This shot is for my sister. Whenever I had to cross from Adam's place down on 8th avenue to the subway on Broadway, there'd be these huge Chicago posters in my way. She'd have loved it.
Cloths at an “organic clothes store” in SoHo. It's organic allright.
The whole place feels like a greenhouse... for clothes. I'm not talking metaphorically here, it was damp and humid and hot like hell. Nice clothes though. Priced accordingly.
New York has giant ads for video games painted on its buildings. I mean, how cool is that?
A model and some crew doing photoshoots for an obviously hip fashion brand in SoHo.
Feels just like home. The menu is exactly the same, only in dollars. I also spotted a Hebrew newspaper in there.
Er, what?
This was on a random wall in SoHo, I think. Text reads: I [me] (guardian) hereby gives permission for [myself] (child) to be left unsupervised, encouraged to misbehave, and overindulge in mermiment. He/she is authorized to act freely and honestly without apology or reprimand. Signature: yours truly, Date: right NOW!
WARNING: We know these guys are selling fakes, but we need you to report them to us. Help big brother keep his eye open! This goes hand in hand with the giant posters in construction projects, saying “call 1-300 to report violation of safety work conditions at this location.”
Michael Bukhman and his beautiful girlfriend whose beautiful Chinese name I unfortunately forgot, after specifically asking about the correct way to spell it so I could tag her here. It could have been Jingwen.
Michael Bukhman and myself, each looking slightly dorkier than the other (that's infinite recursion right there).
Here Michael looks dorky by himself :)
Sergey, on the other hand, always looks cool. Even with that gay scarf.
Michael and Jingwen (tentative) looking cute together.
The Brothers. Here you can see the genetic similarities, in that they both have glasses and hair and so on.
Mmm... desserts!
Mmm... more desserts!
A fat cat on the street.
There was a mini-story about this cat but I forgot it. Still, you know, it's a cat, so it warrants photographs taken of it.
A very flashy Harley Davidson, heavily customized to convey “I spend so much money on my incredibly cool bike because I have a small dick”.
Oh wait, it isn't about dick size at all... it's all about FREEDOM.
Good question. Because if you hadn't, why not have it at Chickpeas, a modern trendy hummus chain? Because there's no relation whatsoever between schnitzel and hummus, that's why.
Times Square, early noon.
Still Times Square. Nothing special here, move along.
Lots of people in line for the TKTS booth for cheap tickets for tonight's Broadway shows. I like to think I payed about $80 more for not standing in line for several hours. The math might work out given my current salary (I hadn't checked).
Guys doing a breakdance show on Columbus Circle, right near the entrance to Central Park. Sergey has the whole thing on video.
She's iItalian. Or Russian. I can't remember which was which.
“And we also have a very special guest here, Philip!” -- “Philip who?” -- “Fill-up the bucket!” -- (uneasy laughter from the audience, having realized they're expected to pay for the show)
This woman was trying to ruin their show (mainly by trash-talking them), and it got ugly fast. At one point they said they won't start until she leaves, and she tried to make the entire audience leave with her. Boycotting street performers. Now that's a novel idea. It all ended well after a little negotiating, as can be seen here. I didn't hear the negotiation parts, but I suspect it was something like “yo listen here lady, you better cut that shit out or ima kick yo ass, you understand?” -- “You ain't scarin' me, boy” and so on.
They, too, have a daily scrum.
This is the other girl. She's Russian or Italian, depending on what the first girl was.
They can dance!
They can do acrobatics!
They can, er, make awkward postures!
Go ladies, go ladies, go ladies...
Look at me, I'm dancing crazy!
This looks awesome from the front, of course.
Meta-shooting Sergey somewhere near Lincoln Center (the signs say we're at Broadway and Columbus, but I know better).
In Juilliard. The training rooms really reminded me of IASA, only they have more of them with better pianos and better musicians :)
...like Michael, who's a great pianist although he won't admit it. The guy was accepted for a doctoral program in Juilliard before he was 25, for crying out loud. As I said, this place really reminded me of IASA, along with all that inferiority complex thing.
He can also play without flash!
Damn it, he can play in long exposure! The guy's a fucking virtuoso.
Good old brotherly love. I think I know how Sergey feels here.
Experimenting with two different arts.
Ah, that's better.
Let's move on to a different kind of keyboard (Sergey ruined the narrative for this shot by exclusively using the mouse). This is Michael and Jingwen's place and it's incredibly cute. It's a studio apartment with just enough space for a bed, a desk and a huge ass piano (left).
Michael and Jingwen at their place.
”Whatchalookinat? Getouttahere!“
“Hey there... whatchalookinat, gorgeous?”
Oh yeah, and they have a sea turtle (tortoise?). He's really cool.
Typical romantic moment.
Jingwen deserves a solo picture. With Michael incapacitated by the chick plushie, it becomes possible to shoot her alone.
Experimenting with gravity, as it applies to chick plushies.
Girls at Barnes & Nobles, reading when they should be buying. Corporate America will be displeased. Note stunning lack of focus: I shot this quickly before they'd see me and file a sexual harrassment claim.
Book of creepy-cute pictures by someone.
A Korean place where you order meat and get it raw, and then cook it (or they cook it for you) in the grill set in the middle of the table. It was delicious.
Lots of Korean side dishes complete the experience.
I really have to stop making this pose when being photographed. Misha's pose is so much better.
At Misha's left: instructions on how to choke a victim.
Sergey and myself. At far left and back: undercover Korean assassin.
Tasty!
Girls going wild on stage at the Dueling Pianos show at Sweet Caroline's (I think that's what the place was called). Basically, they have two pianos with two pianists and you pay to request a song. The nice part is that you can also pay to stop the currently playing song, hence “dueling”. It was nice. It was also dark and far away, which explains the crappy shot.
What do you know, it really was called Sweet Caroline's. At one point they begged us to pay “anything higher than $5” to prevent them from playing a really crappy song, which someone requested with a $5 tip. I can't remember what the song was, which kinda ruins the story, but you get the idea.
Hell's Kitchen is the nickname of Ninth Avenue (or at least some parts of it). They have a flea market, where I hoped I could find a cool bag for me girlie. I didn't, and it was hot and not-something-at-all, and fortunately Sergey called me a while later and bailed me out of there.
I mean, seriously, flea markets are one of the things we do better than the New Yorkers.
From left to right: nice girl trying a pair of obviously-crappy sunglasses, trash can in the middle of the market, girl who just bought something approaching a stand to buy something else, and someone's ass with a thingy poking from his rear pocket.
This kid was engrossed with the porcelain or whatever it is that covers the subway tunnels.
A few seconds later I realized I'm on the wrong platform and crossed over, which earned me a chance to shoot him from up close. Nice kid.
I want Israeli ads to be as freely-described as this one.
Some kind of dessert at a nice Italian place I went to with the Bukhman Bunch.
Tal Katz at his year-end recital. Michael Bukhman accompanied him in two of the pieces, but I only realized I can take pictures after the intermission, so here's some other unknown pianist.
Here they're playing Zorba the Greek, with (kinda) matching hats. Tal and Michael also wore English fedoras for the British piece. Very amusing. It was a pretty good rendition of it, too.
Stunning mirror image! Amazing visual effects!
A guy with a huge instrument. Fittingly, he's black.
