The Inaugural NYC Fall Colors and Shades workshop was an absolute triumph! Our class of five intrepid photographers crossed islands and boroughs, immersed in the brash display of predominantly yellow and deep red foliage that defined the season. This workshop was designed to challenge you to see the city in a new, integrated light, focusing on city parks (both large like Central Park & Governors Island, and micro-sized). We spent our days mastering two distinct and powerful aesthetics: the timeless drama of black & white and the stunning visual feast of fall color, capturing the narrative of the city through graphic lines, stark contrast, and the warm, rich hues of autumn.
Brandon Remler showed up and did our class picture in infra red
What an amazing three days! We concluded our journey through NYC’s most beautiful and compelling locations with a gallery-ready collection of stunning images. Our core focus on blending landscape and street photography allowed us to capture the quiet, timeless grandeur of Central Park’s massive oak trees, only to pivot and frame the fleeting, human moments of urban life. The assignments were met with incredible dedication, showing students expertly incorporating experimental techniques like ICM (intentional camera movement), Pans and specific concepts like thinking in triptych.
Day One: Park Elegance and Museum Inspiration
Using the Nikon Z9 14-24 f2.8 & 24-120 f4 made it easy to nail the “postcard” shot
Our first day was a study in classic New York elegance, beginning in Greenly Square and quickly immersing us in the golden light of Central Park. We circumnavigated the lakes, explored the iconic Bethesda Terrace, and captured the classic New York vistas. After a restful lunch, the Man Ray show at the Met provided profound inspiration, shifting our focus to stark contrast and surreal narrative. The evening culminated in capturing the warm, directional light of sunset at Cleopatra’s Needle, ending the day with dramatic, silhouette-ready images.
Day Two: Water, History, and Greenwich Village Grit
Govenors Island is a photo composition paradise
We kicked off Day Two with a nautical adventure, sailing out from the Battery Maritime Building to Governors Island. This provided essential, clear-air perspective on the Lower Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty—a powerful exercise in urban landscape photography. Massive oaks with turning leaves in a maritime enclave was explored with an eye for ruinism. After returning, the focus shifted to “urban park” street photography in the Village. From the vibrant life inside Washington Square Park and across the village to Tompkins Square park’s skater haven, we explored the rich character to these parks, pushing our cameras to capture the fleeting moments that define New York’s personality on a perfect fall day. After dinner at Momofuko, we all began the task of editing for the next day’s critique session.
Fishermen in silhouette with Lady Liberty in the background. How much more NYC can you get?
Day Three: Chelsea and the Hudson River Canvas
Little Island is a city treasure- in all seasons but Fall is very special
Our final morning began with bagels, coffee and an inspiring critique session, where the group submitted 12 final images, demonstrating huge leaps in editing confidence. Afterwards, energized, we took to the streets of Chelsea, documenting the architecture, townhouses, and creeping foliage. The afternoon was devoted to the waterfront, starting at the modern, organic architecture of Little Island and concluding with a walk on the High Line. This blend of nature and modern design provided the perfect final challenge, allowing everyone to synthesize the week’s lessons and complete the workshop with a fresh, comprehensive portfolio.
One of the assigments was to present a triptych of the days locations.
WORKSHOP GALLERY
I was pleasantly surprised at the adoption of color to my vision. I’ve been living in a black and white photography universe exclusively for the past decade when I swore off color. I really enjoyed seeking out the color of the landscape, as opposed to the contrast. I think this workshop has opened me up to a softer stance on making color work.
Washington Square Park Legend, Joey Chess
If you were concerned about my satisfaction with working in color, I did make a series of images in black and white during the three-day workshop. Yes, black and white does have its place in the fall colors. Long live the B&W image!
Having the Man Ray exhibit anchor day one was key, because one of the assignments for day two was to make an image in homage to Man Ray. It proved to be very difficult, but the class pulled through and leveled up.
We are repeating this workshop in 2026. I’m sure it will sell out, so if the above tickels your aperture, then hop on over the NYC Fall Colors & Shades 3 Day Workshop Home and seize your spot. Limited to 6 and will sell out as it’s priced with a good value.
As many of us, I’m a gear freak and love optics. I was poking around the Nikon Z lens options on the B&H Website and came across this lens, the TTArtisan Tilt 50. It’s part of this wave of ‘cheap cost’, but ‘not cheaply made’, Chinese lenses. The 70’s were a hey-day of weird, wide, and tele lenses from oddball companies; and then in the 2000’s Lensbaby hit the market. Now with the rise of easy manufacture (barring tariffs) lenses, and manual film/video lens needs, there is a plethora of this type of equipment to try out. Long story short: I bought the lens on speculation, and was pleasantly surprised on all fronts!
I slapped the lens on a Nikon Zf with focus peaking turned off (I found it hard to “see the image” with the shimmering distraction), auto iso on, aperture mode, B&W switched on, Raw. Making sure “ok to shoot without lens” setting is checked. I took a morning stroll on the Highline excited to try out this fine feeling lens.
The lens has two unique controls, one for the tilt and the other direction of the tilt axis. By strategically turning these two, in tandem with the manual aperture, you gain access to a “strip” of in focus view. You can “spin” the lens to make that strip go anywhere. The lens also has a wonder full depth of field bokeh and close 19.7″ / 50 cm minimum focus.
The actual sharpness of the lens is questionable, it’s not a view camera, but that’s not the point. Straight on at F8 it’s sharp, but it falls off the more wide we open. However I found it sharp enough to certainly buy and keep in my gear bag. It’s fun to use and produces unique results.
The lens likes height to give it perspective. Walking the Hhighline was actually perfect with its vantage points and strong horizontal lines.
We cruised out to celebrate the fourth of July out in the Hamptons in the Buick and I grabbed the same combo.
Couple of notes, you have to have deft and strong fingers to maneuver the tilt and rotation functions. A tripod couldn’t hurt, but I used it handheld during my exploration of the lens.
My favorite wall north of MoMa. Vintage camera wall by Brandon Remler.
Shot this one at f16 amined up into the sun through the trees. I wanted to see how much wackadoodle the flare would cause. The result, enough!
Shooting the Tilt 50 at f. 2 to 4 seems best. Shooting wide open at 1.4 makes the circle very tight. Opening up two stops is the “sweet spot”. It’s the dreamy effect. I dig it. Is it gimicky like full frame fish eye? yes. But the Tilt 50 does have its place. I’m thinking a start and finish workout project, shot only with the Tilt 50. The tilt effect makes things tiny and if used correctly, can help telling the story by highlighting via focus on subjects.
I don’t recommend it for straight shooting. Not having the effect makes it less desirable, but still, the bokeh is outstanding and for the cost… Certainly less than Eisenhower’s collar.
That’s the great night photographer Gabriel Biderman and the president of the Duran Duran fan club, Nancy (only kidding, Nan is one of the finest people I call a friend). But in all seriousness, this image illustrates the way the tilt 50 can assist story telling.
It’s a heavy weight lens at 15.9 oz / 452 g. The focus is smooth as well as the click less aperture ring for those who might consider using it for film making. Which by the way, I suspect would be outstanding. Like a way to shoot a memory or a dream sequence. The lens also has satisfactory knurled rings if you were to use with a follow focus device.
Here’s my plan. I’m keeping the lens. At $229 using a payboo card it has great potential with insignificant investment. In the spring I bought the 14-24 2.8 S lens and love it, but at it’s hefty 2k price it doesn’t do what this little extra nifty fifty can do. It comes in all the mounts including Fuji X, Canon, Sony and micro 4/3. Go buy it at B&H and tell me how you like you it.
NYC does things big, and this march was no exception. The call was out on social media and being discussed, I actually heard about it while I was parking my Vespa on 35th street.
The “No Kings” march was a series of nationwide protests held on June 14, 2025, coinciding with a large military parade in Washington, D.C.
These protests aimed to voice opposition to the Trump administration’s policies and what they perceived as authoritarian tendencies.
Organizers said the protests were a response to what they saw as an attempt by the Trump administration to project dominance and militarize the country.
The protests drew large crowds in cities across the U.S. and even internationally, with organizers claiming millions participated in hundreds of events. Demonstrations took place in major cities like New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, as well as smaller communities.
The protests were generally peaceful, with a focus on expressing dissent and concerns about the direction of the country.
While the protests were not explicitly anti-monarchy, the “No Kings” name was chosen to convey the message of rejecting authoritarianism and what organizers saw as an overreach of executive power under the Trump administration.
The timing of the protests, alongside the military parade, was meant to create a contrast between the perceived militarization of the government and the public’s desire for a more democratic and inclusive society.
Above is a one minute 38 second video of stills mixed in with audio I recorded on my iPhone. The video was edited in iMovie.
My feelings photographing this protest were one of duty and respect. As Americans, there is something sublime to exercising your first amendment rights. The key is peaceful, and this protest march was certainly peaceful. I witnessed no aggressive or destructive behavior from my walk of 42nd street to 23rd street. There were families and many other older New Yorkers on the periphery and no counter protesting. The rain was relentless and it did not dull the numbers. I estimate 50K showed up. It was a solid mass of marchers from 42nd to 23rd for well over an hour.
Photo by Brandon Remler
I used a Nikon Z9 with 14-24 2.8 and 24-120 4.0. I had originally planned on two bodies, but the rain was really coming down and I didn’t want the extra weight. At one point I was changing lenses under a scaffolding and was quite cautious in the operation! That’s the merit of two bodies- no lens switching. Noted for next time.
Photography is a drug, it can be your savior, a north star in times of trouble. I mean it, when you lift the camera to your eye and view the world through the view finder native troubles are sidelined and creating the image takes center stage. Recently my wife Barbara and I had to drop everything and take care of her aging mother in law in Milan. While we braced for the worst, the little lady has recovered and we are back in NYC.
The following text is a the narration from the slide show you can view on Youtube.
This family calamity had moments of full attention and lots of down time. Using the down time to mitigate the situation would lend peace and purpose to this dark time. So I did what every self respecting photographer artist would do and make a “creative plan” that is really art therapy. Taking stock of what I had and where I would be I vowed to push myself to its completion.
Setting parameters.
Before leaving I took stock in front of my antique breakfront that houses my camera collection. The task ahead was a heavy one, and I wanted to reach deep down chose a camera that is challenging (requiring focus) and inspirational. Recently I swapped out straps on my gorgeous Nikon SP (the rate 2005 reissue) and I was keen to bring it into the field. It had been over a year since I ran a roll of film through the camera and it’s always a pleasure to use, the camera feels so good in the hands. What optics to bring? For Lenses would be a 35mm 1.8 and 25mm f4. Check. I also have a new iPhone 16 Pro Max I had just upgraded from my iPhone 13 so that would be my “mobile sketch book”. Check. Because I am a serious photographer and I have been so successful with my current camera set up, I packed the Nikon Z9 and the super versatile 24-120 f 4. Along with two laptops (my airbook and B&H work laptop) I stuffed it all into a Tenba back pack and along with Eisenhower my faithful Chihuahua I jetted off to Italy.
We are staying in the Bovisa neighborhood of Milan and there is an old school film lab around the corner from the flat, “Speed Foto” that maintains a nice selection of used analog cameras they display in the window and a great selection of different films. After sorting out important health obligations I eagerly headed over to peruse what vintage cams they had and most importantly, buy a few rolls of film to shoot. I picked to something weird, Lomography “lomochrome” film in a three pack. Each roll has it’s own color funk, turquoise, metropolis, and purple. The process is C41 but I after shooting with them, I surmised they are a slide film (positive) that are maximized for C41 process making them negatives. The formula and process makes odd color shifts in different spectrums. The results are weird as you can see from the below work.
I resolved to finish those rolls in the 12 days between flights. I felt the first roll was getting into form and getting used to the camera which is requires lots of work for urban street photography. The camera is fully manual exposure and focus. Due to its compact size, changing aperture is difficult and the view finder for these old eyes is challenging. I brought shoe mount meter, but the on switch stayed on during the flight and the button battery was dead. I resolved to go meter less and use my years of intuition to guess the exposure. A few days in I wanted to see how accurate I was and downloaded the Lux app on the iPhone. 9 times out ten I nailed it.
The above parameters made for a very exciting photography distraction. I got to make some work, challenge my skills and focus on photography in a total way. I have a new found appreciation for how good the modern Nikon Z series cameras are. The Nikon S rangefinder system is 1950’s, my Z9 and Zf are post covid tech- 2022, a whopping 70 years of photography progress! It shows in every aspect, but I have a saying, “you have to know where you came from to know where you’re going”. The mini project fulfilled that in a profound way. I’m also happy to report that Mom is recovered and doing well. She has a bionic enhancement of a pacemaker, but her body is 1930’s. She’s like the Nikon SP and Nikon Z9 combined!
There is no doubt that vintage film cameras are cool and there is something special about shooting film in the digital age. This workshop is for those who want to connect with a mechanical camera to express photography the way it was in its heyday of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s. David Brommer has never abandoned film photography and has a massive collection of “vintage users” he maintains.
Dates: June 2nd, 2024 9 AM-5 PM
Genre: Analog Street & Urban Photography
Group Size: Max 5 participants
Skill Levels: All
Includes: 3 rolls of film, camera rental, film processing and scanning, breakfast and post workshop group zoom.
Cost: $350.00
In this special one day workshop he will open up his cabinet of cameras and let you choose which one to shoot with during the day. Fancy a Hasselblad medium format? We have a red one with three lenses. A Nikon? Take your pick of SLR or Rangefinder. Want to experiment with a half frame 35mm? The Olympus Pen F is your camera. For those who want precision, grab the Contax with Zeiss lenses, or go instant with Fujifilm Instax. You may also bring a manual camera you inherited or were gifted and want to learn to use. You’ll have three rolls of film to work with during the workshop.
The focus of your day will be street and urban photography. This includes people and architecture with an emphasis on compositional elements. Film photography can be fun and surprising and each film emulsion has a look all their own. This workshop will give you a firm grasp of the basics of mechanical film cameras, exposure and composition.
Nikon FE 50mm Nikkor 1.4 Ais Fujifilm Superia 400 Converted to B&W (note the grain)
The day begins with coffee and bagels while we get a lesson on how to load film into your camera. After a quick rooftop photo op and exposure discussion, we take to the streets and head to little Island on the Hudson. Crossing the West Village we stop at the “secret garden” and continue east to the photo paradise of Washington Square Park and grab lunch. We then visit the Photo Lab 5R for a tour and workflow discussion. From there our walk continues to the Alamo and the East Village ending in Tompkins Square park. Cameras will be collected and film dropped off at our lab. Just like in the hinter years, you will get to look at your work about a week later after they have been developed, scanned and emailed to you. A few weeks later we will meet on zoom for an image review.
Nikon FE 50 mm 1.4 Fujifilm Superia 400Nikon FE 50 mm 1.4 Fujifilm Superia 400Nikon SP 35mm 1.8 Kodak Tri-X with Shitty Iphone Scan
Each student receives 3 rolls of film (B&W & Color Options) that includes processing and negative scanning. (Prints available at additional cost). Breakfast included, lunch on your own. Workshop is rain or shine. 2 weeks after the workshop a group zoom will be conducted with student submitted work to discuss and review. Class is limited to 5 students.
Cost: $350 Includes three rolls of film, camera rental, film processing and scanning, breakfast and post workshop group zoom.
On this next assignment (or shall we say ‘visual challenge’) we are going to explore how very different subjects can dynamically interact with each other, whether they are thrown in a situation or they just happen to exist in two diametrically opposite circumstances.
The goal of the exercise is to push our vision to the brim of conflict, break free from pre conceived notions and find the harmony in opposition.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 5 TH AT MIDNIGHT. LIVE REVIEW MONDAY MAY 6TH AT 6:00 PM
Now point your cameras at it. Here are the rules:
You can submit one image in the theme “OPPOSITES ATTRACT”. This image is an assignment, you are highly encouraged to prioritize creating this photograph in the coming weeks. Since there is so much lead time, only newly created work will be reviewed. You may NOT draw from your archive, by embracing this home work you will gain the full benefit of this assignment,seek out or make the image.
Upload ONE 2-5 mb jpeg. Images must follow this naming convention: firstname_lastname.jpg ie: david_brommer.jpg and not have a water mark. Images will only be used for a one time recorded critique. By following the naming convention you will receive credit for your work in the form of a shout out during the review.
Take this assignment seriously. Street Photographers can hit the pavement and find the opposites attracting or you can set up the photograph with family, friends and other willing accomplices. Start taking notes, write down ideas that come to your mind while thinking about what Opposites Attract means to you. Plan where you will make these photographs or how you will construct the photograph.
One image will be chosen as the best in class and a $50 donation to IPC will be made in the photographers name. Your hard work will do good by supporting an excellent organization.
The International Photographic Council (IPC) is dedicated to increasing worldwide recognition of photography as a universal means of communication. Through a variety of efforts such as the awarding of scholarships to students and the recognition of professional photographers annually at the UN, IPC continues to promote photography in the spirit of its motto: “Peace Through Photography, the Universal Language.”
Suspect Photography 