Windswept

First let me explain Chicago is one if not two of the places where I have always wanted to live, London being the other place. One week, maybe two, every summer growing up was spent in the suburbs of Chicago, my grandparents lived in LaGrange Park, my Grandma still does, though in a retirement community, Plymouth Place. Even if we didn’t get into the city I still had fun. I don’t mind the cold, I’ve been there during the winter, I don’t mind the muggy summers. Chicago, aside from the high taxes, politics, etc, is or seems to be an up and coming place to be for art. I was in Chicago a few weeks ago just for a couple of days with my parents, which is always nice since I don’t get to see them that often. I had one goal in mind when I went there, it wasn’t met as I ended up doing other things. I wanted to visit two photography galleries that I had seen at AIPAD in NYC the week before; it’s always nice to make contacts. I didn’t go to the galleries, so I’ll just have to email them.

The first day I was in Chicago I went to visit my grandma, since I missed her big 90^th birthday party last November and didn’t have time to see her when I went to Chicago for New Years, it was nice to see her, even if it did feel like groundhog day with her. She has memory problems and asks that same questions over and over. We all went to the mall, shopped a little and met up with my aunt and cousins to have dinner, it was nice, I hadn’t seen them for a couple of years.

The next day we took the train and headed into the city and ended up going to Millennium Park and of course took pictures of the bean. We then went to the Chicago Culture Center, it is a beautiful building on the inside, with a magnificent dome. We went to Portillos, oh man, my friend Michelle introduced me to this restaurant when I was in Chicago with her. I took my parents, I was actually surprised they had never been, needless to say they loved the food, fantastic ok. After that we went to Willis Tower (Formally Sears Tower), my dad and I went up, my mom hates heights. Even though it wasn’t a clear day I still managed to take so many nice pictures. I felt more artistic with my camera in Chicago than I did in New York. It has to do with the architecture; I love all the older buildings, ok and the high views, ok twist my arm I love Chicago. We walked around a lot that day, it was a little cold considering the wind coming in from Lake Michigan, but not cold enough for hats, maybe for scarves though. After we got back we went to see a movie and then headed back to the hotel, another day of walking, I do that in London all the time, but I take the tube a lot. The next day was a shopping day, dontcha just love it when you go on a shopping trip with your mom, especially when you don’t have that much money. Even if the trip did end on a bad note, my brother was admitted into the hospital, he had a stroke, he’s slowly recovering, I still had an amazing time in those 3 or 4 days that I was there, I always do when I’m in Chicago. When I got back I was sick, this is the second time I’ve come back to London from Chicago sick and having to work on a paper. Either the city doesn’t like me or I should have worn warmer clothes. It’s the latter, no matter how many times I say it, Chicago is the place I would ultimately like to end up.

Trekking through the Concrete Jungle

I was in New York City for a couple of days in March for a class trip and I didn’t even do any of the touristy stuff, ok I went to Time Square, but that was it, New York City was tiring. The schedule was jam packed and I’m pretty sure my brain went on photography overload, My class was there from Tuesday March 28^th – Sunday April 1^st.

The first day we got there we had time to ourselves and because of jet lag not much happened. The second day however we started off at 9:30ish maybe a bit earlier, to get to the MET where we got to go to the photography archives and meet the head curator. We talked about photographs and then he showed us 3 original Edward Steichen photographs of the Flatiron Building. Immediately you could hear everyone sucking in their breath at once, we had talked about this photograph last semester so much and to see it in person was a-mazing. I would have loved to go see the building, but I never really had time to, oh well, something for next time. After that we had a break for lunch and time to get all the way to the Aperture Foundation in Chelsea. So three of us decided to navigate our way through the city and take the subway. The subway is so confusing in NYC, I’m glad I was with someone who could figure it out. So we made our way to the area where the foundation was and decided to stop off and eat at a Mexican restaurant, one of my friends never had it before. So by the time we were seated to the time we ordered we realized we didn’t actually have that much time to eat. Oh well, we made of it what we could, the highlight of the food was the freshly made, as in made right in front of you guacamole, it was so creamy and delicious. When we made our way to the Aperture Foundation, it should be noted that Aperture is also a photography magazine. Anyway we had a tour and then were let loose to look at the photographs that were on display. After Aperture everyone went to get a cup of coffee and then we went to explore the galleries around Chelsea. There was a gallery that had photographs by Andy Warhol, eh I wasn’t amused, another gallery that I wanted to go to was an exhibition of Nick Brandt’s work, he’s an amazing wildlife photographer. Anyway I found the gallery, but they were closed as they were setting up the exhibition. I didn’t go back, I didn’t want to trek all the way down there again. After that we walked the high line path, it was an old railroad that was turned into a walking path. It has beautiful views of the city. After that the group split, some people went shopping others went back to the hotel. A classmate and I walked 30 or maybe more blocks back to the hotel. Ugh that was a long walk, next time I’ll taxi it or figure out the freakin subway. But I did walk by the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. We got back spent time in the lounge and played pool, we saw actor Timothy Olyphant in the bar, but we left him alone. Not many people know who he is, he’s a very chameleon like as an actor.  Then 4 of us got together for dinner, I had found an Italian restaurant not far from the hotel. It’s called Bricco and I would highly suggest anyone visiting NYC to eat there. The food was good and it wasn’t too pricy, plus they have a pretty good wine list.

The second day my friend Jen and I went to Starbucks to get breakfast and walk to AIPAD, which is the big photography show. It’s like Paris Photo but not as huge. My main goal while I was there was to go and talk to two Galleries from Chicago, I was planning on visiting them when I went to there. Because we were there for the early preview no one was in their booths, which sucked. They were there later on but we were busy listening to a gallery owner giving a talk to us. There were some interesting photographs featured, some of the photographs/photographers I liked I took a picture of and posted on my facebook pictures page. Anyway after AIPAD we walked, once again should have taken a taxi, to Sotheby’s New York. We had a tour and a talk by the guy in charge and then after that we went to eat and then went to MOMA. In the evening we had a group dinner with Master’s of Photography alumni who live and work/intern in the city. It was a lot of fun. After some of us got back to the hotel the bar was full and we decided to see what was going on. Turns out a bachelor party was going on, since my friend Jen is way outgoing she started talking to guys while the two other women who were so gung ho about seeing what was going on before were suddenly shy. I got pulled onto the dance floor by a little Mexican dude and danced with him for a bit. I tried pulling away to get to my friends but they were too busy taking pictures, everytime I pulled away he pulled me right back to him, I got annoyed. He pulled his brother into the mix, I got uncomfortable and finally my friends pulled me away. Ugh I hate situations like that, and it seems like I get myself into them way more than I should. Oh well I still had fun.

The next day was another early day, Jen and I got starbucks and headed off to Phillips de Pury, now if I could pick where I could work it would definitely be Phillips. I am always impressed in their displays and basically everything about them. I wasn’t going to originally buy an auction catalogue, but I did, mainly because I liked some of the photographers featured. Also it turns out one of the photographers featured had a exhibition at the Chicago Culture Center and, I think, had an exhibition at one of the galleries in London that I went to. Anyway after Phillips we went to the International Centre of Photography (ICP) where they were showing an exhibition about Weegee, who took photographs of people that were murdered. I would have probably been more interested in it had I not been texting my dad, who was trying to figure out flight times for Chicago and texting another friend who was on the road. Anyway after that the group split up, Jen and I ate a hot dog near the park. We went to the Museum of the City of New York where we had a guided tour; the highlight of it was Cecil Beaton, a fashion photographer. After that was Swann Galleries and then some of us went back to the hotel. We were tired though not that tired as at least 3 of us went to the bar to have drinks. Once again Jen talked to some guys outside while smoking and brings one back to the table or he found her, I’m not quite sure what happened there. She and another one of our classmates talk and I’m sitting next to this guy, I’m tipsy by this point, so we start talking about random stuff, then he starts name dropping celebs he knows. It would have bothered me if I were sober, he left at some point, so it’s three of us at the table again. We realize it’s around 2:30 in the morning, thank god we didn’t have anything to do that next day. Saturday there were scheduled photography talks at AIPAD but I didn’t want to go and Jen didn’t want to go, we decided to go to Times Square that day, we were supposed to meet up with another classmate, but that never happened. I was going to meet up with a friend that I hadn’t seen for about four years I think it was. So Jen and I go to the Hard Rock for lunch and I had an amazing burger with bacon, I miss American meat. After that we shop a little and meet Chris, we take him back to the hotel for some drinks and talk and share stories. We go back to Times Square to meet his boyfriend and take stupid pictures, those are always the best. We then headed to Chelsea to go to a Mexican restaurant, but because it’s full he takes us to Qi, an asian fusion restaurant. It was so good, look it up and go there. He was going to take us to a gay sports bar but because we were leaving the next day it was best that we didn’t go, though it would have been so much fun. The next day I said bye to my classmates, they were headed to JFK and I was headed to LaGuardia to meet my parents and head to Chicago. Which will be in another blog. Chicago and NYC are two different animals, before I left New York I went to Central Park, it was pretty but not beautiful as not everything was blooming, I think it describes the whole New York experience, good but not great, it was fun for what we came to do.