Times Square has lots of people

And windows errors.

Central Park carries exhausted children

And sad news.

The Museum of Modern Art measures your height

And writes your name on the wall next to it.

A king among men. Shame I can’t shoot straight.

Gareth recently graduated

And Vince is Vince. Or ‘Vincenzo’, in this instance.

Harlem. Met a friend I have not seen since secondary school and he took us to the soul food restaurant.

Despite all the soul food on offer, Ryan only chose Lettuce and mashed potato. Crazy, I say.

Simon.

Back near Times Square.

Ran into the Turkish girls again.

I helped her friend with her pram up some stairs and she asked me when I would take her picture.

On and around The Highline

Going home for the final time.

Not before a spot of Golf though.

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8 lens. Nikon FM, 24mm f2 lens; Tri-x 400.

I recently went to America with the chaps below. From the left: Gaurav, Ryan and Gareth. Vince on the right is a friend who lives in Philadelphia.

London

Made this shot of Gareth in the airport back in London. Nicole Sherzinger from The Pussycat Dolls was standing behind us. She’s smaller than she looks on TV.

New York

Vince met us at JFK airport with his car and drove us to the house we were all staying at in the Bronx, near Gun Hill Road. Ryan jumped in the front seat for the trip. It was the first time he (and Gaurav) had met Vince.

We got the subway to Grand Central Station…

..then walked to 42nd Street / Times Square.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pedestrianised Broadway between 42nd and 47th street in order to try and improve traffic in the area. Chairs have been laid on the closed section of the road and are proving extremely popular with residents and tourists alike, around the clock.

Zoe met up with us in Times Square. She hates Times Square, lives in Brooklyn and hangs out in the lower East side. She took us to Chelsea to find a place to eat.

We ate at a sub-par restaurant after at least one person  in our group clashed with practically every attractive food establishment in Chelsea.

You don’t really find these in London. Space like this would be built on, with little regard for parking space.

Back to the Bronx

We returned to Times Square until late, then tried to get home. Little did we know the standard line to Gun Hill Road does not run late. We were not the only people waiting.

Sleeping on our feet

From film to digital

Bumped into a Hello Kitty. I asked for a photo and she said (in a Chinese voice) “One dollar”.

We also kept bumping into these Turkish girls, so I kept invading their photographs.

Chinatown. This guy seemed to take interest in this photo.

Then started a Karate kata.

Saw these at a store. I asked the guy what they were but he refused to tell me. We thought they were cow penises. Apparently it is a shellfish.

Brooklyn

We had dinner at Zoe’s house. I brought some wine along as a token of thanks to her mother for cooking for all of us.

Give me parmesan and I will put it on everything. I don’t discriminate with my parmesan.

Zoe’s dog Gucci ends the blog entry.

Geeky stuff: Voigtlander Bessa R2M; 35mm 1.7 Ultron; Agfa APX 100.

Ocean City

The day started in Vince’s Ocean City beach house. Vince and I got up early, went to the store, got some whipped cream and ambushed Zoe. She was not amused, and did not talk to us for ~2 hours. :)

Ryan was ambushed as well. Vince is a crap cameraman.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We went to Atlantic City to have breakfast (lunch, and dinner) in the Borgata buffet.

BBQ chicken, chargrilled chicken, noodles, sausages, egg fried rice, mushrooms…

…ravioli, pork shoulder, mussels, plantain… what? It’s a buffet!

We got to our hotel in Philly, The Four Points by Sheraton. Highly recommended.

Saw this advert while we waited for the valet. I’m always amazed by the in-your-face ‘sue anyone & everyone’ culture in America.

Reading Terminal Market for lunch.

It can be hard to eat healthy in America sometimes.

I wanted to buy one of these, but I’m not sure what I would have done with it.

Why I didn’t shoot this straight I will never know.

Vince’s lunch: Turkey bacon and French toast.

My lunch: Blueberry pancakes.

And an apple thingy.

Driving to the State Pen, we passed some murals.

There are murals like this all over Philadelphia, especially in car parks. I want to go back and see them all.

Silly faces.

We stopped off near the prison and went for a quick drink while we waited for Vince’s friend Charley to arrive. Passed this sticker on the way. Zoe, being Jewish, put a cross through it.

Hello Zoe.

This is my drink. I can’t remember what it was named or what it tasted of. Maybe I should take notes in future.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Welcome to Eastern State Penitentiary, home to Al Capone for a short time. The prison was active from 1829-1971. This is what you were up against if you were thinking of escaping.

I walked around with an audio tour headset.

Like Zoe.

One of the rooms. You were not supposed to climb into this room.

Not that Gareth cared.

Toilet facilities. Watch out for splashback.

The peeps.

Charley on the left. Super-hilarious girl.

I wonder what this room was. Barbershop? Though it wouldn’t be a shop, would it? Barber room? Barber emporium?

And that brings an end to the Penitentiary visit. You can’t stay too long in prisons if you have a choice.

One more mural from Philadelphia to end this entry. They are positively epic.

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8 lens

Welcome to the Apollo Theatre.

Both are mourning the passing of Michael Jackson, Along with pretty much the rest of the world.

The Apollo turned the adjoining wall into a tribute mural. It was raining when we arrived in Harlem, and the wall was covered in a plastic sheath.

The rain did not stop the tributes.

The rain eventually wore off, and the covers were removed.

People from all backgrounds came to pay their respects; I guess this shows how Michael Jackson’s music crosses various boundaries.

Outside the entrance to the Apollo, a shrine of sorts had been created, and people had gathered outside to leave notes, flowers and sing.

MJ memorabilia

The entrance. You can click some of the images below to read the messages.

Goodbye Michael.

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8 lens

Vince didn’t feel like moving out of the way for my first photo of the day.

We made friends with the fabulous Dollhouse girls and joined the main parade.

Once on the main parade route, I went up to road to see what other people were up to.

Supporters were out in force along the entire length of the parade.

Some last minute co-ordination before they join the parade

People from all backgrounds were present

According to this chap I look extra hot in sunglasses. Thanks!

the ‘Dancing with the stars’ float. Amazing dancing, I followed this just to watch the dancing for 15 minutes! At this point they were shacking out to Michael Jackson’s ‘Wanna be starting something’.

I’ve been to 3 Gay pride parades in London but this one was by far the biggest, most vibrant and multi-cultural parade I have been to so far. We’ll see how London Gay Pride 2009 goes next weekend.

FIN

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8 lens