APPLE STORE; TRIBUTE

THE APPLE STORE IN NYC'S MEATPACKING DISTRICT THIS WEEKEND. A GROWING TRIBUTE TO STEVE JOBS, 1955-2011.

10 YEARS ON...

I AM WRITING THIS POST JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2011, IN NEW YORK CITY. THIS IS THE SECOND YEAR I HAVE BEEN IN NYC FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY THAT IS 9/11. THE MOOD HERE IS SOMBER, YET HOPEFUL. THERE IS SO MUCH RESPECT FOR THE INNOCENT VICTIMS & THEIR FAMILIES. ONES MIND WILL NEVER GET AROUND THE SCALE OF THIS INHUMAN ACT, BUT HEARTS ARE FILLED WITH THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE LIVES LOST & THE LEGACY THEIR FAMILIES & LOVED ONES CONTINUE. FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS, THOUGHTS & PRAYERS, 10 YEARS ON & FOREVER. REST IN PEACE. - SW

INSPIRED BY NEW YORK CITY, THROUGH WINDOWS.

THE AVENUE PROJECT; NYC

IT LABOUR DAY LONG WEEKEND HERE IN THE USA. WHICH MEANS, IT IS UN-OFFICALLY THE 'LAST' WEEKEND OF SUMMER, SO AS MOST FLOCK OUT TO THE HAMPTONS, I PREFER TO STAY IN THE CITY & ENJOY NEW YORK WITHOUT THE MASSES (OK, THAT IS NOT EVER THE CASE, BUT IN NYC MASSES SENSE, THIS WEEKEND IS PRETTY QUIET). I WAS DOING AN AT HOME DIY PROJECT & NEEDED TO POP OUT TO STAPLE (OFFICE WORKS EQUIVALENT FOR AUS READERS) & DECIDED TO WALK FROM MY PLACE IN MEATPACKING, ALONG 13TH ST, STOPPING AT EVERY AVENUE I CROSSED & CAPTURING A PIC UPTOWN. WHEREVER I AM OFF TO, I ALWAYS HAVE MY IPOD IN. IT GIVES NEW YORK A DIFFERENT SOUNDTRACK EVERYDAY & THRU THE POWER OF MUSIC, DEPENDING ON WHAT I AM LISTENING TO, I HONESTLY SEE THE CITY DIFFERENTLY EACH TIME. TODAY I WAS LISTENING TO GOTYES NEW ALBUM. BELOW ARE MY PHOTOGRAPHS - I LOVE LOOKING UPTOWN & DO S EVERY TIME I CROSS AN AVENUE. THE AVE'S LITERALLY DISAPPEAR INTO NOTHING-NESS, SUCH IS THE GRID & THE STRAIGHT LINE OF NYC AVENUES. NEXT TIME I WILL WALK UPTOWN TO SHOOT DOWN DOWN ANGLES. WITH LOVE FROM NYC - SW

INSPIRED BY

THE SUNSET NOIR OF NEW YORK AT DUSK.

GYPSY. FREYA. NEW YORK.

MY GYPSY TOLD ME I WOULD MEET A 'FREYA IN NEW YORK. WHO WOULD HAVE A BIG IMPACT ON MY LIFE'. I THOUGHT NOTHING OF IT, TILL I MET FREYA. IN NEW YORK. WHO HAS MORE OF AN IMPACT ON ME THEN I CAN EVEN PUT INTO WORDS. TRULY ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE I HAVE EVER MET. GYPSY WAS RIGHT. - SW

[ABOVE] FREYA & ME, IN NEW YORK.

WHATS NOT TO LOVE?

A CARE PACKAGE FROM A CARING PERSON

IN A DIGITAL AGE, TO RECEIVE ANYTHING OTHER THEN A BILL IN THE POST IS A LUXURY. LET ALONE WHEN THE MOST AWESOME OF AUSSIE CARE PACKAGES ARRIVES ON MY DOORSTEP IN NYC. AMAZING. - SW

RAINY NIGHT IN NEW YORK CITY

MOODBOARD

DESIGNING THE DAY AWAY IN NEW YORK CITY. THIS IS A SHOT OF ONE OF THE MOODBOARDS FOR NEXT SEASON... - SW

MY MISTRESS...NYC

IF SYDNEY IS MY WIFE, NEW YORK CITY IS MY MISTRESS.

THE SKYLINE DRIVING IN FROM JFK TODAY. I LOVE THIS CITY - SW

GOODNIGHT NEW YORK

VIEW FROM MY WINDOW, THE BEAUTIFUL 'THE STANDARD' HOTEL, NYC. GOODNIGHT NEW YORK. - SW

VINTAGE NEW YORK, LOVE.

NEITHER DAY NOR NIGHT

THIS MORNING I HAD TO SET MY ALARM FOR 330AM TO GET A 620AM FLIGHT FROM NEW YORK’S JFK IN TO LOS ANGELES. 330AM IS NEITHER THE MORNING NOR THE NIGHT TO ME. I FEEL THIS WAY ABOUT THE TIME BETWEEN ABOUT 315AM & 345AM…. PARTY REVELERS ARE USUALLY HOME BY 3AM, SO THAT CONCLUDES THE NIGHT TIME, & THE GENERAL EARLY RISER TIME IS AROUND 5AM ONWARDS, SO THE LEAD UP TO A 5AM ALARM (4AM & AFTER) CONSTITUTES THE MORNING IN MY MIND. 315AM-345AM FEELS LIKE A VERY LONELY TIME, EVEN IN NYC, THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, THE STREETS ARE EXTREMELY QUIET & THERE IS A EERIE SILENCE OVER THE CITY. TRAVELLING ALOT, I AM OFTEN FACED WITH JETLAG, YOUR BODY CLOCK CAN BE BRIGHT EYED & BUSHY TAILED WHEN THE REST OF THE CITY I AM IN IS SLEEPING, ALSO IN THE REVERSE, WHEN YOU KNOW IT IS AROUND 3AM AT ‘HOME’ YOU CAN SOMETIMES FEEL VERY REMOVED, KNOWING YOUR LOVED ONES ARE IN SLUMBER WHILE YOU ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD MOVING INTO LUNCH TIME. THIS MAY SEEM LIKE A WEIRD ENTRY, & GRANTED THAT IT IS, I AM POSTING THIS FROM JFK AIRPORT PRIOR TO CATCHING MY FLIGHT, ON THE CAB RIDE HERE, I SNAPPED THE ABOVE PICTURE, LOOKING BACK THROUGH THE CABS BACK WINDOW OF THE SILENT NYC SKYLINE AT 4AM, THROUGH THE RAIN & COLD OF A CRISP FALL MORNING, I TAKE SOLICE IN THE FACT THAT THE EVEN THOUGH I MAY FEEL LIKE THE ONLY PERSON AWAKE, THERE ARE LIGHTS TWINKLING IN THE DARK MEANING I AM SHARING THIS HOUR OF NEITHER DAY NOR NIGHT WITH OTHERS - SW

THROUGH MY LENS [NYC v1.2]

WHEN HARRY MET ... SAMI

[FAR TOP] Vintage brooches at NYC Flea Market

[ABOVE] Harry.

THROUGHOUT the week, it is just one of NYC’s many underground parking lots.

Located on 24th St, between 6th & 7th Ave. As all the cars clear out on a Friday afternoon, no cars are allowed to park in their till the following Monday morning as the underground Parking lot turns into a Vintage flea market called GARAGE MARKETS.

Rugged up like I was embarking on Antarctica, I had read about this market in a NY ‘Things to See’ Guide & made my way underground to check out what the GARAGE had to offer. As I walked down the cement ramp, I could see across the entire market, vintage brooches, cameras with worn leather casings from the 1970s, one gentleman had old newspapers that where yellowing from age, each had a history defining front page , ‘MAN WALKS ON MOON’, ‘JFK SHOT’, 'MARILYN MUNROE FOUND DEAD IN HOME’. It as like an emporium of yesteryear.

As I wandered around the market, I stopped & looked at the different stands, I listened to the conversations being had between customers, between stall holders, bartering & the craziness of all of it put together into a huge cement carpark, usually idle with waiting cars & now alive with people & conversations.

I spent some time looking at a stall that had four large tressel tables, each with ends touching to form a square. Allowing no table space to be seen, the tables where covered with vintage brooches, earrings, necklaces & charms. I circled the stall for about 20 minutes picking up charms to have recast into our jewellery ranges, vintage animal brooches & random coins.

I held out my selection of jewels to the man behind the tables. He was probably in his mid 70’s, had on a grey sloppy joe with an old, worn navy parker over the top. His beanie was like the one Rocky wore when he was running in the snow & as he took the jewellery from me, his hands looked like they had lived a full life, scuffed & scratchy with dirt under his fingers nails.

‘I’ll take these’ I said.

‘Good choice Blondie.’ He said in the most authentic old school New York accent I have ever heard, ‘Where you from?’

‘Australia’ I replied.

“Thought so. I used to be in love with a girl from Australia. She was bew-udiful ,’ He said instantly transported to his affair with the Australian woman. ’God that was a long time ago, must have been the late 50’s, or, wait, maybe it was the early 60’s. She was over here, trying to make it as a singer. ‘ I smiled at him. ‘We were so in love, absolute love of my life, Blondie.’.

‘What was her name?’ I asked.

‘Elaina... or Evette, or was it Evetta...?’ He trailed off trying to recall the love of his lifes name. ‘You remind me a bit of her, she was tall & blonde too.’

I smiled at him, secretly amused at his clear passion for this woman from his past, yet unable to recall her name. “We spent one night together.’ He continued, ‘She was singin’ in a bar I was workin’ in, givin’ me the eye all night from the stage you know?’ as he raised an eyebrow in my direction, I didn’t know, but nodded anyway. ’So when her set was over, she came up to me & said ‘I’m new in town, would love for you to show me around’ I couldn’t believe it, she was like goddess. We walked & I showed her the city. It got to about 4 o’clock in the morning & I asked her where she was staying so I could walk her home. She took my hand & looked up at me & said ‘I’m staying at your place’.

By this stage, He was so transported to that night with Elaina, or Evette or Evetta, that I don’t even think he remembered he was talking out loud. ‘We spent the night together, it was amazing. Best f#%k I have ever had in my life.’ Hoping he had some concept he was still talking out loud & was not going to give me a run down of their bedroom antics, he continued, ‘We fell asleep as the sun was waking the rest of the city up & when I woke around lunch time, she was gone. And that the last I ever heard from her.’ His voice trailed off to silence. There was a pain in his voice of loneliness. Of loneliness then & loneliness now.

‘What’s your name Sir?’ I asked interrupting his trip

down memory lane.

‘Harry’ he said as he handed me the jewels in a crumpled paper bag.

‘Nice to meet you Harry, My name is Samantha.’ I said looking him directly in the eye.

Nice to meet you to Blondie" he said, clearly not one for names.

Hey Harry,’ I said as I started to move to the next table.

‘What is it Blondie?’ he said raising his eyebrows as if he could take or leave what I was about to say.

‘Elaina, Evette, Evetta.. Whatever her name was, to get to spend if only one night with you, she was one lucky gal.’ I looked at him a wry confidence spread across his face. ‘Thanks for the jewels,’ I said as I jiggled the crumpled bag.

‘Your more then welcome Blondie.’ He said with a twinkle in his eye.

I smiled at him as I walked away. - SW