Escaping

With a crunch, I fell through the thin layer of ice, sinking to my knees. Avoiding scraping my shins on the jagged corners, I pulled my foot directly up through the snow and stepped gingerly back onto the frozen Massachusetts countryside. As the sun set, I made my way across the snow-covered field towards the comfort of a warm fire and dinner. Every 10 or so paces, an overzealous step cracked the ice again, repeating the process.

The last flirtations of daylight retreated behind the hills as I kicked my feet together, in a hopeless attempt to remove the snow from my boots, before opening the backdoor. The smell of pan-seared steaks from a local farmer greeted me as I walked into the kitchen. "Fuck New York," I said to my roommates with a grin on my face like a thirteen-year-old that had just found a Playboy stashed in his older brother's dresser.

For two days, we holed up, watching the snow fall outside and the wind rattle the windows. Early in the morning and before sunset, I went on walks around the idylic New England roads that surrounded the Wijnberg's house. The honks and busy streets of New York felt worlds away.

Faded paint.

Edge reading on Sunday morning.

Sunset.

The fire place.

Breakfast.

Daybreak.

Kicking Snow.

Lunch time.

Sunset on a lone birdhouse.

A nearby barn through an antique window.

Function over form. Nike SFB.

Distance makes the heart fonder.

Here are some more links,
Getting Away (Picasa),
Two and a Half Hours (ART).

Winter

I arrived home in the beginning of January to forgotten Christmas trees, empty Fresh Direct boxes and mountains of garbage along the streets of Manhattan. In the Northeast, the holidays aren't half-time in the scheme of winter but merely the first quarter. A constant cycle of heavy snowfall and subsequent rain and thawing sets the tempo. Without this baseline of uncomfortable weather, the occasional sunny day in the 40s would be taken for granted.

Here are some of my my photos taken in the last month, during my first winter in New York.

Candy cured bacon.

Newspaper, Columbus Ave.

My Aunt and Uncle's fireplace in Bala Cynwyd.

Bloody Mary, Peels.

Snow day, Central Park.

Street meat malfeasance.

Allusions to Maine.

Drinks in Williamsburg

A warm day in the East Village.

Yours truly. My friend Alexxa took this photo.

Farmers Market.

Another snow day in Central Park.

At the warm points in the thaw and snow cycle, spring feels right around the corner. The next storm dashes these hopes. We still have two more months left. Now you can call it halftime.

Here are some more links,

January (Picasa),
February (Picasa).

Instagr.am

I am a nerd. Every morning, I ritualistically read tech-blogs like Gizmodo, Silicon Alley Insider and All Things D. A few months ago I started hearing chatter about an imaging processing and sharing program called Instagram for the iPhone. For a year and a half, I used Twitter and photo editing software like Camera Bag to share my photographs with people. I would take a photo of something with my iPhone, edit the image with a filter and then post it on Twitter. Instagram streamlined this process, combining editing and uploading software into one program. Intrigued, I downloaded Instagram and started using the filters on my photos.

After messing around with the dozen or so filters, I like the results from Nashville. They look the most like Kodachrome. Here are some of my favorites photos from the last month.

My window and a deer head.

A view of Mosier, Oregon from across the Columbia River.

This VW Beetle wasn't faring that well in Manhattan, let alone Jackson Hole.

The sun's reflection bouncing back along 59th street at sunrise.

Instagram combines a lot of the functionality of Twitter and Facebook's newsfeed, allowing users to follow others, comment on their photographs and "like" photographs. In addition, Instagram uploads across platforms, adding your photo to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare and Flikr with one tap of the screen.

Early morning shadows in Central Park.

Higgins Beach, Scarborough, Maine.

Unfortunately, Instagram limits photo sizes to a square 612 pixels as opposed to the potential 2592 of the iPhone 4. This smaller size limits its use outside of an iPhone screen.

Joe Coffee on the Upper West Side.

I am certainly not the first to the party. Instagram already has an estimated 2 million users. A lot of you are probably using it, but if you have an iPhone and aren't using it, download it now. It's free. Look for my photos on Instagram, @FosterHuntington or on Twitter.

Here are some more links,

Instagr.am (Picasa),

Foster Huntington (Twitter),

Instagr.am.

Changing Seasons: White in New York

LL Bean Buck, October 2008.

I missed the the infamous Nor'easter known as Snowpacalypse. 3000 miles away, I read my twitter feed, saw the headlines and spoke with my friends in New York. I missed the party, arriving the next morning for the cleanup of the beer cans, sticky footprints and dirty dishes.

Paul Smith Canvas Sneaker, January 2009.

Luckily, more storms loomed on the horizon, nurturing the prospects that I too would enjoy a snow day in New York. A few weeks later, I awoke one morning to the familiar scraping of a snowplow.

Common Projects sneaker, April 2009.

Outside my window three inches of fresh snow smoothed the jagged rooflines of countless apartment buildings. Throwing my camera and gloves into my REI backpack, I stopped by Joe's Coffee before cutting into the park at 81st street.

Van's Authentic, August 2009.

Steam rose from my coffee like exhaust from a muffler as I scuffled my feet through the fresh covering of snow. The occasional jogger clad in spandex and Nike's made crunching sounds in the light snow.

Ralph Lauren Wingtip, October 2009.

Danner Mountain Light II, December 2009

Arriving at the rock outcropping, I removed my LL Bean Signature Work Boot, adjusted the settings on my 5d Mark II and focused my manual Zeiss 35mm f2.o on an arbitrary spot, some three feet in front of me.

British Walker Buck, April 2010.

Shooting with a much narrower field of view than my old 24-105 f4, I threw the boot farther away. Snapping at the apex, I sat for a half an hour or so until I filled my flash card and couldn't feel my fingers.

LL Bean Boot, October 2010.

LL Bean Signature Work Boot, January 2o11.

Consumed by my new life, time goes by fast here. It feels like just last week I moved into my apartment and started my job. I am already anticipating spring around the corner. These nine photos remind of how much my life has changed in the last two and a half years. Try taking a photo, drawing or writing some thoughts down in the same place each season. I bet you will be surprised by the positive unindtended consequences.

Here are some more links,

Changing Seasons (Picasa),

Changing Seasons (ART).