Posts Tagged New York City
Mother of all cities
Posted by NN in Photography, Travels, Vacation on 100321
After my super busy days in San Francisco and Austin I stopped by NYC on the way home. I had such luck, being invited to stay at a good friend and his wife’s new apartment in Brooklyn – the best of hosts during my too brief visit.
It was wonderful apartment, looking out over the city from the clock tower where they live. I got an awesome picture with my darling Tilt-Shift lens from the top of the clock tower one night (see below) I hope you like it too.
I was fantastically lucky with the weather. Spring was definitely in the air. Waking up with the sun, listening to the sounds of the city. Looking up at a clear blue sky and feel of the warm sun on my face, was just bliss. And perfect for long walks through the neighborhoods, letting impressions soak in. There can’t be a better way to feel the vibe and taste the culture of a city.
Manhattan wasn’t left alone though. I did my mandatory pilgrimage to B&H, ate lunch in the park, experienced some of the craziness on St Paddy’s Day, enjoyed the view of the city from the Top of the Rock and finally, I got to see the Tim Burton exhibit at MOMA. YAY!
I met old dear friends and made some new. I had some great food and drink and, of course, got a hint of sunburn. How it’s supposed to be.
A new perspective
Posted by NN in Photography, Travels on 100217
New York City will never be the same. A great place just got better.
One reason was my new tilt-shift lens.
I have always liked stories told with still images and try to find ways to add my own perspective and narrative. It’s not always planned, often a gut feeling. New adventures, light and temperature, people, cities and landscapes, sounds and smell trigger my senses and feeling of exploration.
These first images playing with the lens is very much taken in the spur of the moment. In review I can see so much more potential, a detail here and there. That said, it is true to that moment and I wouldn’t change what I captured. Rather, take it with me next time I venture out, where ever I go.
And New York, I hope we meet again soon.
Ping-pong
It’s been two months since my last post – two very hectic months. Now, on what feels like the longest flight ever, I do have plenty of time. So what has the past months been like?
NYC
In the end of September we traveled over the pond with tickets to Springsteen and E-Street band’s final concerts at Giant Stadium. That my birthday fell in the same week didn’t hurt either… :)
I love New York. Every time I visit I wish I could stay longer. Had a great birthday dinner in Brooklyn with friends, strolled the streets of Manhattan and smiled at the sun up on High Line Park. Enjoyed Central Park as ever, and a rainy day at the Met. Ate very well and a few tall drinks. Had the usual stop, well two, at B&H, but managed to stay away from the big purchases. That said, all in all, we did our best to help the US economy with a healthy shopping spree. It was so great to take full week off in the autumn. Not done that since the late eighties. Scary.
The two concerts were great. Amazing atmosphere. It was nice to experience Bruce in his backyard before the old stadium was torn down. I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore fan, liked his music before the shows, but now I catch myself humming his songs more often than not. Curious that.
Seoul
Arrived home from NYC on a Monday evening, had a quick meeting at the office on Tuesday morning before heading back to the airport and the flight to Seoul with my boss. Three continents in two days, not advisable, not surprisingly it turned into a jet lag rollercoaster. Had a great time though. Met with our Korean partners for a few days. Very busy schedule. Didn’t even find the time to take a single picture before we continued on to Beijing.
Beijing
It had been almost six months since I’d visited our team in Beijing. It was great to be back and to spend some time with them. It was the first time in the office not being directly in charge. A bit weird, but I still think of the studio as one of my babies.
It still amazes me how fast the city develops. Even when I visited more frequently I saw changes. With a half-year break it was just amazing. The area around our studio is completely transformed. Only three years ago I drove over an empty, bumpy field (the taxi made a wrong turn and decided to take a short cut over the grass – which turned out to be more rocks and potholes than anything). Now, at least ten skyscrapers were in construction on the same lot. Luckily, the little green oasis we have around our studios is still there, just surrounded by concrete.
The only bummer with this visit was that I didn’t find the time to visit 798. It was my boss’ first visit to the Far East, so we opted for the usual suspects instead. Unfortunately, we arrived at the Forbidden City ten minutes too late. It closed earlier due to the 60-year celebration. Tiananmen Square was packed with, I would guess, at least 200.000 people. Its on days like that you get an idea of the share number of the Chinese. We did get to see the “Egg”, the music hall, which was a first for me as well and I was very happy that we managed to stop by my favorite café in Houhai for a Tsing Tao. The planned trip to the Great Wall went down the drain too, but we did visit the “bird’s nest” and “water cube” at night.
San Francisco
I spent ten days at home, before flying out again. This time I traveled to the West Coast and San Francisco, another favorite city. The weather was perfect, warm, and sunny. Waking up to a cup of tea at Samovar in Yerba Buena Gardens, having a great Sunday brunch at Mama’s and strolling along the Embarcadero was a great way to start ten busy days. I did of course burn my nose…
Los Angeles
After a few days in the Bay Area we turned south to Los Angeles, to more meetings, dinners and more fun. Good drinks and company at Philippe and Roger Room. Gazing out over the Pacific in spare moments in Santa Monica. A pre-Halloween bash at the Hollywood cemetery was OK, didn’t bring any costumes on our trip which made us stand out quite a bit. So when we the following day were invited to Heidi and Seal’s Halloween party at Voyeur, we had to find something good. I ended up as an undead renaissance something…
Seattle and London
The day after we continued up to Seattle. Stayed at the 1000. Brilliant hotel, you should try next time you visit. I’ll book it again for sure. It was a quick stop in the Pacific Northwest before we headed back east the following day, across the Atlantic to London. I must like cities, because this is another favorite.
Home
Coming back to Oslo was nice, even though November is the saddest month of the year. A joyous time of cold, dark, and wet, occasionally white, quickly turning into wet, cold sleet. After two weeks without much sunlight I found myself back on an airplane, and my first visit to Busan in Korea.
Busan
Speaking at ICON/G-Star, meetings, dinners and walking the show floor. A five-day visit. I managed to squeeze in a free day, on Saturday, taking a taxi to unknown destinations. I like it that way. Stepping out of a cab, not knowing what I’ll see or experience. My trusted friend, Nikon and I on yet another adventure.
I found myself in what I believe is a national coastal park area. All signs are in Korean only and all around me were locals. I saw a group of people walking over to a booth buying tickets. I followed their example, and before I knew it I’m on the kiddy-train. Driving 5km/h along the footpath… It was fun for 300 meters, where I jumped off and walked down to a pebble beach. And to my surprise I see someone I’d wanted to meet since I read an article in National Geographic Magazine years ago; the pearl diving grandmothers. Amazing women.
Stumbling along on the large pebbles I was almost blinded by the brilliant, incredible flat, white sunlight. Enjoying the gentle sound of waves until it was suddenly drowned by the weirdest, kitschy, Korean electro pop music I ever heard. As a perfect score in a Wes Anderson flick it blasted out from a tourist boat on the other side of the beach. What happened next is hard to describe. Standing there listening to that music, shielding my eyes I saw silhouettes of a crowd of old, small, Korean seniors rushing – on slow motion – down a hill to catch the boat. Such a surreal experience, and I loved it.
The walk around the peninsula was quite pleasant. After three hours I continued my journey into the unknown city. Stopped at different markets before heading back to the hotel to pack my bags, and an early night sleep before the long flight home the morning after. Or so I thought. Damn you, jet lag. In bed, wide-awake I counted down the hours till I had to get up. At 5:00 I finally submerged into dreamless sleep, giving me a full hour…
In transit
I’m arriving in Frankfurt in a few hours, just one more flight left before I’m home. The journey will take me 23 hours door to door. Knowing that I don’t sleep on airplanes I figured that by the time I’m diving into bed I will have slept only one out of past 47 hours. I’m so looking forward to get to my bed.
Here, there, everywhere
Sitting in a cab, knowing the driver is taking the extra long route is immensely frustrating when you don’t speak the language and the little time you have is running fast. I did make it to Pudong airport, caught my flight out of Shanghai in time and the last leg of my third trip around the world. Phileas Fogg, eat your heart out.
I started this trip almost three weeks ago traveling via Stockholm to Moscow. After a few very busy days in Russia I dropped by Copenhagen, met one of my oldest friends, ate a spicy pizza and sampled the local brew for dinner. Hotel Guldsmeden still has the best breakfast, which I enjoyed before flying over to New York.
Over one year since my last visit to the big apple. I missed it so. It felt great to be back. Walking the streets, enjoying great food, the obligatory visit to B&H and stroll through Central Park. Birthday party in Brooklyn was fun and we had great work sessions. Hurricane Ike hit Texas shores as I prepared for my flight to Austin, via Virginia.
The flight was silky smooth, apart from my bags getting lost. It was good being back in Austin, the city surrounded by Texas. The city’s annual game development conference is one of my favorites of the year. It’s fairly laidback, informative and all the people you want to meet is there. I spent four days in Texas before I continued to a extended layover in San Francisco, via Denver.
I have difficulties deciding if like SF or NYC the most, or Paris for that matter. I’ve been very fortunate visiting San Francisco five times this year. I’ve always enjoyed my visits and this time was no exception. Enjoyed Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisine and got some time to walk around with my camera. It was nice to have a day off from work, well half day, before to mentally preparing for the 14-hour flight over the Pacific to China.
Shanghai was draped in smog like I’ve only experienced in Beijing before. I had almost forgotten about the humidity in this city. The new skyscraper hovering over Jin Mao is quite impressive in its bottle opener shape. I’m glad we visited Face for a good Indian meal and I bought yet another sweater from Shanghai Tang – I just can’t help myself, I really like them.
It’s been an eventful trip where time has both flown and stopped during my jetlagged stupor, but it’s going to be very nice to get back home. I’m writing this somewhere over the Ural Mountains. A few more hours and I’ll touch ground in Frankfurt and only one more flight to complete the circle – around the world.
Travel log – New York City
Four hours from Boston and our bus arrived at the Port Authority. It rained, hard, all the way and difficult to see anything on the way down – but i enjoyed x amount of TV series episodes on my 12″ PowerBook. I thought it was a good trip.
Twelve years. Wow, time flies. It’s exactly twelve years since I visited New York the first time. And over six months since I visited NYC last – that’s just too long. I love this city. After checking into the hotel, a cheap, hidden gem very central, which I’m not planning to share the name of (unless you send me a mail). The trip went down to Village/Soho for to kickback, a few drinks and pure enjoyment. It was still pouring and I had the clothes to prove it. I really didn’t care. I was back in the apple and clothes do dry.
The following day we walked around. Most of the day is spent in NoLita (north of Little Italy), a very nice place with plenty of galleries, cafés and really cool shops. It is the place to go if you are looking for something special, and a great place to walk around with a camera too. In the evening we spent wonderful time in a Malaysian restaurant on the Upper West Side. Don’t remember the name right now, but it’s on Columbus and around 70th. Took some nice shoots of the Lincoln Center on the way back to the hotel. Enjoying a warm nice evening.
What else can I write about? Well, no visit to Manhattan is complete (at least for me) without a visit to B&H, one of the greatest photo stores in the world. A nirvana for a shutterbug like myself. Once again I walked out with more than one shopping bag, expensive yes, but oh so fun.
I’ve said before that I could write up, down, left, right about places I like and even more so when it comes to NYC. I will return many times and more will be told then.
Till next time…
