Week 31
August 8, 2016
5th Ave. Library (Pooh!)
Times Square at night
No aggressive bicyclists this week. :) Today I explored the 5th Avenue library again to see the real Winnie the Pooh, strolled down 5th to the Flatiron area, played a little Pokemon Go in Madison Square Park (very little, I will talk more about that in a bit) and finally headed up Broadway to Times Square for evening/night photography. Nice day, temps in the 80s and pretty dry.
Onward.
I start the afternoon meeting this enthusiastic author, Garrett Buhl Robinson, who was sitting outside the 5th avenue library. He seemed so happy I walked over to say hello. He had several books of poetry and two novels. We talked for a few minutes and I was on my way (no, I didn't buy a book). What's interesting is that I Googled him when I got home. Turns out he sits outside the libary most every day selling his books (when does he have time to write?). Here's an article I found on him from 2012: http://themidtowngazette.com/2012/11/a-self-made-man/
How exciting!
Entrance to the Children's Library area in the basement, Lego lions and all!
Winnie the Pooh was celebrating a birthday. Kids could make a card for Pooh.
Pooh and friends were all restored, these were before and after photos. Kind of like botox and collagen enhancement for stuffed animals. ;)
Ta da! It's the REAL Pooh and friends.
Their sizes were unexpected. Eyeore was huge, Piglet extremely tiny, and Pooh looks like he missed a few servings of honey. Adorable.
Here's some info on the author. Sweet real life story.
My husband's favorite book of all time. I always give a copy to my friends who have a new baby.
Lobby area of the library from the side stairs. Fisheye, of course. I love the fisheye in buildings because it can capture so much.
McGraw Rotunda on the 2nd floor.
McGraw Rotunda from the other end with an Olympus dramatic tones art filter.
Ceiling.
Reading room.
From the other end of the room. There are many famous paintings on the walls here.
They are doing major renovations on the library including the famous Rose Reading Room which is currently closed. I was hoping it would be done before Week 52 but it sounds like it won't open until sometime in 2017. The blue walls had all sorts of information about the renovations.
Genealogy research area of the library.
Good question.
And that's a wrap on the library for now. I would like to go back when there are less tourists and really take my time photographing the rotunda (which is my favorite area in the library). To be continued...
A lot of t-shirts today, several with the I Don't Care attitude.
Good job with the spelling of LETS MAKE HISTORY.
It's amusing to me to picture my doctor heading to work like this.
I don't think he had enough.
Players.
I'm not a video or iPhone game player, but I did put Pokemon Go on my phone the night before this trip to NYC. Thought it could be fun to try a little Pokemon Go as I walked the city. I noticed that I saw lots of people playing the game today because now I knew what it looked like on the phone. And here I thought people were conducting important business as they walked.
As I headed into Madison Square Park to fire up Pokemon, I met this little guy, Oliver. He's a 4 month old Corgi. The ears! Adorable. His owner was so sweet trying to help me get a good photo (which didn't happen). I liked this one only because it shows his ears so well.
And this one showed her love for him. xo
Here I am with Pokemon Go. It definitely knew I was in the park. All sorts of "things" on my screen but I didn't really know how to play. I did spend about 20 minutes watching a YouTube video before I left for the city so I had some clue how the game worked, but alas I was still clueless.
Winging it so to speak, my first capture. A Doduo, how exciting. I suppose it was standing in the fountain. I didn't link the game to the camera on my phone, I guess you can do that and then you see the characters in your physical space. I don't have an extra charger for my phone so I didn't want to be stuck later with a dead cell phone (it is New York afterall).
This nice couple helped me out with Pokemon Go. They were totally into it so I asked them a few questions and the lady taught me how to better capture creatures, and also that these big blue things I was seeing on my screen I needed to "spin" by swiping to get more balls to throw at creatures. Got it.
I also realized that street photography and Pokemon Go don't mix. I would either come home with no photos, or walk into a pole and crack a lens trying to take pictures and play. 15 minutes of Pokemon Go was enough for today.
Older lady making her way through the park.
Enjoyed spotting the detail on the top of the Flatiron. It's interesting how much effort goes into something that is almost invisible from the ground. I'll bring my big zoom lens one day and take a better photo.
Heading up Broadway, here is that church I mentioned a few weeks ago that had that horrible raging fire go through it. Only this time there was an ironic advertisement on a truck parked next to the church.
Unexpected combination, at least to me.
Haven't done a selfie in a while!
I'm pretty sure he just got out of the hospital. Seriously bandaged around his stomach.It was kind of a sketchy area on Broadway, just for a block or two.
Welcome to Interesting Things... You were my only winner of the day.
Battle of the bra sellers.
Here I am at my favorite window and once again someone is waiting for me. I thought it was ironic, not another mohawk man (of which there have been two), but her hair is pulled up in a mohawk-like bun! Too funny.
I'm also so disappointed because Ralph Lauren has messed up my window by putting large lettering on it (you can see the white blob on the left edge of the pic). Geesh.
I look forward to Ralph cleaning off this advertisement ASAP!
Another I don't care.
If you follow the blog, you may remember my incident with the Bravo Pizza close to Grand Central having a mousetrap on the counter and the words "We Cater Corporat" on their window.
Indeed, this location does not cater to rats. No mousetrap on the counter, either.
I have not seen an asian person wear a yamaka before. This restaurant is Kosher and the majority of male patrons wore a skullcap.
They also had a sink in the main eating area of the restaurant which, as I understand it, is part of a Kosher lifestyle. I haven't seen one in a restaurant before (but I was happy to use it!).
As an official hypochondriac, I will never go to this exhibit. I've seen it advertised in different cities for years. I don't need to know anything more about the human body that I can then worry that it will malfunction. ;)
The police with police dogs in Times Square are extremely friendly and allow you to pet their dog, take pictures, etc. Love the smile on the officers face.
They do not, however, allow you to have a backpack with you when you pose for a picture. The man on the left was asked to leave his backpack several feet away before the officer would allow a picture.
I wonder if Abe is proud of our country as it is now...
Naive Megan has heard of the Naked Cowboy, and also heard that there were naked women in Times Square. But it wasn't until tonight that I saw them for myself. It was more shocking to me than I expected it to be.
I only took a few pictures to document what I saw. This photo, however, was important to me because of the young girl on the very left edge of the frame. I feel like she could be thinking, "wow, this is an option for me some day?"
Learning. :)
All of my night shots were handheld. Way too crowded to pull out a tripod. I said to a friend of mine this week, "I can't wait for all the summer tourists to go home." Of course, technically, I'm one of those tourists.
Nope.
Favorite shot of the day!
Bryant Park has Monday Night movies so I stopped by on my way out. So many people on the lawn!
They had a cartoon playing before the Clint Eastwood movie started. Kinda funny to see thousands of adults glued to a cartoon.
The reality is, you are both adorable!
Bagpipe girl at 9pm outside of Grand Central.
The theme for this week seemed to be injured people. I saw a lot of them! People are having adventurous summers perhaps.
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
~mc
