The USofA, part 2

Sooo, continueing the photos from NYC:
(Tri-x400, XD-7, 50/1.7 – all negscans, which is a subtle way of saying: in real life and printed they look better.)

That’s the general look I get from my sister when I photograph her. That deadly look or a photosmile.

Some more frames from Times Square. Nice in colour, but looks good in b/w too I think. Although I didn’t know how fast to change the Tri-x for Superia800 when we entered the square.

Some Neopan1600 frames:

At the M&M store (still, not again!).

Waiting for our maincourse. (Not at the M&M store, but that might be stating the obvious. Just making that clear, for Ze ;))

See that deadly look again! And boy, in return… she enjoys it sooo much to photograph me when I’m just digging my teeth into a nice juicy hamburger. But the other way around… forget it!

Some random streetframes I shot on the first day. Tri-x:

The view from our hotel.

Next day, going to the Guggenheim. On our way: kids on a leash in Central Park.

Capturing misty Manhattan. While drinking coffee – us, multitaskers! AND I was eating a sandwich!

Tourist shot in front of the Gug.

The architecture of that museum is, needless to say, superb. But I was enjoying myself more with shooting people who were shooting the architecture.

Waiting for the bus to take us downtown. Neopan1600. We headed to the ferry, but I already showed those photos in the previous entry.

I think it was on the second day that we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.

But not before we had some food. Well… I had some food. My sister was just holding it for me to put my wallet away. When I showed her this photo she was like: “Now everyone will think I am the fattie, while you bought the food!”. She actually called me a ‘vetzak’ (literally: ‘fatbag’). So I hereby officially declare I am the fatbag.

Inside the Met.

Great photography collection.

And exhibition by JoAnne Verburg:

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge by night and my sister enjoyed herself with making long exposure shots and experimenting with the settings on her digicam. I was hungry. And wanted to go have food but joined her making long exposures.

Dinner in Harlem, at Sylvia’s. A famous soul food restaurant. I talked a bit with Sylvia, she’s a cool lady. Madelijn checking the menu. There were waffles listed and we we’re like: “wtf?”. We thought it’d be something different than the waffles you get at breakfast. So my sis ordered them. And they weren’t any different, haha. Complete with maple syrup!

My sister brought me this pack of “Great for WAFFLES” mix, when she got home :D We had a good laugh.

Tri-x:

The last day in NYC. Climbing the Empire State Building. Cool experience!
We had to wait a while in line though. And our stuff had to get X-rayed. So I asked the dude if it was ok if he hand checked my film. He said: “Oh no, just let it go through. If it’s messed up we will pay you for it”. And I was like 0_0 Seriously, I needed a second. I managed to explain to him though that the films were indeed replacable, but not the photos I already shot on ‘em. So he hand checked them. Good boy.

I like this frame. I think you can really tell we’re sisters here. Even if I’m a brunette and she’s a blonde.

It may be cheesy, but I’m really looking forward to printing this ^ frame big and to put it on my wall.

Like I said; we had to wait in line for a while. So I thought a cig was in order. When you’re outside and 60 meters above the ground that wouldn’t be a problem, one would think. Well think again. I was politely but firmly pointed to that sign.

I like tri-x.

On our way to the bus. “Memories of New York”. Awww.

On the way to Philly. The Chinatown bus is such a nice way to travel. Or well… it’s cheap. That’s what’s nice about it. You have to be able to cope with Chinese people screaming at you though.

So next stop/entry: Philadelphia!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed.
And have a great New Years Eve!

The USofA, part 1

So, lets start in Boston, where I started my trip. And where the reason of my trip was: my sister. She was doing research there for 8 months. And will get back this afternoon, she’s on the plane right now. Anywho, I visited her in Boston. I stayed there for a couple of days – spending the days mostly on my own cause she had to work. Then we headed to New York City together for a couple of days. Then to Philadelphia, where she stayed one day and I a couple of more before I headed back to Boston.

Tri-x in D76, with the XD-7 and the 50/1.7, scans from negative – here we go:

I was totally fascinated by the steam coming from the sewers onto the streets. Something you don’t see here in the Netherlands, only in movies.

I shot some street. You know, not what I usually do. The usual thing for me is to shoot my friends. But I was on my own (not alone, mind you, I had a fantastic time), so I tried to see other motives to shoot. Was an interesting experience – in general but also photographywise. Less talking, more photos is what you’re thinking now, hm? ;)

I kinda really like this frame. Posh lady.

“General Hooker Entrance” :O

I hung out in the park.

Just like him. The weather was fantastic. Couldn’t have been better.

Just to have something to do while wandering the streets I made it my “mission” to shoot portraits of the people who came up to me to ask me something (a cig, a light, the directions, etc).

He was such a nice guy. Really sweet. Unlike the light which was totally blocking my sight.

After I shot the previous portrait I noticed two guys in a wheelchair sitting acros the street, enjoying the sun. So I decided to ask them for a portrait. With the excuse of “shooting a streetassignment for photographyschool”, which – let’s have that clear- I’m not in. I study Comparative Arts/Cultural Studies. Theoretical stuff, not the practice of arts itself.
So when I asked this dude was like “Huh? What?”. And the other dude literally said: “A photo?! I’m getting te fuck out of here!”. While he rolled away.

The other day I took the metro to the other side of town. And walked down the river Charles. Why is everyhting called Charles in Boston, I wonder.

There was this great photographystore there. The kind that has it all. I was helped by a really nice guy (but honestly, everyone in the States has been so incredibly kind to me, it was startling). He gave me his card, I gave him my blogaddress. Derek, if you read this: hi!

So finally I had my beloved Neopan1600 again!! And cheesecake. Mmmm…

Back in the metro into the city again. I wanted to shoot the view and thought it would be nicely framed by these guys. But when I raised my camera they both kinda twitched and obviously did their best to ignore the girl with the camera. Which I though was kinda funny. So I refocused, corrected the settings and shot them. Just like they thought I would.

Ok, moving on to NYC. With Superia800 loaded! How I adore that film…

Sometimes colour just fits.

Zombies. They honestly freaked me out. It was fun though, to get the whole Halloween experience thing.

They jumped onto the traffice shouting “Brains. BRAAAAIIINNNSSS.”

Ground Zero. I was surprised to see the amount of tourists standing in front of it, smiling and making the peace sign for the photo.

Some didn’t really smile though.

Having some food. And my sister Madelijn managing to squeeze out a photosmile while eating. I bet she’s gonna love me for including this shot.

Ok, I’m so lost on the chronology right now, with taking out and putting back in the film. This didn’t take all place in one day, but in the course of several. But that might be obvious, I dunno.

On our way to Times Square I saw this guy, and I was amused by his outfit. Complete with Crocs. So I shot him.

He saw me and posed. Then he came up to talk to me and see the photo. Slightly dissapointed to see I still shoot film. He gave me a fistbump though when I told him I was from the Netherlands. And almost forced us to let my sister take a photo of him and his “new friend from Holland”.

Times Square was so fantastic to shoot. I enjoyed myself immensly there.

We walked to the M&M store.

Which is an insanely huge and useless store. What an immense crap they sell there. Unbelievable.

Lady with creepy fingernails.

Ha, it was quite funny to shoot in that store. Whenever I saw an interesting frame including people and raised my camera, the people sometimes saw me and apologized for blocking my frame and moved out of the way.

“Hmmm, which colour shall we get?” Who cares? They all taste the same anyway.

We took the ferry to Staten Island:

For some people this is a daily trip, not a tourist trip. So why not catch up on your sleep?

The last frames of colour shot in the MoMA:

Contemplative.

And highly interested apparantly.

That’s it for now. I wanted to show everything from NYC in this post, but I showed about 50 frames already and still have approximately 50 b/w frames to go. I don’t want to numb you ;) Besides that, I’m off to collect my sister at the airport!
Next post in a week or so.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoyed!