally uploaded by pamhule.



Framed, originally uploaded by pamhule.


You Got It, originally uploaded by pamhule.


Portrait of a Congressman, originally uploaded by pamhule.



Fried Chicken, originally uploaded by pamhule.


Late Night Cake, originally uploaded by pamhule.



End of the Night, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Glass in Squares (垂幕)


Glass in Squares, originally uploaded by pamhule.
A perspective on the ceiling inside the Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. It's a beautiful atrium and the glass canopy is stunning. I found the grid and the curves of the canopy captivating; at some angles it gives off a 3D effect, which is what I was trying to capture with this shot.

Hope Garden


Hope Garden, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Hope Garden is a community garden in the East Village on East 2nd Sreet between Avenues A and B. The East Village is full of community gardens like Hope Garden. Often squeezed in between buildings, the small gardens offer a welcome escape from the busy city streets.

I shot this with a 70-200mm at around 70mm stepped down to 3.2. I wish I'd brought a wider lens but am still pretty happy with the end result.

I Read the News Today?


I Read the News Today?, originally uploaded by pamhule.
Here's a photo I took with the iPhone the other day at the 42nd street subway station in New York. Two things come to mind when I look at this photo: 1) I continue to be surprised at the quality of the iPhone can produce. There's plenty of noise in the picture above, but given how little light there was at the station, this is not bad at all. 2) the iPhone really does a great job as a handy camera for street photography (like many other smartphones, I'd imagine).  It's discreet and its functions ambiguous, which makes it easy to shoot unnoticed.

Waiting in Soho


Waiting in Soho, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Someone was not happy about having to wait in Soho this weekend.

I've been experimenting with some different street photography techniques lately. I have Canon's 50mm 1.4 lens, which generally can produce some pretty sharp images once you go down to an aperture of around 1.8 - 2.0. It's horribly slow at focusing though and, in my experience, often not very accurate. So I decided to try focusing manually and estimating the distance between the subject and the camera on the go. My error margin is probably around 80% but once in a while I get lucky.

Saturday Morning at Mars Bar


Saturday morning at Mars Bar, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Another iPhone shot. This time through a window at Mars Bar on 1st Street in New York with the camera's High Dynamic Range (HDR) function on. The iPhone's HDR feature really does a nice job of adequately adjusting the exposure in different parts of the image. Here, for example, the light in the window would have been over-exposed and blown out.

I took a shot earlier tin the morning as well when the cowboy hat was alone in the bar sans boots and man. You can see that show below the fold.



WIthout the Hat, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Fall


Fall, originally uploaded by pamhule.

Children Play in Tompkins Square Park in New York City on September 19, 2010.

It was a beautiful day in New York yesterday. In fact, almost to bright for taking for photos. Luckily the trees in this shot made the lighting more tolerable and I was quite happy with the result. I should add that the fall was not as bad as it might appear.

Luxembourg Garden


Luxembourg Garden, originally uploaded by pamhule.

A Thursday afternoon in the Luxembourg Garden, Paris. The boy is pausing as his father calls his name, just outside the frame. I was carrying my 70-200mm 2.8. I took this shot at 200mm with the lens wide open. As always, it produced very nice bokeh. I was also happy with the green color scheme and how the boy's green pants matched the background.

Welcome to the Neighborhood?


Welcome to the Neighborhood?, originally uploaded by pamhule.
A look at the area around the "Ground Zero Mosque".

This picture is from an assignment for Talking Points Memo on the the neighborhood around the proposed Cordoba House site on 51 Park Place.  You can see some of the photos in this gallery at www.talkingpointsmemo.com/. A full collection is available in this gallery on flickr.

I found it difficult to adequately portray the full flavor of the neighborhood.  City Hall Park, the Financial DIstrict, and Tribeca are all near by but the area doesn't clearly belong to any of these neighborhoods

This Is It


This Is It, originally uploaded by pamhule.
An MTA employee points a camera at the photographer as the C train is leaving 42nd Street station in New York City on July 25 , 2010.

A conductor with a sense of humor gave me some of my own medicine yesterday. I feel this shot might serve as a fitting conclusion to my conductor portraits. Unless, I can think of another angle, I think I will the condcutors to their jobs for a while. Of course, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on how this series could be developed further. For other photos in the series, visit this set on flickr.

The Doors are Closing on Wall Street

Here's another conductor portrait. The lens is Canon's 50mm 1.4. Focusing with the lens is not a speedy process and the result often strikes me as a bit soft or slightly inaccurate--including this shot (in the end I liked the look of the conductor too much to discard it). I would be curious to hear what experience others have had with this lens in terms of focusing speed and accuracy.

For more conductor portraits, see this set on flickr.