Blue Bottle Bushwick - How to find a great coffee shop

The finest outpost of a major third-wave coffee brand to make its mark way out in Bushwick. Bringing the light and design to our little corner of the big city. 

Read on for my ruminations on why coffee shops are great and further thoughts on this lovely establishment.

Blue Bottle Coffee
279 McKibben Street
Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York
February 8th, 2017

I’ve got a soft spot for coffee shops, I suspect a lot of people do.

They’re our defacto third place, the spot you go to have a conversation with a friend, get a little work done, or spend a little time in quiet contemplation.

Latte Dreamin'

An overview of Blue Bottle's Bushwick location, from plant wall to BigAssFan to merch bins

What I like about coffee shops is that they’re often calm and quiet. The rowdiest they tend to get is people having a lively conversation, which is pretty rare, really. For the most part, people are there either to engage in a personal project - like reading a book, writing, drawing, or doing some work on their computer or similar tech, or they’re there to meet with someone or several people. It’s a place for productive work or communion.

Even better when the place is beautiful and the products they serve are top notch. The quality of what they serve outweighs the atmosphere for me.

So meaning - I’d rather be in a sorta bland shop aesthetics wise that serves great coffee than a beautiful shop that serves terrible coffee. That’s a rare combination, though. I’ve been hard-pressed to find a coffee shop that’s very intentionally designed that lacks great coffee.  But there are plenty of places in the world where there’s a pretty comfy or cozy atmosphere, but the coffee is just not great.

I’ve got some systems for deciding what to order or whether to even patronize a coffee shop. Interested?

1. Pourovers - The best sign

This is my main factor. If they are serious enough to do pour overs, they’ve passed the test and are nearly certain to be great. No bland joint that’s serving lame coffee will take the time to do a pour over. Because they’re time-consuming to produce and the entire purpose is to get a really excellent extraction. Sure, there are probably places that do them and just dump everything right into the filter without intention, but that would probably be more a result of a barista who doesn’t care much vs. a place that serves low-quality beans.

A La Marzocco FB80 gleaming on the counter is a pretty sure sign that you'll be sipping a fine espresso.

2. The Espresso machine - Good Indicator, requires familiarity

Let’s say they don’t have any pour over setups. I’ll look at their machine to see how serious they are about their espresso game. Pulling good espresso is an art that requires a precise and exacting process. It’s not that everyone is on it all the time, and having a high-quality machine doesn’t automatically mean that they are serious about dialing in their shots, but a fine machine is a good indication that someone cares.

The search for beans is, of course, null at a place like Blue Bottle. What are they serving, I wonder? Probably beans from Blue Bottle. whaddayaknow :)

3. The beans - No great coffee without great beans

I’ll look around the shop to see if the beans they serve are on display. I’m looking for brands I know and trust, or something new and exciting. I’m also looking for brands I do not care for. So if I come into a place and they’ve passed the first two tests, but the only beans I see are ones that I know I dislike, then I’ve got to pass on the place. Since these likes and dislikes are my personal preference, I won’t air my grievances with certain brands here. It’s up to you to taste different coffees and decides which excite you and which make you run for the hills.

Look closely. You see any gross syrup bottles stashed away where? Of course not.

4. Syrup bottles - Bad News

This is nearly an instant no go. If there’s a huge shelf of Monin syrups behind the counter, you can bet your dollars that they’re maying sugary, milky concoctions to cover up the taste of wretched coffee. No one is taking the finest beans in all the land and brewing up the perfect extraction just to drown them in coconut syrup. Sure, I got into the coffee world by starting with this junk as a teen, but I don’t think that’s the only way to get into coffee. I suspect if you want from Folgers to Devocion, you could easily be a coffee convert without ever having to drink syrupy poison.

5. Flavored Coffee - Terrible

This is right up there with the syrup bottles. If they’ve got “french vanilla dark roast” you can be certain the underlying beans are terrible. Again, the logic is simple - Would you take an exquisite product with an incredible, complex flavor and completely obliterate it with flavoring agents? No way. I want no part. Single origins and intentionally crafted blends are the name of the high-quality coffee game, not bizarre alterations.

So that’s all on the subject of the product. It’s nice if they have some tasty snacks, too, like fine pastries or other foods. It’s also nice if they’ve got tea from a high-end brand, because I often enjoy having a cup of tea, especially if it’s later in the afternoon when a cup of coffee would have me up all night long. 

6. Atmosphere & Design

Now, about the space. This is another major consideration if your intention is to hang out there for a while, which is often quite nice to do and is a big part of what makes visiting a coffee shop desirable. But, it can vary significantly. There are places that are dark, small, and filled with cozy couches and dilapidated antique armchairs. This can be super cozy for settling in with a good book or chatting with a friend, maybe even playing a board game. But it’s not the place I choose if I want to bust out my laptop and get some work done. For that, I want modern. I want a clean, bright, open space with a lot of natural light pouring in. I want some peace in my surroundings so my mind can feel clear to get absorbed in my work. 

It’s great to have a place that’s well designed so I can bask in the beautiful creation of it. This is what I tend to look for and it often gets me more excited than the cozy-style joints. I do want to find a place that’s got some couches and feels like a second living room sometimes (particularly on cold and dreary winter days), but often what I want is a place with a beautiful interior that feels great to be in, but also has a view out the window for when I want to zone out and watch the world go by.

7. Bonuses

I don't necessarily look for these things as qualifiers before I choose to order in a place, but they're very nice to have

• Baristas who are excited about coffee and the process

• Friendly Staff

• Friendly Patrons

• Plants

• Quality products for sale, like coffee brewing implements

• Beans for sale

• A short, simple menu

• Snacks, or even full meals

Snack zone! Bring on the carbs.

Merch so you can show love for your favorite coffee joint.

With all that said, let’s talk about Blue Bottle Coffee in Bushwick. What I like about it: They serve incredible coffee, and the interior is bright and light. They don’t have wifi, so if you’re going to do work, you need to bring it with you. But mostly when I go there it’s to be in the nice, clean space and to diligently enjoy a fine cup. I’m very happy to have an outpost so close to my house.

It’s one of the only ‘big name’ 3rd wave coffee joints around Bushwick. There are other great coffee shops nearby, but nothing with quite the same clout as Blue Bottle. So it’s really exciting to have them.

That said, I just realized I haven’t been there for quite some time - because while it is somewhat nearby, it’s still outside of the radius I commonly travel. It’s far enough away that if I’m going to go there, I’m often committed to getting on the train or driving, in which case I’ll often continue on to Williamsburg or Manhattan.

For those times that I want the great coffee experience and I’m going to stay in Bushwick, it’s practically at the top of my list. So if you haven't been, check it out.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, let me know in the comments below!

What's your favorite coffee shop?

Cebu Interiors Case Study Video

In the previous post I showed you the images I created for Cebu of the restaurant's interior. To dive deeper into how that project came to be and how the images went from concept to finished project, I produced this video!

How I fixed my unruly images in my Mailchimp RSS campaign.

Perhaps, like me, you use mailchimp for your business's newsletters and blog updates. And perhaps, like me, you've had images so big that they bust out of the frame and make your e-mail all ugly. No one wants that.

After some headscratching, I finally came up with the right search terms and found this perfect and simple fix:

https://artshacker.com/make-mailchimp-images-behave/

And that's how I went from this:

To this!

World's greatest newsletter?

Not yet. But progress is progress. Incremental improvement is what it's all about.

Rustic Farmhouse Style at Saraghina

There are few restaurants that really take me back to the Brooklyn of yesteryear, but this place always does. The style is often imitated these days, but as my mother pointed out on a recent visit, this is the genuine article. It really reminds me of why I love this place, along with upstate new york. There's a coziness to it that is just so comforting. It's a great place to go for a slow, drizzly day.

The pasta is pretty, the pizza is better.

Saraghina Restaurant
Italinan / Pizzeria
435 Halsey Street
Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

The Story

Oct. 24th, 2017, Tuesday

My mother and I were roaming around in Williamsburg running errands while Regina was having hear hair put into braids in anticipation of our honeymoon trip to Hawaii. Braids are no-muss, no-fuss, so Regina can collapse in to bed at night and hop out in the morning without having to do any daily maintenance. Very good for traveling. She was having it done in Bed-Stuy, and she was finished around the time we were ready to have lunch. Any time I'm out, I try to find a restaurant in the neighborhood I'm in so I can have excuse to go there without having to travel. But nothing in Williamsburg was really jumping out to me. However, the last time I'd dropped Regina off at the salon to get her hair done, I wandered around the neighborhood and seriously considered having dinner at Saraghina, so much so that I was standing at the door reading the menu. I decided to have my money and go home that time, but the desire to eat there lingered. You know that feeling when you really want something, but don't get it and it's still nipping at you in the back of your mind. Yeah, that's the one. So I had to go.

It was a drizzly day, which felt perfect for this place. It was slow and there were only a few other diners present. So we got a great seat right by the windows, and I was able to get a few photos of the place without having to avoid patrons in the photos.

There's a quick photo tip for you. Want to photograph a restaurant? Go in the middle of a weekday. This was 2pm on a Tuesday. I only had my iPhone 7 on me because I'm trying to be more conscious about not carrying my camera constantly. It's nice to go out in the city and not have a heavy bag with me. But of course I always get into a situation where I wish I had my camera so I could take better photos. This is one such occasion. But still, I'm happy with the results. It's not like the iPhone is bad, per-se. Just not as good. But if you're reading this on your phone and the images are small, then it's not as obvious as it is on a larger display. So, there's that tangent.

I focused on photographing the space right around the windows, to capture the mood of the day and a bit of the design of the the place. I went very minimal on the edits, but now the lack of perfectly straight lines on that one picture of Regina with the windows behind her is making me a little crazy. But I'm not going to change it. It's important to be comfortable with imperfection. I slipped a few photos of Regina's silhouette in because 1. I love her & 2. I've been playing with more silhouette and dark areas in my photos. So a lot of these were a trial in embracing having really dark areas in my images. I shot so many super bright, light filled images for so long that I'm looking to go in a different direction, and these are experiments in that realm, pushing my iPhone to see what it can do.

After the interiors I took a photo of my menu, which reminds me of a book I made in college out of an old pair of pants. I took a bookbinding class that has always stuck with me. Hand made books always catch my eye and I have to pick them up and inspect how they're put together, which is exactly what happened with this menu. The denim cover is really what too me back to my pants book, which I believe my mother still has on her mantle. I don't make books much anymore, but I still seeing handmade ones, so this was exciting for me. The stamped logo is really nice, too.

The drink was a special that day. Spiced, Spiced Cider. It was fantastic, comforting, a great herald of fall. Regina and I were flying to Hawaii the next day, but we both really love fall, so it was good to get a potent taste of it right before we left.

Finally, the pasta. I don't eat much pasta, so it's a great treat when I do have it. So I was very excited to order this Tagliatelle al Ragu. It's the dish I was eyeing that other day when I was outside looking at the menu. It was good, but the pizza Regina ordered blew it out of the water.

Sorry, no pizza photos, because I've gotten over the hump of making my fellow diners wait while I photograph their food. No reason they should suffer for my craft. If I'm going to take food photos it will be of my own dish, and I try to get my shot as fast as possible so I can enjoy my food at its peak, too. Somethings, though, I get caught up in the moment and keep snapping. But that's how I know I still love doing this, so I'm never going to chase that feeling away.

New Headshots by Chris Setter

Nooklyn has been doing a few rounds of headshots to streamline their look when it comes to agent photos. They asked me the take the portraits and I told them portrait photography isn't my bag. Fortunately, they asked Chris Setter, who is doing, as you can see, a fantastic job.

I still had a Profoto B1 and 5' Octobox left over from a week rental for the Convene Food shoot, and I wanted to get some more use out of it before I returned it. One of the Nooklyn photo sessions was on the day before it was due back, so I brought it by for Chris to use for his headshot session. We got it set up and Chris took a few test shots of me before he got started with the agents.

I did some minor retouching on the first two images - removing a few blemishes and a lot of hairs and dust from the shirt, as well as making the background solid white. We were having some trouble getting all the lights to talk, since profoto doesn't like to play with others. He got it working after these test shots, though. The hotshoe passthrough was loose.

I didn't do any retouching on the last image because I'm hoping to use it as a passport photo. We'll see how that goes.

I'm excited to have some top notch photos. Time to go upload them everywhere. I already added one to my About page here on the site, and my page on Nooklyn, which Moiz has been updating to display my photos. Ain't that snazzy?

A telemarketer interrupted my blog. I got mad.

I was a recording Vlog 002 and a telemarketer called to sell me some bullshit that I might have actually bought if it were an ad on a channel I like that I choose to visit of my own accord. Not someone invading my space and time. Stay out. It's not your world anymore.

My first VLOG! Episode 1! Or 2. Or 1. Y'know.

I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks when I’m driving, but this day I decided I didn’t want to listen, I wanted to create. So I jumped over my barriers and just hit the record button and started talking. I made an episode before this a while back but it requires editing because there are a bunch of cuts - that’s why this one is made it up first. Fewer barriers to entry. I uploaded it straight from my phone to youtube. I almost added music, but it was a distraction. So here it is, pure and simple. If you want to start a vlog, here are the steps:

• Hit Record
• Hit Publish
• Success!

Improved Transcript:

Driving Vlog, Episode, I dunno, Two! I made one a while back but I never posted it. Maybe I’ll post it before this one. We’ll see.

Oh look, a stack of video files awaiting edits. I wonder where I've seen this before?

I’m out shooting apartments for Nooklyn today. You know, i could tell myself:
“I’m too good to be shooting apartments because I shoot luxury architecture”
But really it’s still fun. I still get to run around town and be outside. It’s just a few minutes in each place, some really quick easy pictures. I’m shooting handheld with my tilt-shift, which is pretty fun and challenging. It keeps me on my toes because it’s not easy. Doing that helps me to develop my skills as a photographer. It helps with composition and learning the ins and outs of the lens, like how distortion is introduced when using the tilt and shift features, as well as developing an intuition for leading lines in the composition. With this, what’s nice is that I get a bunch of rapid fire experience with shooting rooms. This is still what I do even when i’m shooting high end properties and the camera is on a tripod and I’m using lighting equipment. The ideas of composition are still the same. We learn by doing. So going out and shooting tons and tons of places helps to improve my skills.

596 captures across 6 disparate locations. Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Clinton Hill, & Prospect Lefferts Garden.

So my tip is to always keeps shooting and always be open to trying new things. You never know it all and you’ll never be perfect at it. Always approach it with the excitement of a beginner. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.

I’m sorry about my shirt being so bright in the video. I’m not going to color correct it, because I’m shooting on my iPhone while driving and I’m intentionally keeping it incredibly simple. I make videos all the time that require editing and color correction, and then they NEVER get done. So I have to lower the barrier.

Make Imperfect Things - inspirational hand lettering from Sean McCabe.

That’s what’s fun about the apartments, actually. I don’t spend 4 hours editing a single image like I often do with architecture. It’s usually just minutes, and sometimes even seconds. And then on to the next one. It’s fun to make really quick stuff. I enjoy it. I may not do it forever, but I’m doing it for now.

My heroes in the business sector like Seanwes and GaryVee (notice anything similar about their handles?) constantly say “Document over create” and this is the same thing. Recording this video and being okay with it just as it is, that’s documentation. I don’t get caught up in all the requirements of high quality created content. It’s just:

“Hey, here’s what I’m doing today and I’m talking to you about it!”

Click the pic to see him rant about it.

I’m in Prospect Lefferts Garden now, going to shoot a place on Clarkson. I’ve shot 6 or 7 buildings today, each with 1-6 units in them. Most of them are just vacant apartments, there’s nothing special about them. But they’re fairly good in build quality. They’re probably in the $2000-$4000+ price range.

I checked:
From $2100 to $7600
Neither of these links have my photos on them at the time of posting. I’ll update this when they do. If I remember. ;D

I enjoy shooting the showrooms the most, because the furniture and that makes them more engaging both to shoot in and to look at. But even in an empty room, there are still lines to use to enhance the composition and lead the viewer’s eye. So there’s still much to learn even when shooting an empty room.

I had coffee today, as you might have noticed by my talking fast, by the way. It was a great cup of cold brew at Little Roy. I mention this place in a later video, but here are some pics of it anyway. No coffee pic, sorry.

Another thing that I really enjoy about doing this is being outside and free to enjoy and explore the town. I’m bouncing around, an hour at this place, 30 minutes there, 30 minutes at another spot - this gives me a lot of time to travel around between each of these mini-projects to explore the city. I can pop into a new coffee shop to see what it’s like, or a smoothie joint for something healthy and refreshing. I really love this, I love exploring the city and experiencing all it has to offer. Going to these apartments often takes me to sections of neighborhoods I might not visit otherwise. If I’m just sitting at home editing photos on my computer, I’m not doing any of that. And if I went to be a laptop warrior at a coffee shop, I would end up staying at that one spot all day long, rather than bouncing around this much.

You see, I love variety. It’s good for me to go out and explore tons of different places. This style of work allows me to do that by having a little work here and a little work there. What’s really nice is that we’ve gotten a system down with Nooklyn where I don’t have to worry about pricing out every shoot before I do it. Most of these places are pretty standard and we worked on a per-shoot price list. So long as the place isn’t extra special and deserves more attention to detail and more in depth photography, we can just stick to that system and I can breeze through these places, and I know I’m going to get paid. The same day. It’s a really nice feeling for it not to be ambiguous. It’s so satisfying to know it’s certain. I shoot an apartment, I get paid. I buy a coffee. Rinse and repeat.

Tasty tasty coffee at Fort Defiance in Red Hook.

Compare this to my being a real estate agent some years back. Advertise like crazy. Talk to too many people. Take half out on showings. Maybe rent one place. Maybe. I know this isn’t everyone’s experience with real estate and some folks are totally killing it. But I never found the love for it, and I certainly don’t love that style of “do tons of work and hope that it all works out in the end.” It’s different with the ambient work I do for my photography business - I always have something to show for the work I’ve done. If I spend time producing photos for my portfolio, I have a new and better portfolio. If I shoot videos or post a lot on Instagram or Facebook, I have that many more things that I made and am proud of out there on the internet. So it feels good at the end of the day no matter what. But I’m sure some folks find the same love in doing their real estate advertising. It just wasn’t for me the way this is. And I’m happy I am here now and not there.

Mr. Businessy Business Man

Another contrast is with really large photography projects. Lately it seems to be that when things get above around $2000/day threshold, they start to get pretty complex. For those I collect 50% up front, and the remaining balance when we wrap up at the end of the shoot or shortly after. Once the funds are paid in full, the finished photos are delivered and the usage license conveyed. It’s not like this on every single shoot of course, at least not yet. I shot a food project last week that was organized by a producer and not by me. He did Net 30. So, it happens sometimes. But, that's on me because I didn't say anything. Always take responsibility.

It’s because of this that the simple system of shooting apartments can sometimes be satisfying - it’s just so simple I don’t have to think about it. Wanna make $1000 today and have fun tooling around town and recording Vlogs the whole time? No problem, just hop to it.

Fun facts on that food shoot. It was for an event and meeting space company with a catering arm called Convene. Good name, right? Their tagline is "All inclusive premiere meeting & conference rooms." It was organized by my friend Hal, a photographer I met when we were both shooting the same event for different clients - the North 2014 Nordic Food Festival. I wonder if I have those photos up somewhere.

Here, I found two blog posts on Honest Cooking that feature my photos. Honest Cooking put on the North Nordic Food Festival, probably simply because Kalle is Swedish and missed home. J/k. But really.

Hey look, it's me! Oh wait, no, it's Kalle. Don't worry, you're not the first person to be fooled.

NORTH Festival 2014 Kicks Off with a Bang in NYC

Damn, who white balanced this photo? Really Fkd that up. Oh wait, it was me. It's always painful to look back on your old work. Remember: humble beginnings.

NORTH Festival Pop Up Brought Innovate Nordic Cuisine to New York City

Haha, the links on these article go to my tumblr, which predate nsdoyle.com. I wonder if I should have them change it, or just let people go to tumblr and then on down the rabbit hole. I’ll see if I can link tumblr to my website. I probably will have them change it, because I believe our dear and glorious leader google likes for there to be external links to my website If you’re well versed in SEO, back me up on this. I hear they like written content to, so that’s why I’m not uploading this video all by its lonesome. By the way, big props if you’ve ready this far. I’m so proud. Shoot me a high five in the comments if you make it all the way to the end.

( I would insert a photo of folks giving a high five, but I don't think I have one. Not quite my style.)

Here's some bros and Nowadays doing something congratulatory, kind of like a high five. Also not my style, but, hey, I was there. Note the guy with the dual birds in the background.

Let’s get back on track. I met Hal Horowitz at North '14. I then saw him again at the Dinner en Blanc, this time I was shooting for Great Performances, by way of my friend Kat, whom I met at a Backyard BBQ (Thanks for the hook up Johnny Stoops. I owe you dinner). I’m pretty sure we ran into each other while shooting the same events more than that, but those are the two that really stick out.

This lady's got her dramatic pose ready to go at a moment's notice.

When Hal’s friend German, the executive chef at Convene told Hal they needed photos of the Fall and Winter menu items, Hal know just the guy to call.

RUDELY INTERRUPTED BY A TELEMARKETER AND I’M STILL SOUR ABOUT IT.

>:(

---

Hal, I was so pumped to see you at Dinner en Blanc, by the way. I was getting really bored with it and I had already made up my mind that this was the last event I would ever shoot. It was so exciting to see a familiar face there. Still lights me up. Lemme see if I can round up that photo of you I took there. Here we go.

You know, I believe I can honestly trace my wearing all white back to this very event. I don’t remember how much they paid me for this, but I’m pretty sure I spent the entire amount on my outfit. I’d been wanting to get some silk clothing for a long time, so I bought some white silk pants and a white silk shirt from Tommy Bahama. I then googled Rockport to see if they had any nice white loafers, which is how I discovered:

Rockport Men's Bennett Lane 3 Venetian Slip-On Loafer

The shoes I'm currently abusing.

My favoritest shoe since my Rockport ‘Business Runner’ ground pounders.

Rockport TruWalk Zero Wingtip in dark brown and bonkers-ass orange.

Pretty bummed that both of these are out of production. Although I am currently rocking my second pair of Venetians, I wore my first ones into a pretty sorry state, and the TruWalks I wore right through to the ground. Literally. Speaking of wearing out clothes, those Tommy Bahama pants I bought in July 2015 had their final day today, August 25th, 2017. So they made it just over two years until I strained them too hard doing photo crunches in the second to last apartment I shot today. I should have worn a belt so they weren’t sagging, but oh well. I’m not so good about keeping clothing in peak shape for a long period of time. I’m more in the “have 5 pieces and wear them until they’re totally decimated” school of thought. Can’t say it’s the best approach, but it’s just what I do.

But I have been needing some more walking shoes. I’ll ruin these Venetians if I keep this up, so I tend to wear my trail runners when I’m out shooting these apartments. They do they job, but I want something new. Maybe Rockport’s latest truwalks? We’ll see.

I saw a guy in Father Knows Best wearing these badboys Cole Hann’s ZEROGRAND and oh man do I want some. But that’s not really going to solve my “shoes I can walk 20k steps a day in and not obliterate both them and my feet” issue here. I remember hunting for those shoes a few hours before the Dinner en Blanc. Do you know how hard it is to buy solid white loafers in a physical store at the end of July? Ain’t easy. I probably hit 4-5 places before landing in the mega Macy’s on 34th, where I bought the only pair they had, the display pair, which though some stroke of magic were the right size.

Wait, shoes, what?

It’s 4am and I’m still writing, so if you were wondering where all these bizarre tangents are coming from, there’s your answer. I really thought I was just going to publish this video with the content I’d already written and a text saying “and I stopped here so I could produce more videos’, but there’s a time when you can’t or shouldn’t produce more videos, and that’s when you and everyone in your house is supposed to be asleep. But I can write all I want, so maybe I’ll start writing late at night when I’ve still got tons of fuel for creation but can’t make noise. The gentle clickity clack of my laptop keyboard isn’t going to hurt anybody, right?

But all of this could be its own post, so let’s get back on track, shall we?

North 2014 was my very first paid food shoot, as far as I can recall. If I’m wrong and you happen you know of a previous one, please chime in. I don’t have the most solid memory. That’s why I’m trying to write, blog, and vlog so much more. Need to make up for the shoddy memory and get the stuff down on paper.

What my food photography looked like in the good old days.

Thanks for reading! 6:48am. Hope you got a kick out of all of this. Let me know in the comments.

Ancolie Photo in New York Post

One of my photos of Ancolie was used in an article in the New York Post about foods being served in reusable glass jars. The sustainability aspect is one of my favorite things about Ancolie, so I'm happy to see more busiensses doing the same.

Fun fact: Regina and I went to see Hamilton last week and I was marveling at the design of the Tyme booth in Times Square. You can't see it all that well in that picture, and I was resisting the urge to take photos of it in that moment, but of course now I regret it. The bent wooden slats with a crown of plants is to lovably eco.

Check out the article here.

RIP Northeast Kingdom

These are the last 3 pictures I took at Northeast Kingdom before it went out to pasture. The final "closed" image is pretty appropriate.

This place along with Hana Natural, made the Jefferson Station section of Bushwick what it is. It was a classic Brooklyn rustic farm-to-table place, the type that brought the food scene to Brooklyn over the past few years. In it's honor, I'm dedicating this autumn to photographing similar restaurants throughout Brooklyn to feature on Nooklyn Hoods. 

About these photos:

On April 6th, 2016, Moiz (far right, second image) and I were picking up burgers for the office, and I snapped a few quick pictures. The top one is the best, thanks to the beautiful sunlight pouring in the window balanded with the incandescent bulb above, the depth of field obscuring the foreground clutter, and the sharp clarity of the two diners and the menu. There's a great tonal range of bright spots to deep blacks. Very happy with this one, and the memories it brings back.

Rest In Peace, Northeast Kingdom.

What is the best camera to get today?

You want a camera that is going to make the best pictures ever. One that will make all your photo dreams come true. 

Here it is!

Any camera you love to use.

Not quite what you were expecting? Let’s break it down.

1. Do you have a camera now?

Most likely, you have a cellphone camera. You’ll upgrade that phone every few years, so it’s going to keep getting better. Do you use it? Do you love it? Sweet, you’re done. Go snap away.

2. What are you struggling with?

If you’re not getting the photos you want, why? Is it because of your camera, or is because of inexperience? Is it because your camera is so big you don't carry it around?

The camera is just a tool. You need to understand light, composition, and your subject much more than you need to know how to use a camera. Once you have a clear idea of the photos you want to take, you can upgrade to a camera that solves your specific problems.

3. Get the camera you want.

Spend $100. Spend $10,000. Get a camera you’re excited to use every day, so you wake up and can’t wait to take pictures.

Don’t worry about getting the ‘best’ or the ‘right’ camera, just get one that makes you happy. Practice will make you good, and if one camera or another gets you taking more photos, then that’s the one that will make you a better photographer. So go with your heart.

4. Get a different camera. Get more cameras.

You’re not stuck with the first camera you get forever. If you decide you want something else from your photography your present camera isn’t well suited for, get one that is. Sell your old one, or keep it. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you keep taking pictures, whatever it takes.

To recap:

• Start with the camera you've got
• Get a camera that solves your specific problems
• Get a camera that makes you happy.
• You're not stuck with one camera forever. Try something new.

So grab a camera and have fun.

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Let me know what you're struggling with, and I'll make some content just for you. :)

What I’m working on now : Finishing what I’ve started.

I wrote this draft at the start of the year, just found it in the drafts folder now! I thought you'd appreciate a little insight into the start of my year, so enjoy!

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My first Quarter of 2017 is devoted to editing all of my backlogged photos. Why? When I pick up my camera and think of taking photos lately, I am met with the thought “Do I really want to add this to the pile of images I have waiting for me?” This can be both good and bad. 

The benefit is that I am way more picky about the kind of photos I take, only picking up my camera for the best possible photos. 

The downside is that I am discouraged from experimenting, so I use my camera very little. Which means I’m not learning and growing as much as I’d like. I’m not happy with that. 

Rather than let that just continue to be my life in photography, I’m taking an intentional approach to eliminating that problem. Here’s a bit of insight into what I’m up against.

I’ve got several catalogs in Lightroom with images spanning from 2014 - 2016. Before the end of 2016, I got through every image in my “Fall 2016 II” Catalog. Why “II”? Because the first one became unstable, probably from having too many images in it. Lightroom seems to act up once the catalog gets up around 30,000 images, even with an SSD style hard drive. For this reason, I’ve taken to splitting up  catalogs when the numbers get high.

I also finally got some extra space freed up on my hard drive. There was a time that I was down to 7 megabytes of free space. This had a severe impact on performance. After a ton of editing and moving finished raw files off of my working disc to an external drive, I’ve finally gotten up to 118gb free (on a 1Tb drive). It’s important to keep at least 10% of your drive empty to keep your computer performing at its best. So, that’s another reason not to let images pile up in the backlog.

Here are the catalogs I’ve got now, with their total unedited images in need of processing:

0 - “Fall 2016 II.” Hooray! All done.
7548 - “Lightroom Catalog 2016” - Very creative name, I know. Images in here are mostly from 2016, with a handful of images from 2015 and oddly a set of images from 2013.
3106 - “San Francisco June 2016” 
4433 - “Lightroom Catalog 2015”
492 - “Lightroom Catalog” - These are from 2014, and I’ve actually processed most of them already, so they really shouldn’t be here taking space on my active work drive.

It’s really not all that much, now that it’s written down. Yay for data! 
I’ve been tracking my progress on editing these images since January 1st, and here are some stats for my progress.

Note: I use the term “processed” here because many of the images won’t actually get edited, but discarded or set aside so that the best images from the set receive edits. Put simply, “Edit” means improvements in color and crop.

Most productive day - Jan 12. Images processed - 1030. I was having a really good day. I discovered some really jamming tunes that got me going.
Least Productive Day - Jan 6th. Images processed - 31. Guess I wasn’t feeling it that day. But I don’t recall because I didn’t journal every day. Reminder: Journal daily.
Days off: 7. After two years of working every day, I’ve decided that weekends are good and that recharging is a good idea. I can go into how I structure my weekends another time, but the simple version is ‘Schedule nothing on Saturday’, and I usually end up spending quality time with Regina.  Sunday I tend to still work on my business, but I just do parts of it that aren’t photography or editing. That accounts for 3 of the days, and the others were an annual winter trip to Vermont with friends.
Active Days: 9, Not counting today (I haven’t edited yet today).
Average per day: 332.4
Total Images to Process: 15,579
Days required at current average pace: 46.87
5 Day weeks required: 9.37

So, at the current pace, It will take me a little over nine weeks to finish. I’m not into that. So, time to ramp it up. At 750 images a day, I’ll get it done in 4 weeks. That’s my new goal. I’ll post the number of images I edit each day on my Instagram to keep me accountable. Have a look there if you want to keep up with my progress. 

Update: I finished all of these photos sometime in March. I don't remember when exactly. Hooray!

Cape May from Modern Map Art

In an earlier blog post about beaches and travel, I mentioned a trip to Cape May, NJ. Jennifer from Modern Map art recently added Cape May to her selection of fantastic map art prints and she was kind enough to send one my way! I don't get many goodies in the mail that I haven't ordered myself on Amazon, so I decided to do an unboxing video!

It's really nice and I'm happy to have it. Beautiful colors, though there are also black and white versions. It's nice and clean.

Regina and I joked about some things that the landmass resembles:

• Whale
• Pipe
• Shrimp
• Gooeduck

Suprisingly, all nautical things.

Like the print and want to pick up a similar one? You can get them at Modern Map Art

Reading Intentionally

I’ve been reading a lot of books this year, certainly more than I’ve read in previous years. I haven’t kept track of it well enough to know for sure. But I certainly feel like I’ve been getting through them. Reading has been a priority for me lately as I search for inspiration and know-how to guide me down my path as a photographer. There are infinite directions to go, an entire world of things to explore and possibly photograph, it’s difficult to know which to choose, but I’ve narrowed it down considerably. The things I'm most interested in showcasing are Architecture and Food.

The Arman - Grade NYC

Spring Street Salt Shed - Dattner Architects

Frost Street - Purekitchen

Union Avenue - Purekitchen

Architecture images from recent client work & photo crawls.

Architecture seems pretty straight forward at first, but once you dig into it, it could include anything that’s built with intention. But sometimes beyond the architecture, I like the interior design, furniture, or objects in a space. That could all potentially still fit under the same heading. Buildings and stuff in them. Why they matter, what they mean to us, how they make us feel, how they tie us to a place, how they help us escape from another place.

Crab Fritters - Cebu Bar & Bistro

Daquirir - Appleton Estate

The Diamond Tray - Alan Ck. & Co.

The Abstract Board - Alan Ck. & Co.

The Barge Board - Alan Ck. & Co.

Ice Cream - Buttermilk Channel

Food images from recent client work.

Food is my other photographic love and has been for most of my life. Both of these passions have been a long time in the making. I learned to cook when I was young and kept at it for a very long time. I don’t consider myself to be exceptional, but I am aware that I took with more intention and have studied the subject much more than most of the people I know. And when you have a deep understanding of a subject, it makes photographing it significantly easier. You know what to look for, what to expect, what is going to happen next, and you can break apart the process from start to finish. I can look at a plate of food and stories unravel about how the dish came to be, where its ingredients came from, the people involved along the way. I can start to see the world in every plate of food. I’ve had significantly more practice here than in my study of architecture, but that’s been the focus of my diving deep lately.

Moiz on the Hudson

The Rhinecliff Hotel

Octopus & Bubbly - Boatyard, Ft. Lauderdale

Regina - Boatyard, Ft. Lauderdale

Aerial of Olivebridge Cottage, Catskills

Olivebridge Cottage, Catskills

Harriman State Park Hike

Kammok Wallaby on National Hammock Day

Photos from this year's travels.

And finally, travel. When I travel, those are the two things that I look for everywhere - beautiful places and delicious food to experience and enjoy. But is travel photography a third thing?  There’s overlap in all of them, for instance, if I’m shooting a restaurant built by a renown architect. Chances are it’s also in an interesting or beautiful place, so there you’ve got architecture and travel, and you can throw food in there. Much of what I shot for Nooklyn I would consider food and travel photography. Food travel? Culinary exploration.

Don't worry Infinite Space, you're staying.

Magazines to catch up on.

Autumn was being adorable when I took those last two images.

Stuff to read.

So these things inform where my heart is and what I like to spend my time on. Knowing all of that should make my list of recent reads pretty understandable. I've been reading a mix of magazines and books, both physical and digital. I joined both the Queens and Brooklyn libraries. I've got tons of photo books on the shelves that I've been meaning to look through with intention, some of which I'd like to purge after looking through. And others will get to stay. You've been reading for long enough now, so I'll save the in depth list of what exactly I've been reading for a future post.

Have you been reading much lately? Do you want to read more?

Here's my best tip: spend less time on Instagram, and more time in a book. Might not work for everyone, but it certainly works for me. :D