Albany Weekend
I had a big trip this weekend! Last fall I was hired to do engagement photos with a couple that lived in Boston. The shoot was great and I got along really well with the people. They liked the pictures so much they asked if I would be willing to shoot their wedding in Castleton-On-Hudson, NY, just outside of Albany. I very enthusiastically said yes and made arrangements to spend the weekend. This was one of my last big work trips for the year.
I started this newsletter to document the fun little side quests I take when I'm traveling for assignments. I had high hopes for some cool newsletter content from this trip but unfortunately most of my attempts at adventure hit dead ends.
I will say this - Albany has great food. I ate at some cool vegan spots - Bar Vegan, Skinny Pancake, and Bitchin Donuts. I tried to explore a little bit on Friday but didn't have much energy left after the long drive and just crashed at the hotel.
Saturday I shot the wedding. It was a blast. Good couple, good venue, good second shooter.
Sunday I woke up and was ready for adventure. First I tried to find the spooky looking graveyard I could see from my hotel room. I had to do some googling and some gps hacks to figure out what and where it's entrance was. Unfortunately, it was completely inaccessible. Shut down, land sold to condo developers and unused for half a decade. I gave up and moved on to my next adventure.
One thing I had done on Friday was check out Dove & Hudson, a great used book store. I cleared them out of many of their photo books and chatted with the owner. He said that a friend of his ran a photographic center in Troy, 15 minutes north of Albany. He told me to call, not to look at their website because it hadn't been updated in years because the guy that made the website died (open this link on a phone and you'll see what I mean). He said they had an antique camera museum and a photo book library. Right up my alley! I had high hopes.
I had high hopes, and unfortunately I was disappointed. I entered and was greeted by an action figure of Vlade Divac. A good sign!
The first human to greet me was a nice older lady. I spoke with her a little bit but I couldn't really get a grasp for what the whole operation was about. It looked like a typical antique store, just one with primarily photo stuff. I was trying to figure out what I could look at, what rooms I could go in, what was okay for me to touch and look at. The woman seemed mostly interested in selling things, or she assumed that's what I wanted. She asked me what I shot on and what kind of gear I was looking for. I honestly hadn't really gone in there looking to buy stuff, but since she was fairly insistent I played along and inquired about a few items. She told me that she didn't actually work there, just was just helping the owner out and that I needed to speak with him for prices.
I went into the back and introduced myself to Nick, the owner. He was doing something with an old slide projector and I felt like I was interrupting him. I tried to chat with him a little and he told me that he had slowed down the operations of the center during covid. He used to put on photo shows and publish two books a year. During covid he brought in all his collectables, and acquired many more. That was why it was so cluttered. He also seemed to want to sell me stuff but whenever I asked for prices or availability he always deflected. I asked about a specific Yashica Mat 124 he had in one of the display cases in the front. He didn't seem to know which one I meant and made it clear he didn't want to go check it out. I asked if he had any 4x5 cameras and he said "Oh yes, many!" and he listed off a bunch. He also said "I don't know where any of them are." When I asked how much he was asking for one specifically and he said "Oh I don't know. These things change all the time. I would have to go online and check ebay to see what the general pricing of things are these days. Also my laptop is all the way in my trunk." It was clear that he didn't really want to sell anything. I inquired about some of the books they had in the front and he said "I don't know. Maybe some of them are for sale. I would need to look at them all." Again, I didn't go in there expecting to buy anything and now I was getting pissed off at how cagey he was being. I was ready to go. I asked for permission to take the picture above of the interior of the store "So I can show my wife" and he said "Oh! Bring her in next time. She can buy some of this other crap I've been collecting. Lamps! Perfume! Jewelry!" What a weird, kind of sexist thing to say. I got out of there pretty quickly. On my way out the lady in the front asked if I had gotten a price on the Yashica and I awkwardly said "Nope!" and left.
I called Lilly and told her about it. She could tell I was disappointed so she looked up some cool things to do in the area. She found some info on Cohoes Falls, a waterfall close by. I checked it out and it was fine. Looked nice but the falls are attached to the areas hydro-electric stuff so all of the photos below were shot by me holding my camera up as high as I could to crop out the tall fencing and razor wire surrounding everything.
I took the long way home through Vermont and tried to freestyle adventure but didn't come up with much. Found a cool looking flea market and a massive farmers market, both right after they closed. I just went home. Real adventure doesn't happen when you're trying that hard.
It was fine. Can't expect every work trip to be an adventure. The wedding went well, that's all that really matters.
Two weddings and a portrait shoot coming up this week. It'll be fun. The finish line of wedding season is in sight. I'm sure there will be an energy shift with it. More time for fun, more time for adventure.