Blog 21 03 21 Global Warming

Has the jungle reclaimed Manhattan, or did I benefit from an unusual juxtaposition of architecture and plants? I took this photo on the roof terrace of a reception centre in mid-town. It was Summer and the terrace had been decorated for the season, to create a carnival atmosphere, using exotic plants.

I was moving around, scouting interesting angles of the street below and even reflections in the serving dishes on the tables around the edge of the terrace, when I noticed the Empire State Building framed by the palm branches. It was 15 years ago and the debate on Global Warming had not heated up to the extent it has now, if you permit the bad joke, but I was attracted by the quirky image, which seemed to suggest that New York had been transposed to the Tropics.

The Composition

The sky and the lighting were the final confusing effect, psychologically moving the building down the Continent from the U.S. East Coast to Yucatan. I was lucky that the positioning of the palm trees at each end of the long terrace allowed me to frame the Empire State with a canopy above the viewer and provide a long view to the forest floor at the foot of the building. It was an image glimpsed on entering a clearing, as amazing as stumbling across a lost Mayan Temple.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”

I took this photograph with my very first digital camera, a Nikon D70. It was Nikon’s first “consumer-level” digital product and was sold as a “kit-package”, with the lens which I used for this photograph. Notwithstanding the modesty of the equipment, the combination of wide angle lens, excellent light and ideal viewpoint were perfect for creating the image. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Settings

Camera: Nikon D70

Lens: Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5/4.5

Drive Mode: Single Shot

Focal Length: 31mm

Auto Focus-Area Mode: Single

Aperture: f/13

Shutter Speed: 1/400s

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Exposure Compensation: +0.0 EV

Metering: Pattern

ISO Sensitivity: 400

Format: Raw

Hand held

Place : Manhattan, New York.

Year: 2006

Copyright Paul Grayson 2021 All Rights Reserved