Tag Archives: street

Destiny USA by Michael Grace-Martin

05 Saturday Jan 2013

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Destiny USA
(photos by Michael Grace-Martin)

Destiny USA is a six-story super-regional shopping and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York.

When Destiny USA officially opened this year (2012), it doubled the size of the original mall–which was called Carousel Center (featuring a prominent and centrally located amusement carousel)–to 2.4 million square feet of retail space. The mall’s new larger size made it the sixth largest mall in the United States.

Carousel Center/Destiny USA is located on land referred to as “Oil City” due to the numerous oil tanks that used to reside there. Cleaning up the environmental contamination caused by the oil tanks resulted in numerous construction delays.

When Destiny USA was proposed, there were concerns that such a “one stop destination” would kill business in Syracuse’s central downtown area and surrounding suburbs. Despite these concerns, the project went ahead as planned.

In June 2012, it was announced that any further expansions to Destiny USA (including the glass enclosed park, water features, hotels and technology park) were officially cancelled.

From Destiny USA’s Facebook page: “Destiny USA is a destination for local residents, tourists, and travelers worldwide; a place to bring together friends and family for events and entertainment, a place to shop for the holidays, or a place just to spend the day shopping and relaxing. With all amenities provided under one roof, Destiny USA is your destination.”

Gigantic malls are a uniquely American phenomenon and have gone way past being simply a place to go shopping. They’ve become one-stop destinations where Americans can get food, entertainment, and social interaction. No need to go anywhere else! I attempted to capture some of the energy and magnitude of this commercial-social spectacle in photographs.

Two options:
1. View the Photos as a vertically scrolling page
2. View the Photos as a full screen slide show (click first thumbnail below)



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

Cornell University “After Hours”

09 Friday Nov 2012

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I get a lot of paid photography work at Cornell University. When I finish a gig there, I usually still have a strong “looking for photos” mindset right after the gig (and of course, I’ve got my cameras with me) and so I end up taking random photos on campus. I decided to start a gallery here at my website where I’ll feature some of these “after hours” Cornell shots…:-).



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City (Book Review)

23 Wednesday May 2012

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New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City is a book containing the work of 12 different photographers from the International Center of Photography’s class of 2011, and edited by the photo editors’ class 2011/2012 at Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin.

This combination of having twelve contributing photographers edited by twelve different editors has yielded a strong photographic work.

Many of the photos are black & white street-type shots. But there’s some nice color and portrait work as well. Most of the images are quite dramatic and poignant.

Not only is the selection of images very good, but the way they’ve been sequenced and layed out on the pages is very well done.

The photographers are: Guilia Bianchi, Mike Fernandez, Kirsty Griffin, Romina Hendlin, Mads Holm, Orly Kaufman, Monica Kapoor, Marily Konstantinopoulou, Pepe Rubio Larrauri, Evi Lemberger, Asmita Parelkar, and Benjamin Petit.

The photo editors are: Anna Bianchi, Doreen Blaffert, Carmen Brunner, Suzanne Coleman, Christine Gundelach, Josephine Kaatz, Antonia Kausch, Susanne Lindner, Thomas Ludwig, Ingmar Nehls, Carla Rosorius, and Frauke Schnoor.

You can see a full preview of the book by clicking the book cover image below!

 

 



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

An Experiment: Cleveland Airport Photo Large

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

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An experiment…I thought, I bet this would look good large!
(click to see large)

Baggage Carousel #3, Cleveland Airport, February 2012 (c) Michael Grace-Martin



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

Why Do Street Photography?

13 Friday Apr 2012

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Of all the types of photography, street photography is probably the least likely to make anyone money. Sure, some well-established, well-known street photographers can actually make a living selling prints and books of their street photos. But your chances of being able to make a go of it yourself are similar to your odds of winning the Powerball Lotto.

Even though street photographers may dream about supporting themselves financially purely from their street photography, some of the the main reasons photographers do street photography is that they can do it when and wherever they want, and also however they want. It’s a very personalized, freestyle form of photography that brings the photographer into contact with their environment–an environment that can include people, animals, cars, buildings, statues, signs, etc–and lets them discover and even create scenes and compositions from what is available.

Personally, I do street photography because it’s a fun challenge to find interesting photos, and also, because it makes me pay more attention to and discover more about my surroundings. Street photography is an excellent thing to do on trips to places that are new to me. It really helps you see things you might not otherwise notice.

So, why do street photography? Probably not to make money (though maybe someday it’ll lead to that). I think the reason to do street photography is to have fun, to get to know your surroundings at a more intense level, and to stimulate your visual creativity and spatial mental activity toward being a more curious and “alive” person…:-).



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

Street Photography: New York City, St Patrick’s Day Weekend 2012

22 Thursday Mar 2012

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My wife and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary this year by visiting New York City. We had a very good time!

Being a photographer who likes to shoot street photography, I took some shots while we walked and traveled about the city. In an effort to stave off being too blatant in my photography during our stay (which was supposed to be more about our anniversary than about me taking photos!), I brought along my compact Olympus point-and-shoot that I could keep in a little pouch at my side most of the time.

I’ve now uploaded most of the ones I liked or which had some special meaning. Maybe a few more, but these are the majority of the ones I’ll be uploading.



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!

A Trip to Texas

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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My family and I took a trip down to Texas last February (2012) to visit some of my relatives and to escape our northern winter clime. My relatives live near Houston (in The Woodlands). We also rented a car and spent about 1.5 days down in San Antonio.

As usual, I brought a camera and took photos. I really enjoy taking photos when I travel. A camera helps me to focus on and deeply explore my new surroundings. And having the photos helps me to remember the places I’ve traveled to of course!

Below is a gallery of my photos. I’ll likely be adding to them occasionally as I finish going through them…:-).



Visit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio at SaatchiArt.com!