Over Manhattan Bridge

It’s said that whenever you rouse yourself out of bed earlier than one would want and venture across town through serene avenues at 5:30am, it's because you unquestionably have a profound interest for wherever it is you’re heading. For random errands I might put up a fuss but when it comes to undergoing major shifts in my normal schedule so that I can make it to a place on time to photograph, I do what it takes to get where I need to be.

Photograph was taken in the wee hours of the morning as I trekked in solitude over the Manhattan Bridge to meet up for a photo walk that resulted a small group of us exploring Chinatown Rooftops.

Photographer Spotlight: Cory Staudacher

Cory Staudacher is a designer & photographer, born & raised in Seattle, WA (coffee capital). You can always find him at a local coffee shop working on his Mac or out exploring the city taking Instagram photos on his iPhone and who has risen to some level of fame in the digital age due to his creative eye and talent behind the lens.

1. I know you struggled with classifying yourself as a photographer at the beginning but how did you become interested in the craft and what along the way made you adopt it as a lasting practice? Do you remember the first picture you made that you valued?

Initially I did struggle to understand what being a photographer meant. Everyone has their own thoughts and requirements to categorize someone as a photographer. For me, I viewed myself as a designer who liked to take photos on the side but never a photographer although I’ve created a photo everyday for the past 3 years.

I worked on color, composition, and subject. I viewed the world through this iPhone lens. Sure it wasn't getting to master a DSLR or know what aperture to use or what the hell bokeh was but I was creating daily through a lens. I was just in denial from needing to be at a certain level to be a photographer. Even with all the exposure that Instagram brought me, I never felt like iPhone was good enough.

Mobile photography was my gateway drug into a lifestyle of photography. Going on adventures, exploring the world around me, creating images that where in my head. That’s what photography is all about. It was always inside of me and I never knew that a history of graphic design would help fuel what I wanted to create. Lasting simplistic images.

One of the first photographs I valued was taken on a iPhone 3G which was a portrait of my sister standing in a frosty foggy field. The quality of this image was one of the first photos that really stirred me to create more photos and embark on adventures.

2. I enjoy the way your photographs build upon each other and result in a softly compiled beautiful collection of portraits and landscapes. Would you say this has become your visual style? What response are you seeking to achieve with it and has the idea of working on a photographic project to further your skills and learn more about something you love ever crossed your mind?

Thank you so much. I try and build my feed in not only color themes but general events. Whether it’s my trip to the Big Apple or exploring my favorite Northwest forest. I think it’s important to document your journey through life in a creative way.

As for my style, I like creating images that are simple, direct, not harsh with to much visual detail but creates a mood. Projects are something I do want to experiment more with in the future. My girlfriend Bethany Olson and I started to bring a lantern around with us on our adventures to start to use Instagram to play with light and low light situations. This is helping me greatly from feeling in a Insta-Bubble of content that all looks the same.

3. Talk to me about Instagram a bit because that’s how I initially came across your work. What opportunities has it opened up for you and where there ever a profound moment when you realized that there was a lot more to the app/service than pretty filters?

I was on Instagram pretty early on and got to be apart of the early community that was created. Growing as a photographer on a service is a very weird experience. Daily other friends would be pushing the limits of what we could capture and create on our iPhones. It pushed me to grow as a photographer even though I was just a graphic designer with a soft interest in photos.

Instagram lately has changed. It isn't as small as you can tell and to be different is hard. Showing your personality and doing things that are outside the box is the only way to really get noticed now. Personally one style that I help start & developed on Instagram was a subject in the middle of the frame of the picture to give scale to the beautiful landscape. But now there are so many people creating images like that or sunset #jumpstagram photos.

It gets hard to be different and unique. There is a lot of added pressure when you have a big audience around the style of images you've created in the past. For me it started to get overwhelming to do anything new. But I realized that I started to create photos for others and not myself. Sure there are a lot of opportunities and brand deals that are coming my way but when it comes down to it, I want to create photos not to please others but to create photos to inspire others.

4. Because photography tends to be a very gear oriented craft, talk to us about the equipment you use to capture the world around you.

For me photography was something that came about through an iPhone and an app. So of course I always shoot with my iPhone 5 first and use sometimes a gorilla pod for slow shutter images. But I also capture those moments right now with the easy to take with me traveling Fuijifilm X-E1 with a 35mm 1.4 lens. I plan to upgrade in the near future!

5. Do you have a single favorite photograph from all that you have taken, and can you share with us the backstory to it? What determines its value for you?

There are some photos I create that I can't forget. This photograph was taken as we went out to explore the Olympic National Forest. There was some fog in the valley and we decided to try to photograph it as it loomed right on the edge and the sun was simply magical in the way the rays made through. It resulted being one the most magical moments I’ve ever captured.

To read up more on other photographers in the Spotlight Series, check out the dedicated page.

Lyndsay Mclaren, Williamsburg, BK

Loosely equivalent to surfboarding with wheels, long-boarding has increasingly become a popular transportation choice for people, especially around Brooklyn. As someone who skateboarded when younger, I can tell you that riding is certainly a relief from the everyday, standing still life and with gas prices seemingly rising, it's much cheaper than maintaining a motor bike.

Originally from Scotland who moved to Miami but now residing in Brooklyn, I came across Lyndsay one gloomy December evening last year as she was riding along in Bushwick and since then we kept in contact after having a taken a few street portraits.

The times I reached out to her to setup a meet to take a few portraits again, it would always be interesting to here back why she was unable to at the moment simply because she was more than likely in another state actively involved with her longboarding either being photographed for a magazine or being sponsored to participate in events throughout the country. I caught her yesterday evening in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where we spoke about life, actively pursuing what she loves best and in how she feels the happiest when her feet are on a board and an adventure awaits ahead.

Capture Vs Experience

“As a photographer, it’s your job to capture. You’re supposed to step back, raise a camera to your face, look through a lens and tell a compelling story. Get the photo, get the photo, and above all else, get the photo. Hell, it’s more than a job. It’s a religion. It’s just… what you do.”

No argument there. Couldn't agree with Cole Rise even more. Photography is comparable to fitness in that if you want to spot results it's not something you do when you have time, it's an activity that you encompass into your lifestyle. Not sure if I would call it a religion but it's certainly a leisure pursuit that should become a priority and not an option.

Exploring Chinatown Rooftops

Treating your eyes to the colorful graffiti as you make your way over the Manhattan Bridge straight into Chinatown has become a time-honored spectacle that hasn’t always really sat well with me. It’s difficult to not notice the layers of graffiti that cover these rooftops but rather than having to observe them from afar, I’ve always had the curiosity and impulse to survey the area at the level in which the artist themselves plastered the walls with art and one Saturday morning in conjunction with a few photographer buddies, that moment came.

Instagram Favorites for May 2013

The 20x30 black trim frame that I purchased a few days ago is still tucked behind the home office door but I'm looking to make use of it now that I received 48 of my favorites Instagram photos which I had printed from the fine folks at Social Print Studio.

I went with the 4x4 inch squares and although I have planned to write up a small review of the product accompanied with some imagery, I will tell you that they look and feel even more fantastic in person that what you see online. The whole process is as simple as uploading, cropping and ordering.

For now, as usual, when my Flickr stream is dormant, you can rest assured the opposite can be said about my feed on Instagram and you can find me on the service with my usual handle of @jorgeq.

Bert H. Esenherz, Bushwick Open Studio 2013

Being someone who paints for a living is a sort of an aspirational fantasy. Conceptually, it’s appealing. The canvas, the oil paints and the brush are all extensions of what permeates through a painter’s mind and the one way I would think they could feel limited is by how long they can retain an image in their head which is the motivating factor to paint in the first place, providing they aren’t work from a photograph. This is certainly not the case for Bert Esenherz.

His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries both in Europe and in the United States. In the 90’s Bert began traveling more frequently to New York where he now works and lives. He’s become a prominent figure among New York City artists and during Bushwick Open Studios 2013, I had the satisfaction of seeing the respectably large displayed canvases that exhibited his work.

Patrick Kolts, Brooklyn

I’m not a journalist nor am I a sociologist, and although I excelled in both classes which I reluctantly enrolled for in college and later uncovered they weren’t even required, I can tell you without question that I am deeply interested in learning about people. At best, I would say I’m a simply a storyteller who through powerful tools like photography likes to share with you about places I’ve visited, people I’ve met and recount enthusiastically what the experience was like through images and brief commentary.

If there’s anything having worked in the retail industry for 10+ years has taught me is that you don’t linger very long in that line of work solely for the merchandise discount. You might spend more time folding other people’s clothes and counting other people’s money more than you do yours but at the end of the day, there’s an implicit assumption that you’re there not only because you need a job that pays the bills but because you genuinely care for dealing and connecting with people which is the case with me.

As it’s typically the occurrence, I recently reached out to a local Brooklyn photographer upon stumbling across his remarkable documentary work, particularly the Coffee Plantation assignment which he was flown down to São Paulo to document the plight of coffee growers. Patrick Kolts work also includes fashion, portraits and documentary. After spending 3 months in Kenya, he is focusing more time towards non-profit documentary work. He takes every opportunity to travel and has been on photo shoots across the US, Canada, Europe, China, Middle East, Africa.

He’s roughly 6 feet tall and with plenty of small town charm. We recently met up somewhere in Brooklyn to chatter about living in this sought-after neighborhood, about what life of freelancer really entails and looks like day to day, about what he hopes to achieve with his photography rather than just do it because it pays the bills and even about having become a Suggested User on Instagram and in what a remarkable service it's graduated to be because if I recall correctly that’s how I initially came across Patrick’s images. The rest is history.