This week’s roundup will have a ton of pictures that will inspire you to buy a round trip ticket to NYC. You’ve been warned.

When Ellie picked NYC as the city she wanted to shoot her senior portraits in, I was filled with mixed emotions. On the one hand, she and I love NYC and it’s one of our special places so I was excited to go back with her. On the other hand, photographing in Manhattan can be quite the challenge because there are SO MANY people, traffic, scaffolding, etc. I knew we would have our work cut out for us.

The other thing I was worried about was that we wouldn’t have much daddy/daughter time. Because we had an ambitious plan (check out the photo schedule in one of the images below), we didn’t leave a lot of non-shooting time for fun things to do in NYC.

All my worrying was in vain.

We had so much great bonding time, and the photos came out amazing (without even having to photoshop out distractions like people and cars. I’ll share more about our NYC trip as we unveil her senior photos in NYC, but for now check this out.

Did you know that NYC has a company that is like Uber but with only Teslas? It was a great way to ensure we were in a clean car that ran well (opposed to some ubers and lyfts I’ve been on in the past). The company is called Revel (I have a coupon for $20 off a Revel ride!). Use code cyhkte 🙂 Anyway, the black and white shot below was taken from my tesla through the glass ceiling.

The other shot here is of Ellie and me in one of the rooms at the Museum of Ice Cream in NYC. I’ll definitely be sharing more from that little adventure.

Restaurant of the Week: Magic Hour Rooftop Lounge

While Ellie and I ate at our favorite NYC restaurant, Butter (yes we felt like we were in Gossip Girl), this week, I wanted to share about the experience we had at The Magic Hour Rooftop Lounge at the Moxy Hotel in New York City. Ambiance waw a 10 for sure. The colors and florals were great for photos. We ordered the ridiculously expensive hot pink pancake stack with cotton candy. It was fun to eat if you’re into sugar. Like… REALLY into sugar. I also had a Moira Rose mocktail that was tasty. I didn’t love the spicy chicken fingers I paid $20 for, and the limited menu overall wasn’t too appealing.

The major downer is that they don’t allow you to bring your camera up to the rooftop, so everything we shot was just with a phone. That’s enough to make me not go back, but it was a fun experience, and Ellie had a great time.

Star rating :

One of my favorite experiences was at the Museum of Ice Cream. Lots of rooms with fun and unique themes, all in a very colorful (mostly pink) atmosphere. Ellie wore the dress from her 18th birthday dinner party. Thw white popped in all the pink and colorful rooms. (More of those photos coming later!) Here are a few pics of the two of us goofing around

Deep thought of the week

Sometimes good ol’ pen and paper work better than fancy google docs and google sheets. A month ago Ellie and I started planning this senior photo shoot extravaganza by creating a google sheet. We planned outfits, accessories, location ideas and tried to make a schedule. White it was an okay tool, we actually found that writing on post it notes from the hotel worked so much better when planning the shoot schedule. You can see it below. As we finsihed a sectino we could cross it out, and if we needed to reschedule anything we could just peel and stick the post it note into its new location. Just because something is new, doesn’t automatically make that thing better.

The two of us in Times Square, and Ellie at Butter (our favorite NYC restaurant).

Color or black and white? I’d love to know your favorite!

Obviously the trip to NYC racked up a lot of miles. I also drove to Joplin and back for a photo shoot for my favorite corporate client, Arrow Senior Living. Early in the week I was so happy to get to spend at home with my girls, where we had our first soccer practice (click here in case you missed that).

The Boy Who Lived

Finally, let’s talk about Harry Potter. This has been such a special part of mine and Ellie’s relationship. Every since she was a little kid we have both shared a love for the wizarding world. Not only do we have HP movie marathons, we also have been to Universal Studios multiple times to drink butter beer, ride the Hogwarts Express, and find a wand at Ollivander’s. Add this to the list: we saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway! I think Tyler is already sick of hearing how amazing it was, but I can’t help it. The special effects (think: real magic) were the best I’ve ever seen in a live show. I gasped multiple times throughout the production, and rate it a 10 out of 10! I’m so happy we decided to go!

Whew… this was a healthy roundup! I’m sure I’ll think of more to say so let’s plan on talking more about this when we get a chance! I hope you are having a great weekend!

Talk to you soon,
Dale