Real Estate In The City - A roundup of NYC apartments I photographed in February
In between large projects I like to visit the city and photograph apartments. Here are my February favorites.
When I’ve got a little downtime between larger projects I like to pop down the city and shoot some apartments for my friends at Nooklyn. I like helping out my friends that helped me early on with getting established as a professional photographer, and it’s really nice to get out of the house and roam around in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Gives me a good excuse to get a lot of walking in and to stop for junk food or some of the flavors that I’ve started to miss since moving upstate.
They apartments are mostly vacant and so it’s a lot of time to myself good for listening to podcasts or just decluttering my mind while I stay fresh on practicing image composition. The places run the gamut from ultra luxury new developments to old crumbling paint and clear signs of age - but there’s beauty to be found everywhere. I enjoy challenging myself when I walk into a place that’s a bit rough around the edges to let the magic of that age shine through.
It’s important as a photographer to never get jaded with your subject. Just because you’ve seen 10 million rooms doesn’t mean you’ve seen everything - and you never, ever will. So keep looking - there’s something incredible there waiting for you to spot it.
Boitson's - Kingston, Ny
We came for the burger, which was fantastic.
Boitsons
47 North Front Street
Kingston, NY 12401
It was a pretty popular spot, and the first time we tried we couldn’t even get a table. We came back on a slower night and got in. It was too dim inside to try to get a photo of the food, so I went for what really caught my eye - these industrial light fixtures. I’d been on a kick of shooting really under-exposed images, particularly of light sources, and so I just couldn’t resist here.
Cafe Kashkar
Deep down in the belly of Brooklyn, minutes from the water of Brighton Beach, lies a lone outpost of Uyghur Cuisine, the food from Xinjiang region of China along the border of Kazakstan.
Cafe Kashkar is named for the city of Kashgar, the westernmost city in China, just before the borders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. It sits directly on the ancient Silk Road, making it a literal cultural crossroad from the far east of China to the world of the Turks and beyond.
I didn’t know all that at the time, so I missed out on the dish that most prominently displays that connection, Lagman. It’s a dish of hand pulled noodles topped with spicy lamb that for some reason is hidden under the “soup” heading on Kashkar’s unintuitive menu.
But don’t let the confusing menu or far-flung location stop you from adventuring out there. The food is amazing and transporting. Plus, you can always take a dip in the atlantic in the warmer months.
A journey to Asbury Park
A soft glow in the doorway always calls out the wandering heart.
Kyle (above) is always trying to convince me to move to his little nook of NJ, so he tempts me by taking me on tours of all the spots he thinks I’ll enjoy.
He’s always right.
On a trip last year we did a tour of new hotels, restaurants, and bars in Asbury Park, which has seen some pretty radical revitalization. There are many incredible cocktails and delicious bites to be had there, and then you can go dip your toes in the ocean. Pretty amazing place.
Who said New Jersey was terrible?
Whoops, cat’s out of the bag.
The Googie Architecture of P. Terry's
Have you heard of Googie architecture?
It’s amazing.
You have if you ever watched The Jetsons, whose imaginary architecture borrowed heavily from real life Googie buildings just outside the animators’ studio. You might also have encountered while driving around Los Angeles, California, New Jersey (where I first discovered it in the form of the Caribbean Motel in Wildwood, among other examples), or, in the case of these images, Austin, Texas.
The style came to bear from post World War 2 futurism in the 50’s and 60’s. Americans has fresh optimism about the future and fantastic new technologies, along with money to burn.
Automobiles became common and everyone wanted to travel.
And what does the traveling soul need, but somewhere to stop, rest, and get a bite to eat?
In the east you’ll find toll roads and parkways aplenty with intentionally placed rest stops, which are wonderful all in their own right. Since moving to the Hudson Valley and exploring northern and western New York I’ve discovered some really amazing ones.
Way out west in California is the land of the freeway, where one is not on a guided tour but has the freedom to stop wherever they please. So if they can go anywhere, how do you get them to stop at your restaurant?
What if you made your building look CRAZY? Like NOTHING they’d ever seen before.
So that’s what they did. The result was wild, super futuristic architecture and signage.
Architectural Historian Alan Hess said “Googie made the future accessible to everyone… it wasn’t custom houses for wealthy people - it was for coffee shops, gas stations… the average buildings of everyday life”.
That last line got me thinking. I’m a big fan of residential architecture and really gorgeous homes, but a home like that really only exists for the person that owns it and their social circle they invite over. These other structures, though, coffee shops, gas stations, the other places of business and leisure - those are the places we all experience together that may go even further to define our lives than our own homes.
There’s something really special about so much thought and intention being put into making our communal spaces, our spaces that everyone lives in.
Sure, we don’t get as many buildings that look quite as crazy as this anymore, but there are still some marvels out there to discover, and wonderful new things being made every day.
An early vlog from the archive
I was cleaning off my hard drive last night, which I like to do to prepare for the new year, and came across this footage that I shot back on July 4th, 2018, as I was trying to get into vlogging. I was going to just delete it, but inside the video itself I talk about how I want this stuff to last and that tossing it out runs counter to making that happen. So I spent a little time putting the clips together and put it up. Hopefully many more to come.
Philadelphia - Cheese Steaks, Neon Lights, and Jojo Mayer
What you need to know:
The best cheese steaks are, counterintuitively, at John’s Roast Beef in the middle of nowhere on 14 Snyder Avenue. It will blow your mind.
The two places covered in neon, Geno’s and Pat’s King of Steaks, are fun to behold rivals facing each other down across the street, but they’re both absolutely terrible. If you only have one philly cheese steak and it’s at either one of these, you’ve been horribly cheated.
Also, I don’t go to many shows, but Jojo Mayer and Nerve really rocked it. Would highly recommend you check them out.
Evening in Austin's Bouldin Neighborhood
When I was imagining what I would photograph in Austin, one of the things that felt iconic to me was neon signs. So I went out almost every day at twilight to hunt for some to photograph. Here’s a small selection from South 1st Street in the Bouldin neighborhood of south Austin.
Neon signs feel very iconic Austin to me. It’s one of the subjects I was most excited to photograph on this trip. So I went out almost every day at twilight to hunt for some. Here’s a small selection from South 1st Street in the Bouldin neighborhood of south Austin.
It took a long time for me to realize just how much I need to underexpose neon signs in order to preserve all of their color. I used to capture them as a white blob with a colorful glow. So there’s a tip for you about how to avoid that tragic fate with your photos of neon signs, and lights in general.
I don’t know if it was just the popular look at the time, or if it’s a thing that people who are fairly new to photography do, but I used to overexpose my images a lot. I feel like there’s a trend with photographers toward shooting more and more natural looking images the longer they shoot. Or maybe that’s just what I see because that’s what I’m interested in.
I was talking with Moiz recently about my photography vs the more abstract or heavily edited images others produce. He described my work as “non-fiction” by way of book analogy, which I really enjoy.
Gourdough's - Austin, TX
Big. Fat. Donuts.
I definitely stood in the street for this one, which caused Heather much distress.
Banana Puddin
Massive donuts piled with toppings from an airstream trailer in Austin, Tx.
I mentioned in a prior post how I initially edited these to look much brighter, when I still wanted to force this ‘texas’ look look I was envisioning. With some time and distance, I came to embrace this more overcast look. The final image of closeup still looked good bright, though, so I left it that way. I cannot remember if we staged what was on the fork or if that’s just what heather happened to pull up. I tend to prefer going with what’s naturally happening rather than fiddling with it too much. I had to develop that skill of just letting it be what it was when I wanted to take photos and my non-photographer friends just wanted to eat.
National Hammock Day, 2017
I organized a camping trip for National Hammock Day back in 2017.
My friends at Kammok asked me to organize a hammock camping trip, so I rounded up some friends and we went out to Harriman State Park. Living in NYC makes one really want to get out in the wilderness.
Bouldin Creek Cafe - Austin, TX
Black & White Photography at Bouldin Creek Cafe in Austin
Heather had gotten out her father’s old Canon AE-1 Program and was exploring film photography and black & white darkroom developing - both areas of photography I have never experimented with. She inspired me to set my camera to produce black and white images during my trip to Austin, and it helped me see the world a bit differently.
Frank
My hunt for the best hot dog continued in Austin.
Hot Dog outpost on “The Drag” at the University of Texas. Great spot for drunk eats. Intimidating for the sober.
Frank
The Drag - Austin, TX
$
★★☆☆☆
The onion rings on top remind me of a tandem rotor helicopter. (I went down a rabbit hole of reading about helicopter mechanics after writing this comment. Lost for hours.)
Is there any food more iconic of summer than the hot dog? Well, probably, but I was on a hot dog kick for a while last year, so when I was craving lunch in Austin I thought I’d see what they had in the hot dog department. If I were doing a more scientific study I would have gone for the most simple hot dog at each joint in order to make a fair comparison. Unfortunately, my highest priority when searching for food is trying something new, something I can only get at the particular place I am. In this case, that equated to a beast of a hot dog that screams Texas: the “Drag Dog”, so named for this dog hut’s location on “The Drag”, a string of shops on Guadalupe Street within the University of Texas. What’s on it?
Brisket.
BBQ Sauce.
A locally made, smoked hotdog.
Pickles & Onions.
It was super intense, over the top, even. Especially for someone who’s always trying to eat a little healthier. But when I’m out I crave adventure, and this dog certainly has it. But my favorite thing about it? The house-made bun, reminiscent for me of a northeastern lobster roll.
The Drag Dog: Local-made smoked beef dog with chopped brisket, Texas BBQ sauce, pickle, and onion on a custom-made Frank bun.
The manager of Frank noticed me taking photos of my hot dog and came over to ask if I was with Grubhub or something like that. Wait, was I? No, just up to my normal antics of snapping my food. Then I offered to take some photos of whatever dish she’d like, so she sent out something I really wasn’t expecting.
Reuben Fries: Waffle fries with melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, corned beef, and Thousand Island dressing.
I hadn’t even noticed the section of the menu with waffle fries, so when I first saw this I was bewildered. I could hardly tell what it was. I also thought “Is this the most photogenic item on the menu?”
But I shrugged and tried to find a good spot to take some photos of it anyway. I’d already used the cool distressed table as the backdrop for the hotdog, so I wandered around the lot to find other good backgrounds for this texan poutine sorta thing. I liked the rocks and succulents in this planter, which bring some different colors to the image and also give it a little bit of context. With food photos, I’m always looking for something to place the food in the environment, so it not only says “here’s some food” but also “here’s some food and a little atmosphere that you’ll feel when you’re there.” Because going to a restaurant is never just about the food. There’s a whole experience wrapped up in there, and that’s something I like to convey with my images.
Meanwhile, Heather decided she was hungry enough to order something and went for this veggie dog.
Veggie dog with sauerkraut
After we ate, we wandered around the lot a bit more and Heather took a few pictures of me on her AE-1, and we also came across this cool looking door. I never saw the photo she took of it, but I’m sure it’s an exciting world of textures in black & white.
Thoughts on Frank
There are some creative items on the menu that I hadn’t seen anywhere before, but none of the flavors really changed my life. The food is very heavy and hearty, so I suspect it would make very good drunk grub. And given this outpost’s location on a college campus, I’m sure there’s plenty of need for that.
About the images
The location was kind of interesting, in this communal yard called “Space 24 Twenty” that seems to be host to different events, and it nestled between Frank and an Urban Outfitters. Like most of my early days in Austin, it was very overcast and I wasn’t feeling very inspired by the dull light in the lot. I also wasn’t seeing much that really jumped out at me as exciting to photograph. But I’d set the intention of making some food images here, so I wandered around and looked for interesting things to take photos of anyway. I didn’t end up with anything portfolio worthy, but I do really enjoy this image of the chipped paint on the table, which has the potential to be a nice abstract print. So there’s a lesson there in always pushing yourself to make images. You can’t love an image that you refused to take because you were being pouty about not having the light you want.
Leaf House, Austin TX
Found this really cool house in Austin with organic shapes and leaf motifs on the walls.
Do you like to roam around neighborhoods and look at houses? You see a house and start imagining the life you’d live there. I’ll have all my friends over for huge dinner parties, play in the pool, start a vegetable garden, throw water balloons in the hedge maze, etc. Right? On some rare occasions, you stumble across a place that stops you in your tracks. That’s what happened with this one.
Heather and I were driving around Austin looking at houses and as soon as I spotted this one I had her stop the car. I had to take a few pictures.
Just look at it! The dried leaf patters on the walls, the organic roofline, the columns made to look like trees with branches, the crazy brickwork on the planter in the yard. Here’s a person that really chose to have some fun with their home design. More people should take this approach and put some love and character into their homes.
The overcast lighting conditions were pretty poor so I wasn’t able to get any photos I was really happy with here. I’ll get the place could look fabulous at twilight, with a nice glow coming from under the roofline. Maybe next time.
Polvos Mexican Restaurant - Austin, TX
Mexican food, first day in Austin, and embracing the weather when taking photos.
Homey Tex-Mex, tasty margaritas, outdoor seating, and a self-serve salsa bar make for a fun place to relax with friends. You might not remember the food, but you’ll enjoy it all the same.
Polvos
Bouldin - Austin, TX
$$
★★☆☆☆
It was dark and rainy out, but I wanted this photo to be as bright as I expected Texas to be, so I went for an overexposure.
Any time I get out of the city I like to hunt down a good Tex-Mex restaurant for a little taste of home.
Why? Because, for some reason, there were a lot of Tex-Mex restaurants in my corner of North-East Mississippi, strange as that is.
Anyway, I was just flying into Austin for Seanwes Conference 2 around this time last year and my friend Patrick, also from Mississippi and also with a soft spot for Tex-Mex, picked me up. First thing I like to do when I leave an airport is sample the local cuisine. So a quick check on Foursquare brought up Polvos as a promising spot.
It’s a fun little spot, with lots of artwork and a great self-serve salsa station. At said station you can choose between shallow plastic bowls and these beautiful ceramic bowls. Not sure why there’s even an option, as the choice is very clear.
String lights and outdoor seating? Must be in Austin, TX. Nevermind the rain. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying a meal al fresco.
It was raining outside, as it did for several days of my trip to Austin, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from sitting outside. If there are two things I associate with Austin, it’s eating outside and string lights overhead. And this place certainly has both. So that’s a win in my book.
I’ve known this guy since I was, like, 10 years old.
Quick Review:
How was the food, you might be wondering? It was nothing special, really. I wouldn’t recommend you go out of your way to eat there. Patrick really liked it, though, so I actually ended up going here again on the last day of my trip. It’s huge and there never seems to be a wait unlike the more popular joints in Austin, so that’s a plus.
About the images:
I came to Austin with this idea about how I wanted to capture the city - as this bright, hard sunlight, peak of summer look. But it was rainy and overcast most of the days. At first I didn’t embrace that, which you can see in that first image of the food that I brightened up significantly.
The second image, of the patio in the rain, there’s no way to fake. It’s obviously raining, so I embraced that. I was just editing some pictures from the second day in Austin last night and when I originally edited them last year, I had pumped up the brightness a lot. That’s just the place I was in photographically back then. This year, though, it’s been pretty overcast back home in New York and I’ve been really embracing it, ready for the cooler fall season to come. So I re-processed the images to have a darker look that really embraced the overcast weather at the time. You’ll see those in a coming post.
What you’ll also see from this trip is a decent amount of black & white photography. Patrick’s girlfriend, Heather, got really into b&w film photography and darkroom developing around this time, so she and I bonded over that quite a bit and I pushed myself to make some black & white images, which is typically outside of my wheelhouse. Still need to get a film camera and force myself down that lane a bit more. Why? Because when you shoot black and white on a digital camera, you still get a color image, it just sucks the colors out when it displays the image. When you import it into lightroom, it still has color. Which can be nice if you decide you want to go back, but I feel the best way to learn is to force yourself down a single lane so you really understand it. This is why I advocate that your first lens be a prime - so you get a really deep understanding of that particular focal length. But that’s getting off on a tangent. So let’s steer it back home.
Hehe, steer, Texas - get it?
See ya next time.
Case Study - Splinter Creek Model Home, Day 1
I flew to Mississippi to photograph the Model Home and grounds of the beautiful new Splinter Creek lakeside community. I spent 3 days there producing images and in this video I’ll detail what images I made and how I made them to showcase the incredible work by Lang Architecture and all their partners on the project.
My first day at Splintercreek was filled with scouting shots and several indoor compositions during the rain. I almost got rained out but managed to get an exterior twilight shot. In this video I detail how those images were made and how I put them together in photoshop.
Update 3, July 18, 18
In my ever improving update vlogs, I’m upping the video and audio quality. I go pretty deep on this one and talk about some of my philosophy on photography and what I hope my photography accomplishes in the world.
I cover a lot of ground in this one. Hold on to your seat:
- I got up mega early. Getting up early is the best. Hello sunrise light.
- I need to stop drinking coffee because it makes me crazy..
- Improving the video background (btw, I used a better microphone this time around. The light's better in here, too.)
- Taking a breif break from real estate photography to work on some architecture photos
- I realized I don't love editing. I'd much rather be in the field making photos and spending as little time as possible in post.
- What I love about photography is actually being there.
- I think it's the same for every photographer. They'd rather be out taking photos.
- I love seeing and experiencing these beautiful locations
- The message of the imagery is “you should be here.”
- My photography is about helping you see a vision for your own life, what it could be.
- Food Photography: You have to eat. You should enjoy it. My objective with food photography is to get you excited about enjoying the experience of eating.
- You have to be somewhere. And that place should be the absolute best it can be.
- I want you to have the most wonderful life experience possible.
- I used to take a lot of coffee photos, but I don’t drink that much coffee these days, so not so many of those photos.
- Will I be a photographer for the rest of my life? Who can know.
- Eating food Is a full sensory experience
- Photography only occupies vision, but vision is one of our most dominant senses
- Your food should be the best. Your house should be the best. Your job should be the best. Your walk to work should be through the most beautiful park ever. You should have an incredible life.
- I don’t know how I got to be so obsessed with experience being amazing, but here I am.
- Photography is about learning to see better, so you can share what you’ve discovered.
Update, July 13th Part 2
I shot this video immediately after the previous one but wanted to space them in publishing so you get a chance to digest them both.
What I yammer about:
- Photographs I made of apartments in a big new tower in Williamsburg. Beautiful rooftop views
- The speed demanded by real estate rental photography in NYC
- I get it, I was an agent once.
- I wanna move to the west coast and embrace the chill life.
- My focus is on photographing modern residential architecture
- I haven't been back to Oregon since I was born there.
- I'd love to do photo projects all over the country / world.
Update, July 13, 2018
I'm loving this video update thing. Here's another one for ya. I bumped up the production quality even though I said I wouldn't. Can't help myself.
I'm loving this video update thing. Here's another one for ya. I bumped up the production quality even though I said I wouldn't. Can't help myself.
Stuff I talk about:
- Journaling
- Getting distracted first thing in the morning
- Free games on twitch prime: https://www.twitch.tv/prime
- My Favorite parking spot
- Homes: Nice on the inside, meh on the outside
- House we used to live in with a nice garden
- I wanna move somewhere with a yard or outdoor space.
- 4 flights of stairs suck
- overcomplicating the production process
- real estate photography
- architectural photography
- Splinter Creek - https://print.nsdoyle.com/splintercreek/
- United Elite Group - https://print.nsdoyle.com/unitedelitegroup/
- Benny Krown - http://www.bennykrown.com
- Windows are never clean. $5M House? Dirty windows.
- Doing case study videos of my past projects.
Tunes: Anoraak - Skyline