day 4 of Lé Apple

Oye... I am exhausted. I have been a photo warrior these last couple days. I think hugely because of my deadline (ie: plane back to California) thus I have been super photo girl knocking on doors, sending emails into the wee hours and being fearless with the hundreds of NY security guards I have met. I have decided where I would like to live if I do ever dig my heals into the East Coast. SOHO. Mainly because of the cute boutiques and restaurants... Kim says "you and everyone else".

Here is where my journey has taken me so far:

Artist and Creatives,
Ogilvy,
Universal Music Group,
Cosmogirl,
Redbook,
Seventeen,
Harper's Bazaar,
Rolling Stone,
Elle,
Complex Mag,
Ecko,
Tokion,
Fader,
Condé Nast (ate lunch in their amazing cafeteria... seriously, wined and dined... well, at least dined.)
Concept Farm
Duetsch
Kid Robot,
Kate Spade, (the receptionist looked like Jackie O.)
Marilyn Cadenbach,
Oliver Piro,
Publicis
Randy Cole (super awesome place. I hung out there for almost an hour, telling a little too much of my life story to Meredith- Randy's assistant.)

I really enjoyed going to Randy Cole's place today. The building is awesome and reminds me of my loft in Oakland, (which I now miss terribly). I first sat down with her assistant Meredith for a bit and showed her my website which she remembered from previous emails. Then I got waived into Randy's office and I encountered the moment of "ahh!" that many people experience when they meet this girl named Frankie. I wanted to be like "SEE! We are a match! It's perfect, you... woman... Randy... me... woman... Frankie... get it..." Thank god for the occasional filter that edits out those brilliant mental moments.

Anyhow, Meredith showed me the portfolios of some of the artists they represent and I was in awe. Mostly amazed by the incredible editing of images (page layout and selection within the book, and digital manipulation of some of the photos), along with the presentation that left me feeling slightly juvenile.

I wish there was a better education for young photographers. Like how do you expect us to show art directors the images that are appropriate for them to see, when we don't know which campaigns they work with?

Example: My first year out of school I went down to LA and met with a ton of creatives including Tobias. Tobias was with a huge agency outside of LA. I had pulled his name from a list of art directors, knowing that this agency had many clients that I would one day hope to work with.

So I emailed him, he said "Yes, come, show me your book and we will have lunch with another AD". So we go out to eat at this nice place and we order food, I start showing them my book and they are like "Great, do you have any cars?" Err... Not really... I have some shots with cars... kinda. Turns out that Tobias only worked with Automobile companies.

Seriously people.

Anyhow. I am looking forward to gettin back to California... I hear the rain is coming this way and I am not so smitten with wetness.

Tomorrow I have to drop by mini-portfolios to 3 more boutique advertising agencies, and another rep. Then the question is, should I rent a car and take off to MA for a night to see Josie Mae or stay in the city. I guess I could just relax on Saturday and go to the MOMA.

We shall see. Wish me luck.