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. elmo and NYPD cops 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: times square street photography elmo street photography in nyc guys in suits at the nasdaq street photography nyc 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. nyc street photography with cop and metro worker reflections nyc street photography street photography in brooklyn 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. color palette street photography shadows and street cleaner street photography reflections street photography walking in brooklyn opening a store shutter walking into a patch of light in brooklyn walking through the borough hall subway borough hall subway in brooklyn girl in the borough hall subway in brooklyn Okay this is sort of cheating, because these were actually on the roof of the hostel. Creepy, right? creepy-ass dolls in brooklyn dude at the bottom of the brooklyn promenade colorful street photography in brooklyn lady in the subway with motion blur man dog umbrella guy walking on the street with cigarette and red lady walking by a broken umbrella old lady's feet under the bus stop pigeon and red wall 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. ballerina under the manhattan bridge 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. dancer at the manhattan bridge ballerina dancing below the brooklyn bridge ballerina on the waterfront in nyc ballerina dancing at the brooklyn waterfront ballerina at an abandoned building in brooklyn dancer on a gritty brooklyn street ballerina in a brooklyn nyc streetscape ballerina dancing with an abandoned call box Good times.

Scenes from the 2013 Presidential Inauguration

It was about 9:30 this morning, when I saw a tweet from a local photographer, talking about shooting four blocks from the inauguration. Why the hell am I not shooting the inauguration? I thought to myself. And I didn't have a good answer at all. I'd been thinking today was a stay-home-all-day sort of day, as the metro would be insane and the roads closed. But, f*ck it, I'm a damn street photographer! So I put on my shoes and caught the 9:45 bus. Then I watched Barack Obama get reinstated as President. 2013 inauguration on the metro metro photos from the inauguration 2013 inauguration - guy with a funny hat president obama inauguration 2013 This is over the 9th Street tunnel, which runs under the Mall. When you got out at L'Enfant,  you had to walk to 9th - it took 20 minutes with the river of people. It's sorta hard to tell from the photo, but it was absolutely jam-packed. crowds of people over the 9th street tunnel inauguration crowds on the national mall crowds gathered on the national mall for the 2013 inauguration people smiling during the presidential inauguration 2013 inauguration street photography little kids at the 2013 presidential inauguration popcorn at the inauguration on the national mall barack obama being sworn in as president lady watching the inauguration proceedings from the natural history museum washington dc street photography during the inauguration After the festivities on the Mall, everybody bum-rushed Pennsylvania to get to the parade route. I wanted nothing to do with that, but still found myself in a throng of folks. Following the flow of people, I realized we were dead-ending in some shrubbery at the OAS. Everyone just pushed on through the bush. people cutting through the bushes during the 2013 inauguration we got ur back mr president street signs And that is that! On the way home, my metro train died and we had to sit in the tunnel for 45 minutes before they were able to tow us out. It's been a long day, but hey, I went to a Presidential Inauguration today.  

Street Photography Workshop – Final Set

So, at some point after I took a workshop with Spencer Lum in July, I was supposed to write some diatribe about how it changed me, etc. etc. But the truth is, it's hard to be changed. I think we tend to walk away from life experiences like that one inspired, challenged and pumped and as time goes by, you settle back into who you always were. Maybe you get to grow just a teeny, tiny bit. Maybe not. I came away from the workshop absolutely jazzed to do personal projects. Total number of personal projects even started since then: 0. It is what it is. I can say that I positively loved spending a week on the street, camera in hand. I so rarely push myself to really, truly get out there and work for myself. This workshop gave me that impetus and even though I haven't carried it on into my day-to-day life (road to hell paved with good intentions and all), it sure was great to have that week. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. So without too much further musing, here are my final selections from the workshop.  You can also check out rejection sets one and two if you're so inclined. This first image I took sort of on a whim as I was walking back to my hotel from one of the twice-daily critiques (it may have been the third one - I don't remember). nyc street photography Spencer liked this image, and he flat rejected every single other image I had produced for critique (see my previous blog posts for those - my blog I can put the losers up if I want!) He encouraged me to spend some time at this particular Subway station. And that's exactly what I did - I spent the next two mornings at the station - several hours in a half a block area, looking at every possible angle. Here are the results: And that is that. After four days of shooting and twice-daily critiques, I came away with eight total project images. I love them. And I loved working on this project. So if anyone local (or even not - if you have a couch for me!) wants to roll on some new project action, I am more than up for it. Let's take some photos.