what a wonderful world

New York Fashion Week is here! Okay, so it’s NYC, and most fashionistas are usually dressed to the nines, but this week people are pulling tens, elevens, and even a few twelves here and there… Thanks to my friend Claire of http://fashionbombdaily.com/, I attended the Tadashi Shoji show.  I didn’t quite have time to dress to truly impress because I had to run to babysit right after… very glamorous, I know… I did however get there a bit early, so I snagged a solid dose of people watching (one of my favorite hobbies). I have to say that I love fashion as an art form, and I appreciate its ability to bring about self expression and confidence.  It’s easily mistaken for materialism, but true fashion is art, and Fashion Week is meant to celebrate it. Enjoy the snapshots!

-K (and M)

One of our favorite professors in college abroad used to start lectures with this phrase: “People, people, people.”  It was more like an idiom, in that from his tone you could tell what he really meant was:  ”People, I don’t feel like dealing with your silliness today.  Please humor me…we will be discussing Foulcault…” Anyways, since then Katherine and I have adopted the phrase.  But we use it, most always, in response to the 8 million people that inhabit this crazy city.

We are very much “people, people”, the plural of a ‘“people person”,  and enjoy people watching.  If it was a sport, New York  would be looked at the same way skiers revere the Alps.  So, Katherine and I took our people watching to the next level…with our camera of course.  We walked down The High Line and around Williamsburg hoping to get a good range of personalities. Trying to stop, or chase down people in a crowded area can bring about awkward encounters that start off with one of the following:

• Apprehension/ paranoia i.e., “Where is this going?”
• Envy (if you ask to shoot one person and not the other) i.e.,”You don’t like my outfit?”
• Our personal favorite, and a Williamsburg trend: shock/disbelief that they could be photo worthy in their apparently nonchalant street garb… i.e., “You want to take a picture of me???  I just put this on to run to the store.” … Hipster please… you scrounged around a thrift store for a long time to find that Mickey Mouse sweatshirt…

All normal reactions - we’d probably respond the same way. Overall we shot people who looked interesting, kind, fun, and stylish… and one of the things that we love about this city was consistently evident.  People are genuinely kind and open to chatting, and sharing their stories.  You never know who you will run into, and how they can inspire you, or just make you smile. 

-M & K

Despite how tourist ladened 5th Ave. is during this time of year, Kath and I have found ourselves over there often…possibly because it’s so festive.   We have not put any effort into decorating our apartment - aside from the now sparse branch of the Rockefeller Christmas tree that was given to me by a guard who thought I looked lonely.  I don’t know if he was trying to hit on me, but that convo ended when he said “Who’s from Ohio?” - ‘Um, ME! Seven presidents! Halle Berry!…’ The list is endless.   Anyway, this was all pre-tree lighting, and since then the Christmas decor has come out full force.  An ultimate highlight: the windows at Bergdorf Goodman.  But they require a preface.

Honestly, Katherine and I both overlooked them at first.  Why, you ask?  Most likely because of what happened moments before leaving the old Vanderbilt mansion. While perusing inside we overheard a LeToya Jackson look-alike giving a spiel on “the world’s most expensive fragrance” to a prospective buyer.  What a claim!  Kath, our friend Lindsay, and I of course wanted a sniff - so we eagerly hovered and Letoya overtly ignored.  How did she know that I didn’t have wads of cash in my glittery $3.95 H&M change purse?  Rude.  Since we were not offered a sniff we thought we’d take our business elsewhere, and left through the entrance on 58th, missing the best of what Bergdorf has to offer gals in the unemployment line…its glorious window displays.

Okay, I am going to brake off onto a tangent for a moment, bare with me.  Remember making dioramas in grade school out of shoeboxes?  Mine and Katherine’s always were the most elaborate - imagine miniature wigwam and longhouse replicas that looked more like they belonged in the natural history museum rather than on the radiator in the back of the classroom.  But anyway, these displays are the ultimate dioramas.  A commercial photographer’s/ fashionista’s/ craft wizard’s dream.  Each themed window catapulted you to a world of artistic, holiday bliss (I’ll let the pictures try to do them justice). Mad props to David Hoey, Bergdorf’s director of visual presentation…to think we almost didn’t go back there because of nasty Ms. Jackson!  

Other stores had interesting displays too, but definitely not as lovely.  Saks was doing too much with its awkward “Bubble Factory” theme, complete with a short movie projected on its facade.  Maniquins should not ride bikes.  The display reminded us of  “The Carousel of Progress” (an old Disney ride), meets Willy Wonka, meets some fashion + an old school laurdromat?  The Lady Gaga windows at Barneys are worth the trip over to Madison…a “boudoir” made entirely of hair - why use any other medium?  For those of you who aren’t in the city, please click through!  For those of you who are, go look in person,  it’s worth it!

-M & K

Last week “?uestlove”, of The Legendary Roots Crew, came to the Apple Store on 14th to be interviewed for Undun - the Roots thirteenth album!  Not many groups, or “collectives” (?uestlove’s preferred word choice to describe The Roots), have thirteen successful albums. Obviously we couldn’t pass up this opportunity.  Check out what makes this album a definite stand out here: http://theroots.com/undun/

-M & K

Five reasons why we love set photography:

1: Everyone is already in character- hair, makeup, costume…the works.

2: Everyone loves being in front of the camera.

3: It’s the perfect blend between commercial work and photojournalism.

4: Nothing is contrived, yet everything is contrived…how deep.

5: Interesting people, guaranteed. 

Thanks to our friend Rockafella, an amazing gravity defying B girl, we were able to get press passes to the Stat! NYC Public Hospital event.  This was definitely a hip-hop junkies dream concert; Doug E. Fresh, DJ Red Alert, Nice ‘N Smooth, the list goes on.  But truly Katherine and I were not even born, or were only young kids rocking out to Raffi, when most of these artists were at their peek. Because of our older brother we’ve at least scratched the surface of hip-hop music (The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul…).  

Everyone knows New York is the birthplace of hip-hop - the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, more specifically.  The concert took place in the the Bronx’s Paradise Theater. You could tell we were in the motherland so to speak.  You could tell the audience grew up, lived, and breathed this culture. Call and response was on full force; the audience could finish any line that the artist dropped. A definite highlight was when Doug E. Fresh broke out into an unreal beat boxing session that lasted at least five minutes.  His performance was so intense that I actually dreamt that I was a rapper and woke up attempting to rhyme.  No lie.  But I was snapped back into reality quickly by my roommates.  What can I say?  Ladi Dadi.

-M (and K)

One fine Sunday Mariel and I were casually walking down the street headed to a family friend’s son’s 8th birthday party.  We brought our camera (of course) to document the festivities.  Mair and I were barely a block away from our apartment and a ‘kid’ stopped us to ask us about our swanky camera.  Once I found out he wasn’t trying to hit on us and was genuinely interested in our gear, I was a bit more personable (the camera get’s more looks than our ‘DoubleMint’ selves…).  We casually continued our convo while walking to the subway, and I gave him my card (my attempt at being business savvy). He was a photographer/ Columbia student interning at Respect Magazine.  A week later we received an email asking if we could shoot a Goapele concert at BB Kings Times Square venue and write a review on her album release concert.  Mair and I met with the neo soul artist a few hours before the concert for some quick portraits.  She was gracious and the concert was amazing… see our full recap here: http://respect-mag.com/photo-exclusive-goapele/.  All in all, I appreciate the natural occurrence of this encounter.  It makes us love NY even more:)

-K & M

Photography has no doubt been ameliorated by technology.  In a commercial sense this is a great thing, but it’s strange how all of these advances are affecting photography on a personal level.  We take countless pictures, have the ability to enhance, tone, and manipulate, but may never print them.  Think 20, 40, 80 years down the road - I’m having trouble envisioning myself flipping though my Facebook albums, the pictures not aging a bit since the day they were taken, me explaining to my future grandkids, “This is Grandma in college!”, click,  “This is called planking… “, click, (I don’t  ’plank’, but for the sake of a good example…).  Let’s face it, Facebook holds at least  80% (a random estimate) of the pictures people take today.  Posting them is expected, printing them is going the extra mile.

I would like to think that future generations won’t just be huddled around a computer or an iPad to reminisce or learn about their predecessors.  I must admit I am biased.  My family has an extensive collection of photos, letters, and documents that both Kath and I grew up digging through whenever we were at our grandmother’s house - which was often.  I am so attached and mesmerized by the physicality of them.  I enjoy carefully turning the soft, black, worn pages of the of the older albums from the turn of the century, or the stiff, yellow tinged, plastic covered kind from 60’s and 70’s.  I am entertained by trying to decipher hand written cursive letters and inscriptions; where is the fun in reading a “tag”?  How many people can say they know what their Great-Great Grandmother’s handwriting looks like, or on the  August 20th, 1918 she enjoyed using the electric iron that she just purchased?

I like not having to worry about my battery dying, hard drive crashing, or getting side tracked to another site.  I just get lost in the moments captured and analyzing the familiar faces, some only familiar because of the pictures.  Getting a glimpse into what life was like for my family is fascinating.  Aside from the personal nostalgia there is the artistic allure of old things; soft, contrasty, blurry faded, decorative deckle edges - all things we have to try to achieve today through filters or pay extra for.  I don’t think technology has been a blight to photography, but because it’s so easy and accessible do we value it less?  This is more like a thesis topic, and I need to go order countless pictures from Shutterfly.  I posted a few that I came across on my last rummage as well as a composite of some albums.  Enjoy, and go order your pictures!

Cheers,

M & K