Life in New York is crazy. Let's get into it.
Monday
Everyone and their mother hate Mondays. But honestly, they're one of my favorite days of the week. Probably because they're one of the only days I get to wake up a little late and get my life together. I do my laundry, run errands for school, clean my apartment, and tie up all the loose ends of the week before. I also have classes on Monday. This week we watched a documentary about the one and only Bill Cunningham. If you don't know Bill, you might know his work from the style section of the New York Times. He was one of the greatest photographers in the world and the most renown street style photographer. Bill, unfortunately, passed away a few years ago but his love for street style photography lives on. After watching this beautiful film about Bill and street style photography I left the Kent State studio to walk home. And no joke, as I turned the corner a street style photographer snapped my photo. I was flattered and humbled by the most amazingly ironic situation to ever happen to me. I didn't get to catch the name of the photographer or the blog he was shooting for, so I'm still searching the web for a photo of me in an off the shoulder blue top. If you see it let me know.
I love to use Monday as a way to look for motivation and inspiration. All my inspiration this week stemmed from street style photography and the documentary we watched about Bill. Another really unique thing Bill did was that he only shot in the film. So to honor Bill and do things the Bill Cunningham way I decided to only take pictures on film this week. I wanted to do a little bit of street style photography but I also wanted to snap pictures of anything that inspired me.
Asking strangers if you can take their picture is a lot harder than it looks. So I tried to be more discreet and just camp out on a street corner and snap pictures while people weren't looking. I was hesitant to only shoot in film this week because I was nervous the pictures wouldn't turn out the way I wanted them to. But I think they turned out great! I love how the film adds more of a vintage feel to all of these 70s inspired outfits. Ponchos, prints, and warm tones are on the street in New York, and they're giving me all these 70s vibes. After shooting these looks on film it's more obvious to me why Bill chose to shoot this way. It makes you so much more aware. If I was shooting on a digital camera I would have had my head down after every shot trying to make sure it was focused or that I got the shot I wanted to. But shooting on film you don't have the luxury of knowing what the photo looks like right away. It's also very high pressure because you have a limited number of shots. You have to be more selective and you have to look up more.
Tuesday
I pass by these stacked chairs on my way to work every Tuesday morning. They remind me of Europe and have a really nice texture and color palette.
Wednesday
I found this vintage motorcycle parked on 39th and I thought it had a 70s flair with the orange pinstriping. It looks even more amazing on film.
Thursday
Whats more New York than eating take out on your stoop with a friend? We also had our picture taken by a photographer who was walking by. He was in from Seattle and wanted to capture the people of New York on his vintage film camera. Little did he know he was actually photographing two Ohio girls giggling too much over Shake Shack.
The Weekend
This weekend my beautiful friend Hayden came to NYC for a couple of different events! She invited me to hang out with her at the first ever Vegan Food and Drink festival on Randall Island. It was amazing. The people, the style, the food, the whole thing.
Over 13,000 people made it out to try all of New Yorks best vegan restaurants and enjoy a perfect Sunday in the sun. Randall's Island was the best little escape from the city. It was the most beautiful backdrop for this festival.
The highlight of my entire week (and probably my entire life) was the kid's dance competition. There's something innately cute about kids that are first of all raise vegan, and second of all growing up in New York City. I don't know how these kids could get any cooler. They had the best moves ever and the crowd was cheering them on the whole time. I think they dragged this dance competition out for almost 45 minutes but I loved every second of it.
And the food was amazing. amazing amazing amazing. We only made it to half of the vendors because the lines were so long but we got to try a great assortment of things. Vegan mac and cheese with tofu fried chicken nuggets was a big hit, pictured to the left. We also waited in line for an hour to try this vegan egg waffle and ice cream, pictured in the middle. And gave sushi tacos a try because why not.
The street style at this festival was also amazing. There are so many intersections between veganism and other cultures. There was a very large African American community in attendance, and also a large Latino community. So it was really cool to see how those cultures were meshing and the kind of style people brought to this event. New Yorkers show up when it comes to style and a festival is a perfect place to show off.
It was the perfect weekend for this event. I had such a great time with my friend and I'm sure we will be back next year. It was one of those weekends where you just feel rejuvenated afterward. It was just what I needed to feel more inspired and motivated to take on another Monday.
Well that's one week and one disposable camera later. Onto the next.
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