new york in b&w

I have just experienced the first snow storm of the season this past Saturday!  Living in the east coast pretty much means you'll get hit with snowfall many times a year, so I am bracing myself for the worse that's yet to come...

Before the snow storm hit, I was already in New York for my photography class.  The week prior, our instructor Brad has asked us to try portrait shots and these are what I came up with. I didn't have much time to do the homework during the week and so had to arrive in New York early enough to take some street portraits before the start of the class.

And of course, I wasn't expecting rain (and certainly not snow later on)!  I got so used to the sunny and colorful New York in the past few months and was disappointed with the weather condition.  Luckily I got some unexpected shots and they end up being some of the best photos I've ever done.

It's difficult to take street portraits.  I didn't want people to think I was rude or intrusive and so I really missed a lot of good candid shots.  I know if I want to do more street photography in the future, I need to be more confident and less self conscious about the whole process.  Brad showed me a video on Bruce Gilden and it really cracked me up!  I felt so much better after learning about what he did to people on the streets.

On a separate note, I've turned these photos into black and white, simply because I've just learned B&W conversion in Lightroom and was very eager to hone my skills.  This really ignites my interests in B&W and I hope to do more of this from now on.