Capturing light on New York City's Staten Island Ferry

Hey! It’s been a while! Thought I’d get back to posting images here as besides helping me sharpen my writing skills It’s a good way to keep creative and see my images laid out and grouped together. I also find that its an effective way to stay creative.

The theme here is photography on the famous Staten Island Ferry in New York City.

I now find it to be kind of cheating to do photography here because you’re always gonna come out of the session with something good because even if there aren’t any subjects to shoot there is always the amazing view of the skyline framed through the windows of the ferry. 

So if I want that satisfaction of having captured something I’ll do the 50 minute round trip.

The best time to shoot would be about two hours before sunset. The light is golden and really hits those windows with the most beautiful light.

There are often some amazing characters to be found too so it’s always a great people watching spot.

I even used the ferry as a location for a scene in a fashion shoot.

During the pandemic the ferry was running with hardly anyone on it so I settled for some Ferry still life.

Sometimes if you’re really, really lucky you end up capturing something really special. This image of a red-headed girl pressed up against the window ended up winning me an ADC Cube for Achievement in Photography at the 99th ADC awards in New York . The image is titled ‘‘In Transit’’

In reality the true subject of all these images is actually the Statue of Liberty. Never get tired of photographing it from the vantage point the ferry offers.

Hope you enjoyed this post! For more work or to purchase prints you can check out the links below.

Instagram - @ericvannynatten

Prints - ericvannynatten.com/prints

Blog: Observations part 3

I revisited these images recently from a photo walk I did back in winter 2018.

I had wanted to photograph the court houses in downtown Manhattan during a snowstorm for a while. I didn’t know exactly how I would approach photographing this location or what exactly I’d find but It’s alway a bit of an adventure and exploring options is what fascinates me most about this kind of photography.

This a walkthrough and a bit of the thought process behind each image.

All images shot on iPhone 8 Plus and processed using VSCO and Snapseed.

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It didn’t snow as heavily as I wouldn’t liked but the area was empty and quiet.

A closer look at the pillars. I wanted to include them in the composition but that will prove difficult.

Moved on from trying to include the full height of the structure. Decided to shoot from behind so the pillars could ‘‘frame’’ the subject instead.

A little more pulled back. I love the ridges and shadows so this composition gave a closer view of them which I thought worked quite well. My issue now was the fence that I didn’t like being in the shot.

Wide lens view. Waiting for different subjects to walk past as usual.

Wide lens view.

I notice the snow accumulating on the base of the pillars and it works quite well. How to incorporate it into the composition?

Closeup view of the snow. Fixes the fence problem too.

Then three subjects with colored umbrellas come by.

Got my shot!

Another option with a lone subject but I tend to prefer a pop of color.

Moving on to another spot further down the street. I always see if the same composition concept applies at another spot too. I love the Woolworth Building and I can’t help but photograph it every time I’m near.

A little more pulled back

Love the arches just around the corner.

I love the the City Hall subway entrance, especially the old steel lettering. Hard to incorporate it into a workable composition but here’s my quick attempt.

Hope you enjoyed the walkthrough and a little peak into my process. 

For more work you can check out my Instagram

Instagram - @ericvannynatten

Blog: Outtakes part 3

Hi everyone, I hope you all are keeping healthy during this time. I thought I’d share some outtake images from a moment I captured during a walk near Bryant park in New York City.

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Wether I’m out shooting for a commissioned project or just simply walking around with my camera for fun I often find the best images are captured in unexpected places.

I happened to shoot these during a rest stop on a rainy evening in Manhattan. I had been walking around shooting in the rain for over an hour without much results when I decided to take a short break from the cold and to dry off my camera and gear. This scene then caught my eye just outside through the glass.

New York City is like that, so much going on and if you really take a moment to observe closely there are some truly special moments. Sometimes it’s just pure chance but you still have to be out searching for an image to have one ‘‘given’’ to you.

All images were shot on iPhone 8 Plus in October 2018. I had my mirrorless on me but the lens had condensation on it at this moment so I had to switch quickly to the iPhone to capture these. Hope you enjoy this set!

Here I used the wide angle on the iPhone. The subject was already well positioned behind the condensation which looked amazing with the street lights behind. He was actually holding quite still which helped a lot for a low light shot,

Took a step back and decided to use the 2x zoom instead for a tighter composition.

Subject stopped at the right spot. I was hoping he’d light his cigarette at this exact spot and he did!

Final winning image. I thought everything came together best here and I was happy to have captured the light on his face. I think it’s this small detail which makes this image special to me.

I continued shooting a bit more, changing composition to see what else I could do.

Some good variations, but the best image was captured moments before but I always push for more just in case.

You can find a print of my favorite image from this set below. Thanks for tuning in and until next time!

-Eric

Instagram - @ericvannynatten

Blog: Observations part 2

Went back into my old hard drives and found these images from a sun soaked evening I photographed at São Conrado beach in Rio, Brazil in 2014.

All I had to photograph with was a GE a830 compact camera, which was very limiting but it created some great sun flares.

I’ve always found it a great relief not to have to carry around a heavy DSLR, especially at a Brazilian beach where you want to blend in as much as possible. I guess thats why I’ve leaned towards iPhones for a while now.

I cannot wait to return to to Brazil once travel is allowed again. Hope you enjoy these images!

Instagram - @ericvannynatten

Blog: Observations part 1

An important step for me in staying motivated is to force myself out of the house with my camera even when I don’t feel like it. When I’m in that state of mind I’ll go down to my local subway station and I’ll board the first train that comes, uptown or downtown, and I’lI get off at the first station that I feel a strong urge to. I like to think that I’m letting the city decide where it wants to take me.

The following images were taken on one of those mornings and I happened to end up at the City Hall Station in downtown Manhattan.

I’m not including captions this time as it reflects the state that my mind was in when taking the images…which was just relaxing and simply observing without too much effort or thought.

Instagram - @ericvannynatten