Self-portrait
#GPOYW
I like these, even if one of them is blurry. Taken last summer by a special someone. #GPOYW
Spring is such a charmer. There’s a magic about the season that’s just… irresistible. It plays a tune on its flute, and you’re lured out of your apartment and winter wear, into a land of new life. You follow its melody and become enchanted by the fresh colorful flowers, soft green grass, chirping birds, warm air. It both excites you and puts you at ease, like being winked at by a lover.
Dig the backpack
Red Hook, Brooklyn
This winter has been completely non-existent. In essence, it’s been a lengthy fall with bits of winter here and there, and now spring is just around the corner!
Regardless of how mild it’s been, I can’t wait to see this again. This photo was taken in Brooklyn last year on one of my favorite (and my most highly-trafficked) streets.
Tres jolie, non?
Chelsea
Also, it’s official. My DSLR and I are on a break. I’ve fallen for my iPhone and her post-production apps. Hard.
Bikes and buildings
Stone Street
Color balance in the West Village
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
I told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love, and it’s an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I’ll admit that I was glad that it was over.
- Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know
#ManhattanMemories
Wine delivered by the case.
Brooklyn, 2011
#thingsimiss
Friday morning light.
To the Princess, it was an enigma why anyone would smoke, yet the answer seems simple enough when we station ourselves at that profound interface of nature and culture formed when people take something from the natural world and incorporate it into their bodies.
Three of the four elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify with the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It’s not the tobacco we’re after but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lightning.
Does that mean that chain smokers are religious fanatics? You must admit there’s a similarity.
The lung of the smoker is a naked virgin thrown as a sacrifice into the godfire.
-Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker
*Definitely not a smoker, but appreciate the hell out of that metaphor.*
I read somewhere that you can’t photograph unless you’re in love.
Now I don’t know about that, but there’s definitely something emotional, no no no, something sexual about photography. It doesn’t come from your brain. Not entirely, at least. You can be brilliant and have idea after idea about how you’re going to shoot a subject, but when it comes down to it, the result is usually a combination of your carefully laid out plans and something a hell of a lot more raw, from deep within yourself. It’s a feeling you get, a sense of being turned on by a person, a situation, a landscape. Not necessarily turned on in a vulgar sense, although that wouldn’t hurt. But creating art is undeniably the sexiest thing anyone can do aside from the actual physical act of making love. It’s seeing something no one else has seen in quite the same way and allowing it to take hold of you and work its way into your being. When someone can flip a switch in you, turn on a light, let you see them, really see them, it’s incredibly special.
This photo was taken in early March, before winter made its official retreat. We decided to play with my new Sigma lens and were forced to stay indoors on account of the chill outside. The day was young, and we were just getting started. We enjoyed some liquid inspiration, a little relaxation, some conversation. I played with the settings on my camera and started clicking, quickly deciding this one would be a throw-away.
Fast forward to today. Never one to delete a photo, I unearthed this gem from my hard drive this morning and was immediately taken back to that weekend. What a great weekend it turned out to be. I got some awesome shots but never looked twice at this one. It’s funny. To me, this photograph is perfect. How amazing that a single photo can capture and define a day, a person, a relationship - things you’re never quite able to explain with words.
It’s beautifully juxtaposed. Light and dark. In here and out there, warmth versus winter, domestic greenery and natural bare trees, man and city. Everything in this photo was performing a balancing act for only me to see.
And I’m proud of this shot. Happy I took it. Grateful for that day, for that person, for lighting me up inside.
What a gorgeous Friday. Hope you’re all enjoying.
xo
