New York, NY

By Ellie Pritts

January 5^th, 2017

ord to lga

Once upon a time (in late November of 2016), I came out to NYC to work for awhile with no real plan in place. My journey began in the beautifully trippy United terminal walkway at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. I've always wanted to stop and take a good photo of this hallway but this was the first occasion that I had enough time to do so.

chinatown + tiki bars

Probably my number one priority outside of work was to visit as many tiki bars as I could in NYC. The first one I visited here was Otto's, pictured below. I've been to about 4 others since then. In case you're wondering, so far my favorite is probably Mother of Pearl. Or Surf Bar. But the best Painkiller is at Glady's.

Outside of tiki bars, I spent most of my time at work at the office in Chinatown. I really love it there. My first photo explorations were all in the Chinatown area and some of my favorite photos from NYC are from here.

selfmade

What drew me out to NYC is a exciting new company called SelfMade. They're an awesome startup with big ideas and a fantastic team to carry them out. I'm thrilled to now be consulting with such awesome folks.

haters gonna hate

I think the most common thing I hear when I talk to people about NYC is how much they hate it. It's too dirty, the people are rude, it's too expensive, etc. I've never heard more trash talked about a city than New York. As I prepared to stay here indefinitely I had to wonder, was any of it true?

so...

I've been here for almost two months now. Aside from most things being quite expensive, pretty much every other complaint I've heard about here just doesn't seem to be true.

Everyone I've encountered in NYC has been incredibly kind. Even the random people I encounter on the subway or who check me out at the grocery store, the sorts of people I'm used to being rude to me in Chicago, they have all been quite nice to me here.

I love the vibe of this city. I love how there are just so many people here that you can more or less become invisible. I like blending in observing the sheer humanity of this place. Not to mention, it's a gold mine for photographers.

My favorite spot

So far my favorite place to shoot is along the river off 9th street in Williamsburg. Staring across the water at Manhattan is endlessly captivating. The sunsets from this spot are stunning.

I <3 NYC

My impressions of New York so far are largely positive. I'm incredibly grateful that I get to spend any period of my life in this wonderful city! It's a spectacular place to call home, for now.