The shoot

The fashion show was something else completely. I found it kinda funny that all the girls looked alike. Obviously their clothes were different but in terms of their body types and bone structure of the face. They were all really skinny and it looked unhealthy (probably was). Nevertheless it was a neat experience but I definitely felt out of place. I stood off on the side and listened to my music cause I didn't even want to try mingling. Hannah and I went out for dinner and then I came back watched a film with a group of people at the hostel and crashed. I gotta get ready for work right now but i'll throw another of these up when stuff gets interesting.

Love to all
Dan

half done

So I'm half done the work term. This is a photos of Ollie and I downtown. He's from Australia and we just went around town looking for flat brims and stuff. Last night we went to Iron Man and it was a sick film so I would recommend all of you guys check it out. We also went into starbucks and apparently there is such thing as a quad espresso which I didn't know...

Tried to go out this weekend and experience the night life in New York. I hate being under the legal age though cause they give me a stamp saying I can't drink and it makes me really frustrated and feel like I'm a baby. Today I'm actually going on a shoot with Hannah. It's a fashion show and I don't know how it's gonna all pan out yet but I think it's gonna be pretty cool. I'll definitely keep you guys posted on how it goes. Ollie and I met this ridiculous guy on the subway who told us he was a photographer and we got to talking about stuff and he gave us his website. It is ridiculous and pretty offensive, it looks like crappy pictures of naked women taken in like his bathroom. I honestly don't know what goes through his head but we had a really good laugh about it when we saw the site. Overall the weekend was pretty low key but thats fine at this point cause I just need to rest and relax. It's raining today but overall it hasn't been to bad. Probably about 70 percent sunny and nice and 30 percent rainy so I really can't complain. It does feel like stuff is moving quite slowly here and I'm so excited to get back. I've got to start looking into flights home and getting that all organized. I'll keep updating this once and awhile but I don't have time to do it every day. I'll be back soon enough and I'm gonna have to start thinking about where I'm going to go after school to get work. I've been thinking long and hard and New York may be where I end up going after next year. I guess I have another year to figure it out though.

Love to all
Dan

So... I'm now gonna be working at a new studio for 2 days a week. The guy who let me work there is named Kit and he's huge into Hip Hop. Seemed like a real cool down to earth guy so I'm pretty psyched. Tomorrow I have to go to work at noon and work till 12. I took a lot of shots today but I didn't have the right lens for the job so tomorrow I don't even care... I'm bringing all my gear. The new studio is located in williamsburg and the location is amazing. There is graffiti everywhere and old abandoned buildings. I'm thinking of breaking in to some. I've also started to get the knack for shooting random people. I'm going up to people and asking them if I can take a shot. There was an awesome guy in the subway station in like incredible clothing. I got a picture of him and he was super friendly. I'll try to edit it and put it on my next blog. I'm sorry by blogs don't get super deep. I wish I could explain every little detail but i'm so so tired and busy all the time it kind of makes it hard to remember and write everything. The restaurants here are cool and there are tons of little places on the street that you can get different food at. I've been going crazy with chinese food. You can get a whole meal and like a soup for $6.50. One place around the corner you can get a burger fries and pop for 3 bucks tax included. It's pretty ridiculous how cheap food is here but usually I buy ingredients and make my own meals cause it can be social. I really have to stop drinking here but it's so cheap that we all just sit down and get tanked. frigg... not good. I'm just about to finish my first drink but I have to keep it cool tonight to have a good strong day tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting home and even though I'm not having a great time here, I'm trying to do as much as I can so it isn't a waste of time. I'm learning about invoicing with work and it's useful. At the studio I'll hopefully see how some pro's light subjects. I'm trying to experience NY to it's fullest whether I like it or not so I can still claim that I've been there done that.

Love to all
Dan

...

No picture today. Just a quick update. I'm off to work in a few where i'll probably be doing some digitizing of a library. Last night around the hostel was pretty fun.we made a huge pot of some drink cause we wanted a lot of it and just sat back played some wii bowling and drank. The people at the hostel are cool right now and especially the people who work here. Some of the people staying here are actually here for months at a time as they search for a job. It's actually a fairly cheap place to live compared to how much an apartment would cost per month. Almost finished week two and i gotta think about what I wanna do this weekend. I'm thinking of going to see the lion king with a guy from here. It's on in one of the theaters but it's pretty expensive so maybe i'll see if we can get rush tickets. The guy who owns the store near where hannah works recognized me when I went into his store for the second time yesterday. It was pretty cool that I actually made an impact on him and he remembered. I'm definately gonna stop there more often and chat to him cause he seemed like a very interesting guy. I love getting into conversations with strangers here because it's so diverse and you get lots of opinions and different outlooks on life. I don't really know what else to say cause I don't find these blogs can do justice to my emotions and feelings towards new york. It's kind of a love hate thing and I just can't seem to settle in.

Love
Dan

Hey guys. Probably a pretty short blog today. I have to be up at around 4:30 in the morning to get to work around 6:30 cause I'm assisting on a shoot. Should be alright and I'm told it will be boring but oh well. I wanted to say Happy Birthday to Dad (sorry I completely forgot) and I hope it's awesome. I wish I could have been there for it. I'm really missing halifax and it's size. It's waaay to big here and it tires me out just walking around. This weekend I've been in manhattan shooting a whole bunch and it was great. I'm trying to find another flat brim hat that I like but I can't decide on one. Dan if you read this tell me what friggin size flat brim you need cause I forget and you don't answer my messages. Today I was in lids and a guy came up to me and started talking to me about my camera. He knew it was a wedding camera and we chatted for awhile about photography. He's a photojournalist and he asked me to come to his party tonight (which I couldn't really go to cause I have to be up so early). I was a bit nervous to go hang out with him but I asked the store keeper who vouched for him said he was a good guy. He also wanted me to go to the beach and shoot some surf photos on wednesday but I'm working so I told him that next weekend hopefully we could do something cause I'd be free. Anyway I have to get back to work, it's amazing how independant it is here like I'm responsible for so much and I kinda like it. There's a lot of great stuff here in New York but it's really sad that I have to enjoy it alone instead of with all my friends and family. Something about exploring alone make stuff a bit more boring. I went to the museum of modern art here in New York with a buddy from the hostel today and it was very interesting. It's sad for me to have to make new friends every few days even though it's neat and I seem to very easily. I still wish I had even one person here who was with me the whole time... it would make it a lot better. What's worse is I can't go to bar's cause I'm not 21 and I don't have a fake. Maybe I'll try and get one.

Anyway. Bye for now
Love you all
Dan

sorry

Sorry guys that it took me awhile to get another blog going. My blogging may slow down cause I just have so much stuff to do. Today I went into manhattan with a friend from the hostel and we explored a bit and went to the museum of natural history. It was really impressive and I'll eventually get a few photos up on flickr. It has all these exhibits of animals from different areas and they have painted environments behind them. It's so immersive and it was great. Tomorrow we're gonna go to the museum of modern art which should be really exciting. I shot a lot today everywhere and I've come up with a few techniques for shooting people on the subway. If I'm with someone and they sit next to the person I want to photography, I can pretend I'm photographing them and not get hassled. I can also hold it waist level and click the shutter and hope I get something. It works pretty well in some situations and I'm really getting more brave in terms of street photography. We went to this mexican place for dinner and they had some pretty awesome burritos. I've tried to make myself try as many different restaurants as I can and not go to places I can go to in Halifax. I want to try as much new stuff as possibly and immerse myself into this culture as thoroughly as possible. People are starting to notice me around and actually telling me to take their picture which is great cause then I know they won't get upset at me. This picture I posted was a guy praying outside of a church and I just felt compelled to take the shot. I shot probably 150 shots today and it felt really good being able to really explore and shoot cause I haven't been able to for awhile. Anyway i'll post again soon I hope. I've gotta edit some more and do a few more things before bed.

Love to all
Dan

tired...

This is gonna be a shorter entry maybe... maybe not we'll see. I'm just super tired and I need to sleep. Today I went in to work and it was pretty good. Hannah has a main assistant who is always there helping here and I met her today. Needless to say you guys all know how bad of a first impression I make and how could I let you down. Hopefully she'll realize 90% of the stuff that comes out of my mouth is a joke but who knows haha. Anyway it's at least nice having someone else to talk to who is near my age. I went out for Chinese today.. pretty bad but still better than peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I gotta go to bed now i'm waaay to tired but i'll try to write a nice long one tomorrow.

Love to all
Dan

Courage...

Another busy day for me today. I got up fairly early and went shopping for more food. It's much cheaper shopping and making meals. Today for dinner I made kraft dinner and fried up a sausage to put in..... yea thats right I'm such a good cook..... Anyway I did that and then I had to be in to work at 2. I went and did some deliveries around town and picked up some work for Hannah. I've been terrified at the thought of shooting random people around town but today I decided i'm going to try. I've started taking a few shots of people and I'm trying to keep it subtle. Hopefully I'll become more courageous and start asking people if I can take their picture. I really don't have enough time to shoot... the weekend's coming up and i'll be going to art shows in town but it's kind of frustrating being only 20 cause I can't drink even a beer. I've never felt this independent before. I have to plan my meals and completely plan my days and stuff. I only wish that I'd found a sublet to stay in because it's so easy to settle in by yourself but when you're in a hostel and everyone is moving around it gets kinda distracting.

I started getting super pumped up today and all around town when I was making deliveries I started talking to random people and introducing myself. There's a little corner store near Hannah's work that I stop by and the guy's name is Ali. We got into a little discussion today about New York and Canada and he's been to canada 4 or 5 times and loves it. He didn't seem to have much good to say about New Yorkers but absolutly loved Canada. Anyway i'm probably gonna try and keep stopping in at that store and get myself known just cause it's nice goin in a store and bring recognized and being able to have a good chat. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people here in New York are dying to have a conversation but no one has the initiative to start it. Thats IT!!! I'm gonna start it cause I hate the silence.. it kills me.

People are also starting to recognize me in the area. I had a guy stop me and ask me what I was shooting just cause he had seen me walking around a bunch. I'm really excited to get to know the people around here. It's such a diverse bunch. There is a jewish area, a spanish area, black area and over where I work has the largest polish population outside poland. It's amazing the cultural merge which is taking place here and I must say it does feel like a city of oppertunity. Maybe i'll move here? who knows.

Thats all for now
Dan

Pretty cool day

Man today was intense. I was carrying huge bags all over Manhattan running a bunch of errands for Hannah. She's very nice and tomorrow I get to sleep in but in the afternoon I'm going to her office to print off contact sheets for like 8 hours. It's a lot of work so far especially being here along and figuring out everything on my own. My Ipod finally packed in today so I went down to the apple store and picked up a new one. They're getting pretty cheap it's amazing how you can get a 4gb ipod for under 150 dollars. I haven't really been shooting much recently but I try to take one picture a day at least which is good enough to put on this blog. Nothing special but at least something that allows you guys to see what I get to see. I'm just so worn out and it feels like I don't have enough time to do everything. I met a few interesting people today. A girl came up to me and asked what sort of camera I had and we got to talking. Turns out she has a friend who is also a photographer who lives about 5 houses down from where i'm staying. We went there and talked to her friend and we're all gonna go out shooting hopefully this weekend. We exchanged contact info so it's gonna be awesome I hope. I'm really super excited that I've been able to make some new contacts and hopefully be able to shoot with them. I feel like I've bought all my necessities and it should be relatively smooth sailing from here. Gonna check out some art shows this weekend too I hope and explore manhatten. Anyway... today was cool and my feet hurt a lot from all the walking but it's certainly an adventure and I can't complain about a lack of stuff to do. There are tons and tons of little shops and food places to explore. I would love to come here with a few other people just for fun sometime cause I think it would be great having more time to run around seeing all the interesting stuff here. I'll keep you guys posted on everything else. The 2 british guys staying in the hostel in my room are leaving tomorrow so i'ma go have a few brew with them.

Love to all
Dan

beautifully frustrating

New York is so beautiful right now. It's very green.... everywhere you walk has huge branches with green leaves drooping down over the sides of the streets. It almost seems unreal because it's so colourful. There are purple, pink and green tree's and I never thought New York was like this. Today it was raining and it wasn't much fun cause I had to do a ton of stuff in the rain. I have a collection of food that I can cook and it's in a drawer under my bed. The collection gets a bit bigger each day as I go get a few more ingredients and stuff. I went into manhatten and bought a cell phone so now i'm mobile which is nice. (number is 1-347-228-1232 and i'd love to hear from you hint hint)

I went to a bank and tried to cash some travellers cheques but they wouldn't let me without a passport so I have to go back tomorrow. I'm gonna get up at 8 tomorrow and shower/eat and then i've gotta get to the bank to get some money. I'm supposed to get to hannah's office by 10:30 but i'll definately be late cause I haven't mastered the subway system yet. It's really cool here but it's stressful being here along cause there is so much that needs to get done. Anyway i'm gonna relax for a bit now and sleep so i'm all ready for tomorrow.

Love to all
Dan

Look at me....

well, I'm all settled in now as you can see by my mess strewn everywhere. Turns out tomorrow I'm not needed till 3ish so I have to go buy a cell phone down the street and explore a bit more. I have some pretty cool roommates right now. They are from Manchester and London and they're traveling around the U.S and Canada just for fun and planning stuff as they go.... quite adventurous I say. I also have to start figuring out food. It's pretty cool here cause there is a kitchen on each floor with a fridge and stuff so i'll probably go grocery shopping pretty early tomorrow and try and get some stuff planned out. It's so overwhelming being here because of it's sheer size. It's hard to keep the feeling that you're still a unique individual when there are just so many people. Anyway I have a headache and I need to sleep so i'ma do that. I'm homesick right now but I'm sure that will change once I get to work.

Love to all
Dan

I'm starving

Just got here and I'm starving. Hostel seems really nice and the staff are awesome as well. I'm gonna go grab some food and explore for a bit. Gotta get a few things and prepare myself to get up bright an early tomorrow. Woooooo.

Dan

Waiting....

I'm waiting in the airport right now for my flight. It was so confusing finding the U.S sign in cause it's different from everywhere else. Anyway I finally got it all done and everyone was super nice but for customs there was this woman who was so condescending. She was like questioning the shit out of me for no reason and with no motive. Frig, "who is this woman you're working with" "oh tell me what she shoots and why" like fuck off this is none of your damn business haha anyway thats what's up. I'm jamming out to some tunes trying to stay relaxed but honestly I'm freaking out. So many questions of what i'm gonna do when I get there. Probably go get a subway pass today and explore around brooklyn a little. I also gotta find somewhere to get a cell and I just don't know where to go. Ah well, i'll get it all figured out even if it takes me a bit.

DDDDDAaaaaann

Packing

I've just started packing today and my flight leaves tomorrow at 11:40. I hope I have everything I need in the house. Charging the batteries formatting memory.... this is gonna be exciting I hope. Stay tuned here and I'll update this as often as possibly and please feel free to drop my a line any time..

Love to all
Dan