Lenny Kravitz in Concert

Lenny Kravitz and his longtime guitarist, Craig Ross, put on a show at New York's Radio City Music Hall. It's a homecoming for Kravitz who was born in Brooklyn. This is his first U.S. tour in five years.

From my fifth row seat, I was able to shoot a variety of photos since the lighting was always changing.

Lenny Kravitz made it easy for all of us who were shooting pictures (seemingly every one in attendance!) as he made many broad gestures like this one throughout his two hour performance. It wasn't that long ago that each and every ticket proclaimed: NO CAMERAS ALLOWED.

It was fun to try to take advantage of the multi-media aspects of the concert when Kravitz took certain positions on the stage.

This is one of the risky shots I tried as shooting into that bright light made the auto-focus on my camera go nuts and fight to find a lock-in point. This is one of those pictures that I'll keep trying to make until I get it right!

Me And Our Shadow

With my camera in the seat-back holder, I looked out the window on approach to JFK and I saw a circular rainbow-like image on the clouds. By the time I was ready to shoot, the image - much to my surprise - changed for the better. The shadow OF THE JET appeared inside the rings. I've flown many a mile in my life and I've never seen this type of pattern on clouds. I have photographed a similar image upon landing. But never have the conditions been right for a cloud reflection - at least, with me gazing out of a window with a camera a few inches away from my hands. ALWAYS have your camera ready for the one-of-a-kind shot.

Coffee With A Flash

Here are two versions of the same picture. I was recently urged by my college photography teacher to try more black and white. So, in addition to my typical color shot, the black and white picture does - to me- add a new angle to my work. More B&W in the future from me!

I shot five frames of me pouring cream into my cup of coffee. In fact, I was warned by a friend that I might end up with too much cream if I didn't stop taking pictures. But it was worth it when I lucked into a detailed shot of the cream-stream breaking up into three separate balls of liquid as it neared the surface of the coffee.

Up In The Sky

Big time kite flying was on display in Florida over the weekend at the 15th annual Treasure Island Kite Festival & Competition. Kites of all sizes (including one rumored $5,000 model - the big dog below) were in the sky easily on a very windy day at the beach.

Yes ... this huge dog kite costs $5,000 and as you might have guessed, it was one of the more popular kites at the fest. It might be a better fit at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade because of its size. BTW, that yellow kite is a sting ray.

Since blue is my favorite color, I picked this kite as my "best in show" simply because of its sky-matching hue.

Treasure Island is close to St Petersburg, Florida where I used to live for seven years while I was with the Rays baseball team. Here is a look at the vast variety of kites at the fest.

The strong wind actually made the wrangling the smaller kites a tough job. So it was amazing to watch the kite dancing competition that's staged to the accompaniment of popular music tracks and is judged as one would judge a gymnastics or ice skating competition.

I wanted to make it seem as if a tiny kite was coming out of this guy's camera lens. I just got the right angle and shot quickly.

Passing Time With A Blonde

In this case - blonde coffee. That's what Starbucks is pushing these days. I passed a Starbucks stand in the Tampa, Florida airport and I wanted to see how the latest, milder blend was being displayed. I don't drink Starbucks coffee, but I was still interested in the hype. I do own stock in the company so perhaps this new choice for devotees will put some extra jingle in my pocket.

Not sure if the name - BLONDE - and the type of coffee - WILLOW BLEND - will attract the biker crowd. Plus, it's decaf. Not the kind of coffee that suggests it's great for all-night study sessions.

I flew to Tampa of an airline I don't normally use. Thus, no TV to help kill time. So here are my magazine choices for the two and a half-hour flight from New York. I didn't get much reading in because my overhead light kept flickering on and off. Very frustrating. But sleep was a good second choice.

Apple's Newest Store ... Location.

A large amount of space and plenty of potential customers ... here is where Apple has opened its latest store. It's the famous, iconic, tourist mecca that's also known as New York's Grand Central Station. I made this image about 8pm on a Saturday night, so there's not that much traffic on the floor, but the Apple Store (I know ... where's the picture? I didn't take one) was pretty busy nonetheless. Click on the pics for a larger view.

By the way (BTW) here's what the ceiling of Grand Central Station looks like. A few years ago - in 1996 - the sky ceiling cleansing was part of a two year renovation project that brought new life to one of New York's most important locations.