One a Day

This city is fantastic.  All the food(with the exception of late night pizza) has been amazing.  We took my friend Dylan’s advice and checked out this bar called La Distelerie and had some creative(and strong) beverages.  I think I’m finally getting into the swing of not having to be at work.  I do wish I knew more French(read: more than bon jour, merci, and oui) but everyone we met has been super friendly.  Our waitress at La Distelerie wrote us a list of things that we should check out while we are here, which I imagine would be much rarer in back in New York.  Part of me wishes we had more time to discover what this rich city had to offer, but I’m excited to get to see old friends on our long trip back home.
Bonus Robyn:

Bonus Graffiti:

Bonus Drinks:

Bonus Creepy Things:

So I haven’t even been in Montreal for twelve hours, and I’ve already fallen in love with the city.  Even just as a journey its interesting.  You get in your car in New York and seven hours later you arrive in what feels like a European city.  I can’t wait to explore as much of this city as time permits.

One thing that strikes me off the bat is that the city has really embraced graffiti as an art form.  Coming from New York(which is inarguably the birth place of graffiti as a modern art form) it makes me kind of sad to see how buildings can be transformed into these works of art.   New York’s anti-graffiti initiates since the late 80’s have really crippled the creativity of the work there.  Living in Brooklyn the last few years, the majority of what I’ve seen has been something that has been thrown up in a matter of minutes.  It’s really rare to see anything that people have put any significant amount of time into.

However in a matter of minutes in Montreal walking down St Laurent’s every block the entire side of a building is covered in a piece.  These aren’t acts of vandalism, these are most likely commissioned pieces ordered by the building’s owner.  Even a mason that produces Jewish headstones has commissioned such a piece.  I suppose today is the beginning of my travelog.

Bonus Graffiti:

Bonus Chairs:

I’m officially on vacation.  I hope this will mean that we’re going to get some lovely photos of Montreal.  Its my first real vacation in three years.  So I couldn’t be more stoked  As long as the planets align I’ll be seeing some very good friends in my travels.  Let the loafing begin!

Bonus Happy Poo!:

 

Today was a crazy busy day.  2 completely separate shoots in 4 locations.  Definitely had a good time, and I absolutely cannot wait for vacation.  This isn’t necessarily the best shot of the day, but I really like the focus on her eyes.

I’ve quit cigarettes.  I’ve quit pot.  I’ve managed to develop healthy habits like running and climbing.  I can’t quit soda.  I’ve tried at least ten different times.  I’ve cut back significantly.  There was a period in time where I was drinking six cans of Coke a day.  It probably did more damage than my 12 years of smoking Camel Lights.  I feel like I could develop a Heroin addiction(don’t worry I won’t) and quit before I was able to stop drinking Coke forever.  What a lame addiction.

There’s a cat in this picture.  Find it!

Had to take these at work today.  Got to play with my flash off camera a little bit, and I really want to start using it more like this.  Also today has been really crazy.  I feel like a good portion of my life is up in the air right now, and I’m not really sure how this is going to play out.  We’ll see how this all works out.

The Croton Mini Deli(market?) I can’t remember. This place used to sell everyone cigarettes except me.  I used to have to get other underage kids to buy me a pack of smokes with my lunch money.  This place has been closed forever.  Its one of those places that I think will stay empty for a long long time.  I should start my series on blighted businesses.

Rain clouds were ominous all day.  Working in the rain is the greatest.

I don’t go shopping a lot(read:ever.)  But I needed a pair of shorts and went to Old Navy.  they have the creepiest mannequins I’ve ever seen.  I don’t trust anything that smiles that much for no reason…