audio goodness– lykke li

Posted on March 22, 2012June 10, 2013 by Jake

Punting again this week. It has not been a good one. I mean, here it is Thursday and I’m just now getting to AG. I love Lykke Li. Or that is, there isn’t much I have heard by Lykke Li that I don’t enjoy. Getting a bit thematic for a moment… sometimes I am listening to a track in the background while I’m doing whatever– suddenly I start paying attention to the lyrics and say to myself in my mind’s voice “totally.” Such an occurrence happened to me tonight when I was listening to “Everybody but me.” Check it.

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arnette ‘dibs’

Posted on March 14, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

One bonus of daylight savings is that there is some daylight left after the market close in the evening. Wednesday evening I worked with the peeps from RC on a shoot for a new model of Arnette glasses. We did the shoot at the newish skate part in Chelsea. It was the first time that I had been inside since it was built. I was so bummed that I didn’t have skate shoes with me. The park is super nice. The model/athlete is Pat [something]. His instagram is @_path. One more shot below–

audio goodness– tycho

Posted on March 14, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

Upon the suggestion of Siobhan, we are listening to Tycho this week. I’m not extremely familiar with this band. I am a lot more familiar with the outfit that writes ISO50, who does all of Tycho‘s album artwork (above). Their stuff is topnotch downtempo material. The track that I’m sharing is actually a remix. It’s called Coastal Brake (Lusine Remix).

retna mural on houston x bowery

Posted on March 7, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

Retna is the latest to grace the Bowery mural space with his artwork. He just wrapped up the piece Tuesday night. I made it over there right after sunset, as the lights were coming on. A few additional looks below. Before Retna was Faile, then JR, etc., etc…

audio goodness– led zeppelin

Posted on March 6, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

Going for a major throwback today. I have really been digging on the sounds of the 70’s lately. I have been a huge fan of Led Zeppelin since I discovered them in my youth. The track I’m sharing today is “Good Times, Bad Times.” This is not only my favorite Led Zeppelin track, in my opinion it is a perfect example of everything that a rock song should be. Spin it.

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city of samba

Posted on March 5, 2012December 31, 2012 by Jake

Last month was Carnaval in Brazil I was never able to see it when I lived there. I think that it would be really cool to go back some time and catch it in the Sambódromo. Until then I can watch this beautifully shot tilt-shift video. Apparently it was shot using digital bodies on large-format bellows. It appears that some of the focal effects were added in post production. Either way it beats the tar out of that crappy tilt-shift effect in instagram. Hahahaha. This kind of thing makes me want to get a tilt-shift or even a lensbaby, and try it out myself. Anyway, here is an extremely beautiful video that really makes me miss Brazil.

happy march and happy friday, also return of the a train poems

Posted on March 2, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

It has been kind of a gloomy last couple of days, around town. But I have been insanely busy, with hardly any time to notice. Despite all of that, I was able to sneak in a few quick runs during the week. Our first race of the season is actually Sunday morning. Luckily it is in our neighborhood. So, we won’t have to stand around freezing in the park forever, before it starts.

One of the things that I worked on this week, was snapping some images (above and below) of the new Rothman’s space near Union Square. It is a NYC born and bred men’s clothing store that has been around for almost a century. It is a really cool space. I just wish that the weather would have cooperated, so that we could have had better light.

Here is a quick and dirty A train poem to kick off the weekend:

Chambers, Canal– here we go. ‘E’ across the platform at West 4^th, some jackass holds the doors. 14^th approaches, device alerts sounding in synchronization. Penn, Times, 59^th, time to zone out. 125 arrives, Harlem proper. 145^th— “’D’ on the lower level” a voice shouts. 168– Columbia Hospital and the place where they shot X dead. GW Port Authority, almost theres. 181, detrain and hit the stairs.

lets chat about gear for a sec

Posted on February 29, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

Happy leap day! This is kind of a random post. But, I want to chat about some new gear I have been excited about, lately. You may recall that my apartment was burgled earlier this year. One of the few things that was actually stolen was my mid-sized camera backpack. I was so bummed about it. It was the perfect size for quick gigs that required a couple of lenses and simple lighting, but not the whole kit and caboodle.

So, I was really stoked when Incase hooked me up with their new SLR pack. I have been using it for everything. Check out my write up about it over on HS.

Speaking of gear, Canon is set to announce the newest edition of the 5D, later this week. I am super excited about this, and cannot wait to order one.

happy friday

Posted on February 24, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

I wish that the weather today was like in the image above. But, as far as February weather goes, I can’t really complain. I did break through my funk of outdoor running yesterday morning and it was gorgeous. I went with two friends, which made it even more enjoyable. I planned on doing the same again this morning, until I woke up at 5 AM to the sound of rain pounding on our windows. It would have been nice to have 2 good runs in a row.

I had all of these intentions of being in shape by today. Six weeks ago, I set a goal to have the winter body blah under control. I went to the gym very consistently for like 2 weeks, then I started to get too “busy.” I wouldn’t say that I’m worse shape than I was when I made the goal. But I also haven’t really made any measurable progress.

I’m not going to kid myself and pretend that I’m going to have any amazing workouts this weekend. But starting Monday, I’m going to reset the 6 week clock. I’m crossing my fingers!

[Image: iPhone with Olloclip fisheye]

audio goodness– booka shade

Posted on February 22, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

First things first. Jake’s Mag turns 200, with this post. Second thing second. I have been on a bit of an electronica kick again lately. Here is relatively old Booka Shade track. It’s called Body Language. Check it. Third things third. I am about to add the running widget back to my sidebar. Tomorrow morning I plan to go running. Outside. I know. We’ll see how far these chubby little legs o’ mine can carry me after a winter’s worth of atrophy.

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nyfw is all upons

Posted on February 6, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

I’m kind of freaking out that Fashion Week is already here again. It is going to be a little bit different for me this week, than it has been in the past. I can’t just duck out of the day job for the duration and shoot everything that I feel like. Nope. In fact, I will probably only be covering a handful of shows. I’m excited, just the same. I’m most looking forward to Band of Outsiders on Saturday.

As a side note, my 7D had it’s first error on Saturday night. It was the dreaded “err 30.” It is an error that happens when the shutter gets stuck open. After doing a lot of reading on Canon forums, I gave the camera a solid smack, then took the battery out, and reinstalled it. It appears to be working like normal again. Phew! I feel like it is pretty amazing that I have gone this long without having any errors. The shutter has well over 50k actuations, and I haven’t had it serviced a single time. I think that I may have to drop her off for a tune-up, once FW is out of the way.

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happy friday

Posted on February 3, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

It has been a busy week. I’m so glad that the weekend is finally here. A few highlights from the last couple of days are:

1. My Olloclip arrived in the mail. I ordered one after reading about it in wired. The image above was one of the first ones that I snapped, while using it. Incidentally, this week I read an article in Wired about Instagram. It made me feel a little better about myself, hahaha.

2. Honest people rule. Yesterday I received a mystery paypal deposit. I was a bit nervous, at first. When I checked into it a bit more, I realized it was from a dude in the UK who I had licensed some photos to in May of 2010 for his postcard biz. A welcome surprise. I had basically just written off getting paid for that one.

Have a great weekend.

audio goodness– beasites x green lantern

Posted on January 31, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

Feeling a bit whimsical today. A few years back DJ Green Lantern did a Beastie Boys mix tape called “New York State of Mind.” Here is “Body Movin’ (Green Mix)” featuring Ludacris. Spin it.

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happy friday

Posted on January 27, 2012January 27, 2012 by Jake

As quickly as the snow came, it was gone. Today is 60 degrees and rainy. Mother nature is schizophrenic, I tell you. I guess I am too.

After years of badmouthing all things Mac, I broke down and bought an iPh#$e last night. As much as I love Blackberry, the camera on it just sucks too much to even justify using. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly in love with my new apple device. I still don’t like the touchscreen keyboard. Here are some other changes that I would make (after having used it for about 4 hours, so far):

Make the unlock slider half way up the screen so that my thumb doesn’t have to cramp itself when unlocking with one hand.
Auto power-down, power-on scheduling. I hate a buzzing phone in the middle of the night.
Ability to select different alerts for different mailboxes.
Customizable alert profiles (ie, turn off everything but the alarm clock and calendar alerts)

Maybe these are already functions that are available? I haven’t read the manual, yet. I meant to bring it on the train with me this morning, but forgot.

Anyway, I am now officially on instagram (though I have yet to post anything). In case you would like to be friends, I’m “shotbyjake.” Have a great weekend!

[top image: last weekend’s snow, Westchester county, NY]

audio goodness– crystal fighters

Posted on January 24, 2012January 24, 2012 by Jake

You may recall Crystal Fighters from the soundtrack of this longboarding vid. And to be quite frank, I had kind of forgotten about them until I was listening to a playlist that my homey Matt posted on EFOG the other day. CF turned up remixed in the mega-45min track at the end. Made me feel like sharing it today. Here is “At Home.”

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giving up something i love

Posted on January 24, 2012January 24, 2012 by Jake

Okay, the title of this post is a bit dramatic when compared to the content. I mean, who writes about retiring a wallet, anyway? But for some strange reason, saying goodbye to this old boy feels like losing a part of me. I bought this wallet when I first moved to NY (when I still shopped at Guess, hahahah). It was the perfect NY wallet. It folded on the long edge of two credit card sized halves, which made it perfect for carrying in the front pocket (to deter against pickpocketing). It had card pockets on both sides, one vertically stacked with a bifurcated window (super easy to get the ID out for bouncers and TSA), and one horizontally stacked set of pockets (perfect for taking out a metrocard without having to take off your gloves). The finest feature of all, was the stainless external bill clip (below). This feature also turned out to be its downfall.

This wallet came with me to Brazil and Europe. It has spent more time on my person than probably any other non-body-part item that I own.

I noticed about a week ago, that the bills were not as tot as they usually were after closing the clip. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the hairline crack that the clip developed along its spine. I can’t just go around dropping cash all over the floor.

So, tonight I switched over to a nondescript black number by Coach. It doesn’t have nearly as much character, and is not nearly as utilitarian. RIP, my absolute favorite accessory…. ever.

happy friday

Posted on January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 by Jake

Even though this was a short week, because of the holiday on Monday, it has seemed like one of the longest weeks ever. It is probably just because I’m trying to get into my new routine (which is a lot more boring than my old one). Anyway, I’m very glad that the weekend has finally arrived. I had a few minutes to flip through my reader this morning (which has been piling up), and I found these images of some very cool new work by SatOne (above). The image is from his “Chromolog” canvas series. Check out the rest over here.

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pretty stoked about this

Posted on January 20, 2012January 19, 2012 by Jake

i know that i shouldn’t compare, but…

Posted on January 19, 2012January 19, 2012 by Jake

Since I have been working out again with some degree of regularity, I have also started recording my personal metrics again. Just for kicks, I pulled up my totals from last year, and compared them to my totals from 2010.

In 2011, I only had 552 total miles, with an average pace of about 7.5 minutes per mile. I have to say that the Garmin reports (above) are not nearly as interesting to look at, as the ones that Nike+ generates (below). But I am willing to give up the fancy graphics for the additional accuracy that Garmin provides. According to my Nike+ stats from 2010, I ran 798 miles with an average pace of just over 7 minutes per mile.

I’m pretty sure that the Nike+ stats are padded resulting from inaccuracy. But I know that I ran a lot more in 2010 than last year. In 2011 I didn’t run at all until March. I took the beginning of January off, this year. But as of last week, I have already racked up a handful of miles in 2012. So, I already have a leg up on last year. Here’s to beating last year’s 552 miles, in 2012.

stretch reunion show

Posted on January 18, 2012January 18, 2012 by Jake

For all of the many reasons that I am annoyed by Facebook, it is times like these, that it totally redeems itself. I discovered tonight via the social network, that two of my favorite local ska bands from HS are doing a reunion show in July. I wrote about Stretch Armstrong about a year ago, over here. It’s one of those events that I may justify a weekend trip to the land of Zion. I hope that I can make it work.

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