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The days I spend on the east coast are always vibrant
in the way fleeting things tend to be.

My NYC excursions invigorate and inspire me.

I spend hours walking, exploring, dining, photographing,

and visiting some of those dearest to me.

It's the first city I glimpsed from the car window

as my father cruised the timed lights on Park Avenue.

It's the first city I chose to live in as an adult.

It's familiar,

and carries layers of memories,

and yet it continues to surprise and reinvent itself.

My love for NY does not extinguish the thrill I feel deep inside

when I see the Santa Monica Mountains and glittering LA skyline

from the plane window.

My heart is nestled in those hills.

It is home.

New York in B&W

Street Art

Saturday Brooklyn Style

It's a few days into autumn on the east coast,

the temperature is slightly cooler,

the days a tad shorter, the sun less menacing.

Summer is receding in the review mirror.

Often when I travel my Saturdays resemble my routine at home.

I traded my mountain trail for a "hike" across the Williamsburg Bridge

to The Flea in Fort Greene.

Long stretches along trash strewn avenues were less than interesting,

but there were also pockets of superlative people watching,
 and rows of renovated brownstones.

I stumbled upon a farmers market, and sampled sweet green heirloom tomatoes.

I ate lunch in DUMBO, near the iconic waterfront,

before returning to the LES via the Manhattan Bridge.

A very satisfying 8 mile urban loop.

pizza

Amazing backyard brick oven pizza

Yes

JUST SAY YES

Northie

Happy Birthday to my cousin, Northie

who will begin her 31st year with a move to the big city.

May she make as much time for adventure as she does for work,

and may joy be her sidekick.

Turkey Swamp

Turkey Swamp: no turkeys, no swamp

but beautiful trails and a lake in the the NJ woods.

My mother effortless walked over 4 miles through a

dense forest of deciduous trees and falling acorns.

Infinitesimal

To Scale: The Solar System from Wylie Overstreet on Vimeo.

Storm Clouds

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Langston Hughes

PURITY

Jonathan Franzen was in LA on Saturday and read from his new book PURITY.

I've been a fan since The Corrections and the uproar over his rejection of  Oprah's book club.

I find his style of writing, the puzzle pieces of intersconnecting characters, compelling.

I was exciting to crack this book, and wasn't disappointed.

As one LA Times critic put it,

"The book does what fiction is supposed to, forcing us to peel back the surfaces, to see how love can turn to desolation, how we are betrayed by what we believe. It is the most human of dilemmas, with which we all must come to terms."

The Hundred Day Project Completed

The last four days of The Hundred Day Project,

Mad Whip and I chose not to use each other's posts as inspiration.

We shot blind, and observed our psychic tuning.

Not surprisingly, there were obvious elements linking our images.

Or perhaps it's just easy to find a thread after the photo is taken.

It made me wonder if that's what we do in life;

find patterns, link cause to effect as a way to make sense of the chaotic unknown

that unravels in 24 hour increments.

When the project started, I was excited to see where I'd be in 100 days.

Would my photography have changed?

Would my life?

Through repetition and experimentation, my photography did change.

Happy accidents resulted from always being on the look out and having my camera with me.

But I also went in search of ideas and created specific moods.

With regards to my life, I was hoping there would be more change.

A calm restlessness has permeated these months.  

How does one surrender without giving up?

Pursue opportunities while remaining open to all possibilities?

A daily tight rope to cross.

The constant during these hundred days has been picking up the camera.

Posting and stringing together a visual narrative with Mad Whip

has been an outlet for my internal apprehension.

My last image is of an art installation in MacArthur Park called Spheres.

3000 inflatable globes resembling beach balls were painted by children 

and filled the fallen-out-of-favor downtown lake.

The project hopes to draw Angelenos back to the park.

The non profit organization behind the installation is 

Portraits of Hope.

The perfect title for my hundred days project.