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Inspired by the incredible creativity of http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

Ahh New York. Of all the things to do there, I think my favorite was to walk around with my camera at my hip and take photos of interesting people/things. I know, that’s weird. But New York is a fascinating place, especially for a photographer.

I was attracted to the real New Yorkers, and their connections with each other. I loved how easily some of them created intimate moments among the mass of people and noise.

Disclaimer: I am not trying to make a statement with these photos, I only shot what interested me. I do not claim to be Leon Levenstein, a brilliant, pitiless New York street photographer. I only shot what interested me. This is New York through my lens – it’s how I’ll always remember it. Most of these were taken with my Canon 5d, 50mm lens. Some, as noted, were taken with my iPhone. I had always found Street Photography to be difficult because it seemed so intrusive, walking down the street with the camera in front of your face stealing images from people. Not my style. It seems so aggressive to me. I kept my camera on my shoulder and snapped away from that position. It seemed much less intrusive, and no one even noticed I was taking their photo. After a little while, I got pretty good at aiming the lens to capture the shot. Because my camera was at this angle, I found it was better to put the camera on auto (gasp!) in order to get the AF points to focus on what I wanted to focus on.

One of my favorites. The thing I loved most about New York was to walk the streets at night and just watch. We were walking by this couple obviously on a date and I had my camera at my hip, set on Auto (gasp!) and fired away.

I liked the contradiction.

Another mannequin on the catwalk. I had a little obsession with these, as you can see. This one was designed by Tommy Hilfiger. On the right, is a photo of Bryant Park. One of my favorite spots to watch lovers.

Taken on the stairs in front of Bryant Park. One of my absolute favorites. I love how she’s pushing her right foot up just a little to reach the kiss – and also the woman on the right is totally appreciating the sweet moment. Taken at my hip – in manual mode. I was lucky to capture them in focus.

Taken with my iPhone. A truly beautiful couple, right in Times Square.

The man on the left made me a little sad. I had been watching him on the subway platform. He seemed a bit unaware of his surroundings, and lonely. I can’t imagine being alone in that huge city. I hope he’s not. The man on the right was yawning, if you’re curious.

Taken at the World Trade Center Memorial. It’s still difficult to remember. We also saw Ground Zero, where they are building. I wish more than ever they would just build the towers again. Stronger and better.

Probably one of the strongest images in the series. I almost didn’t take the photo, not wanting to be intrusive. Glad I did.

Again, another stolen moment. But they didn’t seem to mind. In fact, they didn’t seem to even notice there were other people around.

Tonight I took my girls to the new neighborhood self-serve yogurt joint. The place was clean and white with splashes of bright greens and pinks. A wall of cool vintage candies greeted us when we walked in. We got our yogurt and sat down on a cool kids table that was also a vintage video game.  I ate my yogurt.

And it was good.

Yet I couldn’t help thinking about how much more I’d rather have Luv-it’s Frozen Custard. This yogurt wasn’t half as good as Luv-it’s. And I thought about how the yogurt machines are all the same – Yogurtland, Uswirl, I heart yogurt, Yogo-Yum, The Golden Spoon, etc. etc. etc. It’s all the same yogurt. I’ve been to all of them and they all taste the same.

But Luv-its… Ahh Luv-its. Something is definitely different over there. They have a unique high quality product.

Yet Luv-it’s is in the dumpiest, scariest part of town in Las Vegas. It’s right behind a strip club. You can’t even go inside. In fact, it doesn’t even have a drive up window. It’s a walk-up window. Yet I will go out of my way to drive there, just for the amazing custard. I will risk my life quite literally to satisfy my craving of their banana fudge crumble.

They have something that no one else has. Seriously, have you seen all the self-serve yogurt shops around? It’s trendy, right? But they’re all the same. Do you see where I’m going with this? Have you seen all the moms who like to take pictures so they decide to be in business without skills or experience? It’s trendy, right? What separates me from everyone else? What separates you from everyone else?

Here’s why I think Luv-its is successful:

They don’t change what isn’t broken.

They consistently have an outstanding product. Their quality has not diminished one bit in the 14 years or so I’ve been consuming it.

They don’t join current fads or trends. Occasionally they will add a new menu item. But they stick with what they do best, and watch the other ice cream/yogurt shops rise and fall with the trends.

They don’t have a fancy, pretty location. I asked them once why they didn’t make a franchise and build Luv-its all over the city. The owner replied that he doesn’t need to – customers flock to him like white on rice. They know the product. They love the product, and know it will be fantastic every time. And because of this, they are perfectly happy to spend time and money to get it.

I get it. I don’t need a fancy website and/or logo and/or packaging etc. If I have those, great! If I don’t and can’t afford it, what’s the point of stressing about it? Some of my favorite logos are the simple text logos.

See HERE and HERE. And HERE

What I need is a consistently great product and/or service. That’s how you get people coming back. That’s how you get people talking about you. Think about it. How many people are out there hiring inexperienced photographers because they’re cheap and plentiful only because they don’t know there might be something better?

Stuff to check out:

I love the Brand Camp Blog. Written by Kristen, a Philadelphia children’s photographer. She deals with the business side of photography in her endearing, witty posts.

Professional Photographer Magazine. Seriously good stuff in here about branding, promotions, everything!

A very sweet Operation Love ReUnited session. These military families are very dear to me. I will remember every single military family I’ve photographed for a long, long time. Plus, we got to shoot at one of my favorite locations since this was not a commercial shoot.

It’s Teen week over at I heart faces. Good thing, because I just did a bunch of seniors.  And let me tell you, it was hard to choose just one. I finally settled on this one because I love how it shows her personality. I didn’t instruct her to do this, we were just having fun. I processed this a little on the cool side, because I like the bright, crisp look on this photo.