This Blog has moved

This blog has moved!  I can now be found here.  Hopefully this new site is just more fun.  It’s far more interactive with my twitter/facebook/etc.  All future posts will find their way there.

New York

The final destination of my manic traveling spree.  This was my first visit to the Big City, but most definitely not the last.  By the time I got to NYC I was pretty exhausted from traveling so much.  I am both spoiled by these modern times and painfully behind them.  Not having a smartphone in a large, unfamiliar city kind of sucks.  I could have used some navigation help.  That being said, I thought it was pretty magical there, and getting lost in questionable territory  is character building.  I think if I lived in an apartment on top of a market, as my good friend Nadia does, I would spend away all my money buying random things like yogurt raisins, popcorn chips, various jarred delights to eat with a spoon (jams, jellies, and apple butters), and lots and lots of chai tea lattes.

As a dog trainer I’m always very aware of people’s dogs and how they conduct themselves, and one of the biggest things I noticed while traveling around was that Denver has, by far, the worst behaved dogs.  I now understand how I get so much business where I work down here.  People have their dogs so well behaved on leash in all non-Denver cities!  Perhaps it’s due to the fact that they have to be on it all the time in an urban environment.  There was no dogs viciously barking at each other while the owners declared, “he’s really  nice, he just wants to play!”, no oblivious humans being yanked down the street by some ADHD-ridden beast that thinks every person, dog, breeze, and inanimate object is the most amazing thing they have ever seen.  Nadia clarified the phenomenon by explaining, “yeah, that’s because in New York, nobody will hesitate to kick your dog in the face if it doesn’t know how to act right or interrupts their day.”  Fair enough.

I think I did a pretty good job of getting around.  I did not, however, do a good job of taking pictures everywhere I went.  I saw the Columbia campus, Morningside Heights, Harlem, Chinatown, Little Italy, Times Square, Soho, and on the last day, the village.  The village was definitely the area I identified with most, however I don’t think my checking account would share the sentiment.  In fact, by this point in my travels, it was pretty much crying.  While there I had a lovely lunch at New York’s best pizza place, which was right next door to New York’s best pizza place, which was, if you can believe it, about a block away from New York’s best pizza place.  It was quite the privilege.  It was also a privilege to go look at puppies at the puppy store that were selling for thousands of dollars just because they were in a boutique-style  shop.  I know that when I’m looking at purchasing a living creature there is no price I won’t pay to make sure that when I bought it, it is lifted out of a vintage beach wood kennel whittled by blind, Nordic elves, and has been given a breed name like “Puggle” or “Morkie” or “[insert anything here, no really, anything]-doodle.”  If it is at all apparent that what I am purchasing is a glorified mutt, I’m not interested.  But I digress…

This trip culminated in a really comical series of events.  Dear, dear, sweet Nadia gave me the worlds worst subway directions and I ended up having to switch from a train headed downtown to a train headed uptown at the suggestion of a kind stranger (which took about 5 stops to figure out).  After that I became lost again and headed all the way to Jamaica Station, realized I had been given incorrect directions again, and therefore hopped back on a train downtown a for few stops, ran up to the street, walked (nay, sprinted) through little Jamaica at 10pm to get to Jamaica CENTER with a super heavy backpack on, raced up the stairs to the airtrain, ran off the airtrain taking off all metal items on the hoof, dashed through a (thankfully) abandoned airport security, and ended up at the gate about 2 seconds before it closed.  My sweet reward?  Twofold.  One: not bursting into tears because I was so exhausted and homesick that I couldn’t fathom paying $10 more to go back to Columbia and do it all again in the morning.  Two: a very old and dear friend who I haven’t seen in YEARS just happened to be on the flight with me, and we sat together and chatted the whole time.  What are the chances of that?!  Never mind the fact that I had taken a sleeping pill before seeing him, looking forward to the sweet bliss that would be 4 hours of sleep on an airplane.  Fret not, for I did get to come back in town and end up having to cover work for someone at 3am, get to bed at 5am, and go to work at 9am.  Delight.

As you look through these pictures you may think to yourself, “wow, she only went to Chinatown.” No, that is not the case, that’s just the only day I really felt like carrying around the beast.  Enjoy.

I’ll start with some mobile uploads.  Here is my lovely breakfast at this cool Harlem coffee shop.  Treasure.

Here’s Nadia reading to the small child left in her charge the classic childhood bedtime story, What do White People Really Know About Black People?  The funny thing about this book was that all the pages were blank.  No really, this actually got published.  Every single page is blank.  Ba-dum-bum.  Money wasted.

Here’s the view from the line I stood in to see the most epic musical experience ever imagineable:

Who, you ask? What?  This is what:

jónsi: Concert Timelapse at The Wiltern Theatre from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

And now for a real camera and Chinatown/Little Italy, and plenty of it.

There was some kind of parade going on, I’m not sure what it was about, but I was happy for the opportunity to hop out in front and shoot it.

Typically I’m not so drawn to overly processed images, but this just seemed to fit:

Little Italy was uhh…crowded.  And Christmassy, in early November.  They understand me there.

This was some sort of random artwork, but I really enjoyed it because I think it does a really good job of mirroring the look of skyscrapers and that blueish/reflective hue they cast that seems so prominent in the city.  I don’t know what it’s actually intended to represent, that’s just what it reminded me of.

This traffic guard was no joke.  Don’t mess with her.

I shot these images in Washington Square.  I’m always pretty excited about shooting street performers because they have to do so much to project their energy out over a public space in a way that actually grabs the attention of random passersby.  It definitely translates on film.

I LOVE this image.  I think it’s my favorite picture I took in New York.  I don’t know why.  It just does it for me.

Crazy alien dancer:

This guy was really charismatic and interesting to watch.  His whole thing was that he was going to flip over this line up of girls.  It took about 30 minutes of build up for him to actually do it in the grand finale, but he did not disappoint.  Very impressive.

Cate Flaherty

I have met so many interesting people at the Bardo Coffee House.  Somewhere near the top of the scale is Cate Flaherty, a local street performer.  This woman can do a handstand just about anywhere, so when she came to me requesting photos doing handstands in my coffee shop, I was quite interested.  Cate formerly worked with Cirque de Soleil and has more recently been putting on packed street shows in downtown Denver and Boulder.  As if her crazy strength and flexibility were not enough, this woman is also one of the wittiest, funniest people I have ever met.  Oh, the fun we have had making fun of hipsters, but also secretly wanting to be as cool as them.  Cate, come home to Denver soon, and I shall make you a killer soy vanilla decaf late.

Boston

I had committed to going to New York months ago, but made a last second decision to go visit one of my favorite cities solo: Boston.  By last second, I mean I had no idea where I was even staying until 5pm the night before I left, and packed at 2am the day of.  It was only $40 to fly from Boston to New York, so I just couldn’t turn down the opportunity.  Also, I have found that I enjoy traveling alone.  I ended up renting a little hole in the wall room in Cambridge that was just lovely.  I was in this old, beautiful neighborhood that just happened to be 2 blocks from amazing food, stores, and the subway straight into Boston.  Not that it was a far walk, either.  It was chilly there!  I mostly did a lot of waking up at 1pm, strolling down to the coffee shop, scouring used book stores,  walking up and down streets, and getting lost in the city.  It was delightful.  The cool thing about non-Denver cities is that things are open all the time.  I had food delivered to my house at 2am, it was great.  That’s another thing, Boston has great food, and I’m not a foodie.  I spent a lot of time on the North End, but got around pretty well.  When you consistently get lost you end up seeing quite a bit!  I also did the Freedom Trail, I figured it would be a good way to see all the things I watch on the History Channel up close.  The Paul Revere house, not worth the $3.50, I would say.  However, I did take quite a few pictures on this walk, it was really enjoyable.

This was basically what my every morning looked like:

At the direction of many, one of the first things I did was go to Mike’s Pastry in little Italy

I threw half of this out, which is a crime, but I can only eat so much sugar before I feel nauseous

Then I started the Freedom Trail, which brought me to the famous Old North Church, where this memorial to the soldiers lost in Afghanistan was erected

and this creepy graveyard that I’m sure has inspired many a movie portrayal of old graveyards

For those that haven’t been, it’s all marked by either this big red line in the road or this brick pattern in the sidewalk, it’s a completely self-guided tour

Old North Church

The trail ends here!

Here are these street performers in Quincy Market which I actually also saw last time I was in Boston, five years ago.  They are incredible!

Here’s a fun postcard I made for the person I went to Boston with last time around.  I really like this image.

This kid was intense.

I have this thing for fire escapes, I think they are awesome:

This is down at the pier

Subways are so interesting.  I felt kind of like a creep photographing these people, but it was worth it.

My favorite picture I took while I was there, I love it when strangers interact.

New Orleans

Uhh…this place is crazy.  I have no idea how people live here, I would turn into a lush in no time flat.  I was here on a Sunday night through Wednesday morning and I have never been so tired in my life.  I even went to bed before midnight every night, and I NEVER do that!  All of my waking hours were spent either walking, drinking, or photographing.  But mostly drinking.  I loved the mix of old and new, it was really interesting to find these structures that just look centuries old next to stores with amazing french antiques next to sex shops and wild bars.  Did you know that in New Orleans you can walk around with alcoholic drinks in your hand?  Plural?  Cut to me standing in the middle of the street holding two hurricanes, wearing a fedora and obscene mardi gras beads, wielding my camera, taking a super bowl ring off one of the New Orleans Saints and putting it on my own finger, and drunk dialing everyone back in Denver.  I don’t drink often, but when I do, I do it right.  Furthermore, we were staying in a haunted hotel, of which the haunted room was next door to ours, at my request.  I tried really hard to stir it up, but alas, it was not interested.  I ate SO MUCH good food while I was there, all the recommended things: po boys, beignets, chicory coffee, oysters, and had an AMAZING night at NOLA.

I liked how live music was everywhere…all the time.  The street performers there are incredible.  I really liked the details on these guys instruments:

This guy was outside of Cafe Du Monde.  I realize it’s just a tuba, but it reminded me of instruments you see in Doctor Seuss books.

This is my favorite picture I took while I was there.  I like the little girl up on the top balcony and how the guy is looking at me in the bottom window.  This was right in the heart of the French Quarter.  They were watching street performers.  I like how the building was left in this damaged state.  Everything there has so much character.

Speaking of character, I had this fascination with all the doors downtown.  These things look like they haven’t been replaced in a million years, and I took pictures of all of them!

This bookstore was amazing. It was a bit off the beaten path, and you would never know it was a bookstore if he didn’t have books piled up on the front stoop (amongst other places,  read on.)

This place was TINY and books were EVERYWHERE.  This guy was incredible, he knew every book, author, illustrator, everything.  There was some sort of organization system only he truly understood, but you could go in there and say anything and he would be off, scurrying around between piles of books precariously balanced on corners and ledges, stacked up on the floor till reach above your head, and come back out with a million options that may suit your literary needs.  It was amazing.

“You are welcome to browse”——-good luck.

Isn’t this what the owner of a bookstore like this should look like?!  This guy was great.  And yes, this is the small space reserved for completing transactions.

I felt like this kind of epitomizes New Orleans, or at least my experience of it.  All these side allies and girls! girls! girls! with weird men hovering outside.

I snapped this shot and then felt really awkward about it and scurried off, but I’m really glad it came out!

Apparently there doesn’t need to be an occasion for the Budweiser Clydesdales to come strolling down the street.  Apparently I can operate a camera even when I can’t quite walk straight.  I have no idea why I was toting around the camera on a night like this.  Unwise.

Chicago

So I’m finally getting around to blogging a lot of the things I’ve been just tossing up on facebook.  I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately and also a lot of working, but here is a run down of my most recent whereabouts.  I took this trip to Chicago to visit my very close friend Kate, who, believe it or not, I did not take a single picture of.  This makes absolutely no sense, because she is gorgeous and would totally model for me if I asked her to.  Next time, I suppose!  I actually had a bit of a cold the whole time and ended up not taking anywhere near as many pictures as I had anticipated.  Staying warm, navigating, blowing my nose, lugging around a camera, and actually using that camera just seemed like a tall order.  At any rate, here they are:

This library was AMAZING.  Coolest library I’ve ever been in, that’s for sure.

This was this big art installation called “Eye and Cardinal” outside of the public library

Just up State St. from the library, I forget what this building was for, but I liked how you can see how ornate the detailing is on this particular one, but also the skyline in the reflection.

I took a bunch of photos of the front of this famous theater, but I ventured down the alley and found this and liked it better.  Also, most of the pics I took of the marquee and such are on film, which I’m yet to develop but am very excited about!

The beloved “L”  I took a bunch of pictures of this on film as well, especially on board.  This train stopped about a block from where I was staying, it was so convenient, I loved it.  When you live in Denver and go to a REAL city, the public transportation is kind of astonishing.  I wish we had things like this here.  There’s something really interesting about the dynamic inside a train; all these strangers are coming and going to a million places and are seated next to each other for just a moment.  This was something that interested me in all of the places I went to these past few months.

How to get a tan in a big city:

I had to stop myself from taking pictures of all the buildings, I’m sure that’s all everyone takes pictures of, but sometimes they were just too awesome.  They don’t have structures like this anywhere I’ve ever lived, I was really awestruck by it all.

Here’s the gratuitous tourist shot, I suppose:

This is no amazing photo, but I found these in this store in Wicker Park that sells all these handmade oddities.  I wanted to buy all of them.  I couldn’t justify paying $7 for a felt pin, but I did find them amusing enough to photograph.

Also in Wicker Park, this dog was way too cute.  I try hard to resist taking the obvious cute dog picture that I all to often find myself taking, but I couldn’t pass this cute guy by, he was too much!

This little girl was up the block from where I was staying with a box full of puppies.  I started taking pictures of the dogs, but it seemed quite clear that she just wanted me to take pictures of her!  She actually was quite the little model, so I was glad she was there!

Irony.

That guy was SO nice.  He was super supportive and as I walked away he yelled out, “I wish you success in whatever it is you are trying to do!”  Overall, the trip was awesome.  I will be going back soon for sure!

Nature is Sexy

I recently did this engagement shoot for a lovely couple with a beautiful house up in the mountains.  I’ve always wanted to do a shoot just like this:  tall grasses, morning light, nice couple.  I’m even more excited to shoot their wedding at the Brown Palace in September, yay!

Colorado Horse Rescue

Taking these pictures was a downright magical experience.  The volunteers for the Colorado Horse Rescue are completely devoted to these animals, doing the heavy, dirty work of taking care of over 40 large animals in need of serious attention.  All these horses have a story to tell, and meeting them all and learning about them was really touching.  It was a pleasure to shoot the pictures and even going through them to edit was really interesting.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.

Looking out over his domain

For some reason I just really like this one…

Griffen, the farm cat

Tags: colorado horse rescue, rescued horses

The Bardo Coffee House

I work at this amazing little coffee house in Downtown Denver.  It’s right on South Broadway between Cedar and Alameda, and everything about it is awesome.  Awesome staff, awesome decor, awesome customers, and last but most certainly not least, awesome coffee and pastries.  One of the good things about it is that it is open till 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, and till midnight all other days…so you can pretty much guarantee that if you need coffee, we’re open.  It is also is an art space, with new artists putting up work the first weekend of each month.  I recently shot these images for the website, and I thought I would share some of them here!

ignore my presence in this picture…

Buffalo Dough Boy and City Bakery Pastries….awesome.

The month that I took this we had the work of Sean Hartgrove, we now have the work of Sean Koger, who has put up a bunch of really awesome abstract illustrations done in pastels.  Sometimes we even show work by people not named Sean, like next month, when we will actually be showing the photography of the owner of the coffee shop, Chris Graves.

the view from behind the counter

listen, this game is no laughing matter.  I challenge you to play barrel of monkeys, it is SO hard!

Tags: Baker Neighborhood Denver, Bardo Coffee House, Chris Graves, Denver Coffee Shops, Denver South Broadway Coffee, Sean Hargrove, Sean Koger, South Broadway Denver, Southwest Denver Coffee

Doors Open Denver

I stumbled across this event while searching for apartments and definitely had to take some pictures.  These mansions are ridiculous.  It was beautiful and summery.

I also shot a few textures here and there

Tags: denver, denver governors mansion, doors open denver