thanksgiving potluck at work

© Joselito Briones
lovely people, good food.


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rimowa - now that's what i call service

my rimowa suitcase          © Joselito Briones

i've had this rimowa suitcase for 5 years now and it's been with me everywhere.  it's supposed to be a carry-on, but there's been a couple of times when i had to check it in.  the last time it happened, i noticed a missing screw-on foot (stand).  i brought it to rimowa's new york shop , and they repaired it for me even tho i bought this one in hong kong.  they even checked the locks and found that they are a bit shaky, so they repaired that too.  at no cost! (and look at that, they even decorated it with a ribbon)

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4th of july fireworks

© Joselito Briones 4th of july fireworks in new york as scene from our building's rooftop.

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easter parade and bonnet festival new york

click photo to open album of photos from the festival

nice weather and fab people and all that.

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i hate this model

© Joselito Briones

because he wore my clothes better. there.

i do love tho that i didn't have to source clothes for him to wear (we wear the same size, all my stuff is fair game) and that he was a real trouper during the shoot.  stocksy said it wanted some sartorialist-style street fashion photo, so there.

vintage pirate coat from vivienne westwood (this one is charles'), suede chukkah boots from a.p.c., iggy jeans from agnes b., hooded sweater from diesel (which the model smirked at, comparing the style of the hoodie to foreskin) and hat from dior homme.

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and it just started snowing

© Joselito Briones

maybe they were just happy that the shoot was over, but they all seemed in their most relaxed in this last photo i took of them, taken at the front stoop of the building where i live.  i've finally processed and submitted all the images from the series, all for stocksy , including the ones taken in their apartment.

was supposed to do another shoot yesterday, but model said he slipped and injured himself, so i guess that'll have to wait until next week.

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blue potato and chinese sausage getting sauteed in olive oil and thyme before joining chickpeas and leek soup

© Joselito Briones

we thought the blue potatoes were really pretty (we bought it at the jesus market), and we've had these chinese sausages in the fridge for a long time already, so i thought i'd spruce up left-over chickpeas and leek soup with these. no idea how it comes out, still on the stove, sure is pretty tho against the pale green and yellow of soup.

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portioned, marzipanned, decorated, and wrapped the christmas cake.

© Joselito Briones

so we decided to share one of our home-made fruitcakes with our neighbors (we still have one soaking in brandy).  charles made marzipan from scratch (very good).

we went to the east village to get a present for one of our neighbors' new baby, then to broadway panhandler and got those green and red bits for cake decoration (above photo). we weren't gonna get anything from there - one of those things where "oh it's just there, let's see what they have" and of course we walked out with the cake decorations, a spatula, and an all-clad roasting pan.

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early christmas present from the sims

© Joselito Briones

© Joselito Briones

we were just about to have our coq-au-vin (photo above, burning in brandy flames before going in the oven), after a recipe from the two fat ladies, when the sim family (our neighbors from upstairs) came over and gave us early christmas gifts - japanese desserts.  shown on top is white chocolate mochi covered in green tea powder

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eating mini christmas cake at 2:30am

© Joselito Briones
whoever said that patience is a virtue obviously doesn't know the smell of baking christmas cake.  this is fresh from the oven, and is supposed to be drip-drowned in brandy for days before consumption, but i'm eating it now.  the large, proper-sized version is still in the oven (charles and i started baking late at 10pm), hopefully that one will last until christmas.

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late for the party

© Joselito Briones

this one's from a recent shoot for stocksy united. we have this thing going on where someone in the creative team (brianna?) suggests a trendy topic to shoot, and one of them was balloons.  was a few weeks back but am only starting to get back my momentum in doing shoots, so - ah well, as they say, better late than fat.

in the photo is alek sandar

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mae and carol's gramma in msn.com's splash page

screen shot of msn.com's splash page 16 December 2011

jane, who helped me do this photo shoot of mae and mrs. castillo (we always refer to her as carol's granny), told me about this find on today's splash page of msn.com.  the article is about projected new jobs for 2012


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p.s.
oooooops! carol is so gonna kill me. haha! she practically put the shoot together - sowwy carol, and thanks again :)

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jane, ruth, and eric in astoria park

random photo time! reminder of good times with friends in new york.


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an outsider in the inside

© Joselito Briones

as i'm sure you know by now, i'm back. and what time to be here, this place is just full of happenings. on international scale there's the u.s. open (isn't del potro just so cute?), on a more local level there's broadway-on-broadway, and of course there's fashion week in bryant park.

i was difficult to miss the massive tents in the park when i came out of the 7 subway station so i checked it out. at the entrance was a crowd of fashion fans and wannabe's and photographers. i climbed and stood on a podium on the side, but i didn't even bother taking out my own camera as there didn't seem to be anything interesting happening. what did catch my eye was an old man in a blue jacket who was just taking pictures in the perimeter of the crowd, generally ignored. i watched him for a while and saw how smoothly he navigated the crowd, his quick scan of everything around him, taking pictures of what seemed to be nothing in particular (he was in general looking below eye level, so it was obvious he was not interested in taking photos of faces). when i saw him load and reload his camera with an old-fashioned film roll, i took out my camera, took photos of him (circled, above) climbed down the podium, and followed him :)



© Joselito Briones

it was just amazing how fast he looked at things, decisively taking pictures of the few things that interested him, but quickly dismissing everything else. it was clear that the man has been doing this forever. i pictured myself doing the same when i get older :) there's this man who clearly could be someplace comfortable taking it easy and yet his passion brought him here.



© Joselito Briones

the more i followed him tho, it became clear that "becoming like him" is something one can only dream of. the man went up the stairs, was greeted and waved through by the event guards, and entered the tents. without showing an i.d., or badge, or an invitation that was required of everybody else. when he came out it was with people who seemed to be v.i.p.'s of the event (points to you if you can identify whom he's being chummy with in the photo above).

having taken numerous photos of him, i asked one of the guards who he is, and was told that he's a new york times photographer who regularly does a fashion feature. when i got back to jane's here in jackson heights the first thing i did was google him.

BILL CUNNINGHAM.


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Wall Street Series

© Joselito Briones

This finance website from Poland used some of my photos.
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3

Thanks :)


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Jane's, before

© Joselito Briones

Beautiful day. Mati and I decided to take photos of Jane's living room, where we'll be spending the next few days, before we completely mess it up. Sort of a before and after picture. I'll try to post an "after" picture later. I took photos, above and below, using the Olympus E500, while Mati used his Voigtlander with ultra wide-angle lens.


© Joselito Briones

I've shown you a photo of this living room before, of course, in case you're wondering why it looks familiar.


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Green

© Joselito Briones

Eric phoned with a very exciting news. He finally got his green card! That was pretty quick, and he himself was very surprised, he wasn't expecting it until after he comes back from his upcoming trip to the Philippines.

Photo above was taken last time I was in New York, in Central Park, close to the Metropolitan Museum.


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Summer fun

© Joselito Briones

This is another scan, of one I took in Union Square, in New York. The moment I pointed my camera to them, these kids just started making faces.


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Powernappers' Duel

© Joselito Briones

I started scanning some of the films that I processed the other night. Above is one of the photos. It was taken in Bryant Park.


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Last minute lunch treat

© Joselito Briones

A bit rushed and stressed today. I did some last minute packing, passed by Jane's office in the Flat Iron district, then to Wall Street to meet up with Godfrey for lunch. The lunch itself was rushed, we grabbed some soup and sandwich, while he told me about the new house that he and Scott bought (bigger, closer to Manhattan).

And now, flying back to Germany.


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