I didn’t want to get the guys face in this shot, but had to shoot it because of the message written on the discarded couch. After posting it and being informed by by Liberation Please, I believe the message was written by street artist De La Vega. I looked him up and he is known to write those exact words around NYC. I’m trying my hardest to follow his advise myself.

Normally, I don’t grab shots of possibly homeless people, for me feels a little disrespectful. I don’t want to be that guy who’s taking advantage of someone going through a rough time in life, or has neurological conditions and no support. No offense to anyone who takes photo’s of the homeless to help draw attention to the issues of homelessness, or mental illness.

A van painted to immitate the van from the Scooby Doo cartoon called “the mystery machine”. Pretty awesome find as I walked to the train that night. The Smart Crew on it makes me think the other side of it is the Dceve piece with the Brick looking fill I shot in November. I’ll never solve this mystery since I was too lazy to cross the street and check out the other side of the machine both times.

Another shot of the performance that night, this time with Elaine a little out of focus and to the right as she gave an impromptu vocal performance. She’s actually one of the people who contacted me to get photo’s of Zef Noi$e when I offered free photo’s for NYC musicians. Meeting both of them was awesome since her and her boyfriend share some of the same experiences and perspectives that I do. Sharing stories with Elaine between sets was a blast, she’s also an artist herself who has done a wide range of professional tasks in the creative fields here in NYC.

Zef Noi$e making some adjustments during a performance at the Alphabet Lounge. You cant really tell by this photo but he’s still actually playing his main instrument the Electric Violin while making the adjustments. I shot the entire show without any flash on full manual and this was one of the better shots I liked where his movement slowed down enough for 30th of a second to get a good photo without motion blur.

A shot of Zef Noi$e performing in the Alphabet Lounge. There were 3 different performances that night by some really talented musicians. I was invited to shoot Zef Noise and had a really great time aside from getting some good photo’s. The smaller venue was mainly full of musicians and friends of the musicians performing that night. It reminded me of the all the great shows I used to take for granted attending in Pittsburgh on Chesterfield road.

Seeing actual scenes like this come together in a real atmosphere is refreshing. Contributing to culture, connections and collaborations with other artists, and overall performing your best for your peers is what it’s all about. There was more than just good music shared this night and I encourage anyone to find shows like these to attend.