Cold Spring Trailer

Odd that a trailer should come before the show…

I promised some pictures from my trip to Cold Spring a couple of weeks ago, and they’re coming.  But this week has been busy.  I’ll have them up this weekend.  Until then, revel in the happiness of a well-behaved, once-well-loved piece of junk:

Cheers.

Jacob

I recently rediscovered some pictures from before I left Birmingham.  Here’s one of Jacob that I like:

I sure do miss Birmingham’s barbecue, not least Johnny Ray’s where this was taken.  Jacob, make sure you send your mom a copy of this.

This week expect some pictures from my day trip up the Hudson to the town of Cold Spring.  Cheers.

The Giants

The Super Bowl is fun.

The Super Bowl is especially fun when you live in the city that wins it.

Cheers.

Self Portrait, Age 24

“Light Rain”

I decided a while back that snow is a gracious thing (not that we’ve gotten any, but I was postulating).  Imagine if it was below 32 degrees and raining.  Miserable, right?  Since snow isn’t as wet, it’s more manageable.  You can bundle up, hat and gloves, and go about things without worrying about cold water soaking you to the bones.  Snow doesn’t have that penetrating power.  Obviously, in my hopes for snow, I’ve thought about this a little too much.

There is, naturally, a catch.  Take today as an example.  35 F.  Light Rain.  Feels like: 25 F.  I CAN’T WIN.

 Last weekend I popped out of the city for a day and took a train up the Hudson to a little town called Cold Spring.  It was a nice get away.  I’ll be posting a few photos from the trip over the next couple of days so stay posted.

 Cheers.

The Hudson River

Seth

Took this photo of my roommate Seth a while back.  Finally got to posting it…

 

Irving Penn

Maybe you know the work of Irving Penn.  Whether you do or don’t, and supposing you’re going to be in New York before the end of April, it would be worthwhile to visit the Morgan Library to see an exhibition of his prints.  I went tonight (free on Fridays from 7-9pm) and I think I had a moment of…clarification.  Even if you’re not a photographer, it is amazing to view these iconic images of artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers of the twentieth century.  Penn is still alive and lives in NYC, and I’m going to try to get in touch with him.  After all, the worst he could say is “no.”

 Cheers.

New Directions

So quite a bit has happened lately.  I’ll sum it up and expound on somethings in the process:

Last Wednesday I quit my job at NY 411.  I finished the week there.  Today (Monday) I started working for a photographer named Ira Lippke.  I hope to get similar work with some other photographers in the city with whom I have some connection.

How this came about: In August I moved to NYC to learn.  I thought I could do that best with a job at a magazine.  I want to be a writer and it seemed like the best thing to do.  For the first six weeks in the city I struggled through job application after job application without hearing anything back.  With funds running low, I took a job at 411 Publishing, a division of Reed Business Information.  I got the job through a temp agency, and hoped that I might eventually get hired full time and be able to work at a business-to-business publication.  Not that exciting, but it would give me the experience I need to work at a more “fun” magazine, one that consumers read.  During this time I moved in to a place, got settled, etc.
In December I applied for a paid internship at a magazine.  I had an inside connection and had spoken with the HR person over the phone a few times.  Seemed like a good fit.  They told me I wasn’t qualified (moral of the story, get an internship when you’re in college).  So I went home for Christmas a little down, not knowing what to do.
All along I continued to want to write.  I had taken a class at Media Bistro.  I started pitching magazines (well, just one).  But I wasn’t making any progress.  I thought about grad school, but the Arts and Culture editor at Time goes to my church, and she talked me out of it, saying “everyone I know got where they are by recommendations and by having good clips.  I would suggest going to work for a small town paper and building from there.”  I immediately threw the small-town paper idea out since I just got here, but heeded her advice to get my experience in the world and not in some ivory tower.  This was what I had been thinking all along, and it still makes sense to me (not writing off grad school at any point, just now).
When I got back from Christmas holiday I became increasingly dissatisfied with my job.  This had been building for a while.  I worked for a good salesman, and I enjoyed the company of my co-worker (1 boss, 1 co-worker).  Most of the job was administrative, but I did get to pitch clients and I sold a fair amount of ad space.  But it’s not what I want to do, and it wouldn’t take me where I want to go.  I knew I couldn’t get a job at a magazine or paper due to inexperience, so I asked “what do I have experience doing?” Why, assisting photographers!  I emailed the three photographers I know in NYC to see what kind of work they might have.  The response was good, and work was immediately available, so I took the necessary measures with my sales job and closed things out there.

And that’s the rest of the story, or at least the filler part of the story.  I don’t know where this is leading (I never have).  I hope to learn as much as possible by assisting a handful of photographers as much as possible and paying my bills in the process.  I still want to write, but I’m going to do it the slow, hard way of freelance journalism.  I’ve got one sure contact at a paper here, and once I get a few pieces published it should get easier to get more work.  I have to try it.  Meanwhile I can also hone my photography skills, which was my other goal in coming to New York.  So here’s to learning as much as possible about all the things I want to learn about.

Cheers.

Top 3

My favorite things about NYC as of today:

1. Howard Greenberg Gallery.  I went after work tonight.  They represent many of the most famous photographers I know of, past and present.  Right now they have an exhibition on photos from Bhutan.  Did you know that a tourist visa costs $250/day in Bhutan?  That would explain why the pictures cost so much.  While I was there a wealthy looking man came in and bought a print for five grand or so.  He put it on his credit card.  They also had these shelves with black boxes with silver clasps on them.  Each box had a name printed on a sliver of ivory-colored paper: Strand, Weston, Cartier-Bresson, Capa, Frank, the list goes on.

2. The woman with her karaoke machine set up on the L platform at Union Square singing “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears.

3. Everything in this article about Pies ‘n Thighs, a restaurant in Brooklyn.

Cheers.