Here is a series of New York City Monochrom images from my trip at the beginning of the month. I have been doing a bunch of travel since to Singapore and Thailand. I write this as I am sitting in the airport lounge at Haneda airport catching the 1AM flight to San Francisco. I'll spend a week there and then head to LA for a few days. It was hard being home in Tokyo for only 72 hours. I miss my family when I have these sprints of extremely intense travel.

Today's Configuration: Leica M Monochrom, Summicron 28mm f/2.0 and Summilux 50mm f/1.4.

I really like the combination of my Monochrom with the rendering from my Summilux 50mm. I am hoping to get a lot of shooting in next weekend while in San Francisco. I am intentionally not scheduling much and keeping my time for shopping and shooting. I really need to buy some sneakers.

This is one of the frustrating things when you have in Asia and have a size 11 foot. I looked for sneakers in Singapore, Thailand and Tokyo with no luck. In America I can just run out and buy something in a few minutes when I want it. In Japan I have to carefully plan out clothes and sometimes seasons in advance as if I don't end up traveling to the the place in the right season I might not have a jacket, sweaters, etc. Thankfully I am not so fashion forward wearing the latest trends. I am OK wearing last years fashion.

I enjoyed strolling around Chelsea Market while in New York City. It brought back so many memories of working in the city during the late 90s. It was a pretty amazing time as companies were fighting to be the first to market as the internet was coming online in a big way. Timelines were in days and weeks not months and years. First mover advantage has very real meaning then. I spent a lot of time in this building and the surrounding working on projects with various companies. The neighborhood was nicknamed Silicon Alley.

Dave does not like veal. Veal = Mean.

I love the bokeh on this lens...

I hate to say it but I love the graffiti and stickers. It is interesting to see the end result as everyone piles on their contribution.

Back in Tokyo... I love my crowded but clean city.

I have walked by this sign a million times but just realized it's a pig...

Old school. Where would you park something like this in Tokyo?

I caught up with my friend Matthew in Daikanyama and he introduced me to a cool bar called Cafe Streamline. It's very retro with lots of neat older cameras and one of my favorite Japanese beers Heartland on draft.