The Robin LeBlanc

…and here we are about a week later and I STILL haven’t fully recovered.  Sleep hasn’t been coming that easy to me and I pretty much hit the ground running in the office, so I’ve been in that “when I’m not working I’m too tired to do anything” phase.  But damn it, it’s time that I wrote this.

So what happened next?  Well, the next big even that hit was that I went to see Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight perform on Broadway in their limited run play A Life In The Theatre.  Seeing Patrick Stewart live was a very powerful thing for me, as I’ve loved him since first seeing him in I, Claudius.  And frankly, seeing him in his underwear cursing like mad kind of, er, yes.

I contacted Katelan Foisy a couple of weeks before I went down in the hopes of meeting her for coffee.  I met her through Warren Ellis’ Whitechapel Forum as well as my photographer friend Veronika von Volkova.  Since first coming across her modeling and later her writing and art, I’ve always admired Katelan greatly.  And because she’s such a big and active presence in the art world, well, it wasn’t hard for me to feel a little intimidated at the thought of meeting her.  Certainly asking for a photoshoot wasn’t an option, as I felt I was nowhere near confident enough in my work to do her justice.

But damn, any nervousness I had about meeting her went away when we actually started talking.  Katelan is a very cheery, confident woman whose mere presence just somehow brightens your own mood up.  An hour of coffee turned in to about three hours or so of coffee, cupcakes, being attacked by pigeons and walking around the city, ending at Union Square, where I was meeting a friend for a snack.  And the day left me feeling especially good when Katelan had suggested we do a quick photoshoot the next day.

That night, I went to a dinner party at my host’s place and found I was in quite amazing company.  Talking about everything from Jim Henson’s life to the civil war to cheese.  It was a wonderful night.

Katelan and I  met up at around noon the next day and headed down to the beautiful neighbourhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Later in the day Katelan had to pose as Frida Kahlo as part of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, so for this shoot Katelan had dressed up in advance, leaving any costume changes to be made when she went to pose.  I’ll say on record that the mantilla was gorgeous.

Williamsburg is a really beautiful area.  Old buildings and beautiful street art.  A look in to what New York used to be like. A welcome image for us, two gals who felt that we arrived in New York in the wrong era and wanted less Starbucks and more Warriors in our cities. New York especially.

We wandered around the streets, taking pictures in locations that caught our eye. Sipping coffee and talking in between.

I really like this shot.  The colours sticking out over the not-quite-grey and gritty backdrop.  The rose growing from between the cracks of a crumbled street.  The bit of brightness sticking out in an otherwise grey day.  At least, that’s what I get from it.

When I took this shot the both of us laughed our asses off and made jokes about Frida Kahlo advertising New York Muffin’s coffee in Brooklyn.  But damn, it’s such a beautiful shot.  Elegance in a decaying city.  Almost like someone from the past growing accustomed to their life in modern days. Hm.

I’m very glad I got to meet Katelan and work with her for this quick photo shoot.  I learned a lot from her and will bring some of the lessons in to both my work and my personal life.  I’m already looking forward to my next time in the city when, hopefully, we’ll be able to plan a another shoot.

And that night, my final one in the city, consisted of a lot of walking. A HELL of a lot of walking.  No destination in particular, just…saying goodbye to the city that treated me rather well in the nine days I was there.  Eventually, my legs gave way and I had to duck in to see a movie to recover.  After the movie, of course, I walked around for another three hours.  It was glorious.

The next day was spent packing, eating WONDERFUL pizza with my host Mike and his roommate Lara and eventually going through the maze of the Port Authority.  I arrived at my terminal a bit too early, so I had one final beer, a stout-pumkin ale blend and the last good one I’ll have before going back to the piss that the LCBO chugs out.

After waiting for two hours the bus pulled in, destination shouted and people started shuffling towards the vehicle.  Before I gave my bags to be put away I was treated to the image of a drunk sleeping on the floor of the terminal, bottle in hand.  Security guards stepping over him as they walk past.

So long, New York.