Book Cover Photo

Here's the cover photo from the book. Medium format Kodak film. 

"Not Your Queen City" - My photo documentary book is finished!

So I'd like to heartily apologize for being so MIA recently; I have been shooting and editing photos every free minute for three projects simultaneously. Two are still ongoing but I'm proud to share the third, which I finished today. It is a photo documentary of the City of Poughkeepsie entitled "Not Your Queen City" that I shot over the course of three very speedy days with medium format film and my loyal DSLR. I walked around the city by myself in an effort to meet people and capture a true sense of the community here. Though the area is depressed and in many areas quite dangerous, I was pleased to find the best of humanity at every turn. 

Below you will find the project introduction and a preview of the book. If you like it, I would be twitter-pated if you ordered a copy or two or five; your coffee table is lonely, give it a little company! I had heard that Blurb was the word on putting together books and so far I'm pretty pleased. What do you think so far? Anyway, I hope you enjoy. 

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Known as the “Queen City of the Hudson”, Poughkeepsie was once a great center of trade and commerce within the state of New York. After years of economic trouble, loss of industry and jobs, and rise in crime, Poughkeepsie has fallen into ruin and become a less-than-desirable destination for upper-middle class students. RAs coach their residents not to venture outside the safety of campus, and security sends emails detailing muggings and beatings by locals. Most students could not find their way across town, let alone explore the city in which they live. To them, Poughkeepsie is a place filled with gangs, violent crime, and poverty.

There is an inherent hypocrisy there; students receive emails from Campus Ministry, attend classes about global engagement and social justice, and raise money for needy people in third world countries without considering the desperation living down the street. 

The disparity of wealth and homogenization at locals universities and poverty and diversity in the surrounding community led me to move off campus into the historic district of the City of Poughkeepsie last August. In an effort to become more connected to the local community, I plunged into what my peers saw as the ‘ghetto’ of the Mid-Hudson Valley. I made my home in a charming late nineteenth-century house on Hammersley Avenue prone to drafts and endless quirky Victorian charms. Though I have witnessed poverty, domestic abuse, gang violence, and drug dealing, those surface occurrences have been surpassed by the truth and heart of the people here. From buying groceries in Spanish at the local Latino market to knowing the names of the Indian cashiers at the local bodega, I have experienced a greater breadth of diversity and caring in my one year living in Poughkeepsie than I did in my three years on campus. I became involved in the local art movement, frequented the farmers markets, coffee shops, barber shops, and took my shoes to the kind-hearted cobbler on whom the true members of this community depend. I became a real citizen of the Queen City of the Hudson. 

It is that kindness and diversity that this photo project, “Not Your Queen City”, seeks to showcase.

Not Your Queen City by Katie Warren | Make Your Own Book

Trend: Nail Decals

You see "nail decals" and think "holy crap it's the third grade where are my pogs and can you teach me to French braid hair wowowow that would be awesome!" Not so anymore, my lovely ladies. My friend Erika rocks these new, hyper-trendy decals that make giving yourself a manicure nearly foolproof (though if I could stop biting my nails and use these, I'm sure I'd find a way to screw it up!). I took this photo a few weeks ago and saw her last night with a new leopard-print manicure. 

Fabulous, mm yes?

Featured: Angelica Music

Some of my photos from the Fifth Business CD release party were featured on music review site Angelica Music accompanying a first-cup-of-coffee-after-a-night-out level worshipful review. I had the pleasure of meeting the writer at the event and am glad to help out providing pictures. 

Although, I'm curious as to exactly when Deane had a girl on each arm, an image presented by the review that confused all in attendance. Maybe it was the leather pants...they give the allure and sense of cavorting without actually needing to. 

Featured by Armani: Frames of Your Life

A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of modeling for Armani's Frames of Your Life campaign in NYC. 

(You should have seen me when I got cast, I frightened half the library!)

Tommy Ton of the acclaimed street style blog Jak & Jil shot the campaign, capturing authentic New York style accented by Armani's new line of eyewear. I had a blast meeting up with Tommy and his team in the West Village...the whole shoot only took about 10 minutes. 

"Hi, hello, nice to meet you, love your Burton laptop bag (of all things)! Put on these sunglasses, OK great, looking fantastic, pretend to hail a cab." snap snap snap snap snap, "OK got it, oh yes sign that release yep right there, perfect. OK put on these eyeglasses and walk down those stairs of that stoop. Yep that one right there." snap snap snap "Go back up and come down one more time" snap snap snap snap. "OK perfect, got it. We're done." 

That was it.  

....

And then Armani threw us a party in SOHO, which I missed (by two hours, gahhh!) because I was out of town for job interviews. Boo.

But it was fun! And I figured out that there really is very little magic that goes into street blogs, just being in the right place and finding the right people to shoot. 

So here are screenshots of the photos, and you can check the whole campaign out and vote for your favorite look (perhaps one little vote for me, eh?) here. Thanks, cheers!

Throw Back: Michael's Pervy Van

I'm going on hiatus for a bit while I put together a grand poobah of all projects; I am compiling a book of some of my work from the last 8 months. That's all I can tell you about it right now. Yes, secrets! Intrigue! Shenanigans, absolutely. You'll have to stay tuned. But I'll be opening up my archives and pulling photos you've never seen and I've certainly nearly forgotten about. Fun all around. 

To start, here are some pictures of the band The Fifth Business, or some of them, in drummer Michael Healy's extremely pervy unmarked white van that the band uses for equipment. There is nothing cool or sexy about the van. But this is pretty funny nonetheless, and funnier still if you've ever had the opportunity to ghost ride the whip in an inappropriately large vehicle. Cheers!

Interior Inspiration

Hello! In preparation for moving on to the next exciting phase of my life, I've started compiling tons of photos that inspire my interior design sense. I can't wait to go a little crazy with patterned wall papers, too many framed prints, and wacky light fixtures. Here's a small homage to the things making my interior design noggin go crazy! Photos courtesy of The Glamourai and Design Sponge. 

The Fifth Business CD Release Photo Extravaganza!

Finally! Here is a huge mess of photos from the recent CD release party for the Fifth Business' album Time of Year. Great music! Lovely people! The Monkey House! 

As you can see, we had a time.