Submitter's name:	Michael Virsinger
Title:	A New Day
Gear used:	OM-1n + 16/3.5 Fisheye
Diaphragm:	f16
Shutter speed:	1/2
Film used:	Kodak Royal Gold 200 ASA.
Technical information:	I handheld this shot for the half second it took to get the ghosting effect. I am surprised that I was able to get as much as I did without a tripod. I let the OM-1n meter do it's thing and bracketed +/- 1 stop.
Subject information:	8:30am Monday rush in Grand Central Station, NYC. This was soon after the 9/11 WTC attacks so pedestrian traffic was lighter than usual. I bracketed and shot almost a whole roll to get the right shutter/aperture combination. After I shot each frame I jotted down the exposure. After about 20 shots, someone came up to me and said: "As a citizen of the United States, I am obligated to ask you what you are doing..." Normally as a native New Yorker, I would have brushed him off, but given the tense climate after the recent events, I smiled and explained the what I was doing. The world is a different place these days...
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Comment left by: Olaf Greve (no e-mail specified)

This is really nice! I love the way the yellow lines and the sunlit pathway lead one right into the centre of the picture. The American flag, and the sunrays are the reward one finds for following those lines. Nice job on getting the proper lighting balance between the dark and light parts of the picture. Also, you did very well at hand holding the camera steadily!

Comment left by: Adam Bolt (boldbolty@iprimus.com.au)

I like this shot, it is very thought provoking! . Perfect framing with the yellow lights leading your eye into the photo. The way you have descibed and taken this shot makes me think of thousands of lost souls trying to "Escape the light" before meeting thy maker.

Comment left by: Bruce Hamm (bhamm@magma.ca)

Very spectacular image. I really like the sun streamimg in through the window, and the way the flag almost glows within the dark scene.

Comment left by: Eric Pederson (epederso@darkwing.uoregon.edu)

Lovely image. How on earth can you hold 1/2 sec steady handheld?????? Were you at least braced against a pillar or something? I might crop left and right sides very slightly so no objects are cut in half and to greater emphasize the vertical elements. I love the ambiguous figure (running child?) in the low center.

Comment left by: siddiq (no e-mail specified)

easily one of my favourites in this edition of TOPE! i'm surprised at how small the place seems; i've never seen it, but seems on the tight side, esp. since this is a superwide perspective. well done keeping the camera dead level and steady!

Comment left by: andrew Fildes (afildes@netlink.com.au)

Er - not quite level and centred. Not always possible of course. This is a tremendous shot - it's really hard to get something fresh with a fish but you did. Well done. I'd want to use a monopod at least, even with a 16mm. You could have told your pompous interrogator that he was obliged, not obligated... :)

Comment left by: Bill Barber (nsurit@aol.com)

Stunning and timely! Beautiful color. Warm. Love the way the walls, because of the fisheye distortion, seem to be embracing or protecting the flag and the light. I lovely image.

Comment left by: John Wheeler (wheelej@tpg.com.au)

Mike, Wow, nice shot, nice lens. I would have thought that the lines of lights would have been more curved with as wide an angled lens as this. As a newcomer to Olympus (previously Mamiya 35 and Leica user) I'm just getting to appreciate the quality and diversity of Oly lenses. Apropos your contact with the other New Yorker, let me say that I have just returned to Sydney after spending 4 weeks in the US including 7 days in NYC. Even though their characteristics may have been modified by the recent bastardry let me say that every New Yorker my wife and I met was friendly and most gracious. Great city, beaut people!

Comment left by: Miles Nordin (carton@ivy.net)

Almost a great shot. If only you'd been able to level it - and if only you'd used a monopod or beanbag to make SOME part of this sharp, then it'd be a great shot. I'm surprised, frankly, at the fine palette from the Kodak Royal 200. Kodak's come a long way from the hideous "Max" emulsions.

Comment left by: Andrew Wolf (Paintboy71@hotmail.com)

such a dreamy depiction of Grand Central, glad to see you got that lighting you figured was there, well done. I grew up in Queens Village with a Michal virsinger, great to see this shot of a New York landmark!

Comment left by: the real Miles Nordin (carton@Ivy.NET)

wtf? I did not write that. some bastard is impersonating me. I'm serious.

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