another self-portrait in my pod

sporting a bathing ape long sleeved reversible ape-head camo t-shirt

i decided it was time for another self-portrait in pod 1103

i  hadn't slept, i hadn't shaved, but that n.a.s.a. hair wax was giving me something to smile about. it was doing an outstanding job with my barnet.

www.markwhitfieldphotography.com

levi's photo workshop

maybe on wooster street in soho last week i spotted this

levi's photo workshop... hmmm... interesting...

i took a closer look

what's it all about ?

the sign on the left explained it.

good old levi's

free camera hire. these were a few of the cheaper efforts available

but they also had a few leicas and some decent medium format cameras

this appealed to me very much

a free photo booth...

game on !

this is me photographing the booth. on the left is a preview of how my photos will appear.

naturally enough i had a few goes on this machine.

the studio space was very impressive

lots of shoots going on in different areas

these people checked their shots on a nearby mac

while i checked my reflection in a nearby mirror

or as they say in the states 'a nearby mirrrr'

fair play to levi's. this whole operation must be costing them a fortune.

i left these people to it while i wandered off into soho to buy some evisu jeans.

what ?

on the streets

walking around soho the other day i saw these two dogs waiting patiently.

they weren't tied up outside a shop or a cafe, they were just tied up.

i went in a nearby cafe for a drink, then went to a number of shops, had a good walk 

around a few blocks and about an hour later i came back down this same street and 

these dogs were still here, tied up but seemingly quite happy. hmmm...

i've noticed before how anything in soho that is a fixture, gets covered in stickers

or graffiti. look at these pedestrian lights...

and this

and this...

i like the 'i love pizza' sticker, and the panda sticker but who the hell went to the trouble of getting some stickers made up that just say 'roger' ?

it was good to see an obey piece kicking around

and i thought this was a good effort too

oh... i just found a flickr site for the artist...

www.flickr.com/photos/guy_on_the_streets/

very stylish eh ?

ps. what are the chances ? i really like this pic, so i just did a bit of poking about on the internet. i found the flickr site which i posted above, then i found elbowtoe's
website...
www.elbow-toe.com

then i found out that he has a show opening ( bearing in mind he's from brooklyn )
on december 10th... in a museum...

in warrington museum !

http://museum.warrington.gov.uk/Whats%5FOn/

( warrington is my home town by the way )

hmmm...

patrick earl

on the streets of soho last saturday i bumped into one of my favourite artists...

patrick earl.

i was given one of his pieces of art earlier in the year...

http://markwhitfieldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/snow-porridge-art.html

i think he was on lower broadway. it was a big road parallel with 

mercer, broome and greene anyway.

i took a few photos of patrick's work...

they are paintings and collages, mainly on scrap pieces of wood

you have to see them close up to be honest. perhaps have a look at his website.

he told me the stories behind the candy sales kids

and the story behind his signature piece... the shirt and tie.

here's a close up shot of one piece

and another here

i did a portrait of patrick in front of his shotgun houses

and another with his whole collection

finally i did a shot of him with his shirt and tie piece with the new york street behind him.

i bought one of patrick's collages. it's a real beauty. i wonder if anybody

can guess which piece it is ? you may have to click on the pics to see them

bigger, but if you know me, it should be easy to tell which piece i bought.

patrick is a top man. he's talented and intelligent and one of those people who brightens up your day when you meet. please check out his website...

www.patrick-earl.com

you can buy his work from his website, or if you're in new york, keep an eye out for him

on the streets of soho and say hello from me.

patrick earl's friend anthony

a friend of patrick's was selling paintings just around the corner.

they weren't really my cup of tea but they were very interesting.

they were quite dreamy, vivid portraits of jazz musicians.

the artist was anthony and i had a good old chat with him.

i also took this one frame of him

if you're ever in new york's soho and see him, his paintings are well worth a look.

maybe say hello from me too ?

missed opportunity

i chanced upon the hundreds' new store in soho last saturday.

it's a cracking space, much larger than their original san francisco venue.

while i was waiting for one of the staff to fetch me a bobble hat, i took

this photo of a big sofa infront of a white wall which had 'the hundreds'

sticking out of it in bricks. it looked very impressive.

it would have made a cracking self-portrait but i didn't have a tripod with me.

grrr !

www.thehundreds.com

joe and the art of coffee

the next coffee shop i visited was joe and the art of coffee.

i checked out the branch at 9 east 13th street, just off 5th avenue.

i had been looking forward to trying this place as i thought they had a good website

www.joetheartofcoffee.com

and they do jogging clubs at the weekends with free coffee.

however, it annoyed me for various reasons. firstly the two women behind the counter

both reminded me of one of my sisters-in-law !

( adopts ant and dec accent )

kate, it's not you... barbara, it's not you... it's not you kathy... gerry, the public have 

decided it's not you... maggie it's not you either... but patsy... it might be you 

secondly, there were no free seats or tables but there were lots of people... well, they were 

all women actually ( all stoke-newington looking women too )

they were hogging the seats but over half of them had finished their drinks and were 

just sitting there using laptops or reading. 

i took this shot as i stood up with my coffee leaning against a wall. the bloke on the right

was just ahead of me in the queue. he found a stool and sat next to the bins.

bad times.

i moved around the place giving paddington hard stares out at all the 

beverage-less women on their laptops. most of them stared back at me like

my sisters-in-law at the family christmas party but in the end a nice english

girl showed some manners and vacated her table

i put my camera on the table and started taking a few photos...

that made the 'ladies' flee, and in a few moments there were plenty of seats available.

the coffee was good, but there was bad ju-ju at this place.

new york dog

after my coffee at la colombe i crossed over lafayette street to photograph
 a strange sight i had spotted from across the road...

a dog wearing trainers ?!

hmmm...

wait a minute...

here boy !

his trainers were all well and good, but i wanted to get a proper shot of his face...

i whistled and he looked at me

what the what ?!

one black eye, one pale blue eye...

that's wrong !

for lucy...

at my favourite hangout in soho ( cafe cafe ) last week i saw a very good sign indeed.

my love for empañadas has been well documented over the years.

i have no idea what the hell a vegetable empañada is, but i overlooked this wretched black sheep of the empañada family and ordered up two chicken and one beef. 

check out these bad boys...

it looks like a couple of chicken empañadas are tring to escape, using all their

strength to lift up the glass dome and make a break for freedom.

it was all in vain for them. a few minutes later they were on my plate.

so lucy... how do you like me now ?

cafe cafe

cafe cafe is a great place on greene street.

the coffee and juices are amazing, the food is incredible and the layout of the place

is very stylish. i prefer to sit upstairs in the loft and to do a bit of people watching while

i'm eating empañadas / drinking coffee.

this is the view from the loft

this is my extra strong latte

and... well, you know i can't resist a self-portrait...

www.cafecafe.com

if you're in the area, it's well worth a visit.

new york coffee

my first proper coffee in new york was on saturday morning.

i went down to soho and headed to lafayette street to see if supreme

had any decent hats available. next door to supreme was this place...

it was absolutely heaving. they were queuing out of the door. i said to the bloke infront of me

" i guess the coffee is good here ? "

his reply was excellent... 

" heck yes "

so i queued up for about 15 minutes. there were no seats available inside so i

took my flat white outside to photograph it then to drink it.

rather than hold it, i balanced it on this green pipe thing...

there was a red one next to it so...

the bloke was right. it was a corking coffee

www.lacolombe.com

neckface

neckface was still at it on the streets of soho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_Face

new york breakfast ( day 1 )

after my early morning walk to times square, i found a 24 hour duane reed

where i stocked up on essentials and went back to my hotel to get ready for the day.

it must have been about 5.30am when i found a 24 hour diner.

i ordered up an oj and a coffee

and corned beef hash with two poached eggs and fried potatoes

game on !

i had only slept for 4 hours, and for only 5 hours the night before...

i decided that a self-portrait of me would be a great idea.

tired and grumpy, but the breakfast was magic darts and i was very happy with my hair

which was glued in place by some american wax. 

( i think the wax was developed by n.a.s.a. to be used on the space shuttle when any of the metal panels came apart during a mission and needed to be stuck back together again )