Street Meet NY.

A couple weeks ago I came across a post on Instagram from one of the illest brands out now, The Hundreds. The post was promoting another Street Meet with Van Styles. For those who don't know, The Hundreds along with Van Styles host Street Meets where anyone with any kind of camera is invited out to roam the streets together for the love and passion of photography. The first happened in LA followed by another in San Francisco with street photographer Travis Jensen. This latest Street Meet though was to be met with surprise--a new guest photographer, one of my favorites. The one and only 13th Witness would be joining the fun, this time in New York. It was posted a week before it was to go down and I wasn't sure whether to make it out to this rare occasion or not. I had to ask myself one simple question: "In five years, am I gonna be kicking myself for not going to this?". And with that, I booked a room and rental the Sunday night prior from the same tiny, cornered Starbucks table that I'm typing this post. My girlfriend and I packed up and with our puppy boy Ollie, we hit the open road Monday morning. Flying is always fun and a much faster way to travel. However, driving cross-country has it's benefits too. The biggest being that you can stop and see whatever you want, anytime. I have been through Tennessee plenty of times and it is still one of my favorite states to drive through when heading east. It's state highways are lush with beautiful green trees much taller than the Pecans I'm used to here.

If you're from Texas or live in Texas or have driven through here, then you know it's a fucking journey in itself just to get out of the state. Coming from San Antonio headed in any direction will literally take one HOURS to get out to a neighboring state (or country; S/O to all mine south of the Rio!). So I've grown such an appreciation for interstate road trips. This one was much more exciting though as I was with my girlfriend, our puppy, and a thirst for a photographic adventure in the city of New York to shoot alongside two favorites. Dope.

After our long journey, we landed in Brooklyn at about 3 a.m. and checked in, fucking exhausted. Ollie wouldn't sleep the entire ride and it hit him hard when we finally got into the bed. We all woke up the next morning and were all recharged and excited to be in NY. We ate breakfast and headed out to the city. I'll save the headaches I experienced that is driving through NY and get straight to the good stuff lol. After parking our car and getting Ollie some wet food, we headed North a few blocks in the heat. New York gets hot for sure, but I think SATX still got em beat with Phoenix still remaining the solar champs. Rabbit treated us to Baohaus which not only has great food, but a dope staff too. Thanks to all who prepared our food and accepted our gifts. We headed out to GRND soon after to meet up with what turned out to be damn near 100 people of varying backgrounds and tools. We walked through THNY and after a brief wait for 13th Witness, we began to shut shit down. Literally, we stopped traffic. MULTIPLE times.

Fuccit, keep it movin'.

We were joined by a good homie and our NY guide, Levi Dopeness, as walked through Chinatown, down by the river, and ending at the Brooklyn Bridge. I've always held a huge appreciation and fascination with bridges. When I first came out to NY at 18, I took a few photos of the many bridges from a great distance away. This time though, I got to shoot on the bridge which made my fucking day. We ended the meet shortly after and we headed out back to Brooklyn. Just in time too, as it started to rain. I drove out after dropping my loved ones off at the room to get a huge ass Sicilian pie that was damn near the best pizza I've ever had. Yes, I could've eaten so many other foods while out there but I'm a Ninja Turtle at heart and I love trying new pizza. Plus, at 11pm and tired as fuck with your family feeling the same, it's the best option. J & V is the TRUTH, yo. S/O to VICE and Frank Pinello for the heads up (I couldn't make it in time to the spot you told me Tim, so it's on me next time I'm in town). We slept it off and hit the road back to SA the next morning. It was a short trip, but we do have our obligations back home and had to make it happen. We experienced some staleness in New Jersey at the Secret Stash, but let's not sully the amazing time that was had overall.

The trip was so amazing and one that lives with me as if I went last week. I learned so much about myself, my relationship, my family, and my skillset & techniques. Below you'll find a few images from the Street Meet, hit the rest (along with a few more stories) right here, here, here, and here. I know it seems a bit odd with these back and forth posts between sites, please bear with me; sometimes I just need to get the stuff out. I'm still playing catch up with my photos and personal work all together as well. I have photos to edit and share from the actual road trip itself as well as some more in New York, before and after the Street Meet. For those that don't mind, I see you and thank you for sticking with me through it all, hope you enjoy what I share as much as I enjoy creating it all!


Stay Creative,
BLUE731.

PS. Big thanks to The Hundreds, The Hundreds NY, Van, Levi, 13th, my girlfriend, our dog Ollie, all the photographers that we met and shot with, and lastly the citizens of New York for providing some great images and experiences. THANK YOU.