To be honest, to be able to capture New York City in one photograph is baffling. There are so many different aspects of New York City that can’t be contained in only one photograph, so having this Snapshot Day for Macaulay, to me, was difficult. How do I capture New York City? That was the question that ran through my mind when I first thought about this assignment. Then it came to: what is New York City, really? It’s unique to each person who lives and visits here. When you think about New York City, the basics come to mind: the shining lights, the skyscrapers, the bridges and the bustling sidewalks even at midnight. Then I realized that it didn’t have to be anything complicated. New York City is just New York City, no matter where you are in the city. So, to me, New York City is a bowl of ramen noodles.

This is an overly simplified version, of course. New York City is home to so many diverse cultures, and food is no exception. For the night of the eleventh, I went out for sushi with some friends, and I ordered some ramen noodles. This photograph loosely follows the rule of thirds; the large ramen bowl is on the first line, and the small saucer for soy sauce falls on the second line.  There is also the pattern of lines on the wooden table. The initial focus is on the bowl of ramen – it takes up most of the picture. The way the focus is on the bowl makes it seem like it’s the foreground and everything else that is out of focus the background. The more you stare at a picture though, the more you notice the rest of the details. Your eyes are first pulled into the bowl of ramen and then you start noticing the soy sauce, the chopsticks, the cup of water and someone’s elbow across the table.

I had never thought of myself as a photographer before. I still don’t. But after coming back to the Noguchi Museum in Queens, my mind insisted on focusing on great photographic opportunities. While at the museum, I imagined taking photos of the sculptures – and having photos taken of me looking at the works from wacky angles. Coming back, I saw a sand artist at Union Square, and I couldn’t help but think of the wonderful image the vibrant colors would create against a backdrop of gray-blue cement. I bumped into my photographer friend, and he convinced me to turn my ideas into my own pictures. We walked around, and I used his camera to create the images for the ideas that I had, instead of telling someone else to take them. These images were not spectacular occurrences, but everyday scenes. I knew I wanted to do something similar for Snapshot Day.

While I was riding the M15 bus to school in the morning, I knew this was my set. An excuse to take pictures of strangers, capturing the definition of the public transportation relationship? Perfect. Everything fell into place: I saw the bars of the bus and was inspired to take the photo in this spot. When I looked closer at the people, I felt even more compelled to take it, as the men had interesting facial features, such as the mustache on the man in the purple sweater. The purple sweater added a pang of bright color to the photo.

What I focused on in the frame was actually the woman looking over to see what street the bus was approaching, which is not in the frame. This reminded me of the photos we saw in class, which tried to bring the perspective out of the frame. To achieve this effect, I tried to used the Rule of Thirds, with the pole in front of the woman about a third into the picture and the man in purple’s face at the intersection of one vertical and one horizontal line. I also turned the camera so that the lens was guided toward the woman’s gaze. The lack of a visible gaze shows the disconnect between members of New York City — at least while riding the bus.

Meira Harris

Texture has always been very important to me, and I like that this photograph–this scene, in fact–has texture in the visual, tactile, atmospheric, and emotional sense.

This is a photo of my window as seen in the late morning, on one of the rare occasions when I don’t have to get up before the sun does. I liked that this photo captured the light as I see it when I wake up on those wondrously lazy: warm, inviting, cheerful, bright, and undemanding. The lemon-yellow burst in the near-center becomes a soft butterscotch through my “curtain,” and the play of light on the window frame creates interesting shadows that resemble an arched window (bottom left) and what resembles a human figure (right). I also appreciate the wrinkles and folds in the fabric, which creates a thousand tiny shadows and imperfections… those two things, shadows and imperfections, are what I find give photographs nuance and visual interest. My “curtain,” a flat bedsheet wedged into hinges on the window frame, is a lovely reminder of the fact that this dorm room, my new home, is a work in progress and that I must continue to make it my own. Again in terms of subjects, I like that the grate of the fan recalls the texture of the radiator cover (right below the window) and that daylight peeks through the curtains to rest on my wall in a little halo on the left (over the fan) and in a line (top). I find that the subtle, almost hidden elements make this photograph interesting to look at.

Compositionally, this photo follows no rules I recognize except one (dynamic balance), and even that one it only loosely adheres to. The light/dark balance is intriguing, but interestingly this photograph has no diagonals, no golden ratio, and no rule of thirds, but it is the one I like best. I took many photographs over the course of the eleventh, and many of them respected compositional rules, but this was the one that felt most like a snapshot, like a true insight into my mind and life.

“The Aeroplane Over the Sea”

Unfortunately enough, on snapshot day I was extremely sick, as in can’t-get-out-of-bed sick. Interestingly, it actually turned out to be aligning perfectly with snapshot day, in a way that things fell into place very easily. In fact, I was tortured by the thought that I wasn’t going to take an interesting picture, that I was going to have to rush to school and get out for maybe a few hours and roam around, taking so many pictures to the point that even my own feet could suddenly become a possible subject. But I got sick; while I was driving through Queens to get to my house, where I would have spent the rest of my feverish sickness that day, we stopped at a gas station, right next to the water. For some reason, I decided to get out in the cold blade of the autumnal breeze, which revealed itself not to be a very good idea for my throat. All of a sudden, I  noticed something moving in the sky, right above the water: an airplane was about to approach La Guardia airport and land. Having my phone on me, I ran as close as I could, trying to get the perfect shot. I had time to get maybe two pictures, one of which wasn’t quite what I was looking for. The one I picked, which I decided to call “The Aeroplane Over the Sea”, was far more amazing in details than I first expected.

A first look might not quite catch the eye, but as you examine further the snapshot, you can suddenly notice how the duck on the water seems to be racing the airplane. If I had had time to align my camera better, the surface of the water traces pretty fairly the first one-third, horizontal line of the frame. The airplane and its route cut the picture in half. I found it interesting how the picture is slightly slanted, not making the surface of the water and the horizon perfectly horizontal, but instead is aligned with the originally slanted airplane, as if the airplane was really the reference point, not the surroundings. I thought another pretty amazing detail is the bridge (not sure which one) that you can see on the left part of the horizon, pushing the viewer’s eye further and further…

I love how instantaneous this picture was. I got so worried I would have had to roam around and wouldn’t have been satisfied, when–paradoxically–all I did was get sick and just snap a photo in one fleeing instant at a gas station.

Sara Camnasio

For snapshot day, I tried to capture an image that truly intrigued me. Luckily enough, I was around the World Trade Center, and even though I had plenty of opportunities to take photos of the great (almost completed) Freedom Tower, I decided to take a photo of an interesting advertisement for an upcoming building complex. The photo itself isn’t exactly the most amazing one I have ever taken; however, I think that given the time and space where I was, I did alright.

The photo has depth to it. The diagonal from the angle taken makes the viewers realize that there is more to the surroundings. The cut out people also add depth. Since it looks like they are walking in a diagonal line, it gives viewers a feeling as if they are walking next to the sign as well. I also tried to use Instagram (fail…) to blur out the countries on top. I did this because I wanted the emphasis on the two main colors: green and red. The green person underneath “Madrid” leads to the red one underneath “Buenos Aires”. I tried to play with color here, and hopefully it worked. I think it did. The rule of thirds is a little ignored; however, I think that if I stretch it enough it can work. The red is a heavy color, and so is the green. But since red is usually the first color people notice, it draws them to the left side of the photo, and then they eventually see the huge green person to the right side of the photo. The two white outlines in the middle make up the middle third.

Finding an interesting scene to capture for Snapshot Day proved more difficult than I had anticipated. Although there were dozens instances I could have captured throughout the day, none of those scenes were particularly striking to me. I did not want an image to display the grandeur of New York City and its bright lights, instead I sought to capture a photograph that would embody the rugged and gritty nature of the city. I found exactly what I had in mind while walking along the East River waterfront late in the evening.

I took a photograph of a stretch of the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. I specifically chose this portion of the street because it shows the unpolished side of the city. The photograph is not beautiful in the traditional sense, as it portrays an aging, rusty overpass. However, the seemingly uninviting, industrial background in the image is very different from the dimly lit foreground. In the foreground of the image lies one of the many stone plazas of Stuyvesant Cove Park.  I believe the contrasting sides to the image make this photograph especially compelling.

I had certain compositional elements in mind when capturing this image. I did my best to follow the rule of thirds by placing points of interest, such as the closest street light, on the third lines. The main sources of light in this photo are the lights that line the street, which go all the way to the back of the photograph.  There is also an emphasis on lines in the image. The stone pillars of the plaza are parallel to the steel support beams of the overpass. Both sets of these sets of vertical lines help frame the street lights. The diagonal lines that are formed by the street and overpass are visually appealing because they provide a great sense of depth in the image. I was able to accomplish these diagonals by shooting at an angle. Overall I believe the photograph I took for Snapshot Day is compositionally sound.

In my head, the photo that I would take for Snapshot Day had to be completely candid, random, and out of the blue. Not having found any inspiration during the day, I headed down to St. Marks with my friends for dinner where I passed by the every-famous Japadog eatery. I’ve never actually eaten here before, but there was something about the eccentricity of the name and the luminosity of the neon lights that pulled me to take a picture.

I thought about the Rule of Thirds as I took this picture, but I wanted the sign to be the focal  point of my photograph so I decided to let it sit somewhere closer to the middle. I attempted to put it closer to the left or the right to follow the rule more closely, but it looked off and unbalanced. The angle that I took of the sign makes it look as if the sign is slanted. I didn’t want my photograph to be looking squarely at the sign, the slight diagonal of the sign and of the frame itself makes the photo much more pleasing to look at than if it were completely horizontal. The angle of the shot also gives a perspective into the store that leads your eyes inside and towards the back, trying to figure out what is going on inside.

The overall darkness of the composition draws your eyes to the bright sign, which comes off clear and distinct against the rest of the photo. The smaller lights above the sign and inside of the shop bring a little more light to the photo without taking away from the vividness of the Japadog sign. These lights also prevent the larger sign from looking like it is floating in a black canvas.

Overall, I think I accomplished my ‘candid shot’ goal for Snapshot Day while still thinking about the Rule of Thirds, lines, and colors and hopefully producing a well-balanced photograph.

When I found out about Macaulay Snapshot Day I had many different ideas about what I wanted to capture in my picture.  At first, I thought I would capture New York City in the daylight with its blue sky, tall buildings, and chaotic streets.  I thought about the different techniques we learned in class about composition and framing, and some ideas came to mind.  I considered using windows as framing and capturing some aspects of being a student; however, finding a picture I really liked wasn’t that easy.

I decided that I would take a picture of Radio City Music Hall although it was not what I had planned at first.  I had tickets to a concert at Radio City that night so I figured I’d find something interesting to photograph there.  I am pleased with my picture because I believe it does embody many aspects of New York City.  In the foreground you can see many cars waiting at a red light.  Something we’ve all come to know is that traffic is a very common sight in New York City although we’d rather not have to sit through it.  I also liked how you can see American flags in the image giving the picture a patriotic aspect.  Although it isn’t the skyline, you can still see the skyscrapers of New York City that I was considering capturing initially.  The main component of the picture is Radio City Music Hall and its lit up signs.  Capturing this famous venue in my image shows the importance of the arts in New York City.  Music and the arts in general are something to be celebrated, and this venue shows that.  Many events are held here from concerts to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  It makes the photo somewhat relatable because Radio City is a part of New York that most people know about.

Compositionally, I like how the two vertical signs of Radio City almost lie on the thirds lines, and the horizontal portion of the sign lies on the bottom third line.  The curve of the sign gives some depth to the picture.  The cars in the foreground of the photo also give depth to the picture but do not take away from the photo’s main component.  Radio City’s lights and colors draw your eyes to the building.  The sign’s shape helps you to continue looking up and out by following the lines of the sign.  Although it is not the best picture compositionally, I still believe people can take what they want out of the meaning of it.

When I see this photograph in the future I will remember how it felt to walk in the city that night surrounded by rushing cars, flashing lights, and excited people.  I’ll remember the great time I had at the concert and how lucky I am to be able to experience it in my favorite city.  I’ll also remember our seminar and the different techniques we learned about.  Ultimately, I hope the photo can bring about some of these thoughts for other viewers as well.