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New York Liberty
As the official banking partner of the NY Liberty team, Barclays had the first float on the ticker tape parade organized by the City of New York. The event was exciting for all. New Yorkers came from all over, especially from Brooklyn. The air was filled with gratitude to a team that fought all the way to the championship for the first time in their franchise history. The parade was a party! Barclays’ colleagues on the float had a great time. So did I, who had the opportunity to photograph the parade and the ceremony at City Hall.
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions Just before the parade started, I walked by each float to take pictures. You could see how happy the players were. I had the chance to get a big smile from Jonquel Jones, the team’s MVP, who was carrying her trophy.
Barclays Powering Champions After the parade, there were more celebrations at City Hall.
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions 
Barclays Powering Champions New York commuter
I think this is a quintessential New York image. It is not the Empire State building, or Lady Liberty, or Grand Central Terminal. It is just a commuter pedaling his way through steam to get to work in Midtown Manhattan.
I was coming back from a shoot, so I had my camera with me. I saw the steam leak and took out my camera. I did take a bunch of pictures, using different angles. Then I saw cars passing through the steam, and some people riding bikes. This was one of the best shots I took that day.
So, here it is, to the heroes who brave the streets on New York to go to work.
Howard University vs. Morehouse College
Thanks to Michael Collins, Julissa Brenes, and Taylor Davies, from the DEI team, I was able to attend the 2024 HBCU NY Classic, where The Bisons (Howard University) defeated the Maroon Tigers (Morehouse College) 35 to 21. I got a press pass and was able to go to the field sidelines, where I photographed the players, the coaches, the referees, the cheerleaders, the marching bands, and the public.
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College 
Howard University vs. Morehouse College Digital Photography: Emulating Dark Room Techniques
Thanks to my mentor in Peru, a German photographer who moved to Lima in the 80’s, I started taking pictures using slide film. During all the years that I shot on film, I might have shot ten rolls of black and white at the most. That’s all. When you shoot slides, you must be very precise with the exposure (very narrow exposure latitude). There is no room for mistakes. If you underexpose, you will lose details in the shadows. If you overexpose, you will lose details in the highlights. If your subject has areas with very different, extreme tones, you must choose which details you are going to lose. The color saturation, and high contrast that slides offered always appealed to me.
With black and white, the film is more forgiving because its exposure latitude is much broader. There is a lot of room to play with. In the lab, you can burn and dodge areas in the print to get those details. With slides, what you shoot is what you get.
Today, with digital cameras, shooting in RAW format, and using photography software, you can replicate dark room techniques digitally. Granted, Adobe Lightroom has many more tools …
So, I shoot in color, but I can “develop” the image in black and white. I can increase contrast and enhance the image to show the vision I want to share.
I took this picture in Montreal a couple of weeks ago. I spent a week there training Aikido at a summer camp. This is a picture of a woman crossing the street taken from the 17th floor of our hotel. I really liked the late afternoon long shadows. I hope you like them, too.
Central Park Fireworks Show
Picture of the Month (July 2024)
Happy 4th of July! I hope you celebrate with friends and family, enjoy a barbeque (vegan, vegetarian, and/or omnivorous), and the fireworks (either live from your local town, or on the TV.
I had the chance to see fireworks in Central Park after a concert by the New York Philharmonic. A friend and I positioned ourselves on the north shore of the reservoir and waited patiently for the concert to finish. We could barely hear the music. But, we heard, and saw, the fireworks!
Fire works in Central Park How well do you know the Manhattan Skyline? Tell me if you can recognize the buildings in the background.
Have a nice and safe weekend.
P.S. Remember, you can always follow me on Instagram @javier.dominguez.photography
Vermilion Lighthouse
This country is big and beautiful. We had the opportunity to visit Lake Erie on the Ohio side. We were in a town called Vermilion where we had an excellent meal at The Vault Wine Bar (a small restaurant on the premises of an old bank, The Citizens Bank of Shelby, built in 1911). We had just come from the Harbor View Park, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the lake. As we were leaving, I turned back and photographed a scene that I thought worthy to share as the picture of the month:
Vermilion, Ohio The following day we went back and had ice cream at Granny Joe’s Ice Creamatorium. The house where it operates was built in 1850, one of the oldest buildings in the harbor, and it was the first funeral parlour in vermilion. The ice cream was to die for ….
Vermilion, Ohio 
Vermilion, Ohio 
Vermilion, Ohio 
Vermilion, Ohio 
Vermilion, Ohio The Constellation of The Tree Frog
Picture of the Month (March, 2024)
You know spring is around the corner when The Constellation of the Tree Frog is visible at night.
I took this picture of a Grey Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) climbed on a glass door in a house on the Hudson Valley. The white spots, which look like stars in the sky, are dust speckles reflecting light from my flash.
Grey tree frog in the Hudson Valley The Climate Is Always Changing …
The climate is always changing …
This is a one-liner that climate change deniers love to repeat in social media and in open discussions. It is a simplified, incomplete version of the truth, either out of ignorance or due to their willingness to misinform. Yes, the climate is always changing. The important, true issue, is that the rate of change we are experiencing now is not following a geological time scale. Without human intervention through the burning of fossil fuels, the changes we are experiencing would take tens of thousands of years. Instead, human intervention is causing these changes in only 100 to 150 years.
Jonas winter storm In 1912, an article in Popular Mechanics warned that coal burning in furnaces around the world would have a negative impact on our climate. We’ve known for years of the relation between fossil fuel burning and the greenhouse effect at a global level. Exxon knew from at least the 1970s. Other oil companies knew earlier since around the 1950s.
Miss Saigon on Broadway during a bomb cyclone. I am fascinated by the power of nature, and I want to capture its strength and beauty. Since I’m a New Yorker, a lot of my pictures are from Manhattan. I do carry my camera with me always when I’m traveling. So, my search for this type of images is constant.
The beach prior to the storm. These pictures were being exhibited in my office cafeteria at on 7th Avenue as part of a Climate Art exhibit organized by re:dish, an unreasonable company. I’m told that the exhibit will move to Delaware and New Jersey soon.
Hudson Valley Oculus in Downtown Manhattan
Picture of the Month (October, 2023)
I had a long lens and was located on a higher floor at the Oculus in Downtown Manhattan. That makes observing people and their behavior much easier. It’s like an anthropological study of visitors and tourists inside of one of New York’s newest attractions. The Oculus is a combination of transportation hub and shopping center. Actually, it is the third largest transportation center in NYC. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect born in the town of Benimàmet in Valencia. Calatrava is not only and architect, but also a structural engineer, sculptor, and painter.
As I was observing the people walking or standing around this particular stand, I noticed how everybody was living in their own world. I had my camera ready and carefully composed my shot. You can see the result below.
Downtown Manhattan I did take several shots and it took me some time to do the post-production (because I was busy with other projects). But I finally worked on the pictures and chose the ones I liked the most.
I hope you like this one, too.
Be Ready When It Matters
In professional sports and performing arts, you have to be great. Most importantly, you have to be great when it matters. Scoring a goal during practice is not the same as doing it during the football match at the Championship Final match. Landing a pirouette or reaching that high note is priceless when the audience is there, watching you. Not during practice.
Sometimes, doing something that you are proud of is the result of being at the right place at the right time. Being lucky, if you will. And yet, you still need to be ready, grab your camera, compose and shoot. I’m not a 100% happy with this picture. If only I had moved the camera a little …. But, I really like it. The two people in the image were in this particular configuration for less than a minute.
I shot three pictures while waiting for them to be in the right position. Then, they moved away. Each one in a different direction. They were not part of a group, as I thought, but completely unrelated to each other. Just two individuals admiring paintings at the National Galleries of Scotland. This is the picture I selected from the three I captured.
Scottish National Gallery