Life in Photos: Jazz Age Lawn Party Part Two
And there was dancing! P.S. My friend Jeffrey Donenfeld gave me some helpful advice about my photos. I never really color correct them beyond a quick pass via Photoshop (a VERY OLD version). He told me to try Lightroom and sent me some links via Lifehacker that showed me how to edit photos in Photoshop - so I adopted them to Lightroom. It's rare that we get to see the befores and afters and really hard to determine how much has been done to a photo or how much should be ... but hopefully I'll figure that out.Funny - most photography courses teach you how to take a photo with the idea that if you have the right lighting, composition, etc. that's all you need. But even when photos were printed in darkrooms, photographers did extensive editing from darkening spots to increasing the exposure or contrast of an entire image. In fact, most professional photographers do a preliminary editing pass of selecting photos, then sometimes photo editors choose the final images. Then after the images are chosen, another person may retouch them which includes the correct coloring, and then finally, someone else may print the images. So the actual taking of a photograph is only one small piece of what goes into creating an image.
Life in Photos: Jazz Age Lawn Party Part One
I'm a bit behind in my blogging / photo posting thanks to a full time freelance job (whoop!) and perpetually moving into different sublets. More on that later. In August, I was fortunate enough to attend the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island with a few friends. Photographically, it was like shooting fish in a barrel and I was in heaven. They've held it for many years but each year, I was either busy or it was about 90 degrees and I didn't want to spend the day outside. But this time, the weather was perfect.Hints: bring your own food and booze. The lines for the food, and annoyingly enough, "food tickets" were about a half hour each. While the food was good, it probably wasn't worth $20 and an hour of waiting in lines. Also bring your own toilet paper. Enough said.
Moving Towards Success
One of the areas of life that I'm fascinated with is how people find success and what drives people towards success, especially if they've taken a unique path. It seems that over and over again, we hear stories of great pain leading to great and unique accomplishments. My mother emailed me a link to this article about a friend of my sister's from my hometown who has finally "hit it big" or is on the verge of something great. Anne MarsenGirl Walk // All Day is yet another example of someone who pushed on and pursued what she loved doing and is finally being recognized. When you really think about entertainers who have made a name for themselves, I'm guessing on average, they were working for a good ten years before having a featured article about them in a national publication, and Anne is no exception. I remember hearing about her constantly working as an extra or auditioning for parts, probably when she was in middle school. Her perseverance is a total inspiration.Anyway, I highly recommend you take the time to check out this video of her dancing to the latest Girl Talk mashup on the Staten Island Ferry. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to just randomly run around dancing in a public space in Manhattan. Maybe I'll ask her to teach me some moves.
[vimeo 18446531 w=400 h=225]
Girl Walk // All Day from jacob krupnick on Vimeo.
My First Music Video
I'm trying to learn iMovie for works.. soo.
Music Video from Molly A on Vimeo.
This was taken at Webster Hall back in October, I think during a Body & Soul party. The music is from Zero 7's latest album Yeah Ghost, called Mr. McGee. Tell me what you think of my first effort!
Happy Thursday
Some dancing inspiration. Holy crap, this dancing kid on Ellen is amazing. Hope this puts a little spring in your step and brightens your day.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKWujd-5nog&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=425&h=344]
Dancing Evidence
Photographic evidence that I have a history of dance and performance. Kids. Don't be fooled. I'm an Aries. A former competitive figure skater. I like a da attention.
Weekend Update
I am not the not so proud owner of a new 3Gs iPhone. I say no so proud of course because my new purchase is the result of complete idiocy on my part. I've had a cell phone for nearly ten years and have never lost my phone until now. No, I lose the $400 serious piece of machinery that I am lost without.
I've been so focused on the shitty end to my night, that I forgot to focus on the awesomeness that was everything before 4:30 am. Let's review. My friend had her birthday party at Santos Party House. Still not sure if it's a gay bar or not but all's I can say is penis, penis, penis. Who said New Yorkers are jaded? We were all shocked, entertained and somewhat delighted to see perfectly chiseled (yet delicate) men in speedos seductively dancing on top the bar. The front stage contained a performance piece that was a sexually explicit play on cooking shows which included Amanda Lepore in the background. Need I go on? Okay, I will. Staying true to form, I danced on top of a bench which was on a higher staged area with the birthday girl. I can imagine we probably would have gained more attention elsewhere. While being pulled onto the bench, I managed to drop my drink, spilling half on my new dress, and the other half on the bench, making the whole experience thrilling yet deadly.
Three cheers for the birthday girl. She swong me into the only group of single, straight men in the whole joint. Added bonus, the five attractive men are MBA students at Columbia. I wish I had talked to the sexy Spaniard longer but they left from dancing exhaustion. Yeah, there was a whole lot of sweating going on.
After the birthday girl left, I convinced my boyz to hit up Solas, of course. Hadn't been there since I moved uptown and was slightly entertaining to see the same old faces. As I was getting water and about to leave, a guy worked the "what's your poison" line. Yeah, he went there. Not knowing anyone else in the bar, I spoke to him for a bit and we realized we live on the same block. What are the chances. Also learned that his mother is a diplomat. We agreed to share a cab uptown and get pizza. mmmm. Whole Wheat Pizza. He walked me home and I'll end my story there... because the rest of the night is too painful to recap in detail. But basically involved me taking a cab back to Solas, banging on their shuttered doors, taking a cab back home, and then psuedo crying myself to sleep.
On a brighter note - word on the street is that Oprah was at the Apple Store while I was buying my phone. Whole story would have been so much cooler if it involved Oprah making a surprise "Angel" visit to the store and paying for my new phone. But alas, I'll have to seriously conserve my dough and cook like a responsible adult. There was also an attractive (but completely crazy) man dressed in a red cape and red boxing shorts (sans briefs!) at the store with his two sons. holding an oversized barbie doll. So wish I could have gotten the full story on that.
What's that saying? The truth is better than fiction?
Truth, better than fiction.