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.
This was a challenging shoot, technically. I didn't bring my gear with me - just my Fuji x100 - my travel camera. It's a wonderful little camera and great for snapshots, street work and some architecture/landscape stuff. But it's challenging as a portrait lens. Everything is big in the wrong spots and 35 is not a length I generally choose for portraits. All-in-all, I'm very pleased with our little mini-session in the preserve.
The x100 has some seriously great flare.
This is my brother. We hiked through the redwoods a bit.
And then we went to the beach.
On my way down south, I stopped in at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of my favorite places in California.
Finally, the very awesome 
For some reason, I didn't take many photos after I arrived in San Diego to hang with the rest of the clan. Truth is, I'm a terrible travel photographer. I end up keeping the camera in the bag the whole time. For me, it has to be a photo expedition or not - I'm very bad at the in-between "sightseeing and take some photographs" type of excursions/trips. This was about seeing my family and not checking Facebook. I accomplished both, thankyouverymuch. And now, it's back to booking, networking, processing and getting ready for 2013.
Y'all, this is my husband. He's away at the moment. I prefer when he's here.
This is a normal "tourist" photo of George and me "making like the" Statue of Liberty. I have a lot of "making like the" photos in my personal collection. George says we are going to cherish them someday. That is likely. But I'm definitely going to have to teach him about camera angle and lens choice and not making my thighs look enormous.
Then we were done with all that and caught this street show. What's really weird is that I saw the exact same show performed by different guys at Central Park the next day. I don't know if it's a franchise (a street performer franchise??) or if someone ripped off the other group... but it was the same routine - down to the same jokes! I thought that was so odd.
The next day, I had breakfast with David and Carrie.
David makes his eggs too runny.
