Broadway Balls

There's no place like the middle of the road to get a great shot. (Just ask Chrissie Hynde)
The big red shiny thing on the right side of this image is a Double Decker bus turning down Broadway and heading my way. Notice how everybody else is standing on the curb. They will never get any good shots over there.
Side Note: This image was brought to you by Ethan. The first day in New York I went out shooting and I put my Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod down, took a shot, and then walked away. About 5 blocks later I realized what I had done and ran all the way back to where a now empty spot was.
So ... I needed a tripod. Later that night as I was telling the folks we were traveling with about getting my tripod ganked I mentioned that B&H Photo actually has their mega store right there in Manhattan. Ethan, ever quick with the digits and the Google arts, informs me that even though it's really late, B&H is open until 2. Good news!
So off we went, taking a subway 20 blocks south and wandering around until we finally found B&H. Closed. The following conversation actually happened.
Me - "Bro, it's closed."
Ethan - "Yeah."
Me - "I thought you said it was open until 2am?"
Ethan - "Uhhh, I never said 2am. I just said 2."
Me - *stunned* "You what?"
Ethan - "I said it was open until 2. I never said 2am."
Me - Bro. Are you serious with me right now?"
Ethan - "Yes. I never said 2 am."
Me - "So you came with me all the way down here at midnight knowing that it wasn't open?"
Ethan - "I mean, we can still take pictures."
I might have stared at him in silence for the next few minutes. That might have happened.
So anyway, this lead to us walking all the way back home instead of taking the subway back because Shawn, who was also with us, insisted that Times Square was just a few blocks away, and since he had already been there it seemed logical at the time that this might be true. It was not. It was in fact almost all the way back up north. But since the night was already a bust - walk it we did. Which lead to this image.
It also lead to a curious discovery. Manhattan is a lot like border towns in Mexico. The marked prices on things in stores is more of a jumping off point than anything else. I found this out when I walked into the only camera store that was still open after midnight. (Midnight am) The guys inside, one of which spoke something that could be mistaken for English, were happy to show me every tripod they had in stock. The first one looked really crappy. It had a price tag of $150. The guy assured me that this was "High Quality Tripod. You buy. Ok?" I informed him that my standards were slightly higher, to which he said, "Ok, $75. Ok?" I took this as good news. I now knew that everything was negotiable. I found what looked like the best tripod he had, which was marked at $325, and at one point was ready to buy it at $175 when suddenly the guy says, "Ok. $150. OK?"
SOLD!
I was really pleased with this amazing purchase. I was really pleased all the way up to the point when I used it at 7am in Central Park and my new Sony A7rii went flying off the thing and crashed into the bricks. Apparently $150 was $150 too much. The head and the attaching cleat that bind the camera and tripod together securely was about as solid as Jello.
So anyway .. lessons learned?
#1 - Never put $5000 worth of camera and lens on a $150 tripod that you just bought from a guy that you can barely understand.
#2 - Times Square is no where near B&H Photo, which is NOT open until 2am.
and
#3 - Always ask "am or pm?" when someone tells you how late something is open.
Trust me on that one.
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