Last night was the super moon. To be perfectly honest, it didn’t appear any larger to me than it has on previous occasions. But, it was very very bright. We were on the roof when it rose, and it was a very dark shade of yellow from all of the pollution. It was kind of a cool effect. I got a couple of shots when it was low in the sky, but I wasn’t super stoked about any of them. I did, however, quite like the one that I posted above. This was shot after the moon was much higher in the sky. Here are a few other times that I have shot the moon from our house: one time and another time.

Earlier Saturday evening, we were shooting some tutorials for Reagan’s hair blog. There was a cat on the fire escape that was meowing super loud. I think that it must have wandered up and become stuck. Anyway, we finally let it in, so that it would shut up. We immediately thought better of it. So, we put it back out. The cat then leaped from the fire escape to the sill of an adjacent window that was open (at least 3 or 4 feet away). and came back in.

Ultimately, I had to carry it down stairs and put it back out into the alley.

Backing up, a bit– Friday was beautiful. The high was well into the 70′s. I thought about going for an evening run, but then had a better idea. I called a couple of friends and we had a longboarding session in Central Park. I also brought along a little hand-held video camera (same one Jon used to shoot this), and some L.E.D. panels. I have been wanting to shoot a longboarding video since I saw this one, that I posted the other day. So, I figured I could get some ideas, shooting with the crappy camera for when we really go back and do it right. I think that having the moon out was key. Anyway, here is what we shot Friday night.

It was really nice not having to work, this week. Reagan, unfortunately was not able to get out of work on Thursday. So, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Reagan’s Parents. One of the great things about having family come from out of town, is that it gives me a good excuse to do things that I probably wouldn’t normally find time to do. I haven’t been to the Met, since Reagan and I have been married. It was a lot of fun.

Below, left to right: Walking through CP after a fresh snow; European painting section of the Met; and, Greek sculpture section of the Met.

Saturday morning, Reagan and her mom wanted to go shopping at some of the stores in Rockefeller Plaza. So her dad and I decided to check out the observation deck on the top of 30 Rockefeller, to kill some time. It was very cool. Even though it was overcast, the clouds were high enough that the visibility was really good. The temperature was in the low 20′s and the wind was gusting pretty strongly. But, it was still a very enjoyable experience. Below are a couple of my favorite shots from Top of the Rock.

Above:  somebody in their fur-trim snorkel jacket, shooting the Empire State Building. Below: Central Park and the UWS. Toward the top of the frame, you can see where it was starting to snow, in Harlem. Also, just for kicks, I uploaded a full resolution image of the UWS, in case you want to try to spot your house.

Here are a few more shots from the Met and Top of the Rock.

This year was the 40th New York City Marathon. It was such an awesome race, for so many reasons, including the fact that an American won the mens’ race for the first time, since 1982. For me, though, it was especially cool, because I was able to photograph it from the photo bridge at the finish line. It is a borderline spiritual experience to watch these athletes come through. It was so heartbreaking to see Paula break down in tears, after falling back into fourth place at the end of the race, when she lead, practically the entire way.

^—-Paula and Grete embracing.

Here is a shot of the TV crews that were next to me.

Many mo’ photos over here.

I titled this post “Conference Weekend,” because it is the weekend that our church, instead of having local meetings, just has one mega-meeting, that everyone watches on TV/Webcast Billy Graham-style. Okay, not really Billy Graham-style, at all. Lucky for us, everything comes out in print, in a few weeks. Because we missed most of it. We ended up having an insanely busy weekend.

I ran a half marathon in Central Park, Saturday morning. I wouldn’t recommend the course. It is basically just 2 laps of CP Drive. Normally this is fine. But when you are trying to get a good time, the hills at the north end of the park can break your spirit a little bit. Reagan showed up to cheer me on (which helped, immensely) and take some photos. My goal was to score less than 1 hour and 30 mins. I missed it by 5 minutes, but still beat my previous best by almost a minute.

^—-My blistered up feet.

I thought that I was going to have to go into work after the race. It turned out that I didn’t have to. So after having a nice visit with Piper, Reagan and I basically went nuts and tore our entire house apart to accommodate a new shelf that Reagan has been begging to buy for a month or so. In involved moving a 1000 lb. aquarium, dismantling some wall-mounted shelves, patching the wall, painting the wall, re-arranging all of the furniture in 2 rooms and cleaning up a spilled gallon of paint.

^—-Reagan, driving us up to see Piper

We were able to take a break on Sunday morning, while having some superbly delicious homemade cinnamon rolls with a few of our friends, followed by another great visit with our baby. Our house still hasn’t completely recovered from the transition, but it is pretty close. All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend.

It is only Saturday, but this has already been a pretty nutty weekend. Roca Wear hooked us up with some tickets to the Jay-Z show last night. Reagan and I were both completely blown away. We both agree, that it was probably the best show we have ever been to. One of my favorite parts was watching Reagan jump up and down when Rihanna came out. Then again, when Beyonce came out. It was totally crazy. If you want to check out pics and/or read about it, I did an article over on SoJones.

Not withstanding the fact that we got home in the middle of the night, last night, we got up before the sun, this morning (which wasn’t that early, since it was overcast), to get down to Central Park for our race. To our surprise, we ran into a bunch of friends from church, on the way down. They were all headed to Jersey for a canoeing trip. Anyway, it is my first race since I started doing physical therapy. I have to admit that the hills were a little bit tough, after having logged almost all of my miles via treadmill, for the last month and a half.

I was still pretty pleased with my time. I didn’t hit the goal that I was hoping for, but I was close. This was Reagan’s first time running, in a while, so she was kind of nervous. She really did well, though. The way it was set up, this morning, the men ran first, then the women went afterward. This made it really fun, because we were both able to watch the other one, start and finish the race. The weather was perfect for running, and we had a really great time.

It looks like I’m going to be working for the rest of the weekend. So I’m glad that I was able to get all of the fun in early.

We had a pretty eventful holiday weekend. Reagan’s sister Jody and her friend Chrissy came to visit Piper (and us). During our activities, we went to the flea market (above), saw the last showing of “9-5″ on Broadway, and had some really great visits with Piper.

^–Throwing back some grub at Shake Shack

^—Reagan and Jody in a cab (I always get stuck riding in the front seat, when there are 4 of us).

^–Near Sheep’s Meadow, in CP

I was up bright and early this morning, to get to Central Park in time to get some shots of the NYC Half-Marathon, which started at 7 AM. It is a good thing that it started so early, too, since it was such an extremely warm day. After shooting the start, I booked it down to Battery Park City, to the finish line (which happened to be right outside of my work). Tola won today for the men. It was really exciting. But the real story, was Paula Radcliffe winning for the women. It isn’t some big news that she won, or anything. She has won 8 of the 10 major marathons that she has started, including the NYC Marathon, 3 times!! She has been nursing a foot injury, and this is her first race of the year, with a late entry at the middle of last week. It was really cool to see her in person, and shake her hand.

It has been really tough, to keep myself from running, while my knee recovers. But sometimes it is really cool, just to show up and be amazed by how great these athletes are.

Here is a report on the race, and a lot more photos.

Friday night, I was in Central Park shooting this race, when I passed by the croquet garden near Sheep’s Meadow. There was this dude out there playing all by himself. Just practicing his shot, I guess. Anyway, I stopped and talked to him for a while (after sneaking a few shots of him). It turns out that the Parks Dept. gives out permits to play croquet on the lawn there. Apparently there is also a New York City Croquet club. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to learn about that. Monday nights, the club hosts the garden for public entry. From what the guy said, they give lessons and everything.

Oh yeah, I got a new lense this week. It is a 30mm f/1.4. I used it pretty much all evening. I love it.  One more shot of the croquet garden: