I haven't returned to New York (though I wish I had), but a) a friend was there last week auditioning grad schools and eating at places I recommended, and this ignited more nostalgia and b) my laptop broke a few weeks ago and this reminded me of the need to back things up... a blog is a good place to put photos, right?
Anyway, regardless of whether this is or isn't the best place to save images, I thought I'd gather together some of my favourite photos taken around Chelsea. I can't push all that I saw of New York City into one post, so I'll probably put up more photographs from the same trip later/another day.
It's also worth noting that I bought my DSLR a day before going to New York, reading the manual on the plane, and Chelsea was the first place I visited with it, so this series is really my first attempt at learning digital photography. Nonetheless, I think many of these photos turned out well, which is both testament to how photogenic New York City is and a bit of a dismal statement regarding my progress as a photographer over the last fifteen months.
I kind of love how mixed up Chelsea feels; brownstones out of Edith Wharton novels sit minutes from shiny galleries and hotels, separated by ninth avenue's thick stream of expensive carparks and the High Line. The area has so many coherant identities in close proximity, each block its own world.
Even in terms of popular culture, Chelsea is such a mix of reference points: the Hotel Chelsea, famously seedy (and also facing problems with the gentrification of the area), sits just around the corner from one of New York City's loveliest cupcake shops. There's a beautiful old theatre just a little bit further along, and then the Chelsea Market (filled more with designer tea blends than haggling farmers) is just around the corner.
Incidentally, I'm likely over the next few months to focus this blog more on photos than words. I've been fairly busy being a graduate student, and that's likely to continue, plus I've decided I need to focus less on travel writing and more on poetry and its ilk.
I did review Ocean Liner Posters for the current issue of Print Quarterly (pp. 76-77), and have written a few articles for Untapped Cities recently (and am working on some more). I've also written a chapter in a book coming out later this year, which is super exciting, but I'll wait until it's in shops before giving more details on that.
Anyway, all of that is kind of beside the point when it comes to this post. The point of this post is that Chelsea is amazing, and I want badly to return to New York City.