END of SUMMER

We'll, shut them books. And throw 'em away. Say goodbye to dull school days. (Just) look alive and change your ways. It's summerti-i-ime.

Summertime, summertime Sum-sum-summertime Summertime, summertime Sum-sum-summertime Summerti-i-ime. It's summertime!
     —Summertime Summertime, The Jamies. Pop Chart #26 Aug 18, 1958

The summer was fun, even if I barely left the City, but it's nearly done with—fall weather has already set in, and I am back to City College, teaching. With that comes less time for getting out and shooting—my Blog postings are gradually decreasing, and my cache of shots has diminished. BUT, I've got a new camera, a Nikon d7000—a lovely gift for my birthday in August (don't ask, I won't tell)—so taking pictures whenever I get the chance is a given. Here are a few shots, taken recently with the new camera, as summer ends.

One of my earliest shots was taken in Payard Patisserie on upper Lexington Ave, probably in the '90s, and shot on film—see my first post, July 19, 2011. Oddly enough there are shopping bags prominent in both—it's fitting then I think, to end, similarly, where I began.

Payard Bakery, on Houston Street, Soho, 2011

'wichcraft Coffee, Bryant Park, 2011

City Gril Café, Soho, 2011

Union Square, Pedestrian Mall, 2011

the bean, coming spring 2012, East Village, 2011

SIGNS: hand painted

A selection of hand painted signs taken on trips here and there. I remember stopping the car on the road in Vermont to shoot the little red sign, and walking in the rain in San Francisco when this bright green sign appeared in the fog. In Montreal I sat outdoors at a bakery/café—it was Olive et Gourmando or Chez L'Epicerie, I don't remember which—and peered down at the painted window box. In Oaxaca this January, walking the Alcala, I spotted one of the only coffee cup signs I'd seen there. The same for Costa Rica—this was shot at a beach town where we'd stopped for lunch. And of course, in New York City I've passed many hand painted signs, many times—some captured, some not. I sometimes compare this preoccupation of mine with mushroom hunting, which I've tried only once, but loved—you need to stay tuned-in to the elusive object of intent, when suddenly it appears.

Café Kandixa, Oaxaca, 2011. 

Ciao for Now, LES, NYC, 2011.

Café, 600 colones, Costa Rica, 2007.

Window Box, Patisserie, Montreal.

Village Coffee House, Northeast Kingdom, Vermont.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, San Francisco, 2008.