A few nice Jessica Biel images I found:
New York tango, Apr 2010 – 75
Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published in an Aug 13, 2010 blog titled "Colin Firth Receives Oscar Nomination For Gay Role." It was also published in an Aug 24, 2010 Photo-dot-Hadnews blog, with the same title as the caption that I used on this Flickr page. ANd it was published in a Dec 27, 2010 Cute Celebrities blog, with the same title as the caption that I wrote on this Flickr page.
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Let me begin with a disclaimer: I do not dance the tango, and I know little or nothing about its history, its folklore, or even its steps and rhythms. I’m vaguely aware that it originated in Argentina (and Uruguay) in the 1890s, that a new style known as "tango nuevo" began to emerge in the late 1990s, and that various actors and actresses — including Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger(!), among others — have performed the tango in various movies. But beyond that, it never really occurred to me that it played any significant role here in the U.S.
That is, not until the summer of 2009, when I happened to return to my hotel, on a business trip to Washington, DC, just as a local gathering of tango aficionados was dancing to their music in a nearby square known as Freedom Plaza. I photographed the event (see my Flickr set Last tango in Washington) and learned from one of the participants that there were similar informal events in New York City, at the South Street seaport, during the summer and fall weekends. When I got back to New York, I searched on the Internet, and found a schedule of upcoming tango events just as my Washington acquaintance had indicated; but travel schedules, inclement weather, and other distractions prevented me from actually attending any of them; by the end of the autumn season, I had forgotten all about it.
For some reason, something reminded me of the tango again this spring — perhaps some music that I overheard, perhaps a scene on some otherwise forgettable television show. In any case, I searched again on the Internet, and discovered that a tango "event" would be taking place on a Sunday afternoon — but not at the South Street Seaport (on the east side of Manhattan, near the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges), but rather at Pier 45, where Christopher Street runs into the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The event was scheduled to take place between 3:30 and 7:30 PM, and another quick search on the Internet informed me that sunset would occur at 7:30 PM. So I arrived a little before 6 PM, as the sun was beginning to drop down in the western sky, and photographed for a little more than an hour.
I captured some 522 images, of which 75 have survived in this Flickr set. For the majority of the photos, I stood at the end of the pier, with my back to the Hudson River and the sinking sun; the sun broken in and out of clouds on the horizon — and because I was wearing sunglasses, I didn’t fully appreciate the extent of sun-glare that was often striking the faces of the dancers, as well as the shadows where the sun wasn’t hitting at all. But I think I recovered most of the inadvertent over-exposure and under-exposure with some post-processing on the computer… I was also able to get some shots facing westward and southward, so that you could see the New Jersey skyline behind the dancers; indeed, there are a couple of shots with the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge in the background. (Note to self: come back here at twilight, on a Sunday evening in mid-summer; it could well be even more spectacular.)
Since I have no personal expertise (or even competence) at the dance, there’s not much that I can say about what’s going on; I have to let the pictures speak for themselves. Though it wasn’t universally true, I noticed several occasions where the women were taller than their partners; I gather that that’s an advantage when the dancers are twirling and twisting around. Also, I had the distinct impression — just as was the case in Washington last summer — that few (if any) of the dancers were "couples" in the traditional sense. Indeed, many of them seemed to be strangers who had met for the first time at this tango event, but who seemed to enjoy the experience of the dance together. And others, from what little I could tell, might have encountered one another at previous tango events — but had no other interactions or relationship with one another.
In any case, I had photographed everything I could imagine photographing by a little after 7 PM. I put away my camera equipment, walked a few blocks east to Hudson Street to enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant with my wife, and made a note to check the Internet again for future tango events in Central Park and the South Street Seaport. If you’d like to pursue this on your own, check out Richard Lipkin’s Guide to Argentine Tango in New York City.
New York tango, Apr 2010 – 32
Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published as an illustration in an undated (Apr 2010) Squidoo blog titled "Designer sunglasses." It was also published as an illustration in an undated (Apr 2010) Squidoo blog titled "What year was the Statue of Liberty built?" And it was published as an illustration in an undated (Apr 2010) Squidoo blog titled "Statue of Liberty Info, Pictures, and Wallpapers."
*****************************************
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I do not dance the tango, and I know little or nothing about its history, its folklore, or even its steps and rhythms. I’m vaguely aware that it originated in Argentina (and Uruguay) in the 1890s, that a new style known as "tango nuevo" began to emerge in the late 1990s, and that various actors and actresses — including Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger(!), among others — have performed the tango in various movies. But beyond that, it never really occurred to me that it played any significant role here in the U.S.
That is, not until the summer of 2009, when I happened to return to my hotel, on a business trip to Washington, DC, just as a local gathering of tango aficionados was dancing to their music in a nearby square known as Freedom Plaza. I photographed the event (see my Flickr set Last tango in Washington) and learned from one of the participants that there were similar informal events in New York City, at the South Street seaport, during the summer and fall weekends. When I got back to New York, I searched on the Internet, and found a schedule of upcoming tango events just as my Washington acquaintance had indicated; but travel schedules, inclement weather, and other distractions prevented me from actually attending any of them; by the end of the autumn season, I had forgotten all about it.
For some reason, something reminded me of the tango again this spring — perhaps some music that I overheard, perhaps a scene on some otherwise forgettable television show. In any case, I searched again on the Internet, and discovered that a tango "event" would be taking place on a Sunday afternoon — but not at the South Street Seaport (on the east side of Manhattan, near the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges), but rather at Pier 45, where Christopher Street runs into the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The event was scheduled to take place between 3:30 and 7:30 PM, and another quick search on the Internet informed me that sunset would occur at 7:30 PM. So I arrived a little before 6 PM, as the sun was beginning to drop down in the western sky, and photographed for a little more than an hour.
I captured some 522 images, of which 75 have survived in this Flickr set. For the majority of the photos, I stood at the end of the pier, with my back to the Hudson River and the sinking sun; the sun broken in and out of clouds on the horizon — and because I was wearing sunglasses, I didn’t fully appreciate the extent of sun-glare that was often striking the faces of the dancers, as well as the shadows where the sun wasn’t hitting at all. But I think I recovered most of the inadvertent over-exposure and under-exposure with some post-processing on the computer… I was also able to get some shots facing westward and southward, so that you could see the New Jersey skyline behind the dancers; indeed, there are a couple of shots with the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge in the background. (Note to self: come back here at twilight, on a Sunday evening in mid-summer; it could well be even more spectacular.)
Since I have no personal expertise (or even competence) at the dance, there’s not much that I can say about what’s going on; I have to let the pictures speak for themselves. Though it wasn’t universally true, I noticed several occasions where the women were taller than their partners; I gather that that’s an advantage when the dancers are twirling and twisting around. Also, I had the distinct impression — just as was the case in Washington last summer — that few (if any) of the dancers were "couples" in the traditional sense. Indeed, many of them seemed to be strangers who had met for the first time at this tango event, but who seemed to enjoy the experience of the dance together. And others, from what little I could tell, might have encountered one another at previous tango events — but had no other interactions or relationship with one another.
In any case, I had photographed everything I could imagine photographing by a little after 7 PM. I put away my camera equipment, walked a few blocks east to Hudson Street to enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant with my wife, and made a note to check the Internet again for future tango events in Central Park and the South Street Seaport. If you’d like to pursue this on your own, check out Richard Lipkin’s Guide to Argentine Tango in New York City.
My Favorites
Image by shinyai
1. Cross Culture Engineering Panel, 2. …, 3. Maureen Eggleton, 4. A tiny camera for my softie, 5. Harpin, 6. Little elf girl, 7. jESSICA bIEL, 8. Nostàlgia, 9. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 10. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 11. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 12. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 13. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 14. Tokyo2Point0 100608, 15. Anna.., 16. Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, 17. 박송이.., 18. PICT5515, 19. PICT5503, 20. PICT5506, 21. Halloween #5, 22. Pillar of Creation, 23. yakisoba, 24. ハロー！, 25. storm’s a-brewin’, 26. pudim de claras, 27. IMG_0846-01, 28. People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile, 29. Arabian Girl, 30. Zeba Islam, 31. Bike, 32. Nagenieten, 33. Horizontals: Beach walk, 34. Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, 35. 20081004_0093, 36. v700_988
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