Photos From New York City’s New TRYP Hotel

by Grant Martin on

Every time a new brand takes root in the United States our ears perk up. New York City‘s TRYP hotel is one of those instances. Though it’s a Wyndham brand, TRYP’s influences are distinctly Spanish and unique with Mediterranean tones and styles detailing many of the hotel’s appointments. The product is a clean, warm atmosphere that seems to work well for social travelers and groups of people – slightly less pretentious than a straight cut business hotel and much more professional than a run-of-the-mill airport hotel.

On assignment at the New York Times Travel Show earlier this month we stopped in to grab a few photos of the property and get an idea of what the rest of North America has in store; the TRYP Quebec opened in late March and a handful of other properties are also planned for the region. Check out the photo gallery below and read more about the TRYP hotels in the profile by McLean Robbins earlier this month.

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Christmas pictures from around the world

by Grant Martin on

Our friend and colleague over at Thebrooklynnomad has been busy preparing for the holidays and just put together a few photos in honor of the holiday around the planet. Among his photos are Christmas shots from Paris, Lisbon, New York City, Beijing and Prague.

You can see both part 1 and part 2 of the series over at his site. Merry Christmas from Gadling!

Photo of the day 11.13.10

by Catherine Bodry on

When I look at this photo, the first word that comes to mind is “clean.” Though photo taker jrodmanjr writes that he used a simple point-and-shoot camera, the clarity of the buildings and lights appears to come from a high-quality lens. The air seems crisp, as though it’s a winter night. Also, I appreciate seeing San Francisco bathed in varying shades of blue and white.

Have any unique photos of well-known destinations? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool, and we just might choose one for our Photo of the Day Feature.

Shoot outstanding destination photos — with your iPhone

by Grant Martin on

I used to think that the quality of a travel photograph was mostly hardware dependent, that a fancy Single Lens Reflex (SLR) or Four Thirds camera was critical towards capturing beautiful travel photos. Shots taken with my older, Canon SD300, for example, always seemed to be grainy, poorly lit and generally embarrassing to share among my friends and family. By contrast, my recent Canon Rebel XTi seems to take good photos irrespective of lighting, location or movement. Put enough monkeys in a room with a box full of SLRs, so they say, and the photos will turn out good eventually.

Application, I know now, is much of the battle. ISO speeds, megapixels, sensor quality and number of espressos consumed are all important variables in composing an ideal shot, and with enough training and tinkering, many cameras can produce a beautiful shot.

And then there’s the photographer’s eye, or simply put, skill. In a recent series for the Associated Press, photographer David Guttenfelder put together a stunning feature on the life of US armed forces in Afghanistan, shot solely behind the lens of his trusty iPhone. Yes, with 3 megapixels, no zoom, no flash and a tiny lens, Guttenfelder captured a series of photos better than all of the photos that I’ll ever shoot in my entire life. As it goes to show, talent, skill and composition are better than any hardware that money can buy.

Take a look at the series over at the AP website.

Want some more inspiration? Head over to our own Karen Walrond’s posterous blog for shots that she’s captured on her very own iPhone.

Photo of the Day (7.14.09)

by Grant Martin on

Holy cats, is that Paul Brady of Jaunted fame? Posing for the laviator series? Oh, you flatter us. The last time I heard from Paul, he was wrestling alligators for tips in Chile. According to this picture, he was on Spirit Airlines yesterday, so he can’t be too far from the grand old States of America. I wonder what he’s up to.

I know that we’ve been banging the laviator drum non stop for the past few weeks, but it’s always fun seeing the photo of a colleague posted up on our Gadling flickr pool. If you’ve got a laviator or a wonderful picture of your own that you’d like to submit for the Photo of the Day series, stop by and add it, just remember to save everything under Creative Commons, otherwise we can’t use them!