NYC, Fujifilm X-T1, 14mm, 18-55mm- Michael St. Jean Photography

Periodically my son and I schedule a “Boy Day” in which the two of us take off and do something together. Unfortunately, as he gets older, Boy Day with my son happens with less frequency. Feeling the loss, I brought Boy Day back with a vengeance last Sunday and booked our bus tickets from Providence for a day in New York City.

I should have popped the Fujinon 27mm on the X-T1, or better yet the smaller X-E1, slid it into the pocket of my fleece and been done with it. Instead, I had to over-complicate things. You see, I was also thinking of using Boy Day in NYC as a photographic dry-run for Boy Week and a trip to Peru my son and I are considering. So mentally, not only I was packing gear for a day in the city, but I was also hiking up Machu Picchu. Of course, Boy Day in NYC came with the requisite photo nerd gear anxieties: What camera(s) do I take? Will I have the right lenses? Will it be too heavy?

With the Great Expedition in mind, I stuffed into the Domke F-803 satchel the carefully considered X-T1 (primary camera), X-E1 (backup camera), 14mm (wide), and 18-55 (everything else), a couple of filters, extra batteries, a Nexus 7 tablet (map, Fuji Remote, Snapseed apps) and a Kindle Paperwhite (reading for the bus). I even tried at one point to fit in a Sirui Travel Tripod.

While the contents looked reasonable, in actuality the bag was too heavy. I really did not want to carry it around all day. The compromise was to leave the X-E1 at home and I replaced the Sirui with a Joby Gorillapod (which I did not use). The bag was now lighter and less bulky.

From the Port Authority Bus Terminal, our feet took us to B&H (overwhelming), The Empire State Building, The NY Public Library (closed), Grand Central Station (amazing architecture let down by the presence of an Apple Store), Nintendo World, Rockefeller Observation Deck (well worth it), lunch at Five Guys, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Museum of Modern Art, Central Park and NYC Marathon, Broadway, Times Square, dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and the bus terminal…

Grand Central Station

Playing with the 14mm and long exposure

Disappointed by the presence of an Apple Store which somehow just did not seem right.

Rockefeller Center, Observation Deck

18-55 and fake tilt-shift.

The boy with a view

This is why we chose the observation deck at Rockefeller Center over the Empire State Building…to actually see the Empire State Building (and the shorter line).