Travel: New York City

I’ll be honest, I was rather anxious on the days leading up to our trip to New York. So many people in such a tiny area. A fast-paced city. A subway system that seemed like a foreign language when trying to research about it (thank goodness for google maps providing up to date info). This would be my first time in the Big Apple…yet, from past travels, I’ve realized I prefer the less populated places: Cinque Terre, Kauai, New Zealand – the bigger cities (Rome, Florence, Chicago, San Fran) were all super fun, but I definitely couldn’t see myself ever living there. However, as soon as we stepped foot in NY, my anxieties washed away – THERE WAS SO MUCH TO SEE AND DO AND EAT! People were very friendly, the East Village neighborhood offered a safe haven, and I was constantly in awe with how much New York has to offer!

The entire reason for the trip was to capture the love between Sydney and Andrew for their engagement session! My husband and I decided to stay longer to try to explore as much as we could! We rented a cute airbnb in the East Village, which was central to a lot of record stores and restaurants we wanted to try! We spent a couple of days exploring Brooklyn in between roaming the streets of Manhattan. I did get to check off the main item on my “must-see” list – the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. Patience is…waiting for kids to finish climbing all over so I could get my money shot 😉

From delicious ramen to sweet kitty cafes, to fun shows, to street art galore, to visiting friends, to bridge walking, to skyline shots, and SO MUCH GOOD FOOD – it was an awesome trip! I can’t wait to go back sometime! I feel like we only ventured to an nth of the city, and there is still so much to see! Here are the film images I took with my trusty XA1 (such a great travel camera)…for bonus material, add my personal instagram account (@verticalhouse) for even more fun!

Ok so funny story: I was climbing up a wall under the bridge when my lil’ XA slammed into the rocks and the film door came open. I shut it immediately and decided to keep shooting to see what would happen, especially since I was so close to the end of the roll. The results are the next few images – the hiss cat was the final shot on the roll (as you can see from the bottom edge). I thought the effect the light leak provided just added to those shots and I was rather pleased for the happy accident! It’s also a nice testament to 35mm and how it withstood (versus when the 120 or 220 roll just completely unravels and light touches almost everything – knock on wood, that hasn’t happened to me, but it is a reality of shooting film). Since, thankfully, most of the 35mm roll had been shot, it was protected in the canister. The light leak really only messed with 4 shots…not too shabby!