Meet Me at the Flower District

Last Saturday, I traveled with my dear friend Victoria to the flower district. Between 6th & 7th Ave along 28th Street, there are scattered flower stores throughout. It was one of the first true days of Spring, and I was in awe at the colors, the vibrancy, and the freshness of the flowers. Even though they weren't quite sprouting from the ground, something about it felt so fitting for how this city does spring. I was fortunate enough to have my camera on-hand from a photoshoot earlier that morning, and couldn't resist getting some tight shots of nature at its finest. Can you tell tulips are my favorite? From a photography standpoint, I was actually quite amazed at how little I had to edit these photographs with Camera Raw. I've recently been shooting both in Manual mode and with Manual Focus as a means of solving the focus issues I've been having with my 50mm prime lens. I've found that I'm much happier with my photos afterward - probably because I'm putting more thought and precision into my settings and how I'm framing the shot. I've included the settings along with each photo below:  F/2.0 | 1/250 | ISO 100 F/4.0 | 1/60 | ISO 1600 (this was shot indoors)

F3.5 | 1/60 | ISO 200

F2.8 | 1/125 | ISO200F3.5 | 1/1000 | ISO1600 (Clearly the ISO was a leftover setting and for some reason I decided to compensate with the shutterspeed..the reverse would probably have made more sense)

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!

Introducing...The Photograph Collective

One of the things I struggle with the most in the real-world is finding the motivation to make time for my hobbies. After I moved to New York, I took an unexpected hiatus from my blog and regretted it deeply. Even now that I'm settled in, it's been difficult to motivate myself in shooting and expanding my creativity. As much as I love what I've been photographing recently, I want to stretch myself for the sake of art. I loved being in my Digital Photography class where you had a set amount of time to work within the confines of a random challenge. It allowed me to experiment with abstraction and self-portraits, but also to get feedback from my classmates and professors on how to improve. I browsed around on Flickr for groups, but was intimidated by groups with 5000+ members and weekly challenges which had hundreds of submissions. Instead, I crave a smaller and more intimate group. Thus, I have launched a new idea: The Photograph Collective. A group of 5-6 amateur photographers who operate as a community with a mission of growing both technicals and creatively. Once every 6 weeks, 1 member will create a challenge based around a theme, either abstract or literal. At the end of the allotted time frame, each person will share their series with the group and share praises, critiques, and suggestions. Finally, the group's work along with corresponding responses will be published on thephotographcollective.wordpress.com. I'm so excited that two of the first photographers to join will be: 1) The amazing Stephen Turnock who I met in London, but is studying abroad in Évreux, France 2) The phenomenal Beatrice who I have known since high school, and is shooting in San Diego, California. This means that we are looking for about 2-3 more amateur photographers to join us - no matter where you are in the world!

If you are interested at all or know if anybody interested, please email us at thephotographcollective@gmail.com and introduce yourself!

Don't be afraid to join! I'm an amateur myself, having only started shooting about one year ago. I think this would be an amazing way to have a community of some sort.