Snow Storm Street Scene

Because of popular demand, I'll keep posting snow storm pictures from New York, but what I actually wanted to do is wishing you a good start into 2011! Anybody has cool and inspiring resolutions? I don't have one. I just returned back home to Germany after almost eight years in the states. I guess that's change enough. Any resolution would be pretty redundant at this point.

It's really cool to be at home. I'm taking it slow. My hometown is somewhat slow paced anyway, and also pretty much snowed in. I'm spending New Year's at home with my grandpa who is now 93 years old. Even at this age, he is still the one fixing and repairing all kinds of things around the house. My family is pretty (re)productive, so he happens to also have a couple more grand children, five grand-grand-sons, two grand-grand-daughters, as well as a grand-grand-grand-daughter and a grand-grand-grand-son. Some of these newer family members barely know me as I obviously haven't been around much. They probably just see me as this weird uncle from America :)

Anyway, wishing you a great start into 2011!!!

Rushing Through the Snow

I get headaches when I think of the Flatiron Building. How do you photograph this thing? This might be my best try so far. I remember standing in front of it several times scratching my head.

Lederhosen

This is what New York City looked like yesterday after only a couple of hours of snowing. Isn't it crazy what's going on with the weather right now? I escaped the flooding in Southern California. Last week I stayed away from Europe because of the icy chaos that is going on over there. Between those two places I felt like on a safe island here in New York. Today I'm trying to fly again and suddenly the city looks like this. But I must admit that I don't mind. It's beautiful.

Passing Face

From a walk through Centro Habana.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I hope you are having a wonderful time with your families. Does this time of the year make you also wonder a little? I mostly wonder how much money is kind of wasted by people buying each other nicely wrapped random items they don't really appreciate. Last night I walked through Midtown Manhattan at around 1 AM and the streets were crowded with last-minute Christmas shoppers. I feel like Christmas presents are a great thing to make children happy. However, grown-ups instead of buying each other stuff, could maybe do some more mature and helpful things during "the most wonderful time of the year".
I was in a store the other day noticing how busy, dense and hectic it was. Everybody was so determined while all those Christmas songs were playing. It immediately reminded me of some sort of lab experiment where the store is like a box full of little mice that get very hectic under the influence of supposedly calming songs.

Taxi Hailing

A loong time ago I promised someone to take a picture that would look like the painting you see below. Last night when I was walking some New York City streets I passed by this spot and remembered my overdue assignment. This girl happened to pass by, willing to pose for a few minutes.

Little Boy Hiding

When I was that little, such wheelbarrows were part of my daily life as well. During that time, my parents together with my grandpa were building our house in west-central Germany. That was 30 years ago. I'm wondering if the Havana of 2040 is going to look much different from now. Who knows, maybe it won't change. Visiting this place then would be an even more incredible experience than it is nowadays already.

Going for a Walk

I thought this picture goes well with this one: Deep in Thoughts

Rainy Night

A rainy night in Havana.

Scott London
I have an interesting link for you today. Ivan just left a comment on my latest Burning Man image with a link to the website of a philosophical journalist named Scott London. Scott shows 100 great images from the last BM, but also 100 images from 2009, 08, 07, all the way to 2005. What I found interesting, he also photographed Salton Sea - maybe you remember my posts from this place. I only have scratched the surface of the page so far, but it seems to be intellectually very stimulating Here is the link for you.

Woman in Door

No, she wasn't observing me. She was impatiently waiting for someone. Impatiently without moving even a bit.

The Joy of Being Photographed

Even without speaking the people's language, it was easy to put more joy onto the faces of my subjects whenever I wanted to. Simply by showing the first picture on the display, then take another one.

Green Beetle

Taken on a Sunday in the early morning. This was right after waking up in the city for the first time. The quiet streets gave me a chance to smoothly adjust to the environment. At this point I wasn't aware yet that Sunday mornings are an extreme exception from the rest of the week. Havana streets are very busy and loud.

San Francisco Street Scene

I will be gone for 10 days and hopefully back with fresh photographs from Cuba after that. See you later!

The Best Girls in Town

Even though San Francisco is a rather small city, it is a really fun place for street photography.

San Francisco Evening

Coincidentally, right after I took the picture, the couple got up and left. "Hey buddy, that's a million dollar picture, huh?" - I'm sure he had no idea that he was part of it.

In case you haven't read yesterday's post: clicking on the images makes more sense now. Try it!

Delta Royale

Sometimes things just fit together. Speaking of vintage cars..next week I'm going on a ten day trip to Cuba. I'm stocking up on memory right now.

Stardust

Something from New York for a change.

Moonlight Delight

Saw the moon last night? Down here in San Diego the sky was so bright, it seemed like a never ending magic hour - or whatever you call the minutes right after sunset. The dark blue night sky made me walk through my neighborhood a little, and this is what I brought home. You might not expect it, but this picture is not an HDR. It's the combined light from the moon, passing cars, and street lamps. All captured within a single exposure that lasted 30 seconds.

Nuclear Winter

Sorry for the harsh title, I didn't mean to irritate you. But then again, there are a few possible outcomes everybody should be always aware of. In that sense, I think it's perfectly appropriate to make each other feel uncomfortable at times.

Midnight Diner

Diners...don't you love them? You guys have something like a favorite diner movie scene? Would love to read about it.