First Snow

New York City

"When snow falls, nature listens." Antoinette van Kleeff

Finally, after a long brutal summer winter is approaching. When I was younger I loathed cold rainy days but now that I am getting older I am realizing that there is nothing nicer than a cold wintry day. Summers are just too brutal and I don't understand how I used to love them so much.

This photograph was taken on a typical New York City street. It had snowed the day before so the snow was still pure white. As everyone who has experienced snow knows that it gets dirty pretty fast and it's not a nice scene. The white becomes all shades of gray with the occasional shade of yellow.

That's why the first snow fall is my favorite. To see an entire city covered in white is something beautiful in my opinion. It also occurred to me that maybe I love snow this much only because I don't drive and I don't have to shovel anything off my path.

This photograph was shot using my cheap compact camera. It was converted to black and white in PS CS4.

The Voice

Upper West Side, New York City

"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience." Mohandas Gandhi

This picture was shot last winter in New York City. A few days before, a snow storm hit the city and as a result it knocked some things over. This free newspaper box is one of the unfortunate things that felt the wrath of the storm.

I think it's very appropriate that the one box that fell in this picture is called 'Voice.' It's like a subtle message. A message to tell us that the human voice is rarely heard nowadays. We are too lost in material things that we often overlook everything that really matters.

It was also the right picture for selective color. It was a rainy/snowy day and everything was looking sort of dull, but the bright red box made the area pop. I wanted to bring out the contrast so I converted the picture to black and white and left the red box as it is.

This black and white photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV