The Girl With the Purple Hair: Allison Gandolfo Hair Feature

  One of the best parts about living in New York City is that it's the intersection of so many different industries. While I originally moved here for the business world, it's been fantastic meeting friends who have backgrounds in dance, fashion, theatre, technology, architecture, and more. This has opened up a whole new world for collaborations, and I'm so excited to be featuring new projects in very different styles than I typically shoot. Thus, I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity of photographing hair for a hair portfolio! My dear friend Amalie (who is quite the multi-faceted individual herself with both medical and stand-up comedy interests) went to the fabulous Allison Gandolfo of the John Barrett Salon at the top of Bergdorf-Goodman to try an adventurous hair color before she had to completely dive into the professional world. She came out with bright purple and blue highlights which blended perfectly with her typical jet black hair. I admit, I was hesitant when she first told me her plans, but Allison did such a detailed and well blended job! In terms of photography, this was my first time truly using my prime lens for portraits, and I have to say - I truly understand what the raving is all about! I really liked how the f/3.5 images turned out (the top few photos) and I felt much more involved in the shoot because I was physically moving and interacting with Amalie rather than just zooming my lens in and out. As for shooting hair as the main subject, I found that it was much easier to capture the details in the shade due to her naturally dark hue. I also was very careful with my post-editing, making sure that I didn't alter things too much to ensure that the colors remained as close as possible to reality. However, I made the mistake of over-exposing Amalie's skin a bit too much on some of my shots. The more you shoot and practice, the more you learn!

Bosie Tea Parlor: For the sophisticated lady in you

Taste: 5 / 5 Ambience: 4 / 5 Would you want to eat there again?: I'm already trying to organize my friends to come back! Was the price worth it?: Surprisingly, yes!

A few months ago, my dear dear "niece" Olivia asked me to be one of her bridesmaid and I was simultaneously ecstatic and panicked. Ecstatic because I couldn't wait to help Olivia celebrate a new life and journey with her hilarious fiance Kyle, but also completely panicked because I had no idea what being a bridesmaid even began to entail. Luckily for all of us, Olivia is probably as far away from a bridezilla you can get (but seriously, could you please force some more of your opinions on us?), and she's given us all considerable amounts of freedom. Olivia and her sisters came down to New York City to meet Audrey and I for the bachelorette weekend, and our "main" event was a tea service at Bosie Tea Parlor in West Village.

I had originally found Bosie through their amazing reviews on Yelp. While there are (surprisingly) a lot of places in the city with afternoon tea service, many of them only serve during certain afternoon hours or charge $50-60/person. While Bosie's tea service is definitely more expensive than your average brunch, the $30/person price tag is certainly affordable and perfect for a special occasion. Each person was given their own tea pot, 3 types of tea sandwiches (cut in half, so 6 each), 2 macarons, 2 mini scones with jam and clotted cream and 2 tea cakes. I was originally worried that the restaurant stayed popular due to the "cuteness" of the concept but that the food would be subpar - I was so incredibly happy to be proven wrong! The food was phenomenal and even better, extremely plentiful. We left with 3 boxes of leftovers which were perfect for snacking on during the rest of our day, and all of us raved over each item. I was particularly impressed by the fine details that Bosie included - from the small garnishes on the tea cakes to the tiny glass jars for the jam and clotted cream, it truly made the event feel elegant and special. The display is beautiful enough to suit the sophisticated lady in you, and the ambiance was quaint and adorable. I am not giving the ambiance a full 5/5 because it wasn't quite on-point with the charm you would hope for in a tea parlor. Nevertheless, we were incredibly happy with the venue and I think the bride-to-be was just as pleased.

The most difficult part of the process was that they do not take reservations for groups smaller than 6 and don't have many tables to begin with. However, the woman I spoke to on the phone recommended that I called an hour in advance to get our names on the list which we did. When I explained my situation the day-of, our extremely sweet waitress (who was phenomenal all throughout) made sure to save us a table that could comfortably fit all of us. I highly recommend Bosie Tea Parlor - it's perfect for those special occasions with friends, sisters and mothers!

Gaussian Blur & A Small Announcement

I'm excited to announce that I've finally switched my URL over to amandaliew.com! As I've fallen in love with blogging and photography more over time, I figured it was finally time to make the commitment of getting my own website. I hope this keeps me all the more committed to blogging and continuing this journey! Due to my limited time, the majority of my photographs have been taken as sets to illustrate a dinner, a setting, or a portrait session. Since my Digital Photography class, I haven't spent much time playing with Photoshop since Camera Raw suffices for quick batch editing. However, I decided to take some time to play with this singular image and thought it would be interesting to walk through the process step-by-step. The original image in DNG form is below:

At first glance, it's a little tilted, and the background clutters the image significantly. In the moment I could have taken this photograph with a different aperture to focus better on the subject and blur out the background, but alas I can't go back in time.

My first few steps were done in Camera Raw where I changed the image to grayscale and increased the contrast to make the lampost's deep black metal stand out more.

At the next point, I entered Photoshop and created a duplicate layer of the background. I then converted the layer for Smart Filters and applied a Gaussian Blur  (10.1 pixels) to the entire image.

Of course, I didn't want the entire image to be blurred, so I began to paint away and "erase" the Gaussian blur on my subject, the lampost. For this process, I highly recommend zooming in very close and also clicking frequently. There's nothing more frustrating than painting a good portion, screwing up the end, and then having to undo the entire command. If you look in the left hand corner of this photoshop image, you'll see there is a white box and a black box. When the black box is on top, your paintbrush is removing the Gaussian Blur. When you flip the two so the white box is on top, you can replace the blur in the same way. For this image it was easier to erase the blur in large strokes and then replace it with smaller strokes to be more detailed. In other words, it's easier to trace around the edges rather than trying to guess where the subject is. 

When completed, the lampost now stands out much more than the background. Of course, I'm still learning quite a bit with this process and when taking a few steps back, I wonder if I was a little too heavy-handed on the Gaussian Blur and whether it looks like an "authentic" depth of field. Additionally, the trouble with a process where you are carefully selecting an image is that inevitably it's going to look a little fake and "pasted in." For example, at the very bottom of the lampost you can see I got a little lazy and unblurred a little too much of the area surrounding the foot. Still learning, though! As usual, I always welcome tips and feedback.

MEGU New York: Friends in high places lead to magnificent spaces

Taste: 4.5 / 5Ambience: 4 / 5 Would you want to eat there again?: Yes Was the price worth it?: No

"Do you have dinner plans for tonight?" And that was the little text I got which led to the best Friday night surprise yet. I first met my friend Amalie at Penn through Greek InterVarsity, but since moving to New York, we've become so much closer thanks to joining the same church and running in the same communities. Though she would certainly laugh that she's a "friend in high places," she does in fact hold a crazy cool job, and her boss had an unused gift certificate to Megu, an asian-fusion restaurant, that was going to expire that day. Ever so flattered I would be considered for such a cool outing, we quickly made reservations and battled the freezing cold to make it there alive. We were rather surprised by the fact that we could make a same-day reservation at the Tribeca location and by how empty it was (only half of the tables were filled), but we wondered if that was attributed to the awful weather outside. 

Because we had a restaurant voucher, the 5-courses were already pre-set. We started out with the "Crispy Okaki Aspargus" - Japanese cracker battered asparagus which was presented in such a fascinating way. The savory crackers added such an interesting (and familiar) flavor to the asparagus which we both enjoyed quite a bit. We were surprised, though, because it seemed to be quite a filling appetizer and first-course. Next, we had the Seaweed Salad which was light and surprisingly flavorful.

Our third course was a few different components. We had goat "meatballs", roasted peppers and scallops (not pictured). The goat meatballs were rich in flavor, but not overly oily which I appreciated.

For our entrees, we were given a few choices and I selected the kobe beef with caramelized onions. Little  did I know that it would come on a lava stone and be lit on fire. Casual. I snapped as many pictures as I could and absolutely love how the photographs turned out. Fire is such an interesting subject - it's constantly moving and you can never truly capture it's essence, can you? At the same time, the blend of blinding whites, oranges, yellows, and blues is such a beauty you can't find anywhere else.

I was amazed at how tender the kobe beef remained - I suppose the quick sear served its purpose to caramelize the onion and the outside of the beef, leaving the inside a perfect medium-rare. It was an excellent portion size as well.

Amalie selected the pork chop with (ginger?) sauce on it. She loved it just as much, although there were no flames on this one!

At last, the 5th course of our meal was dessert! Little did we know that we would have not one, not two, but three components to desserts. We each got a mini creme-brulee, a multi-layered green tea crepe cake, and a chocolate lava cake. The creme brulee and chocolate cake were quite standard, so I was most excited to dig into the green tea crepe cake. However, I found that the texture was a little mushier than expected. The cream, without a doubt, was phenomenal and had a subtle tea bitterness to it which I thought made it more authentic. However, I think the crepe layers were in fact too thin and therefore became soggy from the creme. The creme brulee was the winner of the trio, but then again I tend to love creme brulee more than other desserts. (Unfortunately at this point, my DSLR died and I resorted to my iPhone)

And of course, who can resist a 6th course of late night lattes?All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. However, by the end of it we started wondering whether or not we would have found the meal worth it had we paid for it in-full. The voucher on Gilt Group was $119 total, so at roughly $60/person for a 5-course meal, it would be more than reasonable. However, at a full-price of an estimated $200 or more, we agreed that it wasn't worth $100/person. Of course, the meal was still fantastic overall and if money is not an object for you, I would recommend it. Many thanks to Amalie for bringing me along and treating me to such a wonderful spontaneous night!

In terms of photography, I tried to use my 50mm prime lens, but with such dim lighting and social acceptable behavior severely limiting me, the photographs didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped. The ISO had to be blasted so high just to get some sort of focus, and even then I was too close to get the full subjects in focus. If any other photographers have some experience shooting in restaurants, I would love to learn more! Namely, how do you get a decent photo without completely embarassing the rest of your party? Haha luckily Amalie was a good sport through and through and even helped me move plates around so I could get better shots.

City Living | City Loving

I've realized that despite moving to New York City eight months ago, I still have yet to actually blog about this city. When I first moved here, I was so awe of this city. Even after two summers here, this city blows my mind time and time again with its endless beauty, mouth-watering restaurants, and a whole new breed of people. Without even realizing it, I started hashtagging my Instagram accounts with #citylivingcityloving - it just sounded so right, and I was positive I had heard it before. Soon, my friends started making fun of me with #countrylivingcountryloving and all sorts of ridiculousness. When I clicked on the hashtag itself, I realized that apparently I'm the only person in the world who uses this saying. So hey, in the spirit of that, I've started a new category on my blog to feature NYC at its finest: City Living | City Loving.