So people coming out of Broadway’s “West Side Story” at around 11 p.m. Dec. 19, 2009 were hit with a snow storm. After watching the Jets and the Sharks battle it out, they must have thought it’d be fun re-enact he snowball version of it. These were taken with a Canon 5d Mark II, using a not-well-attached rainjacket…I’m surprised anything came out in focus. I actually quit early because I didn’t think anything would turn out, and now I wish I had put a serious effort into shooting. Oh well, at least I got to fight back after getting hit with a few cheapshots…
Flickr set is here. Also, I took some sloppy video of it. You can see the meta-data on the Flickr page, but I used a Canon 5d Mark II, a 24-70mm L, and pretty much everything is shot at F2.8-3.5 at 1000-1250 ISO, and 1/60-1/350 (the light varied wildly depending on the billboard activity)
(All photos are Non-Commercial Creative Commons SA 2.0.
I’m pretty sure this little punk hit me. As did many children when they realized I wasn’t going to throw back…

I almost didn’t go out that evening…all of my friends decided to be shut-ins. But it wasn’t any worse than a typical Midwestern storm and everyone who got stuck in the blustery wind was still in a good mood…definitely one of the best evenings I’ve had in Times Square and Manhattan, New York period. And kudos to the NYPD for…well…not pulling out a gun.
Update: Apparently, this is not that regular of an occurence. The New York Times writes about how it created a “social media flurry”. Doug Kim, who got linked off of CNN’s iReport, has better action shots (though I think Times Square is one place where color photos can trump B&W). I just posted this so I could get on Reddit.














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at 3:33 am
I was in Times Square on a trip to NYC not long ago, would love to of been there for this!
You got some beautiful shots there, as you said, the lighting there trumps any B&W photo thanks to the bright neon colours available from the billboards!
at 10:44 am
Came across your blog via Flickr. These images are wonderful! Esp. love the one with the balloons! Glad to hear your gear survived.
at 4:12 pm
Great shots…..NYC amazes me everytime I am there….a city where things are always happening! I have plans to visit the city next christmas! I hope it snows then too
I have shared your link in my facebook ! Thank you!
at 4:24 pm
Great pix, thanks so much for sharing them!! I love NYC to pieces, wish I could have been there for this!!
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at 7:54 pm
they are really great. Nice use of light!
at 10:26 pm
Those pictures are so great!!! Thanks for sharing… I wish I would be there for the snowball!!
at 11:07 pm
Wow! Such beautiful photos! I love the color and agree that it trumps.
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at 10:35 pm
Beautifully lit, great composition, magical quality. Thanks for sharing. P.S. I came across these while reading your posts about Pfizer. If you have a special interest in pharmaceuticals and prescribing, I would like to arrange a short call.
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