the photo shoot

This weekend, of perfect 70 degree and sunny weather fame, S and I had the good fortune to have scheduled our engagement photo session. We met our wedding photographer on Sunday morning at 11:30am in front of Pastis for about an hour long photo session taken throughout meatpacking and the west village.

Side note, I highly recommend this endeavor to anyone, single, married, engaged, whatever. Hire someone to follow you around and take pictures. Or don't hire someone and just take your camera and snap away. It's ridiculous amounts of fun.

Anyway, we wandered throughout the warehouse-y (what's left of it) parts of meatpacking and ended up on Jane Street, Charles Lane and Horatio Street around Washington Street. This is hands down my favorite part of New York City. The houses (and they are houses) are immaculate yet they still maintain an unbelievable amount of personality. The flowers are lovingly maintained by the residents and are just one example of how much the people who live here understand how amazing these streets are. This neighborhood is virtually untouchable to mere mortals making even a decent living (by New York standards). I continue to believe that these houses have been in families for generations, bought by enterprising New Yorkers many years ago, who paid $10 for a full brownstone because at the time, the neighborhood was utter crap. I like to maintain this little fantasy as it (1) lets me be ok with never being able to live here and (2) it makes for some amazing story telling.

I was not lucky enough to be born into one of these families, so my only connection to this neighborhood are my many hours spent wandering around, discovering its intricacies and history and now, these engagement photos. Some of my best memories of this city lie on these streets, many of them with S. It is why we chose this neighborhood for our pictures and when I finally leave here, why it will be one of the first places I come back to visit. And when I look back at these photos, not only will I remember this utterly blissful time but I will also remember why I love this city so much. And that makes me smile.