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Sunday, 2 September 2012 - I know how he feels

 
One of my roommates turns 30 tomorrow which happens to be a public holiday here, so several of us went out for dinner with his father to celebrate before heading back to his for a good ol' boozy night.
 
That's my roommate on the right (Andrew) staring rather drunkenly at his girlfriend (Becca), who in turn is staring rather intently at Andrew's father as he tries to explain the rules of this variation of pool that involves obstacles. Nope, I've never seen such a thing before either. Abi (Abigail) looked intrigued, and if you could see my face it would look confused.

Monday, 3 September 2012 - Labor Day
Labour Day "is an American federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers". And what did I do on this fine day to celebrate... nothing! That's right, I celebrated the economic and social contributions of us workers by sleeping in and doing fuck all for a change. And it was bliss - even the bike was relieved to have a day off given I'm averaging close to 150km (90 miles) a week at the moment. Short-lived though, back into it tomorrow...

Wednesday, 5 September 2012 - Two years

 
Before anyone else leaves any comments about why I don't update this site for days at a time sometimes, the weather's been crap :) In other news, it's Kristina and my two-year anniversary today - isn't that special. She's moving up here from Texas in just ten days, and shortly thereafter we're away down south for a bit (specifically North Carolina and Kentucky) but I'll go into more detail about all that later.
 

Friday, 7 September 2012 - My first celebrity sighting

 
 
On the way out to lunch today we noticed this being set up just down the street from David Letterman's studio on Broadway. On the way back from lunch there was a small crowd gathered round, so we joined in. The dude I've pointed out is Mario Lopez, best known for his portrayal of the character A.C. Slater on Saved by the Bell hehe. Slater can be seen here holding a bar stool of all things; maybe the kids all got into a bar fight though I don't remember that episode (not that I ever really used to watch that show). Anyway, I'm not sure what Lopez was doing for the camera here but regardless he is the first celeb I've spotted in New York. A couple weeks ago Leonardo DiCaprio was part of something being filmed in the area, but good luck getting this close to him.
 
Then on my way home I got cut off by about half a dozen fire engines all screaming towards me. As I do, I hung around to see what was going on. Although there was an obvious smell of smoke I didn't see any of the good stuff, and the dozens of fireman loitering around didn't seem too bothered either. Oh well.

Saturday, 8 September 2012 - Breezy

 
America has some friggin' awesome weather - I love it! This morning I woke up to several alerts on my phone from a local news station regarding tornado warnings for Brooklyn and Queens (my hood). That ruined my plans for the day so I went back to sleep hehe. When I woke up again there were further warnings and a report of a tornado having touched down in the aptly named Queens neighbourhood of... (wait for it)... Breezy Point hahaha! Very breezy indeed. More info here.
 

Sunday, 9 September 2012 - Cityscape mission

 
 
Last Sunday my one of my roommates, Andrew, had a bit of a bash for his 30th birthday. I took my camera gear along to snap a few key moments that would later be put onto a digital photo frame - a present from his girlfriend (obviously unbeknown to Andrew at the time, who probably thought I was extremely weird). Anyway, his father must have been impressed by the size of my camera and got in touch with me later on to talk some business. He's looking to fill an empty wall of his living room with framed, black and white images of New York cityscapes. I was happy to oblige with the photography, so over the next while I'll be exploring Manhattan (on foot for a change) as often as I can and getting a heap of these sort of images together.

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

 
 
It was a Tuesday, much like today; it was a beautiful clear and sunny day, much like today; it was just another random day in the life, much like today. This sculpture is The Sphere, currently displayed in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan, but it once stood in the area between the Twin Towers. It was recovered from the rubble and after a bit of TLC it was eventually relocated here. This is what it once looked like, and this is what it looked like amid the rubble. In the background there is the new One World Trade Center, due for completion next year at which point it will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest in the world.
 
This should all look very different this time next year, but for now though it's all still one big construction site.

Thursday, 13 September 2012 - My random life

 
 
A couple weeks ago I mentioned I'd just spent about $3,500 upgrading my camera gear to something more in the 'semi-professional' category. Well the reasoning behind that is I'm looking at actually doing this stuff semi-professionally hehe. Probably not seriously until next spring or early summer, but I'm shooting a wedding in a few months which was as good an excuse as any to start investing and get familiar with this new kit now.
 
And, as the fates would have it, I just got back from shooting an event this evening being hosted at the New York Times building in Midtown Manhattan to mark the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month. I was there on behalf of Jennifer here - one of a few chefs asked to cook up a storm for the occasion. She works for herself and wanted some shots for marketing purposes. I was happy to oblige; good chance to test my new kit!
 
Meanwhile, I'm still on my black-and-white New York cityscapes mission for my roommate's father hahaha! Bloody hell my life is random, and that's the way I like it ;)

Saturday, 15 September 2012 - A Southerner in New York

 
 
Three months after I left Kristina in Texas to come start another new life in New York, she's now arrived up here too :) Good times!
 
We and our roomies marked the occasion by downing a few in a Manhattan rooftop bar - nice! The Empire State Building was lit up in green tonight, apparently in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the FDNY's Emerald Society Pipes & Drums Band. The building is illuminated in different colours every night according to a schedule of various anniversaries and events, which is available here if anyone cares.

Wednesday, 19 September 2012 - Never a dull moment

 
As part of my on-going mission to source black and white cityscapes of New York (story here) I wandered over to Times Square during my lunch hour today and met up with Kristina - her first time in mayhem. Her verdict: "It's quite large." - yes it is.

 
 
Yesterday some guy wearing an Elmo costume was arrested here after having an anti-semitic rant at no one in particular - something he apparently has a history of doing at popular tourist destinations hahaha! News article here. Unfortunately it wasn't this guy.
 
Elsewhere in Times Square was a half-naked cowboy playing the guitar (official website here)...
 
...and probably my second low-key celebrity sighting after spotting Mario Lopez the other week but I have no idea who this was.

Friday, 21 September 2012 - Want to be a cabbie? Can't drive? No problem!

 
Still pumping out these New York black-and-whites. I quite like them - I just hope my client agrees hehe.

 
 
This is the second time I've seen this in almost as many months. And it's not like I'm everywhere all the time so I assume this happens a lot - a bus pulls wide to take a corner and some dumbass cab driver thinks he'll whip in front. Wrong! You would think that if anyone knew not to undertake a turning bus it would be a cab driver, but I think half the cabbies in this city barely know how to even drive. In London, becoming a cab driver is a difficult undertaking, and involves passing a number of hard-core exams to prove (among other things) that you know the roads like the back of your hand. These exams take on average three to five years to study for. You then you need to actually buy yourself the cab so there's quite an investment involved, in terms of both money and time. Over here however, the cabbies don't own their cabs - they rent them on a daily basis. Furthermore, I don't think there is any London-style examination to prove you know your stuff - you just gotta register your details with the authorities and away you go.

Saturday, 22 September 2012 - I'll have a beer, and a chandelier please

 
 
Another long day of black and whites today, of which these are some of what I got. Kristina and I leave on Thursday for ten days during which we'll be taking in North Carolina, a small section of Tennessee, and Kentucky. That being the case, I'm trying to gather as many of these as I can now. Anyway, featured here is Two Bridges...
 
Grand Central Station with the Chrysler Building in the background...
 
The Flatiron Building (which looks like a slice of pizza)...

 
...FDR Drive looking west towards the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan. Good stuff!
 
Tonight we met up with one of Kristina's high school buddies who she hadn't seen in about four years. This is a bar just up the road from the Flatiron Building above which is full of chandeliers - all of them for sale! Very random. On the way back home afterwards in the subway there was a homeless guy who had fallen asleep on the train and pissed and shit his pants. The train car absolutely stunk and everybody who entered it ran for a different one at the next station hehe. I didn't take a photo of that ;)

Sunday, 23 September 2012 - Top of the Rock!

 
 
This here is the GE Building, one of several that make up the Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. Way up the top, on the 70th floor, is an observation deck known as Top of the Rock.
 
And this here is the view from the Top of the Rock looking north over Central Park...
 
...and south towards the Empire State Building, and One World Trade Center in the distance.

 
 
New York - the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

 
 
Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon :)

 
From there we wandered the ten blocks north into Central Park, where we wandered round some more.
 
 
Asians, making out (or something).
 
Hippies, singing songs.
 
 
Overlooking Bethesda Fountain, and The Lake (good name) - one of many bodies of water in the park. The fountain itself was constructed between 1859 and 1864.
 
Overlooking another part of The Lake. Pretty bloody nice huh!

 
 
Central Park was initially opened in 1857 and covers a whopping 341 hectares (about 150 city blocks). It is full of nooks and crannies, joggers, cyclists, sunbathers, buskers, sports fields, wedding parties, a maze of pathways, a lot of water, a lot of trees, and a lot of tourists (about 35 million annually - myself included)! I absolutely love it in here :)

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 - Empire State Building!

 
 
From the Top of the Rock on Sunday to the incredible night views of New York City and beyond from atop the Empire State Building - ah-mazin'! This is looking north towards Top of the Rock and Central Park...
 
South towards One World Trade Center towering in the distance...
 
And over the Chrysler Building towards our apartment somewhere amongst all of that.

Panorama looking north. Larger version here.

Thursday, 27 September 2012 - Vacation time!
Yeehaw! Hopefully just the first of many many many, Kristina and I head off today on my first American vacation. We're catching a flight this morning down to Wilmington, North Carolina to meet up with one of Kristina's many friends who are scattered all over the country, before road-tripping via Asheville, North Carolina and a sliver of Tennessee to Lexington, Kentucky for a college reunion thing Kristina is attending. There's even a 5km charity run in there somewhere too. Should be a good ol' random time! Back again next Sunday :)

Sunday, 7 October 2012 - It's been a while

It's been a long time since I last packed for a trip - about a year in fact when Kristina and I set off on our seven-month jaunt around the globe. With that being the case, I forgot a few essentials: passport, credit card, and GPS charger hahaha! I needed my passport to ease my way through airport security, my credit card to collect our rental car, and my GPS charger for obvious reasons. Anyway, I made it back this afternoon from another typically busy trip (Kristina arrives back tomorrow night) with extremely sore legs. More on all of that and the photos when I get around to it :)

Wednesday, 10 October 2012 - North Carolina and Kentucky
Phew - Wednesday, and I can finally walk down stairs again! Photos and stories and all the rest of it here :)

Saturday, 13 October 2012 - The final bunch

 
 
I've probably repeated this story a couple times now but anyway. A couple months back my roommate's father asked if I would take some black and white cityscapes of New York that he could blow up and hang on a big empty wall of his living room. So I put a long list of ideas together and set about trawling the city. For the most part I've focused on Manhattan, but the last few items on my list were the Brooklyn Bridge and shots looking back at Manhattan from Brooklyn. This is them, and now I'm about ready to hand over the 60-something images I've captured. No guarantees he'll like any of them ;)

Tuesday, 16 October 2012 - Do not put on knob or bollocks
"Being a loose cannon who does not play by the rules the first thing I did was ignore the warning and smear this all over my knob and bollocks. The bollocks I knew and loved are gone now. In their place is a maroon coloured bag of agony..."
"I like the clean shaven look down in my gentleman's log cabin... Reality was altogether different..."
"After having been told my danglies looked like an elderly rastafarian... I nearly put my back out trying to reach the more difficult bits..."
"In truth I was quite looking forward to it, rubbing creamy gel into my private parts didn't sound unpleasant. People pay for that kind of service."

What are they talking about? This ;)

Wednesday, 17 October 2012 - I wonder
Saw this in the news today (yeah, I still read BBC - American news is pretty shoddy and lacking in international matters, hence no one here knows where anything outside of the USA, Canada, and Mexico even is, especially New Zealand hehe). I guess nothing has really happened here since 9/11, but as the Middle East continues to find reasons to hate America, I can't help but wonder if I'm going to see some action at some point while I'm here.

Thursday, 18 October 2012 - When the moon hits your eye like a big...

 
Pizza pie! (That's amore). In the back of my mind I've always wondered what a pizza pie was, and now I know. Unhealthy in a box, but bloody good!
 

Friday, 19 October 2012 - Kristina's been drinking again
Video here :)

Saturday, 20 October 2012 - Rooftops and telling offs

 
 
Kristina's twin brother (Zach) has come up to the big smoke for a long weekend so we've been entertaining; good excuse to hit up another Manhattan rooftop bar! In the centre shot, spot the black fella at the top of the stairs. I was initially standing up on a short ledge to get an elevated view of the bar for that shot, but he came storming over demanding I get down hehe (I guess he's the bouncer). I told him that if he'd just stand aside for five seconds I'll be done, but like every other power-tripping bouncer he was having none of it. Kristina later made the comment that I get in trouble everywhere we go hahaha! Slight exaggeration but it got me thinking and I do seem to get told off a lot.

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Page Comments


So that's what a pizza pie is!
- Auntee

Thanks. So am I ;)
- Aaron

lovin ur black & white shots x
- Jen