It’s Up To You New York, New Yoooooork

It’s been a few days since my last post, so I thought I’d take a break from the nonstop web design I’ve been doing and dig into my archives and share a handful of photos I took during our day in New York City a few weeks back. Like I said before, we weren’t too concerned with seeing it ALL (because that would have been a little unrealistic given the time frame), so we just kinda strolled around and took the subway to several of the different neighborhoods to get a feel for each place. I also didn’t take a whole lot of photographs, because sometimes I think for my own mental health that it’s better to just step back and ENJOY what I’m doing, rather than shooting it, facebooking it, or tweeting it to death, so that’s why there won’t be a lot to show. But here are a few!

This is Jamie in front of the New York Stock Exchange. We had just finished eating some pretty amazing bagels on the street right in front of it, where they had set up a bunch of little cafe style tables and chairs. For the past 4 or 5 months, Jamie’s been obsessed with learning everything he can about trading stock options, so I think it was pretty surreal for him to be here, in person, around 9 am on a Monday morning.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the flagship Apple store on Fifth Avenue. Or was it heaven? Still not sure. It’s right next to FAO Schwartz, which we also went into. Funny that Jamie wasn’t at all impressed with one of the most famous toy stores in the world, but when we descended that staircase into the biggest Apple store we’d ever been in, it was as if the clouds parted and the angels begin to sing. I guess these are the only toys he cares about these days. :)

We also took a stroll through Central Park, where we stumbled upon this jazz band playing for all the kids who had come to the zoo that day. We sat down on the bench for awhile to just relax and enjoy it all, and as more and more kids began to arrive and start playing with each other, I began to wonder if they were all adopted, because many of them were white children, but the women they were with were mostly Hispanic. And then I overheard some of the kids talking to each other, and they kept referring to “Nanny,” and I realized that these ladies were all nannies (you can see a couple of them on the left side of the photo in the background). I mean, I’ve seen The Nanny Diaries, and I knew this sort of thing was a lot more common in such metropolitan and affluent areas, but still, it was kind of bizarre to see it in real life, and to wonder about how much money all of these families had, and what kind of apartments they lived in, and whether or not any of the children got to spend much quality time with their own parents. Just interesting, I guess.

Here’s a window display for Bergdorf’s, featuring clothing and scenes inspired by the Sex and the City 2 movie, which at this point had just come out in theaters. First of all, the window displays you see on Fifth Avenue are just jaw-dropping, unlike any I’ve seen anywhere else. But this particular display was so funny to me, because it was in this exact area, right in front of the famous Plaza hotel, where, 12 years ago, on my first trip to New York with my family, we stumbled upon the filming of the very first season of the show. Of course, at the time, we had no idea what it was about or what it would become, and Sarah Jessica Parker had yet to become a household name, so when my mom sent me to go ask a crew member what was being filmed and she told me “a new show coming out called Sex and the City“- well, let’s just say we were promptly ushered away from the scene. So I always tell people I could have seen SJP in person, maybe if the name of the show hadn’t sounded so risque. :)

I don’t think I will ever get over the sheer monstrosity of a skyline that is New York’s. Being right in the middle of the city, looking up at the tops of buildings that seem to go on forever and ever, never ceases to amaze me. And add to that the energy on the ground, among the throbs of people rushing to their next destination… it’s an experience unlike anything else. So if you’ve never been, you have to go at least once in your life. Just by watching movies set in New York or seeing photos of it…. you can never really feel it until you’re right inside it. So do it.

July is about to be by far the busiest month for me so far this year, what with 3 weddings and a week-long trip to Denver during which I’ll be shooting approximately 8 family shoots… and throw in some bridal and engagement sessions for the heck of it… and yeah…. welcome to the summer season with a photography business! So I will try to keep up with blogging and updates as best I can, in between also trying to prepare everything for the launch of my brand-spankin’-new website and promotional materials and all that good stuff, so bear with me if I don’t blog as frequently as I have been recently! And as always, thanks for being faithful readers. :)