Meeting Thomas Leuthard

Let's start with a little history. I have always loved photography, but it did not become part of my daily routine until about year ago. Last year I switched all my gear to micro four thirds system, which allowed me to bring the camera with me everywhere and I also discovered and read a book called Going Candid by Thomas Leuthard. After reading his book is why I actually started exploring street photography, I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys photography to read it. I was hoping one day to have the pleasure to meet with Thomas and last night I finally did meet with him over dinner and we took a nice photowalk together to Time Square. First I want to say thank you to him and second here are some pictures from our walk, please enjoy:

Thank you for Reading 

Pebble Review & Thoughts

This will be a follow up on my previous post where I wrote about meeting +Eric Migicovsky who is one of the founders of +Pebble smart watch. My quick thoughts on the watch, enjoy :)

I finally have the watch in my hands for almost 4 days now, let's start right of the bet on the battery it is still holding charge, but the indicator of low battery is on now and I probably have until about morning before I need to charge it. I received the watch on Thursday afternoon, charged it and now its Sunday night, hopefully this give you an idea of the battery life. The battery on my iPhone also suffered a bit. Moving on to the actual functionality of the watch, well it is not perfect and still has a way to go, but with that being said, I still love it, I love the convenience of knowing who is calling or what email I received without having to constantly look at my phone. Yes the device has some bugs, but I know the team at +Pebble is working hard on fixing them. If i had to give this watch a grade i think it deserves a solid B+ as the potential is there and it is being worked and improved on weekly.
Here is my wishlist: more watch faces, weather, improved battery life, maybe some canned responses to text messages.

This report has been brought to you from the Big Apple, from hopefully its last snow storm for this winter :)

Thank you for reading!

Plus One Magazine

Plus One Magazine First Issue is out, I helped with some work that went into making this magazine happen. 

All proceeds from the sale of the magazine will benefit children in Kenya and the school built for them by the Kilgoris Project. Not only I helped worked on the magazine which was a pleasure in itself as this was for a good cause, but one of my pictures was also selected to be in the magazine. Initial release of the magazine is Limited Edition that will also come with a fine art print, then towards the end of October digital download and regular magazine will be available. Very excited about this and very happy to be a part of it.

iPhone 5 Madness

Good morning, today is the day of iPhone 5 and the madness that follows it. Just as I did in march when I published the report about new iPad launch event thanks to Camerapixo, I woke up earlier so I can be at the apple store around 7:45, giving me a few minutes before the 8am opening. Just to give you an idea of amount of people I took this picture using iPhone panorama mode.

What happened next was pure madness, I really thought that the event back in march was crazy, but today was far worth. There were 10 times more apple employees creating hype and cheering, there were every possible TV station, radio station and all kinds of other reporters on site.

At 8am on the dot Apple employees started that 10-1 count down, like it was new years eve and we are on time square watching the ball drop, simply amazing the amount of hype apple can generate. At the end of the count down the doors opened and the people who camped there for a week prior were taken into the store like some kind of VIPs.

There were more apple employees downstairs waiting to greet those people and applaud them.

Now the rest of the line started moving, the cheering continues, everyone is supper happy to spend 200-500 dollars to get their new toy.

Overall it is amazing that every time a new iPhone comes out, that this happens, and while this is all fun, it is also sad that this creates so much news. I mean TV stations, radio stations, police, all kinds of other security, you would think something important happened or someone died or something. Technology controls our life more then we realize, I love technology, I am geek myself but this is beyond my understanding, but I guess to each it's own right? I will leave you with this last picture of the line going all the way down to Lexington Ave. and then some more.

For a complete set of pictures please visit my website www.rkworld.com and click on events.

Thank you for reading!

Style

No, we are not talking about your clothing style, we are talking about photography style. Earlier today I read an article that talk about how you have to pick a style and stick to it in order to become a better photographer. I have been thinking about it all day and yes most photographers who are successful have a style that they stick to and known for, but do you really have to. I love street photography and for the most part that is what I do, but I also like city and architecture photography and some landscape, I love photography in general so why should I be limited to only 1 style. I think learning other styles is important and will help you develop as photographer.

Both photos represent 2 different styles of photography, but I love them both.

Thank you for reading!

All the pictures you see on the blog are available for purchase via my web site

Photowalk with Trey

I was part of Trey Ratcliff New York PhotoWalk a rare opportunity, first to meet him and second to go on the PhotoWalk with him. While I personally do not do any HDR work or much landscape photography, I do however follow Trey. What I like about Trey is how open he is about sharing online and not being worried about people stealing his pictures, please check out his site and blog at http://www.stuckincustoms.com/

There were supposed to be over 200 people on this PhotoWalk, I don't know if we actually reached or exceeded this number, but there was a lot of us. (Can you see Trey?)

We walked from Broadway & Cortland, down to the Battery Park, stopping at different places to take some pictures, imaging 200 photographers walking down the street LOL, that could be a start to a good joke :) Once in Battery park we waited for the sunset to take some pictures of it, so I decide to try my hand at HDR. This is my first attempt and it was educational.

All in all it was time well spent and I enjoyed the walk and people. Talking about people here are some shot of the photographers at the walk.

Thank you for reading!

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York is the title of my new book, that I finished early. The book shows my vision of this great city. Book can be view and purchased @ Blurb. It comes in both digital and hard cover versions.

New York and New Yorkers are so full of life that taking pictures of the city and it's people is a pure pleasure. Life in the New York City never stops, at any time of the day or night there is something happening and there is always something to photograph as you will see in this book. The book consists of 3 chapters and each picture is accompanied by a quote.Chapter 1, in this chapter you will see your everyday people going about their daily routine. Chapter 2 is very different, it consists of people who actually live on the streets of New York. It shows you the not so pretty side of the city in the comparison to the fun and happy New York. Chapter 3 explores the subway system of the big city, specifically the multitude of the musicians that you see on the platforms.

Full Link to the book just in case the above does not work:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3362825?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=bookstore-share

Thank you for reading!

Changes & Thoughts

I decided to change the Title of the blog, I think it better reflect my thoughts on photography and where I am going as a photographer. As I think about it, I realize that what interested me in street photography and photography in general is that a a photo can convey so many messages, it can tell story of someones life, it can open up your imagination. Once you see that photo that will move you, that speaks to you, then you will understand why I changed the title.

My next project will be a photo book of New York and the people in it. Yes there are plenty out there already, but I promise you it will be different than others. I am still working on the material that will go into the book, but I am hoping it will be ready towards the end of the summer.

As always thank you for reading and your comments.

Photowalk with Iesha & John

Back Story, Iesha found me via my blog and contacted me saying she will be on vacation in NY this week and asked if i had some time for a photowalk. I was happy to make some time, I always enjoy meeting new people who are like minded and love photography, we met today in midtown and took a train to Union Square. There are always plenty of weird and fun people and  things to shoot in that area. 

We walked around the area for about an hour as we were waiting for one more person to join us. 

Here is a picture of Iesha.

John sent us a text at around 5pm and we went back to Union Square to meet with him and continue our photowalk. We took Broadway down toward China Town, talking and doing some shooting on the way. During our walk we run into another photographer his name is Rameen, he was showing his work, lots of great jazz picture and a few others, i will provide a link to his work later.

Once we got to China Town I had to take the train home as it was getting late, and i needed to go home so i can spend some time with my kids and family. This was a fun afternoon walking around New York, meeting new people and photographing New York City and its people.

Iesha can be found on her blog One Life, many Shots

Rameen Gasery can be found at his website

John Can be found on Instagram @rottenronin

Thank you for reading!

Instagram & Instacanvas = Instagood

I have been playing with instagram for about a month now, and just recently discovered Instacanvas. Instacanvas connects to your instagram account and allows people to purchase your pictures on different size canvas as well as you can browse others peoples work on the computer which is much better then mobile device. Here some of my work that is available for sale! The price is set by them and its the same across the board for all. There is really not much else to say about it, except please go ahead and check out my prints available for sale at http://instacanv.as/rkruglov

Summer on the Streets of New York

It almost 90% degrees out and the humidity is about the same, welcome to New York City summers. The city comes alive during the summer with so many interesting people, not to say that city is ever boring, or other seasons are not fun, but summer is just more cheerful and photo opportunities triple. Do you have a favorite season for photography?, let me know by leaving a comment below.

Few other things worth mentioning:
1.  The deadline for photo submission to plus one magazine is May 31st. For more information about the magazine and how to submit, please read this Google plus post.
2. I came across an interesting kickstarter project called photoville, please take a look.
3. If you have not heard or seen Humans of New York, i highly suggest you take a look.
4. Google + One Year Anniversary Photowalk is approaching, click here for more info and to find information for your city/location

Thank you for reading

Seinfeld Episode or Street Photography

As i was taking picture's on my way home from work on Friday night i was thinking about street photography and how many photographers concentrate on taking a street portrait vs an actual street photograph. Warning this is purely my opinion it is neither right or wrong just what i think, which i hope was reflected by the humor of today's title :)

Many street photographers concentrate on taking a portrait shot on the street, yes it takes some "brass" to come and ask can i take your picture, but to me it somewhat looses the element of the street as all you see in the picture is that person, the picture itself looses the story. Step back show some buildings, show more people, give the picture some life, so the reader/audience can see something else except a strangers face. I guess to me there are really 2 genres, street photography and street portraits.

Thank you for reading, all comments are always welcome :)

Instagram

Instagram has been a hot topic recently, i have read a number of blog posts about it:

Example1: Eric Kim, Why Instagram is the future of street photography

Example2: Wired, Why Instagram is terrible for photographers and why you should use it.
Here is actually a nice proof how instagram may work for photography, click here to read the story

After reading all of them, i decided to give it a try, while i do not agree with everything that was written by Eric, i do think Instagram has potential and is fun little app. I will give it a try, to see what will come of it. Here is a picture i took with it.

Do you use Instagram? What do you think about it? Please let me know in the comments and as always thank you for reading.

Another Magazine

Good news my subway series have been published by Dodho Magazine, you can take a look at the article here. This is my 3rd publishing, kind of a big deal for me. I appreciate all the support i have received so far.

I have submitted my work to a few more places, so stay tuned for more.

Some other news to share I have been trying a slightly different approach to street shooting with a wider lens instead of my 45mm, and slowly getting a hang of it, I can't say I like one better then the other, but it is something different and does produce different results, but I let you be the judge, so please leave me a comment let me know what you think of the following pictures

Thank you all for reading

Late Afternoon NYC

Manhattan during lunch hours is fun to photograph, so many interesting people going about their business.

Some are meeting friends and some are just busy reading their emails or Facebook. The City is full of life if only you stop for a minute to observe it.In recent years there has been a big change from people reading a book at lunch time to people checking their smart phones, which makes it for fun photography no one is paying attention. Most people are to busy with their own things to notice anything else outside of what they doing, like to see that someone is taking a picture of them :).

Today instead of walking around looking for that perfect shot, i just sat outside enjoying my lunch and let the photos come to me.

Inspiration

Some Days i  go out to take pictures and it just do not seems to work, don't know what it is i will take plenty of pictures but i get home and see they just don't work so i delete them all. and then there are days that i may only take 2-3 shots and they all seem to be perfect. There are also days where i walk around and i don't see anything that i even want to take a picture of, nothing speaks to me.

With street photography everyday is different just because it is not working for you one day you should not get discouraged, tomorrow is another day you never know what you may see. That's the beauty of street photography in the morning you have people rushing to work, in the evening you have people going home, there is always something to take a picture of. Some days our eyes and minds are just more open.

Thank you for reading and enjoy the pictures.

6 Degrees of Separation or Small World

Interesting day today. Back in  March i did a report about new iPad launch event. The report was published by camerapixo and you can see it here  and in my earlier blog post. I also posted this report to my 500px profile and today someone from 500px community recognized a few people on that report, i believe they were his friends.

Both of his friends registered with 500px and then proceeded to comment on the story saying it was them and also contacting me on twitter. This was pretty exciting for them to be published and for me to have that reach, but this just shows we live in the small world no matter how large it seems. 

I hope to capture more stories like that in the future, so stay tuned :) and thank you for reading!

Color VS. Black and White Part 2

Today was a perfect spring day, the temperatures hit over 80 degrees and with temperatures like that i had to go and take some pictures. As i was processing them later at night i could not help myself, but notice how much nicer they look in color instead of black and white.

I typically prefer b/w photos as it shows the subject better without  distracting the viewer by all the color, but today i guess due to weather color just worked better. The picture below just would not work in B/W.

But one picture does work better in black and white, please let me know if you agree?

As always thank you for reading and all the comments

New York Nature

In today's blog i would like to show you the other side of Manhattan, the side that most people do not see.

New York is known for being a big busy city, lots of cars and people, but it is so much more, it has beautiful nature to it. Central Park is an amazing place with beautiful landscapes. Look at the picture above.

In the spring time you can see flowers everywhere. 

Then there are some hidden gems like this fountain .

I hope you enjoyed This Blog Entry and New York City as well as I hope you enjoyed seeing a different side of New York and not just photos of busy streets.