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

Less blurry pic of Zoe in Porky’s NYC

Back in London

Back in January we went to Battersea Dog’s home. Photography is not allowed there. Unfortunately I have selective hearing and took some photos.

I can understand one possible reason why they don’t allow photography; because of the bars on the doors to their pens it is easy to give the impression the dogs are mistreated or poorly looked after. This is not the case. The staff we met were lovely, caring and enthusiastic about the animals.

Got some of my shots from New York City back.

On the Subway

Naked Cowboy in Times Square

Went to Spanky’s BBQ with Zoe. I remember Spanky’s from last year when I was in NYC. Check it out if you’re ever near Times Square with friends. Anyway Zoe refused to sit still for a photo and I had some slowish-film in so here she is, nice and blurry. Grr

One more shot before I leave