CREATIVE RESOURCES
PLACES TO PURCHASE COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
Computer Stores in NY –»
You should get discounts at most of these:
- NYU Computer Store
- The Apple Store Soho / The Apple Store 5th Ave (scroll down for their great free events)
Online –»
ONLINE LEARNING
- Free (for Parsons students) Video Tutorials on Lynda.com (Click here to learn how to set up your account).
- Writing Guides / Citation Sources (+ citation info from the New School academic integrity policy—click on “Handouts”…). Here are some research Guides from New School libraries. Here’s the New School tutoring services page.
ART SUPPLIES
- Blick/Utrecht
21 East 13th Street (bet 5th & University)
New York City, NY 10003
Phone: 212-924-4136
MEDIA STORAGE DEVICES & MEDIA CARDS
When you’re working with either photography or digital video you’ll want to work with two separate drives. One will be used as your main photo/video storage drive, the second will be used as your backup drive. Drives are very inexpensive now, so you can now get a backup drive, in addition to your main drive, for the price of what one drive used to be. I have students lose work every semester because their one and only drive fails and it’s unbelievably expensive to try to have files taken off a drive professionally (approx. $700-$1000). So it’s worth it to start doing this now so that you never have to do this in the future. Drives fail all the time—I, too, have learned the hard way over the years, sadly.
I will teach you how to format the hard drives for use on your computer so that they run in the most stable and efficient manner (so if you buy a new hard drive or a new backup drive, don’t put anything on it just yet; I’ll go over reformatting and potentially partitioning the drive with you). I can also teach you best practices for backing up your work each night (or after a big shoot). There’s a great program I use that allows me to copy only the newest files from one drive to the other/clone drives. Mine is called Super Duper! but there are many others out there (Carbon Copy Cloner, etc.).
For Photography –»
- You’ll want two 1Tb or larger USB 3.0 hard drives. This is my current favorite hard drive.
- If you’re clumsy or have a tendency to drop things, you’ll want something a little sturdier than that. Here’s a “rugged” hard drive that holds up to a bit more wear and tear (you still wouldn’t want to drop the drive or throw it at someone, but you get the idea).
For Digital Video –»
- Bigger is always better when working with video so if you can, I’d purchase a 2TB drive, if possible. Firewire 800 drives are always faster, but are a little more expensive. USB 3.0 is totally fine too these days. So…
- My favorite 1-2Tb Firewire 800 Drives (or this rugged firewire 800 drive for the clumsy among you). Drives made by G-Tech are great too.
- My favorite 1-2Tb USB 3.0 Drives (or this rugged firewire drive for the clumsy among you).
- My other favorite drives if you need something gigantic to be built for you in the future (for my last film I used two 16Tb drives, which actually isn’t that gigantic) can be purchased through Other World Computing. Here are some sample drives (there are some that get really huge—this one goes up to 84TB!).
Media Card Readers –»
Also mentioned really good Media card readers (some with USB/Firewire cables).
- Here’s an example that has a CF card slot (which my camera uses)
- or this, if you don’t need the CF card reader slot (most of you won’t need it).
PHOTO EQUIPMENT, RENTALS, & DIGITAL PROCESSING
PHOTO EQUIPMENT FOR PURCHASE –»
- Adorama — For computer equipment too. You can purchase online and then pickup there as well. They also have a used department.
42 West 18th Street, Bet 5th & 6th (you walk uptown two blocks and take a left—1/2 way down the block)…
212.741.0052
Adorama Sales | Adorama: Used Sales Department - B&H Photo & Video —One of my favorite places to go in New York for used and new equipment (and computer equipment as well). It’s like a Wonka factory for computer/camera nerds…
420 9th Ave. at 34th St.
New York, NY 10001
212.444.6615
Main Store | Used Department
Also mentioned links to really good but very inexpensive starter tripods. Here they are:
- If you would like to buy an inexpensive one that works beautifully for what you’ll be doing, either of these—this or this—are lovely and surprisingly light and sturdy. They will last you longer than you’d ever expect out of such inexpensive tripods.
EQUIPMENT RENTALS + “MAKING” FACILITIES –»
- Parsons Equipment Center
55 West 13th Street (bet. 5th and 6th)
9th Floor - Adorama
>> Great for cheap rentals.
42 West 18th Street, Bet 5th & 6th
212.741.0052
Adorama Rentals
. - Parsons Academic Resources (this is primarily here for my Fall/Spring students):
- About the labs / general info
- About orientations and trainings (you can only use some of these studios if you’ve had training).
- General Shop
- Open work space #1 (2 W 13th, 2nd Fl), Open work space #2 (66 5th Ave, 2nd Fl), Open work space #3 (25 E 13th, 4th Fl)
- 3D Prototyping Lab (you must do an orientation in order to use this lab)
- E-403 Laser Cutter Lab (you must do an orientation here too)
- Wood Shop
- Metal Shop
- L-9 Making Shop
- Darkroom
- Purchasing materials from Parsons (here’s a direct link to the E4 Materials store)
- Tools and materials available in the labs (assuming you have access to each)
DIGITAL PRINTING –»
AT PARSONS:
- Here’s a list of the printers in the labs/classrooms as well as directions on how to print to them.
- Here’s general lab information.
- Here’s lab hours information (Scroll down to view by week).
.
For large scale printing, you may use either the color Plotters on the 4th floor of the University Center, which deducts money from your printing credits (all info about how to print can be found on that page), or the Durst on the 4th floor of 2 West 13th street, 4th Floor, which is my preferred printing method, though it costs money and you must pay with a credit card. Here’s the Durst how-to guide with the printing schedule on it + the online payment form, where you can look through paper pricing + Job Request Form, which you also have to fill out).
- Adorama — For digital prints (3 working days to process) and framing supplies.
42 West 18th Street, Bet 5th & 6th
212.741.0052
Adorama
VARIOUS OTHER RESOURCES –»
Other places you may want to use to find materials for your projects:
ANALOG (FILM) PHOTO PROCESSING
- Memory Keeper Photo
147 W 14th Street, Bet 6th & 7th
212.691.9047 - Cincinnati Photo
82 Montague Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.237.6070 - Baboo Color Labs
37 West 20th Street, Bet 5th & 6th)
212.807.1574 - ACL Arni Color Lab Inc
135 West 20th Street
212.647.1999 - MV Photo Labs
4 West 37th St., 5th Fl (Bell 5)
New York City NY 10018
917.208.9791
Mvlabs.com/
- Sunshine Proof Color Labs
138 W 31st St, Bet 6th & 7th
212.290.2239 - Quick Color Custom Lab
30 E. 20th Street, Bet Broadway & Park
212.253.5071 - Luster Photo & Digital
121 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009
212.979.1669 - Visual Art Photo
39 Christopher St
NYC 10014
212.633.9794 - Pac Lab
>> For Super 8mm processing (super expensive!)/etc..
155 East 2nd Street.
New York, NY 10009
212.505-7797
Pac-lab.com - Fromex (3 working days to process)
182 E 86th Street, Bet 3rd & Lexington
212.369.4821 - Beth Ness Photos (3 working days to process)
111 University Place, Bet 12th & 13th
212.253.2313 - Duggal (2 working days to process)
11 West 20th Street, Bet 5th & 6th
212.941.7000