BILLABONG LONG SLEEVE T SHIRT

This guy was doing various stretching exercises out on the lawn -- and fortunately for me, he held each position for several seconds without moving. That allowed me to shoot a bunch of handheld HDR sequences. This one consists of three separate shots, one right after the other, all of which were blended together with a software program called Photomatix.

Oh, by the way, this is roughly at 98th or 99th Street, near the east side of the North Meadow. Fifth Avenue and the Upper East Side are out of sight, to the right of this photo...

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There are 8 million people in New York City, and on a nice summer weekend, you can find as many as 2 million people enjoying Central Park. But at lunch-time on a sunny Friday afternoon in early August, parts of the park can be surprisingly empty; it's possible to find more space than you might imagine for some isolated peace and quiet.

Just north of the 97th Street roadway (aka the "transverse") that carries cars and buses between the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, there's a huge area known as the "North Meadow," which contains numerous ball fields, as well as a number of (duh!) meadows. Paved paths and benches line the perimeter, and there are plenty of large, shady trees; for the more adventurous, there is a recreation center at the south end of the meadow, with basketball courts, handball courts, and even a climbing wall.

Ball games typically take place on the weekends, and in the late afternoon/evening during weekdays; thus, the ball fields and central meadows were largely empty when I strolled through the area. But there were at least a few people, enjoying the sunshine as they sunbathed, picnicked, jogged, ate their lunch, or just read a book on an empty park bench. Meanwhile, on the perimeter roadway that rings the entire park, helmeted cyclists in colorful spandex tights and shirts zoomed past, while others wobbled along at a more leisurely pace with friends and family members.

I don't guarantee that you'll see the same things I did, if you pay a visit to the North Meadow; but hopefully these photos will give you some idea of what to expect...

This was taken from the south end of the North Meadow, roughly at 98th Street, looking north. It's a handheld, 3-shot, HDR sequence -- i.e., 3 separate images, each one being one f/stop different from the one before, all of which then got merged together with a program called Photomatix.

This works primarily because there's no obvious motion on the field: the fellow on the right was sitting quietly, the ball-player on the left was standing still, and the clouds weren't moving...

**************************

There are 8 million people in New York City, and on a nice summer weekend, you can find as many as 2 million people enjoying Central Park. But at lunch-time on a sunny Friday afternoon in early August, parts of the park can be surprisingly empty; it's possible to find more space than you might imagine for some isolated peace and quiet.

Just north of the 97th Street roadway (aka the "transverse") that carries cars and buses between the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, there's a huge area known as the "North Meadow," which contains numerous ball fields, as well as a number of (duh!) meadows. Paved paths and benches line the perimeter, and there are plenty of large, shady trees; for the more adventurous, there is a recreation center at the south end of the meadow, with basketball courts, handball courts, and even a climbing wall.

Ball games typically take place on the weekends, and in the late afternoon/evening during weekdays; thus, the ball fields and central meadows were largely empty when I strolled through the area. But there were at least a few people, enjoying the sunshine as they sunbathed, picnicked, jogged, ate their lunch, or just read a book on an empty park bench. Meanwhile, on the perimeter roadway that rings the entire park, helmeted cyclists in colorful spandex tights and shirts zoomed past, while others wobbled along at a more leisurely pace with friends and family members.

I don't guarantee that you'll see the same things I did, if you pay a visit to the North Meadow; but hopefully these photos will give you some idea of what to expect...