Rooftop

"The steak is a little toasted, but the pork loin should be fine," I explained, manning the spatula in one hand and a Porkslap in the other.

"Yah, we should have put the all the new coals on one side and left the other side open," the grilling expert announced. Sporting a Slayer T-shirt, LA Dodgers hat, a mustache reminiscent American West and smelling like a Grateful Dead show, he gingerly prodded the steak with his index finger. "How long ago did you flip them?"

Acknowledging my inferior understanding of cooking steaks, I relinquished the spatula, "Maybe a minute or two ago."

"I'm Foster, by the way," I interjected, extending my hand around the grill.

"Craig."

Knowing only two people at a packed rooftop party in south Williamsburg, I had smelled an uncharacteristic smoke pluming from the holes of a Weber and took point on the grill. Lightly burning my fingers on the handle of the grill, I quickly flipped the steak and pork loin. With a spatula in hand, I watched the colors change on the Manhattan skyline.

Sunset.

Lounging.

The Williamsburg Bridge.

Fixings.

My conversation continued with Craig for 20 minutes or so. Despite his quintessential Williamsburg appearance, Craig was a managing director at a five-billion dollar convertible arbitrage (google it) hedge fund. He also was an Economics and Computer Science double major. Some people you only meet in New York City.

Here are some more links,

A Restless Transplant (Facebook),

Calm Before the Storm (Picasa).

Muggy

Every few months I get bogged down with work. Life is all about ebbs and flows and this week is a time of ebbs.

On Friday night, I walked along the West Side highway as a thunderstorm rolled in. Even if it's just the Hudson, it's still great to be by the water.

Here are some things that inspire me as of late:

Olives Ahoy: Whole Larder Love,

29 Ways to Stay Creative,

One Trip Pass,

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman,
Helplessness Blues: Fleet Foxes.

I am planning some trips for the end of June and July. I cant wait to get back on the road.

Here are some more links,

Muggy (Picasa),

The Burning House,

An Interview (GQ).

Skip Those Parts

The warm June wind blew out the flame on a scrap of charcoal bag. Trying again, I lit the scrap with the Bic lighter in the protection of the grill lid and dropped it onto the bed of coals. This time, the flame caught, slowly spreading throughout the salad bowl sized pile. Leaning back in my chair, I smiled in accomplishment and opened a Sierra Nevada.

To the sound of a distant cab's horn and whirr of a nearby AC unit, Evan started packing the burgers between pulls of his beer.

Three years to the day before, Evan, Edge and I packed our essentials into the trunk and backseat of an Audi A4 and set out on a cross country road trip back from New England to Portland, Oregon. Like most 2o year olds, we did it all too quickly, taking turns driving around the clock through the dull stretches and cherishing the beautiful parts.

While on our three day stay in Southern Colorado, I borrowed Evan's DSLR one afternoon. Messing around with the settings on his Canon XTI, I shot the better part of a flash card before returning it with an ear-to-ear smile.

Intrigued, I bought a Canon XSI a few months later and started this blog .

The starter fluid burned off and the flames subsided as we chatted about our past adventures. Set to the stunning backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, nights spent sleeping in sleeping bags under the open sky felt worlds away.

Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir at sunset.

"We have to get back on the road soon," I said longing for empty sunsets of Wyoming and Colorado.

"Can't wait, but this sure beats Omaha, Nebraska.." Evan chuckled.

"Yeh, we can skip those parts."

Here are some more links,
June (Picasa).

Spoke Too Soon

The rain stopped and people emptied out of New York for the long weekend. With a vengeance, the heat and humidity descended, reminding everyone that it was in fact, late May. In a combination of ignorance and arrogance, I wore jeans for the first few 80 degree days. I am always a little late to embrace seasons.

Practicing hand stands on the Great Lawn in Central Park.

Photographing Sean Crowley's things for The Burning House.

Cheddar Cheeseburger and fries. The perfect summer dinner.

I always wonder where planes are heading. This one just left LaGuardia heading west.

I spoke to soon about summer coming last week.

The Roebling Tea Room

Taking the advice of a few well seasoned New Yorkers, I avoided the traffic and stayed in the city for Memorial day weekend. Exactly one year ago, I packed up my things and moved down from Maine. My first year went by in the blink of an eye. I wonder, where will I be next Memorial Day?

Here are some more links,
Memorial Day (Picasa),

The Burning House (Facebook),

Fosterhunting (Twitter).

May?

The sound of rain bouncing off my open windowsill and thunder in the distance woke me up at 3:45 on Saturday morning. Rolling to the foot of my bed, I quickly shut the window. "What the fuck is this, it's May? It must be rapture," I though to myself.

Grey weather in the month of May has kept me inside. Here are some of my favorite shots taken inside during the last month.

These sites take me away from the constant grey and humidity, wholelarderlove.com and grassdoe.blogspot.com.

Sunday morning in Ashley Falls Massachusetts.

I'm ready for the rain to let up. I feel like in back in the Pacific Northwest in February.

Here are some more links,
In The Month of May (Picasa),
The Burning House,
Michael's blog http://anafternoonwith.com/,

Changing Seasons: Spring in New York

LL Bean Buck, October 2008.

I procrastinated. The winter slowly meandered towards spring, but was constantly set back a few rainy days. Just as I grew accustomed to evening walks through Central Park, back to back days of biblical rain checked my seasonal optimism.

Paul Smith Canvas Sneaker, January 2009.

So, I waited and pondered which shoe to use.

Common Projects sneaker, April 2009.

Scroll through the photos quickly. It looks like a stop motion film, with all of the shoes skewed towards the left.

Van's Authentic, August 2009.

I still have these things stuffed in a closet. They smell like the plague.

Ralph Lauren Wingtip, October 2009.

In the past, my selection has been traditional, with some of my favorites being a Buck, a Brogue and a Danner boot. However, since leaving Maine and moving to New York, my taste has changed. Partially due to my days spent surrounded by the "American Heritage" aesthetic, recently I have started appreciating more pragmatic, purpose-driven items.

Danner Mountain Light II, December 2009



British Walker Buck, April 2010.

Instead of carrying around my camera and laptop in a vintage backpack, I bought a GoRuck Gr1 (partially in my preparation for the GoRuck Challenge in Boston). I also opted for a technical down jacket over a wool coat on my Saturday morning walks.

LL Bean Boot, October 2010.

You won't see me in Crocs or zip off nylon shorts anytime soon.

LL Bean Signature Work Boot, January 2o11.

But instead of hunting eBay for vintage Omega, I have been poking around looking at contemporary Sinn's and Luminox's.

Nike SFB May 2011.

Finally, spring stayed around long enough for me to grab my camera and my Nike SFB chucka and head to Central Park. As the sun set, I sat reflecting the evolution of my taste over the last three years and pondering where it would be in the next three. Setting the ISO and aperture to 1600 and 4.5, respectively, I threw my shoe in the air the way I have for the last 10 seasons.

Here are some more links,

Changing Seasons (Picasa),

Changing Seasons (ART).

The-Burning-House.com

A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of the things I would take if my house were burning and asked the question, What would you take? Since then I have reached out to friends and acquaintances asking them each to submit a photo and list of items. The results and enthusiasm for the concept have been amazing.

To showcase these photos and facilitate the creation of others, I started a website called The Burning House, the-burning-house.com. The site is simple but has the necessary features: big images and a submit function.

Here are two examples of submissions from friends:

Name: Bethany Marcial
Location: New York City
Occupation: Musician
Website: http://www.daughtersofgoodmen.com/

List:

• Martin Guitar (this is one is special because my dad bought it for me on bleeker street years ago when I first moved here - most kids' parents were buying them textbooks..this meant much more)
• Vintage LL Bean wool hat
• Hard Drive of all my photos
• Vintage Wrangler Jeans
• Necklace of collected charms I always wear including a gold chair and anchor, the state of michigan, two pistols, and three vintage sterling knives
• My grandmother's id bracelet from the 30's
• A coffee stained, dog eared, underlined copy of G.K. Chesterton's "Whats Wrong With the World"
• Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace
• A knife and a tit like crustacean from you (housed usually in my exclusive treefort treasure box)
• Minolta Maxxum 5 camera I bought when I was 16, un-fancy but never takes a bad picture
• Vintage Blue Stripe Blouse
• Worn to death Lace Up Frye Boots I've had nearly 10 years now

and:

Name: Tim Robison

Age: 26

Location: North Carolina

Occupation: Creative Digital Director University of North Carolina at Greensborough

Website: http://thatsjustitphoto.com/

List:

• My Grandfather's Camera
• My favorite shoes. So comfortable.
• My Moleskin notebook. Full of many sketches, ideas, and dates.
• My favorite shirt.
• A piece of driftwood I found and love.
• My laptop. My iMac would be too hard to carry.
• Two full hard drives with years worth of work and photos.
• My most used kitchen pans. Al Glad Ltd2 fry pan. Le Creuset dutch oven
• My keys. They open and start a lot of things.
• My pencil bag. Full of my best pens and pencils.
• My phone.

It is one part interview, one part OCD photography and one part philosophy of ownership.

For more photos and lists, head over to The Burning House, subscribe to the RSS and most importantly, submit a post. I hope you like it, I'm pretty excited.

Thanks to Bryan Bowie for designing the logo and Jermaine for building the Tumblr.

Here are some more links,
The-Burning-House.com,
Submit a Post (The Burning House),
The Burning House (Picasa),
The Burning House (ART).

The Faster They Go

The more busy I get, the faster the months go by. I started taking photos to capture moments around me. Here are some of my favorites from the last month.

David Coggin's most treasured possessions for The Burning House.

Tim walking back from the beach in Nicaragua.

Financial District sunrise with John Tinseth.

Dirt roads on BLM land in northern New Mexico.

A photo from Coggins' and my visit to Miller's Oath for a piece for A Continuous Lean.

Cris in Nicaragua.

Lunch in Rivas, Nicaragua.

Bass escaping the rain.

Sunset in Nicaragua.

Durango, Colorado.

Not much happens in Alexandria, Minnesota.

A rainy Saturday in the West Village.

Mud outside Durango.

A lot can happen in a month.

Here are some more links,
Miller's Crossing (Picasa),
Nicaragua Dos (Picasa),
Sage (Picasa).