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Times Square, despite being one of the most photographed places in the world, provided some great camera practice, especially with regard to relaxing about sneaking pictures of complete strangers.  Only two people looked at me as if I was a potential axe murderer.

Here are a few samples; more can be found here.

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Also, here are a few video clips from the same camera.  It definitely pales in comparison to my Canon HF S20, which is actually sort of a relief, because it means I'll continue to get plenty of use out of both purchases.

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Low light with the new cam:  Not as trivially easy as daylight.  Still got a few shots after work that I kinda liked.

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Wishing didn't pan out, so yesterday I summoned the power of AMEX and brought home a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. 

I realize that everybody and their dull hipster brother has an expensive digital camera strapped around their neck, and for a long time I resisted joining the herd.  After all, is there a slice of life in New York City that has yet to be documented with a creatively cockeyed angle, and that dreamy background blur that I refuse to call "bokeh"?

I've slowly begun to realize that I was missing the point.  Sometimes, for whatever primal reasons that caused humans to develop photography in the first place, life begs to be photographed.

For a few years, I've been clumsily snapping photos with my phone, then reviewing them on my computer with a underwhelmed sigh.  Sure, with enough light and a steady grip, the iPhone takes decent pics, but there's nothing spontaneous or elegant about them.  I'm not deft enough to thumb a touchscreen shutter icon with one hand while walking briskly and trying to remain inconspicuous.

I knew I'd never be one of those guys lugging around a ginormous pro camera, but it turns out there's a new(ish) class of camera, called Micro 4/3rds, that offers the portability of a compact camera alongside many of the alluring qualities of a DSLR.  Lenses are interchangeable, and the sensor size allows for better pictures in low light.  And the GF1 performs so well in daylight that I find myself shooting crystal clear-photos one-handed, spontaneously, and sometimes without even checking my shot beforehand.  Once I really develop a sense of where to point the thing, I'll be ready to join the paparazzi.

Shooting is half the fun.  Editing RAW format photos with minimal destruction is also very addicting.

Here are a few shots I took mere moments after purchasing the camera.  This is gonna be fun.

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What, you don't spend your Sunday afternoons trying to turn black and white photos into color?

I want to find a way to monetize this.

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Tonight, walking up Broadway, I spied the first bit of signage for my neighborhood's highly-anticipated Trader Joe's.

I read an article about Trader Joe's the other day, and now I'm even more excited.  Turns out Trader Joe's staff members are very well-paid, which means I probably won't have to endure scowling, monosyllabic cashiers, which describes the majority of conveyor jockeys at local mainstays Fairway and Westside Market.

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This one was pretty good; juicy and bloody, and just big enough to cancel out today's exercise.

Not sure if it's "$15 good," though.

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I'm not sure which I'm prouder of: Installing a new head today, or MacGyvering the old one with piano wire last night.

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Goddamn do I hate real estate brokers.*

Where was I?  Oh yeah:  Despite my visceral aversion to the site, lately I've been poking around the For Sale section, searching for things that I've often dreamt of buying, but only for really, really cheap.  Like, it'll be 2am--still early in the insomnia cycle--and I'll grab my laptop and search for "iPod shuffle," then sniff indignantly when I can't find one for a dollar.  "It's the size of a stick of gum," I loudly proclaim to no one, "and should be priced as such!"

And yes, 90% of the time it's Apple stuff.  I'm not one of those people who's blindly loyal to Apple, but I enjoy using many of their products.  And I often look for them used, because I totally agree with the contention that Apple products are overpriced for what they are.

One of these products is the Apple Cinema Display.  I use one at work occasionally, and after watching my China videos on it one day, I became convinced that I needed to get one.  It's one of the higher-quality displays out there, for technical mumbo-jumbo reasons, but there's nothing unique about the technology it uses.

What is unique, at least to pre-2008 models, is the low-profile aluminum housing.  I think Apple must have filed a patent on it, because from what I can tell, all other manufacturers kept churning out beautiful displays wrapped in fat, ugly, socially awkward molded plastic.  Yes, I'm kind of shallow like that. 

So is everyone else, apparently.  People regularly paid a 40% premium for aesthetics and branding.  And, in turn, the resale value was incredible.  Stupid-incredible.  5-year-old monitors were going for more than the price of new ones from other brands.

But today, on Craigslist, a gentleman put his 23-inch Cinema display on sale for a completely reasonable price:  About 100 bucks less than the lowest price I'd previously seen.  It was a great price for any IPS monitor, really.  (There's some of that tech talk.)

His reasoning:  "It's old, and I got a new iMac."

As a Craigslist For Sale newbie, I was overly cautious, and Googled the heck out of him to make sure he was a real person, or at least an axe-murderer who was being up-front about his identity.  Turns out he's the CEO of an advertising agency and lives in a giant apartment with his hot, personality-free wife, and young son.  Actually, I didn't know the last three quarters of that statement until I showed up at his building earlier this evening.

And I swear, while I was there, I tested out the monitor in every conceivable way, minus licking it.  It wasn't until I got it home that I noticed that the top and bottom of the display have a discernibly pinkish hue.  Most colors look very uniform (especially compared to my cheap old HP monitor), but on web sites with boring white backgrounds (ahem), it's pretty apparent.  You can sort of see it in the picture above.

The pink has actually faded a bit now, or my feeble brain is compensating for it.

But I bought it for video, and in that capacity, it really shines.  For the price I paid, I can't really complain.  I'm a skinflint, pure and simple.  Not the best match for Steve Jobs and Co., but they've already got quite a bit of my dough.

And, as I've said, I'm not some mindless Apple-addict.  I can quit anytime I want.  There's lots of other technology companies who deserve my business.  Er, can you excuse me for a second?

Mmmmmmm...Apple-y.

*This is a New York thing.  If you are a real estate broker in Omaha, carry on.

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I don't sign the lease until Monday, but my apartment seems good to go. In case you were wondering, it's officially a bad idea to switch cities in the middle of the month, because it seems most places rent on the first. Here are a few illustrative pics.

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