In mid July 2019 I spent a wonderful week in New York City. I had a long list of places I wanted to visit. One of those was Coney Island.
Welcome to Coney Island
(Nikon DSLR image)
For as long as Coney Island has been around, it has been a source of fascination to artists of all kind. Just scanning this wikipedia page on the topic is a bit exhausting, but also amazing. I remember reading from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Coney Island of the Mind in high school English class. Nevermind how many novels, movies and music videos take advantage of Coney Island's compelling atmosphere.
(Nikon DSLR image)
Before visiting Coney Island, I made sure to visit Brooklyn Film Camera early on in my trip. Brooklyn Film Camera is a fun place, with limited hours, tucked away in a very cool neighbourhood of Brooklyn. They list themselves as "one of NYC’s premier destinations for analog photographers" so I just had to go.
(Nikon DSLR image)
(Nikon DSLR image)
Brooklyn Film Camera indeed had a great selection of cameras and film types. One film that caught my eye was Revelog Kolor 200. The film is pre-exposed with different colours, which delivers a surprise in the developed images. I immediately thought this would be perfect for my Coney Island visit later in the week, so I bought a roll, along with a stylish Brooklyn Film Camera t-shirt.
Take Home Food
So - this blog post shares my favourite images of Coney Island shot on Revelog Kolor film (starting with the above image). All were captured on a little Canon Sure Shot Look camera, which I purchased just prior to this trip. I hope you enjoy!
They Came, They Ate, They Conquered.
Coney Island is home to the famous annual hot dog eating contest - hosted by Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, which is also based there.
Bumping Disco
Trust Zoltar. He knows, sees, tells all!
(Visit the Zoltar official site for more!)
Cyclone
(Two film images stitched into a panorama.)
Bowery and 12th
The Wonder Wheel is a bit like Zoltar - it looms above and "sees all" on Coney Island
Wonder
Thrills
Look Up
Tickets
The Claw
(Spot someone in the background?)
One cannot visit Coney Island without exploring the magnficent boardwalk.
Karaoke on the boardwalk drew quite a crowd.
Up on the Boardwalk
Boardwalk Bench
Boardwalk Busker
The Flavor of New York
The Meaning of Life
Officer John - one of several friendly police officers that I spoke with while in NYC.
Apologies for misfocusing my little Canon Sure Shot Look! Officer John may appear in sharper focus in a future blog post, captured with my Nikon DSLR.
Candy Apple, Cotton Candy
Nathan's Famous at Night
Coney Island is quite a colourful place - so many bright signs, neon lights and interesting characters. Revelog's Kolor 200 film brought it's own dynamic colours into the mix.
The colours that the film added to my images were more subtle than the sample images on Revelog's official page for their Kolor film, but nonetheless it was a neat experiment with fun results.
Revelog does have a wide variety of films which add intriguing effects to images. I'd recommend that you have a look at them. If you are in or near Toronto you can currently find a range of Revelog film types at Downtown Camera.
I will be blogging about New York City more soon, including images captured with my DSLR in Coney Island. Thanks for looking and please stay tuned!