It’s been a crazy three months and we're wrapping up our fall photography workshops. Staci and I have had the pleasure of hosting photography workshops in Yellowstone, New York City, Chicago, and we just returned from Death Valley. It’s been busy, fun, and exhausting, but the people we meet and the places we see really makes it worth our time.

I haven't had much time to review my images, but I thought I would share a few of my favorites from this year's workshop in New York City.

The Flatiron building is iconic by all standards and symbol of New York's great architecture. I decided to use a 21mm to help frame the scene as cabs rushed by honking their way through the intersection.

NYC FlatIron Building with M6 and Portra 400 film

NYC FlatIron Building photographed with a Leica M6 and Portra 400 film.

I also spotted a man using a phone booth. He had a Goodfellas look about him as he chatted on the phone holding his cigarette. To be honest, I haven't seen anyone using a phone booth in a long time!

Man Using NYC Phone booth. Photographed using an M6 and Portra 400

What I love about NYC is you never know what you're going to see in the streets. I never imagined a couple of high-heel-mobiles going past…

Stilettos cars Leica Monochrom with 35mm

Stiletto cars, captured with Leica Monochrom and 35mm

Soho is well known for it's shopping but what I love are the wide bricked streets, classic New York architecture, and of course the interesting people. I was chatting with Bing, one of my students, about approaching people when we saw this man and his dog. We stopped to talk to him for a while and it turned out that he was into photography as well. So we started chatting about cameras and the city and our workshop while Bing was shooting away. I only took one shot during our conversation, but he was heck of a nice guy and gentleman about the entire process. The next day we discovered it was Neal Slavin, a renowned photographer with a studio in Soho. His work and talent speaks for itself, so check it out. You never know who you'll meet on the streets of New York!

Neal Slavin and his dog. Leica Monochrom with 35mm

Someday I will go to China, but until then I have Columbus Park in Chinatown which is a favorite among the locals for playing cards.

Columbus Park in Chinatown

The Fish Market in Chinatown always offers some unique photographic opportunities.

Chinatown Fish Market

One of things I love about NYC is the amazing Graffiti. In Spanish Harlem I had the opportunity to see the artists working in shifts with spray paint and tiles to create this amazing piece of art. The crazy thing is they even worked on this project at night with the use of spotlights. There is so much talent in this world.

Artist working on Graffiti in Spanish Harlem

In between our workshops I was able to make some time for myself and head over to Brooklyn's Dumbo Park to photograph the Manhattan bridge. The bridge is simply beautiful.

Manhattan Bridge captured with Leica Monochrom and a 21mm lens and yellow filter.

Manhattan Bridge- Monochrom with 21mm lens and yellow filter.

We use the NYC subway quite a bit during our workshops and it's usually packed to the brim with people, but on occasion you get lucky and you have the car to yourself. 🙂

NYC Subway

Coney Island has become one of my favorite locations to visit during our workshop for it's cult-like following and colorful residents.

Coney Island

Brighton Beach is known for it's Russian population where the locals congregate for chats, exercise, and of course the view of the Atlantic Ocean. I love the area for street photography.

The boardwalk near Brighton Beach

I saw this gentleman at a distance doing pushups on a park bench. I was intrigued and approached him to ask if I could take his photo. His physique was matched by his big personality and he was very graceful with his time. We got to chatting about his 7 children and life on Coney Island.

Mike from Coney Island. He's lived there all his life.

He looked great for any age, which of course led me to ask the question, “How old are you?” He said, “How old do you think I am?” I replied, “I'm not sure, but I would say you can't be a day over 52.” He replied with a big grin, “I'm 74!” I of course I had a hard time believing him, and apparently my reaction was the norm because he quickly furnished his birth certificate! This of course made us all laugh, but as Mike tells it, he's used to no one believing him so he started carrying his birth certificate to prove his age.

We chatted with Mike for a while more before moving on when Staci slowly leaned over to me and said, “Now you know the expectation.” I of course laughed because everyone knows I'm too afraid of needles to get a tattoo. 🙂