Friends can make anything fun
I had a sudden opportunity come up earlier today that prompted me to pack up my camera gear and head into New York City. I had the opportunity to meet a famous photographer; someone whose photographic work has inspired me, and whom I’ve been trying to meet from other opportunities but things hadn’t worked out, mostly due to scheduling conflicts. I figured it was a nice day, and I had the evening free so I’d try to make it. Little did I know what I was in for. The details of the event he was at were very informally explained to me by a friend at the camera shop I usually go to. He was attending this event as well, and he simply told me to go into “Times Square.” I knew nothing about what was going on, except to bring my camera and come in to Times Square for an informal shoot during which I could meet this famous photographer.
I left my apartment around 4ish, and tried to contact my photo-store friend to find out whereabouts he was. No luck. After a few texts (safely executed during the trip down there, of course.) I figured I’d give Ash a call and see what he was up to, since I was heading into the city and I hadn’t seen him in a while. Overjoyed at my visiting the city, he decided to rendezvous with me in Midtown. Thank God, but we’ll get there momentarily.
So, 4:30pm I got to the PATH station, finally heard back from my photo-store friend who gave me snarky remarks instead of the information I needed. I didn’t know if it was a scheduled event, or an informal event, or where it was. I asked if there was a big group and he simply replied with “It’s Times Square.” Sadly that was of no use to me. There was a 5PM group photo (presumably of all the photographers that showed up to this) that I missed because the PATH train took way too long to get in there, but I didn’t really care about missing that so much. I prefer to be behind the camera anyway.
So, about 5:15 I’m finally within walking distance of Times Square, and thus I’m trying to find my photo-store friend to meet up with him as I’d said in our phone chat earlier today. I told him I’d try to meet up with him when I got into the city, and he was excited at that prospect. Sadly, none of my phone calls or texts were answered. So, during my first lap of 42nd and Broadway to 47th and back, I had no luck in finding the gaggle of photographers.
During this entire ordeal, I was getting bumped into left and right by the copious amounts of people there. It was extremely uncomfortable to say the least, and I felt my anxiety starting to get the better of me. I was frustrated that I couldn’t find this event that I was “invited” to; I was in Times Square, with no idea other than that. It was like someone said “Let’s meet in the United States” and ended the conversation there. It’s practically a useless invitation. I learned my lesson, no more spontaneous trips to Times Square on a Saturday in the summer time. Nooooo sir.
At that point I had lost interest in meeting the famous photographer guy, and my photo-store friend was not exactly high on my list. For someone expecting me at an event, I was annoyed at the failure to communicate. Sure, maybe he didn’t feel his phone vibrate, it happens to the best of us. But, if I knew someone was looking for me or I was supposed to meet someone, I’d be a little more attentive to my phone so I’d be able to meet up when the time came to do so. I digress; I figured it was time to see where Ash was, and it turned out he was literally just a few feet away from me. We met up, and hilarity ensued.
Ash had some plans later on in the evening, but had a few hours to kill so we decided to make the best of it and do our own thing, and frankly I had a phenomenal time. We grabbed a Starbucks and had a chat, then proceeded to do 3 more laps of Times Square in an attempt to find this photographic event that I was starting to doubt was even going on at all.
Ironically enough, photo-store guy started texting me again with location updates (and snarky remarks) as to where the mass of photographers were, including the famous guy. Each time we went to the coordinates given, there was no such mass of photographers. I was getting tired of the wild goose chase, and photo-guy’s attitude, so Ash and I took some silly pictures around Rockefeller Center, and then I headed home because I was done wandering around.
I’m really grateful for Ash having been there for me. If I were alone, I’d probably have given up after having some sort of panic attack from the tons of people in Times Square bombarding me from all corners. The jam-packed train rides didn’t help either, but I am enjoying the peace and quiet of my apartment and my bed which awaits me.