Southern Warmth in New York City

I tried to get my friends, Joyce and Trent, to bring the family to New York City over President’s Day weekend, but they came during spring break instead. Good timing, Joyce. President’s Day weekend: blizzard. Spring break week: 90 degrees and beautiful the whole week! Joyce and I were friends in college and she still lives in my home state of South Carolina. Thanks, Joyce and Trent, for bringing your South Carolina summer to New York in April!

Lots more pictures below.

If you are friends of Joyce and Trent, shoot them an email to see their awesome slide show.

The last time I got to hang out with Joyce’s family, her oldest was still riding around in a stroller. That was a long time ago!

The girls had such a great time in New York City!

My favorite part of our time together was getting to know the girls and taking beautiful pictures of them at Harlem Meer. The family was in New York for a few days, but I only got to see them for a little while. While they were here, they went to the Empire State Building, toured the New York Times, ate at Shake Shack (yum!), saw the Statue of Liberty, went to a Broadway musical, visited a couple of museums and spent a good deal of time hanging with me on our photo shoot. Phew!

Their individual shots came out great.

Having two boys of my own, I can imagine that this shot has a certain truth about it.

Little tidbit: seconds after this shot, there was an incident. Let’s just say that for most young girls this particular incident (involving a bird, a tree, and gravity) would have spelled disaster and the end of the photo shoot for the day combined with photo shoot phobia for years to come. But not this family. A little cleaning of the hair with an old shirt and we were good to go. (Excuse the pun.)

While we were shooting near the lake, this big raccoon was checking us out. We kept on shooting because I grew up on the Wonderful World of Disney Sunday Night Movies where the only damage Gus-the-raccoon causes is to the orderliness of Bobby’s kitchen. But we left quickly after a park worker suggested (rather slowly, I might add) that we should probably move along because, generally speaking, she said (and I’m building in lots of extra words to demonstrate how long it took the lady to get to the point), raccoons are notable for their nocturnal habit, in other words, she added, if you see them during the day, there’s a good chance that it generally means there’s a problem such as the raccoon is probably — (pause for grand effect) — rabid. YIKES! RUN!

I believe she could have put that fact FIRST in her “move along” plea, no?

It’s always a good idea to try to get a decent headshot during a family photo shoot. You never know when you might need one for a professional newsletter or something.

We were shooting at a top secret location. Can you guess where?

Since the fountain was off, Trent and his daughter are adding statues for our entertainment.

Sometimes all things come together to give an image a buttery light. This is a great example of that. I love the light in this shot.

I wanted to take Joyce and Trent to a place in Central Park that is not routinely visited by tourists. Since it was spring break, and the weather was so beautiful, the regular touristy spots in the park were super crowded. So we started our day here, at Harlem Meer. “Meer” is a term used for a lake that mirrors the shore. If you pay attention to movie locations, you have probably seen this spot dozens of times.

Sweet.

Trent has a confessed addiction to visiting grand old churches, so since we were so close to Harlem, we walked a few blocks to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine near Morningside Park. I’m so glad Trent has an affinity for old churches, because it was a cool respite and a beautiful place to visit. If you’ve lived or worked in New York for a long time (like me) but have never been to this church, I highly recommend it. It’s huge and has many varied rooms, programs and tours to check out.

Joyce had seen pictures I had taken of Grex in the subway and wanted a similar shot of her girls. I said, “Look tired.” No problem with THAT direction. They WERE tired.

The subway tile mosiac outside the Museum of Natural History is beautiful! Think really hard about the story here. We are three levels underground on an island in the middle of a giant bay… (I still have flooded basement brain from all the flooding we had this winter.) The visual nearly overwhelms my imagination of being under the sea.

Ok, this is the most bizarre thing. So we’re coming out of the subway and Joyce screams because they’ve just run into a family they know from South Carolina. What are the odds? Amazing! The girls go to school together! I think in my 20 years of living here, the only time I randomly ran into someone I sort of knew was when I saw a guy wearing an Irmo sweatshirt in Times Square. (I went to high school in Irmo, SC. Go yellow jackets!)

That’s an interesting family vacation unportrait. I love it!

We were at a different lake in Central Park — the one near Strawberry Fields.

This is a great place to go to experience the varied terrain of Central Park…

… and a nice view, especially in spring and fall.

We were there just as the trees were budding. I love this mother-daughter shot.

This one is my fave though. It’s cool how it captures the glacier-rock of Central Park, the city buildings and the spring tree colors in addition to it being a nice shot of our contemplative girl. I love it.

No trip to New York City can be complete for a 9-year-old girl without a visit to American Girl Place.

There is so much to look at in that store, a store I rarely get to visit with a house full of boys.

I have not yet been to the M&M store. But she has.

I took this shot in Bethesda Terrace. Click over to this blog post for lots more pictures that feature Joyce and Trent’s older daughter showing me her beautiful ballet poses at Bethesda Terrace, and being fitted for new pointe shoes at the Grishko store. In the meantime, I love this shot! Beautiful!

Grex took this picture of all of us by Wollman Rink. Grex, you did a great job framing the shot to show the city skyline and our feet too! Wow! Grex, you ROCK! (You guys, he’s 9! This really is an amazing shot!)

I have been wanting to get a family unportrait in the subway for years. This one really captures how we were all feeling after walking so much. What the shot doesn’t show is that I’m dangerously teetering on the edge of the train platform trying to frame the shot like I want it and being unable to back up enough to get it just right. Meanwhile, a train is coming and everybody’s yelling at me to get away from the edge of the platform, which, by the way, I did just in time. Sigh.

Brad took this one of Joyce and me. Thanks for getting the NYC Taxis in the shot, Brad! Awesome timing! Be sure to click here for commentary on the Bethesda ballet shots I mentioned, along with our visit to Grishko, the ballet dancer’s must-visit store.

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