posted
Almost entirely man-made and built between the years 1858 and 1873, its visionary designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, referred to their creation as "a single work of art." Composed of natural elements - turf, wood, water, and rock - and balanced with exceptional examples from the decorative and fine arts, the Park could also be perceived as an outdoor museum that brilliantly combines the kinds of attractions in its neighboring cultural institutions like the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is the intention of this thread to guide you through this unique masterpiece and "museum without walls," interpreting and explaining - through words and images - how to see Central Park.
-National
[ December 24, 2023, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: National ]
For our first-ever opening act, we have a woman who is one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. If I gave you a list of words that I can use to describe this lady, the word discourteous, impolite, unmannerly, or any other adjective along those lines would be so far down that list, that I don't think I would ever get to it.
Central Park is a place full of great opportunities and openings to meet women. For a man such as myself, this place has become my home away from home, a place where a passel of females have open invitations to make themselves at home as well, a place where a guy like myself can have my kind of fun with practically anyone I decide to share my company with. Each woman has with her a character trademark that is different from the ones before them and the women I have yet to meet. With all these women all at one place, the possibilities of fun and having a great time are endless.
With all of that being said, I should tell you all that I did not meet this woman inside Central Park. In this case, I used the Park as an attraction to extend our conversation that started somewhere else.
--
I hopped into the subway to catch the downtown B-train at the Columbus Circle station. This was a late-Friday afternoon and I was going to check up on a client of mine as part of my work. I was looking forward to seeing him because I knew that after that was over and done with, that my day was going to be finished and that my weekend would begin.
The doors to the train were just about to close when this very nice, delicate lady walked in. I thought to myself how wonderful it would've been if I were to take pictures of her at the park and to get to know this person for who she is. Just as I thought that, she walks further into the car of the train and has a seat right next to me.
She said, "You look like someone who has the answers to everything. Can you help me out with something?" She has a sweet voice. It sounded hazy, wispy. It was like listening to a little child trying to get her point across to an adult. In no way is that meant to come across as something she should be ashamed of. In fact, it's something that makes her her. The voice lets you know that even if you're upset at her for any reason, you'll still find it within your heart to go soft on her in a heated exchange. She never uses words like ass or bitch. Instead, she opts for words like bum and witch in the place of those other words just like a little child would. None of these are things that I can say about anyone else I've met in my life, except for one other person who I met during my days at Bryant Park:
MARRY FAITH
Both Marry and the woman you're about to know are the co-winners for the award of the Nicest Woman on Earth. Anyone who has the time to go back and read what I said about Marry Faith would come to appreciate how much I adore her.
--
Back in the subway. She wanted directions on how to get to a certain section of Queens. I told her that I wasn't going that far, but that I was headed in that direction. To do that, we had to transfer from one train to another, to another, ... and yet another. We made some small talk during our time train tagging. She's very much so into the arts (paintings) to the point that she's an expert on the subject. She doesn't come across as someone who's the girl next door, someone who's "down to earth", or someone who's realistic or interested in everyday occurrences. To some people, these traits can be a bit off-putting, but I found her to be someone who was probably the *easiest* to please and get along with. She has an extravagant and fantastical imagination that's almost fairy tale-like, and she somehow finds a way to push those ideas forward to accommodate her lifestyle through her contributions in the world of art and fashion.
--
At some point during our ride in the subway, I threw out my pitch and gave her the idea that spending some time together in Central Park would be a great way to get to know one another some more. She loved the idea, saying that she was in no rush to get to where she needed to go.
We're standing outside 515 Park Avenue and I tell her to wait for me right there, by the building's entrance as I go inside to have this talk with my client. I expected that conversation to go about 5 minutes. Instead, I found myself in there for 15-20 minutes! It was one of those things were I was looking for a way to end the conversation but he kept on talking and talking. I was starting to fear that this guy had cost me a very good session with this girl who's waiting for me outside the building. I thought that by the time I was done that she would be gone. To my surprise and relief, she stayed the whole time, waiting for me. To her, it was as if two minutes had gone by.
--
On our way to the park, and during our walk through the park, she was having a very hard time walking on her shoes both because they were falling apart and because her feet were causing pain to her with each step she took. There were many times where I found myself walking in ahead of her and then having to wait for her to catch up to me. It was a poor and sad thing to watch, really, but that gave me the perfect excuse to offer a lengthy foot massage later on. She was very appreciative of that gesture and couldn't thank me enough for how soothing it felt.
posted
With our next woman, she was absolutely cool with the idea of letting me take pictures of her feet. She was taking in the beauty of the day by basking in the sun on this very warm day. It seemed as if the sun's only purpose was ray light on her because there was nothing in the way between herself and it. She was probably clearing her mind, giving herself the rest she needed to rejuvenate to live life the way she wanted, at the pace she desired. Exchanging in some small talk with a perfect stranger was a token she was willing to accept from me.
This is someone who is not averse to the whole concept of men who are very appreciative in having a deep fond of the female foot and whatever kinks that come with that. She was a bit hesitant to do the shoot to begin with only because she felt that her feet were in less-than-ideal condition. But after a minute or two into the shoot, she became more relaxed and became more of joy to work with.
She's a dog lover and is a regular visitor of the park where she spends a lot of time taking magnificent pictures of the sights that Central Park has to offer. She is someone who loves to have her own crazy, spur-of-the-moment fun during her day- and nightlife adventures just like many other people.
She is a very intelligent person and she loves a man who can hold very interesting conversations with her on a variety of topics.
posted
National, beautiful stuff as always. You know I truley love your work. Thank you!
Unfortunately, Imagebam is becoming a major pain in the ass. It is always hijacking my browser with adware, tieing up my browser with additional windows instantly when I touch a picture scroll. Not blaming you, of course, just venting. At least I can gaze at the intro pannel and dream of seeing the pictures zoomed in.
Posts: 5497 | Registered: Aug 2013
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Imagebam is my image hosting site of choice. I love it for many reasons. It does add a tab to my browser when it click on a picture to enlarge it, but only to the first two images I click on. After that, it doesn't give me that problem for the rest of the time I'm on the internet. I just click on any two images real fast and problem solved within a matter of seconds. I have no desires of uploading my images on any other image hosting site.
Other than that, I do thank you, Icarus, for liking what I do here. You've always been a good man to me.
posted
First of all, welcome back! I kind of missed your updates and I am curious to see how this new pictures perspective will work as time goes by and more sets you share.
About the problems Icarus mentions with Imagebam, things are not that simple, especially when you access Imagebam from an Android device.
Not only the website redirects you to other very suspicious sites as soon as you touch the screen, but also redirects you to other sites that makes the device to automatically download obviously harmful applications (apk files) without user confirmation.
This is a really serious problem for Android users and you should really take this into account, as we are definitely in a "mobile age", and the percentage of mobile users must be very high, if not already well above regular desktop PC users.
Welcome back once again!
-------------------- <---- my girlfriend size 6's Posts: 1430 | Registered: Aug 2012
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-------------------- And today we're all brothers Tonight we're all friends A moment of peace in a war that never ends Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
It was worth the wait, my friend. An eloquent, enjoyable and multi-faceted post. I see that you are exploring new and very interesting types of shots. In particular I like how you have made use of reflections and how you have manipulated perspective. Well done indeed!
***************** As for Imagebam, Firefox makes a browser for Android, but all Android browsers have a threshold of suckiness, IMO. I mention Firefox because it has a couple of great add-ons (which a fellow Wus member told me about) called Ad Blocker and Ghostery. Those do a terrific job of blocking popups on my PC. Firefox also has robust settings that prevent unauthorized downloads.
As for Android, it is shit for privacy. A terrific mobile OS otherwise--but it tells Google when you pee and what you had for lunch and whether or not you're thinking about the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man. I like it for work but for play, I go with a different device/OS.
Geez I hijacked my own post. National, great to see you again. Peace!
posted
I am going to say this one more time. Imagebam is my image hosting file of choice and I love it for many reasons. It will always be featured here and that is not going to change.
quote:Originally posted by hyperion: It was worth the wait, my friend. An eloquent, enjoyable and multi-faceted post. I see that you are exploring new and very interesting types of shots.
That's why I love shooting at Central Park so much because the possibilities have become endless for me, allowing me to free my mind and imagination to take advantage of what the natural settings of the park are giving me. I'm constantly exploring new ways of seeing the things in completely different ways through the lens. I think that part of it alone is what makes me come back to the part - to make observations of these women and their feet in new (and sometimes peculiar) ways that I haven't been able to capture it in the photoshoot preceding that one.
I love to mix up my style just to keep my creativity alive and to grab hold of everyone's interest in my work so that he can expect something new as time goes along.
quote:Originally posted by hyperion: **In particular I like how you have made use of reflections and how you have manipulated perspective. Well done indeed!**
That last part might be hard to explain or put into words, but I like where you're going with this. I would like to know which pictures you're talking about that made say what you said in that post.
quote:Originally posted by HighArchesPT: First of all, welcome back! I kind of missed your updates and I am curious to see how this new pictures perspective will work as time goes by and more sets you share.
For a long time I refused to go to Central Park because I loved what I had going for me in the old park with the chairs and everything. I thought that if I had spent some time at Central Park that I would become bored with what I was going because I felt that I wasn't going to dig the angles that I would get from that place.
This is new thing for the viewers to see as well because you guys are curios to see as to what I am able to come up with that made me decide to ditch the old place and make Central Park my new stomping grounds.
As time goes along, you (meaning everyone reading this) will be reminded and refreshed as to why I feel Central Park is so much better for me and my ever-evolving foot photography style than Bryant Park ever was.
This will be a journey that will turn out to be surreal!
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