1-Up Mushroom Adventures

After receiving a digital point and shoot camera for Christmas last year, I’ve slowly improved my photography skills. I am by no means even close to being considered a good photographer, but I have learned through trial and error about how to use my camera and how to manipulate basic shots. This street photography project is actually an extension of a variation on the Traveling Gnome that I did while on family vacation over the summer. I took pictures featuring a small, plush 1-Up mushroom that was given to me by someone very important to me, as a way of having her symbolically accompany me on vacation.

The first picture I decided to take was at the train station where I get on the Q train to go pretty much anywhere. I thought that it would be fitting for my project to begin in the same place where many of my adventures begin – at the train station. I actually missed the first train that arrived because it was about to leave when I got on the platform and I decided to get the photo first. This coincidentally led me to my image of the train arriving. I was wondering if anyone would give me trouble about taking pictures without their consent or something but nobody seemed to mind. I found a seat on the train and took a nap.

Luckily for me, the Q train was running along the R line between DeKalb Ave. and Canal St. because of construction on the Manhattan Bridge. I didn’t have to transfer to the R train to go to City Hall and it let me nap a little bit longer. I wanted to take a picture on Broadway between Duane St. and Reade St., where the first Duane Reade was, but it’s no longer there. There’s a Duane Reade on the corner of Duane St. and Broadway and another one on the corner of Broadway and Chambers St., but I guess their rent in the original building was too high and they moved.

From there, I made my way over to the Brooklyn Bridge. I spotted a tourist taking a picture of the Woolworth Building and decided to copy her, plus a 1-Up mushroom. After that I wanted to take a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge and started walking towards the middle of the bridge. Right about where the cables start to rise up to the tower, I realized that it would be difficult to get a picture of the bridge while on the bridge so I felt stupid and turned around to take the train to the South Street Seaport. On the way I noticed that the pedestrian symbol on one side of the walkway had its hand held out like it could be holding something. I waited for a break in the tourist swarms, quickly plopped my mushroom down in position, and stood up to snap a picture.

Determined to get a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge, an icon of New York City, before the sun went down, I hurried over to South Street Seaport and tried several times without flash. My mushroom was dark because I was in the shade so I turned on flash and tried again. This time the picture came out to be satisfactory and I was grateful that we can review pictures instantly on digital cameras. By now, the sun was approaching the horizon and I speed-walked over to the south side of Manhattan, by the Bowling Green train station, to get a picture of the sunset. It was too cloudy to get a nice shot of the sun but I managed to capture the lambent clouds. I spotted a weird statue on my way back to the train station and thought it looked interesting, so I took a picture of it as well.

On the train going to Chinatown I asked a man if I could take a picture of him with my mushroom next to him for my project but he rudely refused. Instead, I took a picture of my mushroom sitting on one of the platform benches. Once I got to Chinatown I asked a street vendor if I could take a picture and I ended up with one of my favorite pictures of the night. His pose was quite unexpected.

I walked up to SoHo to the Uniqlo store to take a picture. Uniqlo and Nintendo are both Japanese companies so I thought it was a fitting representation of a cultural encounter – two foreign businesses brought together in New York City. I trekked back to Chinatown to meet a friend and get dinner in a noodle shop where I eat often. On the way, I spotted a pair of lion statues and vaguely remembered that the Chinese believed that they would guard the entrances where they sat from evil spirits or demons. Finally, I took a picture of my mushroom at the dinner table. Everybody needs to eat some time.