Limited Edition Hermes Leica M9-P

Hermes Leica M9-P Limietd Edition via hypebeast.com

Have you ever bumped into someone who is walking around the street wearing this camera on his/her neck? I think the chances are very slim, because not many people carry around a $50,000 camera when they go out to a park or a coffee shop. The camera you are looking at above is called the Hermes Leica M9-P Edition . Yes. That's right. Leica created this special edition camera in collaboration with the well-known French luxury brand Hermes. It was released this year in May and there are only 300 cameras produced for this special edition. The price is $50,000!!! And Leica is forcing buyers of the Leica Hermes edition to sign an agreement so that they can't resell the camera within two years after they buy it. 

Hermes Leica M9-P Limietd Edition via http://sandiinthecity.onsugar.com

For those of who haven't heard of Leica, Leica is a German camera company that introduced its first model in 1920s. Nowadays, it positioned itself as a luxury camera brand in the market. It's like Chanel in the camera world. You think this one is expensive? There is one Leica camera that was sold for $2.8 million at an auction. Crazy huh?

Anyways, for those who are wondering why on earth this camera costs a fortune, you should check how it is made.

Now as you can see, it's not just about it giving you a status symbol, it actually takes a tremendous amount of craftsmanship to produce this luxury camera. AND YET, I know it's still $50,000. @_@ It's definitely not something you can buy without deeply contemplating on whether you really need it or not.

I am not really into luxury brands or that kind of stuff, so I am not jealous of those people who own this camera (maybe slightly haha). But I do want to experience what it's like to take pictures with a Leica camera. It must be so freakin' good!!

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art) in New York

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

Haha. This one is funny.

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

 I like his legs.

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

 This reminded me of the cut off head of the creepy human robot in the movie "Prometheus".

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art)

MOMA New Photography 2012 Gallery Review (8/10)

It's been a while since I visited a photo exhibition. Whenever I have an itch to have new inspiration in my life, I know what I should do - go to photo galleries! So today, in order to quench my thirst for art and shake off the dryness of my daily routines, I went to MOMA (the Museum Of the Modern Art). I have been to MOMA at least 3 times, but every time I visit MOMA, the museum always gives me a sense of satisfaction. This time it made me happier because I got a free pass because I an NYU student (Yes all NYU students get a free admission). YAY!!

MOMA

Anyway, from October 3rd, 2012 through Feb 4th, 2013, MOMA presents a photo exhibition entitled "New Photography 2012". The exhibition features the works of five artists including Michele Abeles, Birdhead (Ji Weiyu and Song Tao), Anne Collier, Zoe Crosher, and Shirana Shahbazi. 

MOMA

MOMA

I like the photos, even though I wasn't really impressed by them. Among all the museums/photo galleries I have ever been to in New York, MOMA is one of my favorites.

MOMA New Photography 2012

I liked this photo especially. 

MOMA

At the MOMA gift shop/book store on the 1st floor, I found Fisheye cameras, Sprocket rocket cameras, Lomography cameras..etc. on which I wrote about in my previous postings. 

MOMA Giftshopt/Book Store

Besides, I found a really cute camera that caught my attention. It's called "Minox DCC 5.1 Camera". I haven't seen or heard of this camera, so I was really interested. In the description below, it said this camera was used by James Bond himself and that it is an example of first-class German engineering from the 50s. The price is $250, if you are interested. The camera was so small and cute. 

Minox DCC 5.1 Camera from MOMA

For those of you who haven't been to MOMA, or haven't been to MOMA in a long time,I recommend you visit there often because there are so many interesting special exhibitions besides its photo exhibits. If you are an NYU student, don't miss out on the opportunity to see all these amazing exhibits for free!! :)

Pretty Cameras

Today I am going to share with you some of the cute cameras I stumbled upon while web surfing. Some of them are not real cameras, but I love browsing cameras as much as I love taking pictures. Looking at pretty, cool cameras entertain my eyes. Is it the same way for you too? :)

Coke Can Camera via luuux.com

It looks almost real. Haha it's so cute.

Diana Mini - En Rose via favim.com/image/513905/

Diana is a plastic bodied camera which appeared during the early 1960s. Later on Diana was used by professional photographers for impressionistic photographs. Whenever I pass by lomography shop, this pretty little thing catches my eye. :)

Pokemon Camera via weheartit.com/tag/pokemon%20camera  

Wood Camera via http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/06/tree-camera-doubles-as-really-cute-mp3-player-doesnt-take-stil/

What do you think it is? At first, I thought it was just a fake toy camera, but it is an MP3 player. It is actually made out of wood and has a 256 MB memory. How cute!

Vintage Camera Necklace via  http://www.ioffer.com/c/Wholesale-Lots-1015659/vintage+cameras#

These are little necklaces. Aren't they so cute? :)

Vintage Savoy Camera via http://www.etsy.com

 I love vintage cameras. I have never heard of this one - the Savoy. It is a cheap plastic box camera made from 1956-1965. It's surprising it is still in the market.

Chelsea

Chelsea, one of my favorite areas in New York. 

Makes me want to just drench myself in the beauty of art.

New York is truly the mix of everything I have ever wanted.

Chelsea Gallery 1

Chelsea Gallery 2

Streets of Chelsea, New York 1

Streets of Chelsea, New York 2

Chelsea Gallery - Want some chicken?

Chelsea Gallery

Chelsea Gallery

Chelsea Gallery - love the color and the texture of the wall

Vivian Maier (Street Photographer)

How amazing it would be if a box of photographs you bought at an auction turned out to be the works of an astonishingly good street photographer who already passed away? Local historian and photographer John Maloof discovered these brilliant photographs that used to belong to Vivian Maier. Later Maloof found out that this unknown photographer was a professional nanny, who from the 1950s until 1990s took over 100,000 photographers worldwide-from France to New York to Chicago and dozens of other countries. What's amazing is that Vivian Maier was never been formerly trained in photography or has hardly exposed her photos to anyone in her life. After collecting the the works of Vivian Maier, Maloof published a book entitled "Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows". I can't wait to see it!!

Vivian Maier Via Powerhouse

Even though Vivian Maier took hundreds of thousands of photographs in her lifetime, she never shared them with anyone, and just kept them to herself until she died. I wonder why she never tried to become a professional photographer given how talented she was.  Personally, I found her photos brilliant and beautifully taken. I wish I could see her photo exhibition someday in NYC.

Check out this video :)

If you want to know more about her or see more pictures taken by her, visit http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Via http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Via Slate.com

Williamsburg

'Faking it" - Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

It's been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post on photography in NYC. I took a little break and enjoyed the summer in NYC. Now I came back :) and will continue to write about interesting photography exhibitions in NYC (or anything photo-related I found interesting).

My first blog post this autumn is the exhibition entitled 'Faking It' presented at the Metropolitan Museum. From Oct. 11 through Jan. 2013, the Met is presenting about 200 photographs that were created and altered between the 1840s and 1990s. Even before the advent of Photoshop, photographers back then found ways to manipulate the pictures they took from the early days of photography. This exhibition shows how those photographers manipulated their works before the age of digital technology. It will be so interesting to see how those artists in the old days modified their images to entertain and astonish people.

Man on Rooftop with Eleven Men in Formation on His Shoulders (1930) via The Met

Unidentified Woman Seated with a Female Spirit (1832-1884)

Woman in Champagne Glass (1930) via The Met

Decapitate Mand with Head on a Platter (1865)

BrooklynVegan's music photography exhibition (Tribeca)

BrooklyVegan is a famous music blog that has documented the music scene in New York since 2004. This NYC music blog focuses on international music news, live show reviews, pictures, videos..and so on..pretty much anything if it is related to music. Since it launched in 2004, the music blog has become a must-read in the indie music scene in New York. Starting from tomorrow (Aug 16) through Sep 7, BrooklynVegan is showcasing the work of a dozen photographers featuring concert photos and artist portraits. The photos of musicians, including St Vincent, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Feist, Regina Spektor, Of Montreal, Grace Jones, Jack White..and more, will be shown in high resolution (480 pixels).

Photograph by Devan Council

The venue will be 92YTribeca, and the opening night event (@ 9pm) tickets will be sold at $12. I am so excited about this exhibition because I have been listening to indie music these days, and Arcade Fire, Feist, Regina Spektor are among my favorite indie bands. Besides, the combination of my favorite genre of music and photography (also my favorite) sounds just amazing!!

The opening night will be celebrated by Screaming Females, Hunters and Heliotropes with live music. Tickets to the opening night concert are available HERE.

Whitney Museum of American Art (8.5/10)

Last week, I went to the Whitney Museum of American Art which is on Madison Avenue at 75 Street. The Whitney museum is not exclusively for photography-related exhibitions. It was founded to support living artists by presenting their special exhibitions and installations. So, it is not a photo gallery. But I wanted to blog about the museum for those who live in New York (especially if you don't know about the museum), because this museum is worth visiting. And there are some interesting photos you can check out too!

Whitney Museum of American Art

I went to the museum to see Yayoi Kusama's exhibition. She was at the epicenter of the New York avant-garde. And now she is one of Japan's most prominent contemporary artists. I heard that her exhibition is one of the must-see exhibitions I should check out in NYC, especially her "Fireflies on the Water" installation, which I couldn't see because the tickets sold out immediately. As expected, there was an endless line in front of the museum, when I got there. Countless number of people were in line for the museum, and I had to wait for an hour to get in. When I finally got inside the museum, what caught my eyes first was a bunch of red polka dot balloons installed in the museum. When you blink, it seems like the spots flash. I also really liked the lighting of the museum.

Polka dot balloons

Yayoi Kusama's works were in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance..etc. It was also interesting to see the pictures of her (or self-portraits) taken in early years of her career. Among all her works that were on display, I liked her paintings that featured 'eyes' the most. I liked the distinct and vivid colors she used for the paintings. And her imagination expressed on the  media she chose to use (e.g., the textures, materials..etc) was admirable. There were about 6 other exhibitions on display at the museum besides Yayoi Kusama's, so it was fun to check out other interesting exhibitions while I was there. If you are planning to visit the museum, make sure u get there early enough to get the ticket for the "Fireflies on the Water" installation. I heard that she uses real fireflies for the installation and that the show is amazing. It's such a shame that I couldn't see it. Kusama's exhibition runs through September 30, so don't miss out on it. If you see the fireflies show, please let me know how it was. :)

Reflection on the window of the gallery

Whitney Museum of American Art