2010 June « The Robin LeBlanc

Toronto Steampunk Society, originally uploaded by robinleblanc.

I went on a shoot with the lovely Toronto Steampunk Society today. Ended up getting some great photos for it!

Full set here

For those that follow me on twitter (yes, I use one), you’d know that I was in New York City last week from the 16th to the 2oth. It was my fourth trip to the big apple, but the first one where I just wandered on my own (Either I was with my folks or was too busy to actually explore anywhere beyond my favorite spots). This was also the first time I had any friends in the city, which makes the experience a bit better, having a local insider to be your host in a city that has a hell of a lot of depth.

We stayed at a friend’s apartment, an amazing place on 41st and 2nd that is a flight of stairs away from the UN. There were a few protests there, obviously, but it was really nice. We managed to find a parking space that we could park in for the entire time we were there free of charge. The doorman of the apartment and other local friends have put us in the history books and the singer friends have written beautiful melodies of our discovery since that’s such a rare thing to happen. I spent most of my time in the village and a day in Brooklyn, where I toured the Brooklyn Brewery, drank lots and got introduced to Magic Hat #9. But that’s coming up later.

New York always brings forth awesome feelings for me. The romantic in me goes to the opening to Woody Allen’s Manhattan whenever I think back on the city, and for the most part, it’s true to form. Manhattan is a gigantic, intimidating place where everything is happening at once. And no matter how many times you’ve been there, it’s easy to feel like one of the many new tourists stopping every two seconds to ask directions or take a photo. You get to Manhattan and you feel like a chump for walking so slowly in this bustling city. At least, you do on Broadway and by Central Park and Times Square and the…I’ll stop. Basically in the busy areas it’s wasy to feel like you should be doing something to contribute to the chaos. Or at the very least be one of the many charming personalities that give that city its edge.

If you ever want to look at Manhattan in a new way, walk around at 6am on a weekend. The tourists are nowhere near awake, the corporation folk don’t have to commute and stores are just starting to open up. It’s the only time you’ll be able to walk in the middle of a popular street without fear of getting hit by a car. And at that moment, when you’re sitting on a patio of a coffeeshop with your half-read Cory Doctorow book, a cup of something strongly caffienated, looking at the asleep fruit vendor and smelling the brilliant smells coming from the bakeries…it hits you and you realize just what an amazing fucking city this is.

Brooklyn is a whole other ball game. Gershwin has no place in my (now recent) memories of that place. Rather it takes me back to MTV at its prime. I think of background beats, train cars moving, people shouting…where Manhattan is an intimidating structure, Brooklyn is a living being. It has less of the professional edge of Manhattan but a HELL of a lot more grit. All the beautiful graffiti that got kicked out of the island just moved there and creative graffiti artists, I feel, provide something that gives character to a city. There’s a more relaxed bustle to Brooklyn and you don’t feel too bad about stopping to take in your surroundings. The bars aren’t all filled with screaming people, cars aren’t screeching down the roads at top speed and the aboveground transit system is a thing of beauty.

This time around I’ve found that New York is a city where you go for the big, wonderful surface of it, but stay because of all the little things you notice while in it. It’s like you’ve made a personal connection with the sentient being of the city and it’s opened up to you by showing you an out of the way cafe, a book store that has everything or a bar that has your favorite drinks.

And you know…I say this a lot about cities I go to. Berlin, Montreal…but after this, my fourth trip to New York, I really think I’m going to end up living there at some point.