Time Lapse Video of Sunset in Central Park, NYC

The day after arriving in Manhattan, I ventured to Central Park which was only a 30 minute walk away.

Before I left for NYC I'd been scouring the internet and had seen some amazing videos of sunset over the city and I set myself a mini project of capturing the sunset over Central Park.

The sun set at around 6.30 and I got there an hour earlier and set up my cameras.





I was over looking Sheep Meadow, on the south end of the park. I set my cameras rolling and people watched for the next hour. The office workers taking time to enjoy the park after a long day in the office, the kids playing, dog walkers and those just strolling and taking in the evening. I stayed there until the sun had set and a park warden came along, he walked into Sheep Meadow and shouted out that the gates were closing and everyone had to leave. I had secured my cameras to the actual gate that need to be locked so it was time to move on.

I stayed in the park a little longer and took a seat nearby two New York old timers and eavesdropped on the conversation. They were talking about how times have changed, old friends, their failing health, and good times too. Thank you to those two gentleman who let a tourist have an insight into their lives.

I hope you enjoy the video!

The 4am Project in The Big Apple

Well the day I had been gearing up to for months has now passed. The 4am Project world wide photography date happened at 4am, calling photographers from around the world to shake themselves awake and take a picture of their view of the world at 4am.



As part of that I organised a 4am Photo walk in Times Square, NYC. I think this could probably be classed as my most ambitious endeavor yet! I had no idea how it would go or if, indeed, anybody would turn up!



I did my best to do my own PR for the event and was over the moon that Time Out NYC covered the event online and in their magazine. The New York Times had promised to write about it, but unfortunately didn't in the end. Hey ho, I'm learning as I go!



So, as you can see from the photo above, people DID come along! 11 people in total - though not everyone is pictured. Two of the attendees came along without a camera, but just wanted to see what the photo walk was all about. One a young guy from out of town who was visiting NYC for the weekend, and the other a gentleman from New Yorker magazine, both kept me company as I snapped away.



We all reconvened at Starbucks for a warming coffee afterwards. It was great to meet everyone. From the New Yorkers who said they wouldn't have thought about exploring their city at that time, to a photographer called Ricky who has taken part in the 4am Project since it began and who I have been tweeting with for 18 months.



Here are my photos from this morning. You can view the whole 4am Project photo stream over on Flickr. There's some great early morning photographs there. Definitely worth checking out :)







So, my New York adventure continues. I didn't quite make it to Brooklyn the other day! I thought I did, but it turns out I hadn't left Manhattan. But what a city to get lost in!



I'm still trying to get into a routine with my blogging. Although my mifi device is great for updates on my iPhone, it tends to be very slow on my laptops. So, my new plan is do to small, bite sized updates here, providing snippets of New York life as I go through my day. I am realising that I don't want to be stuck in my apartment or Starbucks tied to the internet trying to get blog post out when there is a big city out there for me to explore. So small and frequent is the way to go, and when I feel like I have the time, then a longer blog post. And of course, when I get back home there'll be plenty of time to blog!

St Columbus Day Parade, 5th Avenue, New York City

It was an official holiday yesterday as the country celebrated St Columbus day.



New York City has been host to the annual St Columbus day parade since 1929. It's a huge event with 35,000 people taking part in the parade itself with countless spectators lining 5th Avenue.



It was a beautiful 80 degree day, and I took a walk from Hell's Kitchen to 5th Avenue to catch some of the action. My walk there gave me my first view of Times Square (where I am hosting the 4am Project photo walk this Sunday) and the Rockerfeller centre.

I found a break in the crowds and took my place. I hope you enjoy the video!


view embeded video here

And here are some photographs of the parade too.





From 80 degrees during the day, to the most magnificent thunder, lightning and hailstorm at night! I captured some video from my apartment window.

view embeded video here

Goodbye Birmingham...Hello Manhattan!

At this time on Friday, I'll be landing at Newark airport ready to begin the Big Apple Unpeeled adventure!

My bags are packed. Well, they have been packed for two weeks now! There are advantages to being a premature packer I can assure you. Well, apart from the tiny matter of trying to squeeze 9lbs/1000 flyers in at the last minute!

I always like to be prepared, but I think on this occasion I was a little too prepared and hadn't bargained for the size or weight of the flyers!

The flyers are advertising the 4am Project photo walk that I am going to hold in Times Square on 17th October. I've been doing as much of my own PR as possible and thought I'd back that up by handing these out to folks in New York.



I'm planning on doing this on the first few days I am in the city, and hope that it might prove a good way of getting to know new people too!



With hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, I guess I should have printed the flyers in NYC, but hey, I can't think of everything.



So, the next time I write here, I'll be in the heart of Manhattan and will be beginning to unpeel the Big Apple!





Stay tuned for photos, videos, stories and more!

Using Google City Tours for New York City

I discovered Google City Tours the other day and got quite excited about the possibilities!

You just put in your location, with the option of adding in dates as well. Great!

Hmm. Well, perhaps not so great. I lost patience with it very quickly.....

My first search under 'Manhattan' delivered a walk around and through central park with an approximate length of time along each part of the route, and with the option of removing some of the choices.

Okay, not bad for the first try. I could do that on one of my days in NYC. But upon refreshing the screen to find another selection I was disappointed to find the same map presented to me. I guess in some ways I shouldn't have been surprised as I used the same search term, but in a city the size of Manhattan, I would have thought that it would be churning out 'tour' after tour covering the width and length of the city.

So, I went a bit more general with my next search term, 'New York City'. Ah now it was covering a bit more ground, with a walk lasting approximately 4.5 hours starting at the centre of the Brooklyn Bridge.

















Okay, time to get a bit more specific on my next search, 'Financial District, Manhattan'.

Well, this walk does include the financial district, but also takes me quite a way away from it too. Hmmm.....


















As I mentioned, you can put in how many days you are staying in the area, but the maximum number of days is 5. I clicked on day 2 for Financial District. Now this is more like it. Much closer to the area. Things are looking up!


















Until....Day 3. Where Google City Tours had run out of suggestions altogether.

So, my initial excitement about Google's City Tours waned very quickly. It just isn't good enough. Lack of choice. Restriction on days. And although you can put in exact dates, the information doesn't seem to change. For example, I would have liked up to date events and seasonal suggestions included. I don't really know how they pull the information together, but overall it was a disappointing experience.

I think I'll stick to planning my own walks, maybe selecting one from a guide book, or more likely just go where the wind blow me! :)

The quickest way I know to make connections in New York City

Hands up who loves twitter!

I love twitter so much I even organised a twitter flash mob!



And I'm intending to make the most out of this wonderful social media tool when I am in New York City.

For the past couple of months I've started to follow tweeters in NYC. There's quite a mixture of organisations, things to do, as well as fellow photographers and social media peeps and people who have piqued my interest.











I've started exchanging tweets, getting to know people, and have even been invited to a couple of nights out!

And although I am putting a lot of planning into the Big Apple Unpeeled, I want to leave room for spontaniety.

One of the apps I use on my iPhone is a twitter client called Twitterrific. It meets all my tweeting needs when I am on the move.

However, there is one feature that I haven't tapped into yet; the Nearby feature.

No matter where you are, if you tap on Nearby, it will show you a list of tweeters within your vicinity and what they are saying.

























So, I'm gonna see who and what is going on around me. If something or someone interests me, then I'm just going to say 'Hi' and see what happens! Perhaps I'll make a new friend, perhaps not. Maybe I'll end up somewhere interesting maybe not. But I'm going to give it a try and of course I'll be reporting back here!

Travelling Solo, but I won't be alone

I will be travelling solo in New York City, however, I don't plan on being alone.

Thanks to all the social media tools we have available I will still have my friends and followers with me on the journey - virtually at least.

Given the speed of communication we now have access to through the internet, there is no reason not to be able to keep in touch. As well as sharing my Big Apple adventure, my friends and followers can comment and quickly interact making it more of a participatory experience.

Contrast this to about 8 years ago when I first got online. I bought my first computer with the aim of using it to plan a 2 month solo trip around the USA. Researching my trip I found that not every venue or hotel had a website. I made many long distant calls to the U.S. I didn't book my multiple flights (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Orland, New York) online, but went into a travel agents. Scanning my old guidebooks now, there is a distinct lack of website addresses attached to the 'must see' and 'don't miss' recommendations.

I think a few people may have been blogging 8 years ago, but the word hadn't registered on my radar. Facebook hadn't been invented. Or Youtube. And certainly not twitter. My main avenues of keeping in touch with a few friends and family then was by postcard/letters, the occasional email when I could find an internet cafe and the odd long distance phone call. As for photographs, I had my old film camera and waited patiently until I got home to develop my pictures.

That two month trip was amazing and I loved every minute of it. But there was something missing. I'd see these incredible sights, have experiences I wanted to share, have the odd moment of doubt, take part in an amazing event, but there was no one there I could immediately turn to and say, "Hey! Did you see that?!" There was a delay between the experience and being able to share it.

NOW? Wow!

We have every means available to keep connected and share sights and sounds. Broadband, Wifi, laptops, net books, mobile phones that can have us online in seconds. We are embracing, sharing, consuming media like never before and with free live video streaming we can broadcast our news within seconds.

My two month trip was a good practice run, but this time around things are going to be so much different, and I'll have my friends, family and followers viturally by my side.

Welcome to the Big Apple Unpeeled!

Hello!

A very warm welcome to the Big Apple Unpeeled blog.

Exactly one month ago I spontaneously booked my flights to New York City. Even though I have been planning this trip for some time, I wasn't quite sure when it would happen, but last month the opportunity presented itself and now it's all go, go, go!

I have chosen to stay in New York for a whole month. Though I am already wondering if this will be long enough given all the things I would like to do!

Immersing myself in the city, my aim is to bring you a 'pips n all' view of the Big Apple. This will be a participatory event too - throughout my trip I will be asking you 'Where would you like to visit today?'

Using social media tools such as this blog, youtube, twitter, flickr, bambuser, qik, and facebook, I will be bringing you photography, interviews and reviews of the Big Apple.

Take a moment to read more about the Big Apple Unpeeled. As a way of an introduction you can read a bit more about me, and there is even a press release, and sponsorship opportunities.

Don't forget to signed up the Big Apple Unpeeled blog too! :)