Pic(k) of the week 2: A WHITE BIG APPLE - New York winter shooting with Fujifilm X-T2

New York, often nicknamed the Big Apple, is definitively in my Top 3 of  the "Best cities for Street Photography"; always fighting for the top with Tokyo!

My first visit 2018 to the Big Apple (as an airline pilot) was planned to be a short one; 30 hours or so. When heavy snowfall started coming down on the first morning I was there, winterstorm Grayson changed all of that. I ended up staying an additional 30 hrs; almost 3 full days with plenty of opportunity for photography.

Some photographers don't like harsh weather conditions for Street Photography, I personally love it, especially in cities like New York! After having documented Tokyo in a typhoon at the end of last year, it was now New York's turn. 

 Obviously the most important is having proper clothing; a warm ski jacket, a hat covering ears, good gloves that allow one still to shoot and last but not least proper warm water proof shoes. 

Winterstorm Grayson brought temperates below -15C (5F); while the windchill factor easily approaching -25C (-13F)  due to the +40mph (+70kmph) Northerly winds. An ultimate test for my weather sealed Fujifilm X-T2 and XF23mm f2 lens which didn't miss a beat. 

While battery consumption in these conditions normally falls off quite rapidly, I was pleasantly surprised to see it still being very reasonable. The main reason was probably because I kept my camera between two layers of clothing in between shooting.

For me Street Photography always involves lots of walking and this time was not different... I still managed to do my +15km (+10miles) per day. I did however pretty much only walk "southbound", to avoid the freezing wind hitting my face and then took the metro to go Northbound again. 

Somewhere in Greenwich village, I bumped into the sign below saying "Freeze your fat"; very appropriate and a perfect place to wait for a scene to develop. It didn't take long when I saw two guys carrying a heavy panel. The ice-cream truck in the background, just gave the image the extra touch. 


Image details:
  • Fujifilm X-T2 with XF 23mm f2 lens
  • ISO 5000, 1/400s, f10
  • Lightroom CC Classic for RAW and Classic Chrome conversion
While most of my older New York Street Photography is Black and White, I decided to shoot this winter series in Color, Fujifilm Classic Chrome to be precise. 

All of my other New York Street Photography work can be found here. 


Remember: "A photograph is the pause button in life"  - Ty Holland   

BJORN



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