Week 43
October 31, 2016
Halloween
All Broadway...
Train In/Out: Fairfield, CT
Miles walked: 6
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with m.Zuiko 12-40mm PRO
It's a week after Halloween as I work on this blog page. Still, I like the photos I have to share with you today, they still make me chuckle. And one really freaked me out, but not in a scary Halloween type of way.
I decided to subway down to lower Manhattan where Broadway begins. My goal for the day was to walk north on Broadway only, no wandering on to other streets even if I saw something of interest. I really enjoyed the day, and sticking to one street was fun. It was Halloween so I expected to see a few unique people along the way. The day did not disappoint. I have no pictures of children in costumes (although I saw a few). What I loved was all the adults in costume, basically in the middle of the day.
I did not stay long in the city. My morning was spent in the vet's office with a sick kitty. My beloved cat, Scottie, was sick all weekened and really scaring me because he was so lethargic. Vet gave him fluids and had me bring him home. Since he was just going to sleep all day I decided to hop a late train and go in for a few hours. I would have stayed longer, I was planning on photographing more trick-or-treaters, but my freaky moment kind of knocked the wind out of my sails and I left the city after only about 3 hours. But that was enough to get some fun shots for the day. (BTW, my cat has recovered...$650 later...).
Onward.
So here I am, where Broadway begins...or ends, depending on how you want to look at it. I'm at Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan.
So this is still going on of course.
Welcome to #PeopleLeavingDrinks. I figured you qualified since, in 10 years, there probably won't be any pay phones in the city so we'll keep this image as a record that way back...in the stone ages of 2016, there were still pay phones around.
Which one got your attention? For me it was actually Tom & Jerry...I loved that show as a kid. But I did like the top sign, too! Once you're over 40, that is really quite true sometimes.
It's starting to get wintery looking in the city. This was just after 3pm and the white lights in the trees were easy to see...not as bright midday as it was this summer.
Thought this building looked like a Rook in chess.
Finally a costume. Pizza girl. Perfect since I usually only have a slice of pizza during a 52 Magic Monday.
I've photographed the inside of Fulton Center on a previous 52MM. It's fabulous from the outside, too. Worth a peek if you're in the city. Connects to The Occulus as well. This is very close to the 9/11 area.
A view of City Hall from Broadway. It was interesting to see all the places I've been all from the viewpoint of Broadway. I think often times I didn't even realize how many places Broadway cuts through.
Rocking the pink. I wish I felt this confident to walk around in the city in an outfit like that. She's awesome.
To be continued...apparently I can take a tour of the Woolworth Building (although it will cost me $40 bucks). Supposed to be stunning inside.
Today it's fine to walk around like this. I wonder if I saw someone like this next week, would the police take notice?
I saw lots of girls dressed as cats. They were boring although she makes the cut because we've lot a little tongue peeking out which makes her very cat-like.
I do like the Halloween colors here, but I shot this pic because the construction worker on the roof in the bright orange shirt looked so teeny tiny.
A favorite of the day!
Please tell me the irony is not lost here. ;)
Here I am at Canal Street, basically at the edge of Chinatown and SoHo. Again, didn't realize Broadway cut through here. Maybe I should rename the project 52 Clueless Mondays.
I like your knees.
Decent reflection...but wait for it. I have an amazing one coming up for you.
Giraffe's are such eavesdroppers.
Some cool architecture on Broadway.
I was so focused on orange hair I didn't even notice until I was editing that Jif Peanut Butter walked by me, too. LOL
He looked sad for being dressed so awesomely.
Another mix of architecture.
Seemed to be lost tourists that came prepared to walk the city in style on Halloween.
And now my life, and 52 Magic Mondays, is complete. I found Waldo!
Finally a cool t-shirt. I'm sad that t-shirt season is coming to an end since they will be covered up by coats. This could be my last entry on my T-Shirts in New York page. Since I'm a vampire fan, it's a good way to end the season.
Loved the open use of nunchucks. People really go all out.
I'm very open to alternative medicine so this was interesting to me. Our emotions play a huge roll in our overall health, more than most people realize.
I did not take them up on this offer.
They are AWESOME! The eyes on the left, OMG.
I love people who are dressed for Halloween and just walking along by themselves. Places to go, people to see...
I guess the marathon happened yesterday. I was coming back from Pennsylvania and since I don't watch the news I totally missed any coverage. Nice weather for a run though!
SO. Here's where my day got extremely surreal. If you are following 52 Magic Mondays consistently then you know that I have my favorite reflection window in the city at Macy's. I'm walking up Broadway and see that I'm coming up on my favorite window. I honestly had no idea it was along Broadway, the Herald Square area is very crowded and a bit confusing how the roads go so it was a nice surprise to be at my window. And the window did not disappoint.
Let me share why, on this day, I'm extremely rattled now and basically had to head home after this moment.
The first time I discovered "my window", I played around with a few shots and then thought to myself, "I'm going to stay here until someone interesting walks by and then I'll move on." Within 30 seconds a man in a business suit with a mohawk walked by and I got a great shot. That shot actually won a local photography award and was chosen as the winner for a national contest with Olympus for a street photography contest as well (but they required a model release which I didn't have, so it ended up not being announced as the winner).
Another time I went to the window, there was a gorgeous man, with a mohawk, leaning against the window with the most awesome outfit and shoes on.
Another time I went to the window, there was a girl standing there with this bun on the top of her head that totally reminded me of a mohawk.
And then there was today. Talk about a mohawk. I almost cried when I figured out what was going on. Not everyone will agree with me, but I felt quite confident that the Universe was giving me a message and that I have some kind of connection to Native Americans going on. It's also strange because there is so much going on in North Dakota right now with Standing Rock. I've yet to explore the Standing Rock issue (given my no news status at the moment), but the message for me was heard loud and clear.
I started to walk away and then stopped. Clearly something weird was going on with this window and my project. So I pulled out a business card and walked back to my beautiful Indian man. I introduced myself and asked if he had a minute to talk, which he did. He said his name was Ainsley. I explained my story with the window and he loved it. He was also spiritually open in his own way, like me, and definitely saw it all as a message. He told me he was from Trinidad. He had the most gorgeous accent (and eyes!). He's a teacher and he said he is seeing with this generation that "things are coming together"...meaning, things are shifting in the world. I see it, too. It's like our connection to something bigger than us (God, The Universe, Mother Nature...whatever you want to call it)...it's like the veil between us and something more is thinner now. I could talk all day about this subject but I shall not digress too much from 52MM. I just had to share this experience.
After my time with Ainsley, I felt like I wanted to go home. It was as though what I needed to see in New York today happened.
Here are the other "Mohawk" images from previous weeks...
The original Mohawk Man.
Fantastic shoes Mohawk Man.
Hair in a bun like a Mohawk Girl.
Onward for a little bit more as I continue the trek up Broadway...
The above two images were an art installation on Broadway just north of Herald Square by Hung Yi. I was not thrilled with it, but if you love them, you can look up some info via this sign. There were more to see.
And here is where I will end this portion of my trek up Broadway at 42nd street. I will continue the Broadway journey north, starting from this spot, on a future Magic Monday!
As I walked by Bryant Park I realized it was totally transformed into a winter / holiday wonderland. I had read about a winter market type area happening here but didn't realize it was setup already.
Voila. The skating rink was open and there were all these glass shops setup along the edge of the park. Weird to think that just a few weeks ago I photographed Monday movie night with thousands of people in the park watching a Looney Tunes cartoon, followed by a Clint Eastwood movie (I think).
Save the cheerleader!
This is for my friend, Tiffany. xo
Do you see him? I made it easy for you.
And there he goes down Fifth Avenue. I had no energy to chase after him but he's my favorite costume of the day.
Taken when I arrived, it was about 5:30pm when I left. So I really was in the city only 3 hours. But a lot can happen in 3 hours!!
Until the next Magic Monday.
xo,
~MC
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