NYC trip

My images from my week in New York a few weeks ago are somewhat random. The main reason for this is that it was HOT. I cannot stress enough how unbelievably, horridly hot it was for the first few days. Ugh! 100 degrees in Manhattan seems much, much hotter than 100 degrees here in California. I've found that people who've grown up on the East Coast (or in the South) can't stand dry heat; those of us who grew up in California, however, have a terrible time with humidity. I'll take dry heat anytime!

I don't mean to complain; I'm just not used to going somewhere where you just never want to have to go outside. I always think we have extreme weather here (flooding, wildfires, earthquakes, heat waves, frosts), but then I am reminded that, you know, I'm not going to ever die from exposure.

Anyway, it was still a lovely trip... but since my favorite part of visiting Manhattan is just wandering around on foot, I found myself spending several hours with no thought in my mind other than "too. hot. much. too. hot." Phew!

I was in town to meet with a few photo editors, as well as to visit with friends and my brother. I didn't have time to do anything "cultural" outside of sampling a few cupcake bakeries. One of them was the Magnolia Bakery, which I was afraid to visit because of the crazy SATC mania in effect, but we happened upon the newer branch on the west side, and it was delicious, cool, and beautiful inside.





Austin and his girlfriend Emily took great care of me on my trip - picking me up at the airport, arranging a sublet for me, and meeting me for lunch and cupcakes. You guys are the best!





I guess it's probably geeky, but I really, really, really love the subway system. It's just amazing to me (perhaps it's because here in California we have to drive everywhere?), and I never seem to get tired of it. I try to hide my glee at riding the trains around (so cheap! So efficient! So thorough! So crumbly and modern-ancient and urban! So open-all-night!), but with the air-conditioning on the trains, I don't think I was the only one super happy to be riding the A train for miles.



Let's see, the week is a bit of a blur, but I did get to meet up with a friend I haven't seen since high school (that's, ahem, 11 years now, yikes!), and Noah was just as I remembered! Except, living in Williamsburg, getting married, and turning 30 like the rest of us.



Brooklyn...



Bedford...



Harlem... visiting Austin and Emily in their apartment. Over and over again I had the sensation of entering an air-conditioned room and going, "ahhh..." with relief. Only to realize 10 minutes later that I was still sweating, and that the room was actually 88 degrees - it just felt much colder than the 100 degree air outside. Ugh!



I'm a country girl with a husband and a lot of stuff, so it was nice to have a week with my own teensy big-city apartment. My own peephole! My own door call thingy! Told you, geek alert.





It's just that these huge underground urban places amaze me... They're like another world, and I am so very fascinated by them.





I also got to visit another lovely high school friend, Emily (I know it's confusing, with several Emilies), with her new pup Cody!





Emily and Chris convinced me to play some Rock Band... and now I want my own setup. Dangerous and so fun!



As we were winding down, though, the weather suddenly broke and lightning started crashing, winds started gusting... and I thought, I'd better get on "home"! This image from the apartment window doesn't do the crazy lightning justice, but it seemed a little apocalyptic.



However, the rain and the winds cooled everything down to a much more manageable mid 80s for the rest of the week... ahhh. Which was good, because I still had more schlepping around midtown to do!



On my visit with Larry and Angela, I saw these great treats in a bakery window:





And had to take a sort-of-creepy picture of Larry in his teensy hallway:



The next day, I had a meeting in a tall building near Battery Park with a stunning view. It was interesting to see the World Trade Center area reconstruction from up above (though I had to wonder if someone was going to arrest me or at least take my camera), but mostly I loved to look out to the river, Jersey, and the sea.





One last image of myself (since no one was there to take my photo, sniff sniff) chillin in Washington Square park before meeting up with friends. It was a lovely day to be out (as evidenced by the snugglers on the grass behind me), though the park is totally under construction. The next day it was time for me to go, and (despite a 2 hour sit on the runway of JFK) I was home before I knew it. It was a lovely, whirlwind visit, and I can't wait to go back, although it was also just about the right amount of time for me to spend among millions of other people. I told you, I'm a country and small town girl... and my next trip involves cabins, lakes, rivers and redwoods!

Out of town, and, Same Sex Marriage

Just a quick note to let you know I'm traveling to New York for the week. It's supposed to be in the mid to high 90s for the next few days - fun!

If you need to reach me urgently, give me a call at 707-235-8953; otherwise, just drop me an email at j@jessamynharris.com and I'll get back to you when I have a chance (or after the 15th).

Also - I haven't addressed this yet because I've been so busy and have been mulling over the best method to do what I have in mind. As you probably know, my beautiful state of California has overturned legislation defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and I couldn't be happier about this. I believe love is love, and a commitment between two people is beautiful, full stop.

I want to support this liberating time by working with gay and lesbian couples who don't have a wedding photographer yet, and I particularly am interested in photographing a civil, city hall marriage ceremony, as I myself was married at SF City Hall and think that it is just going to be a beautiful sea of love and tears there in the coming weeks!

So, I haven't worked out the details yet, but if you guys have any ideas about how to present a contest, a kind of "send me your story and make me cry; the winner gets free wedding photography" thing, I would love helpful feedback and ideas.

I wish I could do unlimited free photography, but I need to hold myself back a bit because I've already got so much going on.

See you next week!

I'm in the 2008 PDN Photo Annual!

I'm very happy to post that my work made it into this year's Photo District News magazine Photo Annual!



PDN is the top industry magazine for commercial photographers of all kinds. I shoot a lot of stock and self-assigned editorial/ lifestyle work, so it's lovely to have it recognized in such a respected publication.

The image they chose is one of a series - here is the entire shoot. These images are available as licensed stock through my stock agency. I'm also sending out a few promos in various formats (email, postcards, something wackier...), so let me know if you'd like to receive one!







Thanks, PDN! I wish I could've made it to the winners' party last night, but I'll be heading to NYC in a few weeks instead.

more thank yous

I got this super sweet note from Corinne last week and just wanted to share a few highlights. It's great knowing how happy they are with my work for their fabulous wedding, since they flew me all the way out to NYC for the job!



"jessamyn,

thank you thank you THANK YOU!
what a nice surprise to come home from our honeymoon to your package of prints and little book! you are so kind and thoughtful and generous! (and talented!)...

i almost don't know where to start.... thank you for coming to nyc. thank you for bringing such great, positive energy (and hippie gum) to the wedding! thank you for doing SUCH a great job with the photos. really, they are even better than i imagined. i can't tell you how many compliments we've gotten from family and friends -- people have just been FREAKING on them!

An eloquent friend emailed me this:

The pictures are amazing! What a great photographer she is, and what
a terrific night for the both of you.
I guess this is what a photographer should do, but she really seemed
to capture who both of you are - your expressions, your emotions, your
joy - it was like she had known you for a lifetime, and as if she was
able to transpose the blur of an evening into shots which not only
froze time, but captured the depth of what we all saw and felt.
Outstanding.

Which are my sentiments exactly, only i'm not as well spoken!
(And, I already asked him -- feel free to use it as a testimonial! His name is H. Daniel Murphy!)

Besides hearing how beautiful your photos came out, we keep hearing "we thought she was a friend of yours!" -- to which i now reply, "she is!"...

ok, i have to run, i need to eat dinner ... but i just can't say thank you enough. or tell you how amazing and talented you are enough! i really admire you doing your thing and doing it so well!

please keep in touch, and if you are ever in nyc again, give me a call!

best,
corinne"

WOW! Thank you, Corinne. You are so sweet and kind - you made me smile and giggle and tear up all at once!

I know you and Geoff with have a long happy life together, and I will definitely give you a call the next time I'm in New York. I hope Paris was fabulous!



PS - so many people have been oohing and aahing over your vintage hair and veil, and overall look. And I've already had a few people ask me if that's James Brown on my website!

Update: I just got another sweet response from my girl Sarah, and figured this testimonial post would be a good place to share it:

"It was such an honor and a pleasure to get to have our pictures taken by an artiste such as yourself. I usually hate having my picture taken, but you made me feel so comfortable, and i fully look 800 percent better than I usually do in photos in these. It was the best and I would buy myself portrait sessions every time I came home if I could. I really feel like these photos are going to be keepsakes for me and my family. You are incredible. So even though we have been all scattered and out of touch, we are so so so so so happy about the photos."



Aww! I can't figure out if it means more to me to have made someone I didn't know well before the photo session happy with it, or someone I have known well now for 12 (!) years to be so over the moon with them. I am just so grateful for both responses, and for the support they express, in every way. And I'm super happy that you guys love the work, hooray! Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

exploring Manhattan

Devon and I had a lovely, if freezing, weekend after shooting Corinne and Geoff's wedding in NYC just before the holidays. Dev had never had the opportunity to spend time there before, and I've been enough times for fun, travel, business, etc, that it was really nice to be able to show him around a bit! I don't typically have a good sense of direction, but the NYC subway and street systems are so clear and easy to navigate that I proudly marched us all around Manhattan with minimal confusion.

We stayed in a nice hotel with a great view right next to the UN, which I had never seen before.



Which meant that our nearest subway station was Grand Central station! It was such a treat to come up into it after taking the train from Queens... it was decorated for the holidays with a big kaleidoscopic light show over that gorgeous ceiling. So pretty!



My beautiful husband and traveling companion:



I really loved the font on our room number!



And the view!... sigh...



Dev having a snack while I shoot through his reflection. I have to say, as fantastic as the view was, it was a little disconcerting that the window opened up wide without any screen or barrier! Devon was like, "look, I can lean out over the city!" and I was terrified of even walking over near that wall for the rest of the night. We were 35 stories up, and I guess I'm a little Sonoma County country girl after all cause... I kept thinking our room would just tilt us out that window!



We walked all over town - St. Mark's place/ the East Village, freezing and grey Battery Park, up the empty-on-Saturday way lower West side to the Park, down to Rockefeller Center to see the crazy crowds and a peek of the decorations, and over to Hell's Kitchen to eat delicious food. We also walked up and down Bleeker Street, ate a slice at Joe's, went record and toy shopping, and basically gave ourselves shin splints walking all over lower Manhattan. Fun!

Here we are at Counter near 1st Ave and 6th Street, delicious and vegetarian:



These strange, blue Santas had something, I think, to do with an Eastern European Orthodox church (? they were handing out pamphlets but we didn't take any) in Battery Park:



Here I am either trying to explain how to use the camera, or doing air guitar... I can't remember. So cold!









"Miss Liberty" looked quite stinky and gross:



Neither of us had ever tried roasted chestnuts before, so we paid a ridiculous price for some near the Ellis Island and Staten Island ferry terminals... to me they smelled like french fries and tasted like sweet potatoes but starchier. To Devon...









... they looked like teeny brains and tasted yucky. We laughed and laughed together... we're nerds.



Sadly this is about all the snow we saw:



Random architecture:



This reminded us of the secret of the ooze:



We reached a wintry Central Park just before sunset:



I felt stupid but also SO cold (I am such a baby about the cold now) in this layered look, but Devon told me I looked like a literal baby all bundled up like this:



Buildings, buildings, buildings:









I can't even describe how many people there were at the Rockefeller Holiday display area on the Saturday night before Christmas, but, sure, the tree was alright:





Next time we're coming to New York in the spring or fall! What a great and whirlwind weekend.