VodkaSoup

it's my life

A few shots taken in the past week or two that I haven't shared yet, all unrelated.

The Hope street sign.  Sincerity and creepiness are definitely not mutually exclusive in this case.  

Color on a gray day always cheers me up. 


Angles.


Circles.


The Ramble. 

Nighttime run. 

Lights.  I heard the Les Ballets de Monte Carlo is (was) really cool.  I missed it.  Better luck next time.

 

{Photos: 1. High Line/Chelsea 2. Upper East Side 3. High Line/Chelsea  4. Dream Hotel/West Village 5. Central Park 6. Chelsea 7. Upper East Side}

{red} velvet underground

8 years ago I spotted this long red velvet jacket in a fashion magazine. It has a certain flair to it—a little bit Paris meets The Great Gatsby if you will. I loved it so much I made it my mission to hunt it down immediately - which is not normal behavior for me, it just really, really caught my eye.  Mission accomplished!  It's traveled, moved with me, and experienced different time zones.  Here we stand on the streets of NYC together. 


Union Square - photo taken with Instagram

the shorter the better

AKA: the style mantra on the streets of Manhattan right after school lets out:

Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side

hail to the thief

To the thief of VW signs that is.

East 77th and Lexington, Upper East Side

mile end

I experienced the High Line for the first time today. I had no expectations, but in my mind it was something completely different from the industrial and stark elevated walkway that it is. If you're seeking to immerse yourself in an area of abandoned warehouses, steel yards and graffiti, make your way there.

The Hope street sign where you can scribe your hopes and dreams before climbing the stairs:

Interesting graffiti amidst the buildings.

A shout out to Nelson Mandela: 

The first pop of color I had seen in what felt like ever:

This apartment along the High Line looks like it's from another country:

Cold imagery, on many levels.  Tomorrow's plan is much happier, lighter, and full of color - promise!

Inspired beats:

different moods

I discovered this beautiful building today, somewhere near 30th and 8th {I think}.  


The details are great, and it doesn't hurt that the Empire State Building is in the background either.

you're so amateur - month 1 recap

I mentioned before that my resolution for the year is to become a better photographer.  My first month in has consisted mainly of mistakes, learning from said mistakes, and making more mistakes.  Photography is absolutely not easy. Biggest mistake to date: when editing, I saved all my files at 72dpi and deleted the originals to save disk space. WTF. The screen/web has been my canvas for so long that without thinking I compressed everything to render on a screen.  I'm still surprised at myself, that's truly such an idiot thing to do and I was trained at a top university in photo management. It only dawned on me when I was planning to print and frame a few of them.  I've decided to frame 1 or 2 of my favorites from each month and hang them in chronological order so that {in theory of course} I have a visual timeline demonstrating how my skills improve over the course of the year.  I'm actually still going to print my favorite that I took in January even though it's low res. It'll be the worst photo on my wall, but I'll still love it.

Upper East Side buildings have gorgeous detail:
Boxing!  My friend KTay was boxing way before it got it trendy.  Now everyone gets in shape this way, and I will say, boxing does a body good for sure.  Upper East Siders can go to Punch at 1015 Madison Avenue (btwn 78th & 79th). Thinking out loud - Punch sounds an awful lot like Crunch.

My first ever attempt at a product shot.  I know this photo leaves lots to be desired.  I plan to spend a lot of time in the next month practicing on focus techniques, stay tuned.  Sidenote: AKA: what it takes to look and be like me.

impossible

When Jasper looks at me this way, I'm incapable of denying him anything. 

Impossible!

timeline

Experimenting for the hand challenge:


I started creating my Timeline for Facebook.  I haven't updated my profile picture in almost 2 years, that's how little time I spend on FB.  So I used this photo below against a panoramic banner of nyc.  I have a week before it gets published so we'll see. I might change it up, maybe 50 times.   All my creative friends have these really cool Timelines, so if I fail to do something outside the box, they will definitely give me some shit.

5th ave

It was a cold and sunny Martin Luther King, Jr. day in Manhattan.  I managed to capture a few shots on my way to midtown today.

Stunning woman wearing tight black leather pants =  rocker chic.

Central Park statues have a creep factor to them despite their beauty.

A serene girl reading in the late day sunlight.

This horse was watching me, we made eye contact several times as I walked in his direction.  I've heard many sad stories about poor treatment of the Central Park horses, I hope they're untrue.  I walked up to this guy and we shared a moment.