Block After Block

Happy New Years!

Hope that you had an amazing holiday weekend surrounded by family and friends, or at least spent it somewhere warm.

After a wonderful Christmas dinner in Northern Virginia, we headed up north (!) for New Years. While most of our families were celebrating the holidays much closer to the equator, we decided to usher in 2012 in New York. And the weather was surprisingly pleasant. So much so that we walked practically everywhere, including across the Brooklyn Bridge (my first time!), and I was able to get some snaps without the threat of frostbitten fingers.

We kept warm by tucking into cute stores, cafes and shops around the Upper East Side (where we were staying courtesy of Pem's generous sister and brother-in-law, thanks guys!), the East and West Villages and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

We certainly didn't neglect our tastebuds either as we embarked on a semi-spontaneous tour of NYC's best vegan/vegetarian restaurants. Boy, did we get our fill. You know it's good vegan when it takes two days before you realize you haven't had any cheese for the last 6 meals. Let me tell you, for my Frenchman boyfriend, that is rare. Hell, even for me it's rare.

Our NYE was spent at a fun, relatively low-key bar in the East Village with some friends and well-made cocktails. I couldn't have asked for a better way to greet 2012. 

I still have some installments from my November trip to Sri Lanka on their way but couldn't wait to share some shots from our New Years trip!

 

 

Bill Cunningham: On the Screen

The other night I finally got to watch "Bill Cunningham: New York" - a documentary by Richard Press about street/fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. What an incredible life this man has led, capturing the evocative, the eccentric and the everyday fashions while cruising the streets of New York (and sometimes Paris) by bicycle! And yet you don't get any sense that Bill has acquired an ounce of pretentiousness rubbing elbows with some, if not most, of New York's high society. If anything, his modesty and mirthfulness has become more stubborn despite being honored with the title chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

He really seems to approach his work as an anthropologist, slightly removed (Bill himself wears a cheap blue workman's jacket and patches cheap ponchos with duct tape) yet utterly absorbed and dedicated to his subject. What he does every day is wake up and do what he loves. You can tell he is simply devoted to documenting the beauty he encounters. In an interview with Bill about 20 years ago, he says, "You can't let them give you any money. Then you're free... Money is the cheapest thing. Freedom, liberty, those are the most expensive."

Last Sunday's On the Street (above) is right up my alley, a reflection on black and white. But if shoes are more your thing, check out Bill's latest here.