the Macy's parade
It's the caffeine keeping me awake. The can of Coke Pepsi. The other can of Coke Pepsi with the rum in it. And the cup of coffee. By rights, I should have been asleep hours ago.
We got up at 4:45 am to catch the 6:12 out of Oakdale to Penn Station (by way of Jamaica). Got in late and took the wrong train to the parade, but we had an hour to walk the several blocks to the start. It didn't take us that long. We got there in plenty of time to get staged shots of the ribbon cutting.
We never did catch up to the front of the parade once it started. They were really moving, sometimes faster than we were walking, and since we were stopping for pictures, there was no way to keep up.
I walked down Broadway. Sometimes the middle of Broadway - without getting hit by a car. Or a stampede of clowns or marching bands. I stood in the middle of Columbus Circle and Times Square. The street was teeming with NYPD and not one of them gave me shit for it.
Somewhere around Columbus Circle, after the Scooby Doo balloon, I lost track of my dad when I stopped to take off my jacket and stuff it in my bag (the weather was absolutely perfect). So I went on ahead to Times Square. The weird part was that Scooby was way ahead but the trailing float/balloon (I can't remember which now) was way back, so ... for several blocks I was walking down Broadway pretty much by myself. For a good five-ten minutes there, I was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
It was rather disconcerting.
The street was lined with people, mostly New Yorkers, so of course there were plenty of snide and/or amusing comments along the way. Mostly though, it was, "Hey! Photographer guy! Take my/our picture!" Or "Woo! Photographer Guy! Woo!"
Fucking New Yorkers.
In Times Square, I got most of the pictures we were assigned to take, plus a bunch more. If I never see another GMC Acadia or Hybrid, it will be just fine with me. Stayed there for about 45 or so.
I spent the last hour in Herald Square, opposite Macy's itself, right next to the NBC cameras.
And I mean right next to the NBC cameras. I was about three feet south of the Center Line, bullshitting with the grips and cameramen, bitching about how Santa can't fucking get here soon enough so we could go home already. Actually, I was having a great time. I was standing right next to what the rest of the world was watching on TV.
My cousin, who coordinates the parade, was on the other side of the camera; we managed to chat a bit, but she had the biggest prompt book I've ever seen, a half dozen pieces of communication equipment, and someone running up to her to ask a question every ten seconds.
So if you didn't see me on TV, it's because I was standing next to (and beneath) the cameras.
Dad caught up in the last half hour or so. We had each tried calling each other's cell phones, but no way could we hear them ring with all the noise.
I used my wide angle lens the entire time, which was weird but the only way to get some of those balloons in the frame. Filled up two 1GB cards and part of another. Took over 700 shots in all. Plus the more than 300 yesterday at the balloon inflation, and that's more than 1100 in two days. Yikes.
from Herald Square:
We got up at 4:45 am to catch the 6:12 out of Oakdale to Penn Station (by way of Jamaica). Got in late and took the wrong train to the parade, but we had an hour to walk the several blocks to the start. It didn't take us that long. We got there in plenty of time to get staged shots of the ribbon cutting.
We never did catch up to the front of the parade once it started. They were really moving, sometimes faster than we were walking, and since we were stopping for pictures, there was no way to keep up.
I walked down Broadway. Sometimes the middle of Broadway - without getting hit by a car. Or a stampede of clowns or marching bands. I stood in the middle of Columbus Circle and Times Square. The street was teeming with NYPD and not one of them gave me shit for it.
Somewhere around Columbus Circle, after the Scooby Doo balloon, I lost track of my dad when I stopped to take off my jacket and stuff it in my bag (the weather was absolutely perfect). So I went on ahead to Times Square. The weird part was that Scooby was way ahead but the trailing float/balloon (I can't remember which now) was way back, so ... for several blocks I was walking down Broadway pretty much by myself. For a good five-ten minutes there, I was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
It was rather disconcerting.
The street was lined with people, mostly New Yorkers, so of course there were plenty of snide and/or amusing comments along the way. Mostly though, it was, "Hey! Photographer guy! Take my/our picture!" Or "Woo! Photographer Guy! Woo!"
Fucking New Yorkers.
In Times Square, I got most of the pictures we were assigned to take, plus a bunch more. If I never see another GMC Acadia or Hybrid, it will be just fine with me. Stayed there for about 45 or so.
I spent the last hour in Herald Square, opposite Macy's itself, right next to the NBC cameras.
And I mean right next to the NBC cameras. I was about three feet south of the Center Line, bullshitting with the grips and cameramen, bitching about how Santa can't fucking get here soon enough so we could go home already. Actually, I was having a great time. I was standing right next to what the rest of the world was watching on TV.
My cousin, who coordinates the parade, was on the other side of the camera; we managed to chat a bit, but she had the biggest prompt book I've ever seen, a half dozen pieces of communication equipment, and someone running up to her to ask a question every ten seconds.
So if you didn't see me on TV, it's because I was standing next to (and beneath) the cameras.
Dad caught up in the last half hour or so. We had each tried calling each other's cell phones, but no way could we hear them ring with all the noise.
I used my wide angle lens the entire time, which was weird but the only way to get some of those balloons in the frame. Filled up two 1GB cards and part of another. Took over 700 shots in all. Plus the more than 300 yesterday at the balloon inflation, and that's more than 1100 in two days. Yikes.
from Herald Square: