The East Village Photo Blog

Week 1

To be honest, I have seen a much bigger blizzard before. Compare to that, the blizzard in New York City was just breeze. However, it did not make it less beautiful. The snow storm in New York City offered me a lot bigger and fancier stage to let my imagination go free. Staring at the flying snow flakes and the unclear sky, I felt so small and freezing but also very big and cozy at the same time. An ancient magic is happening in the modernest city on earth. Some where we couldn’t see, maybe in the clouds of snow flakes, there was an ice dragon looking down upon this city with it’s crystalized green eyes. It flew through this human urban jungle; it roared; it laughed; it laughed at us for our blindness of ignoring the great magic show that was going on in front of eyes. Science did not make sense at this moment. Logic has been abandoned. Wind held my arm, I know the dragon was coming for me. I was frozen in this chaotic and mysterious dimension. The dragon floated around me. The cold breath of the dragon touched my face. It told me, that the door to the real nature was open. It whispered to my ears, it was not my time yet, but I shall never forgot the door was waiting for me at some point of my life. Right after the message was delivered, it flew away. The snow flakes the dragon left melted on my face and it also sent me back to the reality.

 

 

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Week 2

I use to believe that New York City is an urban jungle that is made of concrete, but now I know it was only the area that was full of skyscrapers and busy people dressed in business suits. The right metaphor for the East Village is a “Magical Forest”. Such a cloudy day cannot be better for taking a trip to explore this mysterious area. Wearing thick grey coat and black leather boots, I was a new hunter walking in cold wind. I visited every beautiful tenement building and tried to read the rules of this land. The yellow and red brick walls that were covered by withered vines and stains were quietly revealing the history and privilege of this neighborhood. Inside of the window on the second flour, there must be a princess, that has been cursed, looking at the street through the curtain of a bunch of dead branches, praying for her prince. The bare trees were the silent and tough guards of the streets, staring people walking by. Their faces were as serious as the grey cloudy sky. The non-flat sidewalks were the bumpy path in the forest that can lead you to the next adventure. Take a few steps forward. Right at the corner there, there was a nice café. The warm and blurring yellow lights were trying to get frozen and exhausted passengers to come in and call an end to the busy day with a cup of hot coffee.

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Week 3

One thing I really like about the East Village is its distance to the prosperous centre of the world. It is just at the edge of the area of skyscrapers, yet it keeps a perfect distance from the hottest spot. Living here, you get to breath the hot scent of Manhattan, meanwhile you also have the space to stretch your legs and arms. Standing on the middle of the cross of 2nd Avenue and 7th Street, I could see the most commercial Manhattan sitting at the end of the road, but where I was standing was the mysterious forest you have to pass before you enter the town. In China, there is a saying:“The greatest recluse lives in the busiest city.” I feel quite related. I am not saying I am a recluse, but every time I stand there, I feel like being an outsider of the world. Instead of playing in the pool, I observe from somewhere above. I really enjoy that. It gives me a clearer mind and allow me to think more critically. Sometimes I feel like I am an invisible ghost traveling through trees, electronic poles covered by stained glass, and the beautiful blocks of tenements.
Sometimes I think in a bigger mind. Especially when it happens to be a sunset while I am crossing an avenue, I feel closer to the nature than I have ever had before. I feel like New York was actually located in the centre of an Africa savanna. Giant mountain is lying at the end of the avenue like a silent guard of this land. Around its shadow is a lot of wild animals like antelopes, elephants, and lions. They run, eat grass, hunt, drink water from shallow pools, and watch the sun rises and sets. Compare to the world they live, New York is just such an isolated and small dot on the earth. Compare to them, we human beings are the weird and pathetic group. It is almost ridiculously interesting and ironic that how respectful and grateful I feel to nature in New York, the most prosperous city in the world.

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Week 4

It has been a tough week for me. I pray everyday that the spring can come soon so that my knees do not have to suffer from the freezing air and wind. It is obviously that I hate the winter so much, just physically. Yet I love the winter with my full heart. I enjoy walking on the street slowly. That allows me taste every bit of the neighborhood I walk through. I love the feeling of immersing my visual world in the clear but heavy color of the East Village; I love the feeling that the cold wind flitted my face with its tender, fresh, and moist touch; I love the light and shadow casted on my face through the branches growing in the sky; I love the casual atmosphere here; when there was people around, I feel like I am free and light as a ghost; when the street happened to be vacant, I feel like I owned this place, it was a world that was just for me. Every breath of air was mine; every beautiful German style building was the castle I abandoned in the forest. Walking through every street I love, I can let my mind go free. Every scene is a perfect movie for me. Every window of the vintage stores were set just for me. Winter builds a strong and cold wall to prevent me from the burning heat of New York, nut it also calms me down and gives me more space to observe, breathe, think, and imagine. If it was not my frozen knees and back pain, I think I could hang out there forever.

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Week 5

After a few weeks of exploring in the East Village during the day time, I decided to try taking pictures at night since the night life is a big part of the East Village. The East Village is famous for its hip culture, and this culture is depicted very well by various interesting bars and cafe. They made the night of East Village even more active and mysterious than the day time. When the sun goes down and the night dominates the world, all the colorful lights would be turned on and the neighborhood would suddenly become an entry from human world to the nether world where people came to seek for a great adventure or a cross over, but fell in the trap of alcohol and started to consume their youth without a second of careful thought, and finally end up leaving with a lonely and broken heart. The crowd, laugh, and the smell of food made this world so real, but at the same time, all the weird and edgy signs and light boards twisted my vision and pulled me back into the illusion. Occasionally, few red Asian styled lanterns brought me some feelings of nostalgia, and reminded me the weir and amazing world of god and ghost in the anima movie “Spirited Away.” Even if I left the very prosperous St Marks Place and looked into the very silent streets, the little blue and yellow decorative lights still announces their existence in the dark. Right at this moment, I felt like there are elf living at the end of the darkest paths. Am I supposed to be drunk here? Because it seems like staying sober is the strangest thing here.

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Week 6

One thing I have been thinking about this week is how is it like to be in one of the best cities in the world? New York is definitely one of the hottest spot on earth today and I absolutely love it. I believe what I see and experience here will benefit my whole life. But at the same time, I wonder if it is something that only New York can offer me or it is something that all best cities share. I started my thought when I was doing a night walk in the East Village. While I was walking through St. Marks, I saw some red Asian lanterns hanging in front of some Asian restaurants and bars. There was a moment that I felt I was in Chang An, a very prosperous city in ancient China (Tang Dynasty). A lot of my favorite poets lived there and wrote down a lot of beautiful literature about it. Back then, Chang An was kind of like New York in nowadays. Many foreigners came to study and experience a new life there; buildings and palaces were so magnificent; men and women dressed beautifully in silk and textile; and there were red lanterns hanging in front of the restaurants and bars. Every time I read those poets’ words, I cannot stop imagining what they saw and how they felt in that city. But today, in New York, at the center of the world, for the first time, the imagination in my head becomes clearly. I have always had a ridiculous dream that I wish I could travel back to Tang Dynast and see Chang An, the city that raised so much great art, with my own eyes; and I got upset because it is not something would likely become true. However, I probably do not have to be upset anymore, because even though I could not go back, I can still create a new dream in New York.

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Week 7

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Week 8

 

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Week 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Week 10

 

 

 

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Week 11

 

 

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Week 12