I know that I'm a somewhat sheltered, small town girl, but I have a great appreciation for the city, it's colors, culture, and diversity. NYC is hip, fashionable, up-to-date. IPads everywhere. My uncle planned an entire day for us there, and I'm so grateful. It's amazing how much my senses can take in, in just 18 hours. So different is the view from my window at home in Nebraska.
11:26 am
Tour Associated Press News Room. Meet a manager named Dennis, and some important people named Caleb, Charzan, and Susan. They're all in charge of sharing news photos with the world. Seems like a huge job, but they are very friendly people.
11:31 am
Meeting-conference call with AP bureaus around the U.S. Find out Apollo Ohno is in the same city as I am. I know, not that big of a deal. But I love being connected to people just because we have something in common just for a moment.
12:02 pm
Observe the process of routing photos around the world with Charzan and Susan.
1:35
Lunch at a 'delicatessen' called the Front Door in downtown NYC. Eat a huge sandwich, appropriately called the Front Door sandwich. Have some Matzoh Ball soup. I guess it's a delicatessen thing.
2:01 pm
Shop at the "candy store" down the street, B&H, a store packed full of any electronic item you can imagine.
2:02 pm
Endure a severe case of sensory overload before finding my 70-300 mm telephoto dream lens for just $100.
3:35 pm
Tour TV Guide magazine, see raw photos from the shoot for the next TV Guide cover - the cast of the revamped and remade Hawaii 50, of which includes Daniel Dae Kim and Scott Caan in its cast :)
4:37 pm
Visit the International Center of Photography. The Gallery is closed on Mondays, but the bookstore is great! I got a mystery pack of postcards...mysterious and exciting.
5:52 pm
Have the best Mandarin Mango smoothie I've ever had at Red Mango.
6:44 pm
Visit the Bath House studio, post-photo shoot. Meet Jeff, of whom I now have a crush upon because he works in the basement storage room and keeps Pabst Blue Ribbon next to his desk while he renders 90 minutes worth of abstract exhibitions to be shown downtown. I appreciate the behind the scenes work...knowing that no one is likely to know you were the one who waited 90 minutes for a video to render that the entire east side is going to see. Now, that's sexy. Plus, Jeff has impressive facial hair.
7:00 pm
Take a trip to Adorama, another sensory overload store, purchase a beautiful Nikon D70 body that even has an eye cup. Sweet.
7:43 pm
Laugh with the potbellied Jewish employee at the next counter, after he makes a joke about karma and rude customers.
8:05 pm
Attend a private party in Manhattan, thrown by two award-winning photographers, one for Getty, the other from the New York Times. Meet lots of cool photographers. Listen to really hip music and drink (surprisingly) cheap beer.
A. My uncle is a cool dude.
B. I'm grateful and somewhat surprised by how friendly the people were that I met.
C. New York drunks are fun(ny).
D. Everywhere you go, people are people. New Yorkers aren't necessarily meaner or nicer than Nebraskans, nor are they hipper or lamer. Apollo Ohno is a person. The editor of TV Guide is a person. The best photographers in the world are just people. I'm a person. They're not gods or idols or people more or less deserving of praise. We're just people. And this gives me hope, because I can believe that I was connected to every person I met or saw or heard about yesterday, because in that moment we had something in the universe to connect our lives. All these connections create this beautiful webwork around the world of people. It's both humbling and awe-inspiring at the same time. And for this reason, I found New York City enlightening and groovy.
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