A beautiful autumn day in Central Park looking across The Lake at the buildings along Central Park West.  The scene was captured on the iPhone 4S and post-processed on the iPhone with an app from Nik Software called Snapseed.  I highly recommend the app for your iPhone or iPad.  Very intuitive and fun to play with the different treatments from vintage styles to grunge to black & white.  It’s quick and easy to add some ‘pop’ to your images.

Saturday marked just the fourth October day with measurable snowfall in Central Park since record-keeping began 135 years ago, the National Weather Service said.

More from the NY Daily News and the New York Times.

Record-breaking October snow falls along Columbus Avenue on New York City’s Upper West Side.

October brings a change to the leaves in New York’s Central Park as we enter the Fall season.

The slightly chilly mornings and clear skies make for some brilliant sunrises over Manhattan.  Here are a few photos from my walk about the neighborhood this autumn morning.

The October sunrise hitting the buildings along Central Park West in New York City.

Sunrise peeking into the apartment windows along New York City’s Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Morning joggers run along The Lake in New York’s Central Park just after sunrise.

Sunrise over the Delacorte Theater in New York City’s Central Park.  The Delacorte is home to the Shakespeare In the Park series each summer.

Moo is originally from the Asian country of Burma, now officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.  He’s 25 years old and stands at 5’8″, weighs 140 lbs. with a 29″ waist.

As you can tell, Ethan is a little fanatical about his workout.  He started his workout / fitness program only two years ago.

As for his exercise routine… “I work out at the gym about four to five days a week, one to two hours each. Once I’m at the gym, I try to hit almost every body part and take no more than one-minute breaks in between. That’s really gotten me shredded and lean. Plus I’m not there to chat, so anything longer than a two-minute break gets me bored and I don’t feel like I’m productive. On the days I don’t have energy, I’ll sometimes start my workout by running for 10 to 20 minutes and that warms up my body; then I’ll lift for another hour or more. Lately I’ve been trying to bulk up mass, so I’ve started focusing on one or two body parts. On those days I try to hit hard the one or two muscle groups, such as tries or chest, with the maximum weight almost from the beginning of the workout. I start and stay heavy instead of gradually working up the weight because if I do it for too long, the muscle tires out and I can’t get to that heavier weight.” he told Mark Edwards.

As with any good exercise regiment… diet is an important part.  Ethan says about his diet… “I have pretty high metabolism, so I don’t really have to avoid fatty foods or foods with carbs. But I’m Asian and it’s in my nature to eat healthier, leaner foods. Usually, you’ll see me eating many small meals throughout the day. I love fresh fruits and vegetables. But after a long work at the gym, don’t be surprised to see me in line for Chipotle. I love those burritos and they seem to fill me up. I try to avoid processed or packaged foods, in part because I don’t like the taste. Fresh is always my preference.”

For more of my work with Ethan (Moo)… go to his image gallery.

To see additional images of Eh Moo La from other photographers, check out Moo’s Model Mayhem page or his Facebook page.

You can see more of Moo and learn more about him from photographer Mark Edwards’ blog…
modelJOCK INTERVIEW: Male Model Eh Moo La Shares his Impressive Portfolio

The path to Whole Foods from four stories up.

Traffic zooms down Broadway past the 72nd Street subway station.

Midnight along Columbus Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and all is quiet.

And earlier that night…

Night time along West 71st Street and the historic brownstones of New York City.

The Italian restaurant Pomodoro.  One of my favorites in the neighborhood.

The recently opened Eastern Mountain Sports store at Broadway & 76th on the Upper West Side.

Technical notes… all exposures were between 20 to 30 seconds using my Nikon D7000, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens and a tripod & wireless remote trigger for the shutter release.  The aperture settings were between f9.0 and f22.0 to create the starburst effects on the lights.  ISO 100.  White balance was around 3000K to allow for the funky colored NYC street lights.  All images shot in RAW format.  Imported into Lightroom, edited in Photoshop CS5 and Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 3.0 plugin using the Tonal Contrast tool.

No cars or pedestrians along New York City’s Columbus Avenue Sunday morning as Irene arrived.

A quiet August sunset along Columbus Avenue on New York City’s Upper West Side.

More experiments to follow.  :-)

A distinctive feature of residential (and many commercial buildings) in New York City is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers, which were required on all buildings higher than six stories by city ordinance in the 19th century because the municipal water pipes could not withstand the extraordinarily high pressure necessary to deliver water to the top stories of high-rise buildings.

New York City requires that all buildings higher than six stories be equipped with a rooftop water tower.  In modern times, the towers have become fashionable in some circles. As of 2006, the neighborhood of Tribeca requires water towers on all buildings, whether or not they are being used. Two companies in New York build water towers, both of which are family businesses in operation since the 19th century.

The original water tower builders were barrel makers who expanded their craft to meet a modern need as buildings in the city grew taller in height. Even today, no sealant is used to hold the water in. The wooden walls of the Water Tower are held together with cables but leak through the gaps when first filled. As the water saturates the wood it swells, the gaps close and become impermeable.

The rooftop water towers store 5,500 gallons to 11,000 gallons of water until it is needed in the building below. The upper portion of water is skimmed off the top for everyday use while the water in the bottom of the tower is held in reserve to fight fire. When the water drops below a certain level, a pressure switch, level switch or float valve will activate a pump or open a public water line to refill the water tower.

Water tower info from Wikipedia.

Check out Everything You Wanted to Know About Where We Get Our Water on the Upper West Side neighborhood blog… WestSideRag.com.

According to the NY Daily News… New York broke an all-time record for a one-day rainfall Sunday as up to 8 inches of water soaked the city, snarling trains and flooding roadways. By 9 p.m., 7.7 inches of rain had fallen at Kennedy Airport.

It was the most recorded there in a single day since the National Weather Service began keeping records 116 years ago.

Technical Note:  Image was processed using Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 3.0 module and specifically the Tonal Contrast tool.