----The photos are linked, as required, to Flickr. But In general the largest versions are here on the blog. ---Flickr Slideshow of my Santacon NYC 09 photos
Here I am. I’m holding my north pole, which usually had my camera mounted on top. Photo by Santa Becky Nordmann.
I started out with the multitude of Santas in Greenpoint, inside and outside the Warsaw bar on Driggs Avenue. (more…)
1/8/09: I can’t figure out why this post is getting so many hits. Leave a comment if you know.
This is the Santa pole that so many Elves and Santas admired. It is obviously less exciting up close.
I took a bit more care giving my lightweight monopod the ability to tilt. But this quickly made version was just as functional. Use 1/4-20 bolts with machine threading (a very common size in the US). The wood is 5/8" thick, which let me bend the plumber’s strap and align the holes just right. The washer under the wingnut helps with smoother operation. The two nuts on the same bolt will lock against each other, and keep the bolt from spinning. the washers on the bolt space the depth the screw goes into the camera. You may have to play around with it a bit to get your camera pointed straight forward.
I was surprised at how steady an image a pocket camera on the end of a pole can provide. I suspect the length of the pole somehow dampens the handheld jitters. I did have to guess at what the camera was seeing, so this is less than ideal. But for crowd events having the ability to go smoothly from eye level to ten feet up is pretty cool.
gammablog.com/2008/12/14/santacon-nyc-2008/
I’m not sure why a tilt mechanism is not standard on all monopods. It increases the functionality tremendously. You can buy heads for your monopod, but they increase the minimum length by a couple of inches. This mod kept it the same length it was. Without being able to tilt the camera, I couldn’t have looked down on the Santas without holding the pole awkwardly.
Update: Now with more Santas, part 2 of the video is embedded below.
Both videos are mildly NSFW, mostly for language.
I regard Santacon and other roving gatherings as street art, people expressing themselves in public. I was torn between capturing the event on video and dancing down the street. This year I pretty much sacrificed the dancing for the capturing. Maybe next year I’ll attach my camera to a Santa helmet and just go for it. Though if I wasn’t having fun shoving my striped pole in the air like a crane, I would have put the camera away, had a drink or two, and joined the dance.
Bill Cunningham in the New York Times stumbled upon the event and has an audio slideshow. He was greatly amused.
Part 1 finds the Santas in midtown completely covering the steps of the General Post Office on Eighth Avenue,
and then traipsing over to Grand Central Terminal.
Full Screen (Link to YouTube, click play in high quality and then hit the full screen button on the player)
Santacon NYC 2008 Part 1 from GammaBlog on Vimeo.
Part 2 takes the Santas from Rockefeller Center, to the South Street Seaport, and the Staten Island Ferry.
Full Screen (Link to YouTube, click play in high quality and then hit the full screen button on the player)
Santacon NYC – 2008 – Pt. 2 from GammaBlog on Vimeo.
The pedal-powered stripper pole at the South Street Seaport. I mostly shot video during this year’s massive NYC Santacon. I have eight and a half gigs of it to edit into something worth showing.
Warning if you go to Santacon dressed as a panda, you will likely get whacked in the head with a candy cane by feisty girls!
The annual Santa invasion happened this past Saturday, mostly in Manhattan. I walked a tricky line between participating and shooting the video. You lose a lot of the sociability of such events when you are constantly on the lookout for the next good shot. So you better watch out for excellent hula hooping, fantastic Santa Capoeira and loads of silly costumes and antics. I guess I should mark this one a little nsfw, for some naughty language.
[youtube]JtgjRqfj2ss[/youtube]
For some reason the longer version I had on Google Video is no longer working. So I split it in half to put it on YouTube, which has a ten-minute limit on size. (Update: Google fixed it. See it in one piece here.
Part 1 starts on Pier 45, Hudson River Park in the West Village where the Elves gave love to the firemen, and Santa headed on to Connolly’s Pub near Times Square with Reverend Billy, to then invade Grand Central Station, and spin the Astor Place Cube (Alamo).
NY1.com – Weather EV Grieve The Lo-Down Bowery Boogie Vanishing New York NYC the Blog NY Times Local Cityroom NYT Culture Feed from WNYC NY 1
RSS of Gary Null’s Blog Buzzflash Truth Out News Reddit Environment C-Monster Art Blog
