Welcome to volume four of my “Amateur Learns Aperture” series where I take my camera out for fun things so I can learn how to use her.  This week I visited Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Dyker Heights Christmas lights in….Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

I am never in NYC at Christmastime.  Now that I am scouring the internet for places to take my camera, I am finding so many things that I want to practice photography on.  So many of them are holiday themed.  I don’t have enough time to visit them all before I leave for vacation and they will be gone when I get back.  Will 2024 be a year of my life where I actualy (gasp!) want to be home for the holidays?  Want to be OUTSIDE in NYC for the holidays?  Want to go where the tourists go oh noes!

What is this post about?  Oh yes.  NYC. Outside.  Tourism. Amatuer photography.

I learned how to do light painting in photography class!
Armed with my photography class homework, I scouted out the perfect places to do it.   This is one of the most photographed spots in NYC.  A view of the Brooklyn Bridge, where you can see the Empire State building through the bottom arch in the bridge.  Or rather, you could if you knew enough about using your camera to master tricky light situations. I have not.

Some other photos:
My teacher liked the last one so much she wants to feature it on the school’s Instagram page!  How thrilling!

Me: Maybe you can stop talking about this “Amateur Learns Aperture” bullshit and stop blabbering about being shitty at photos now?  It is quite repetitive

Me: I want people to know I am learning so they don’t say mean things about how my photos suck

Me: But they are starting to not suck

Me: Did you see the Empire State building in the photo of the Empire State building above?

Me: Point taken

I also went to see the Dyker Heights Christmas lights in Brooklyn. These are pretty well known and there are even bus trips for people to take to see them, such as THIS one.

(I should mention here that this is an affiliate link and if you book anything through it, I get some pennies as commission)

When I first moved to Brooklyn, my mother and sister came out for Christmas.  As I did not know the neighborhood, and the internet didn’t exist, finding a place for dinner meant you just drove around looking for something.  So we did that and happened upon these houses.  We were floored.

The extravagance was started by the Spata family.  This is what that house looks like:
What is even more incredible is that for the first time in my life, I took a better photo on my camera than on my phone.

Phone:
Camera!
Holy shit, I did that on manual without there being lighting on the house. I am so proud of myself.

Here’s some other houses:

This cutie posing for her mom.

Shout out to this brilliant genius who is not paying a sky high electric bill to have lights up, but is selling coffee, hot chocolate and cannolis.  It was incredibly cold the night I went. I was so excited to get a hot drink.

If you wish to visit Dyker Heights on your own, be aware that the subway doesn’t go fully there. I see a lot of directions telling people to take the R train to 86th Street and walk, or The D to 79th Street and walk.  I live close enough to actually walk there, but took the bus.  You can do this from the D stop at 86th Street.  Take the B1 towards Bay Ridge.  The train stops at 86th Street and 18th Avenue, and you want to start at 85th Street and 11th Avenue.  So take the bus up to 11th Avenue and walk one block to 85th Street.  From there, just meander up and down every block. But make an intentional effort to see the Spata house at 11-52 84th Street.

Once I was done (i.e. my camera battery died) I just walked home.  Be aware this is a very residential neighborhood and there will be no stores or bathrooms.  If you are taking public transportation, make sure to ask Google before you go what restaurants will be open at the time you will be there.  This is not a short train ride from Manhattan, and reminder, you would still have to get back to the train station before beginning that journey.