Developer and Photographer | Amber Wilkie

New York City, on a whim

First of all, it's my birthday! So that means you're obligated to comment today and only today (well, sort of tomorrow also but we'll let it slide) and tell me what you think of my images. Basically no one ever comments and it feels like I'm writing into a void - so on this day, say something! You gotta, it's my birthday. Second, it's really freakin' great to have a flexible schedule. Sunday morning, I decided - it being a slow week here at Amber Wilkie Photography - I would up and go to New York on Monday, you know, the following day. I had to be back for said birthday, so we'd make it two nights. I booked a bunk at my favorite hostel in the city and a bus ticket and put the call out to Facebook to see if any other folks wanted to throw a couple days to the Big Apple. One did! So Jon and I headed up to the great north to spend a couple days shooting street, meeting with photographer friends and client friends and generally having some adventures. Here are my images from the trip: I just love New York City. It's so vibrant and exciting and diverse. It's really a fantastic place to be, especially when you're shooting street. I think sometimes it takes leaving home to really get in the zone, photographically - at least for personal projects. It's much easier to wake up in my hostel and hit the streets than it is to get out of my comfy bed at home and go take photos in Washington. I'm always glad I did, though. I've been working on my palette this month, trying to incorporate color in a new way. I tend to do street in black and white and sometimes that is a crutch. It's an added level of difficulty to make color part of the story. Okay this is sort of cheating, because these were actually on the roof of the hostel. Creepy, right? And now we have some stuff which is totally different than anything I've shot before. Jon does this whole series on dancers in NYC. In the two short days we were there, he managed to get a dancer to come out and pose for us in the really cold weather. I felt so bad for her! But she was such a trouper - getting all half-naked with zero complaints. Plus, it was really cool to work with someone who could just make a pose instantly. So fun. 'Course, I was still working on the palette. I've buried these a bit here at the end of this post on purpose. I can't imagine I'll have another opportunity to photograph a dancer (unless I hang out with Jon some more). They're cool but they're so far from my normal work. Good times.