Urban Fever 2—First Grand Central Photoshoot

This is a quite spontaneous photoshoot. If I knew I’d do a photoshoot at the Grand Central, I would have charged my camera and brought all the extra gears. But when I was on my way to visit a friend on the Upper East Side on Saturday, I suddenly found myself standing in the main concourse of the terminal. Grand Central has everything a photographer needs—great lighting, giant space, commuters who are not annoyed by cameras (because there are just so many people taking pictures) and fascinating stories behind the building. I unconsciously took out my camera and ended up spending an hour there.

 

 

Urban Fever 1–A Tourist’s New York

The Tourist is an unbelievably bad movie. I feel bad for Johnny Depp because I think he’s actually a good actor and should not be having those ridiculous lines with Angelina Jolie who only knows how to toss her hair beautifully and show the best angles of her thick lips. But I guess the movie at least made one point–being a tourist in a new city is always an adventure.

I heard people say you can’t call yourself a true New Yorker if you don’t live in the city for six years. Lately I heard the number has increased to ten years. I guess that might be because the real New York City has become even harder to figure out, with more tourists (I bet a lot of them are from China), the dysfunctional Wall Street, weird commuters from New Jersey (like me) and more dogs that perhaps cost more money on food every month than I do. Anyway, how would I know? I just moved to this area only a bit over a year ago and I don’t even live in the city. So I guess even though I know a few streets of the city, I’m pretty much still a tourist to New York City.

So here is a little piece of the big city through a tourist’s eyes and lens on an ordinary Saturday in the summer.

Note the commercial on that blue screen is about a Chinese city called Chengdu, my home town!

I was trying to remember when was the last time I was on a MTA bus. Failed!

NYC Cab Yellow

The Empire State Building looks pretty different

A B&W photo always feels more elegant and classy

@Union Square Farmers Market, better than Whole Foods across the street

Love the color

Those guys must be smart. But why I don't see an Asian??? Weird!

A Different New York Skyline

There are certain rules that you have to follow if you want to have a better New York City experience during the summer, when the city is packed with tourists from all over the world. One of the rules is that you should never go to the High Line Park on a weekend.

This amazing public park, which was converted from an elevated freight railroad, is obviously not designed for holding too many people at the same time. So I went to the High Line in an weekday evening and it was an amazing experience to observe the city from a quite different angle and re-think what makes New York City so attractive to many people.

Following the rail tracks, it’s a journey to search for the city’s memories. The railroad, according to Wiki, connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing traffic on the streets. Today, the High Line has given a rebirth of the tracks, connecting multimillion properties and offers New Yorkers a new place besides the Central Park to appreciate the diversity of the City, check out their cute neighbors, flirt with strangers, enjoy the sunshine over the Hudson, and contemplate what the City is really about.

The High Line Stretches under the Standard Hotel

Time Stays, We go

People + City

New York Summer

A million-dollar view?

New York cab drivers drive too fast

The world's best city's skyline looks different today

A New York City Concert

I’ve never been a big fan of New York City. It’s too noisy. There are always too many people. It’s way too expensive. I have many reasons to not love the city. But there’s one thing that makes me can’t not to take New York City seriously–the serendipity that you can’t find anywhere else. I had never felt about this so strongly until last Saturday after I went to Nate Fetinger‘s classical music concert Not Dead Yet, Nate’s NYC debut as a classical composer and pianist.

The music is so refreshing and breathtaking. I was truly amazed by Nate, a 23-year-old young musician who however doesn’t event work in the music industry at all. I don’t know if I should hate the city for not (yet) let him afford to be a musician as profession or if I should appreciate the city for honoring me the opportunity to become a good friend with Nate, who might otherwise be already too famous as a composer if he never came to the city.

Perhaps this is why people love New York City so much–you just constantly find something amazing that you would never expect. Like a coworker of mine, who so inspired me as she runs 7 miles almost everyday. Or like another friend of mine who backpacked in Central Africa for a month. Or like Nate, who lives a simple 9-5 life while pursuing his music dream on the side (which is definitely what he should be doing for the entire time).

Congrats, Nate! Looking forward to your next concert!

Jonathan Estabrooks (Baritone) sings Goethe Songs. Nate (Piano) wrote the piece in 2010

THREE, a piece Nate wrote this year. Mioi Takeda (Violin), Wanda Glowacka (Cello), Nate (Piano)

Congratulations Nate!

He got some fans already