new york – Ann Street Studio

St. Regis New York

August 24, 2015June 2, 2016Posted in Lifestyle, TravelTagged date, date night, datenight, hartmann, hartmann luggage, hospitality, hotel, jamie beck, kevin burg, king cole, king cole bar, kingcole, lifestyle, midtown, new york, personal-favorite-hotel, st regis, st. regis new york, staycation, stregis, stregisnewyork, stregisny, travel9 Comments

Oh the glamorous St. Regis New York hotel. I seem to always find myself here if it’s for a photoshoot, to film a video, attend a midnight supper, watch a New York Fashion Week designer shows, or meet a client at the King Cole Bar for cocktails. Nestled in the heart of Manhattan its unyielding standard of elegance, history, and hospitality make it the perfect place to find yourself for any reason. Having just finished a new redesign throughout the hotel the property feels contemporary and fresh without loosing the formality synonymous with its name.

When Kevin and I wrapped a very intense shoot out in L.A. last week for Volvo we decided to carve out some R&R time, and take a moment to celebrate how far we have come and what we have survived (cough, 3AM call times three days in a row). Since I went for days shooting outside with no makeup, dirty from crawling on the ground and sweaty from standing in the sun, I wanted full fledged romance with crystal chandeliers, red lipstick and high heels.

So we had a little staycation at the St. Regis New York with champagne and oysters, fine dining and dessert followed by sleeping late and lazy morning baths. It was heaven and for a moment, high atop a building in Midtown Manhattan, we felt like two kids drunk in love lost in a beautiful castle in the sky.

Above, Kevin wears his new Ralph Lauren suit as we arrive to the St. Regis with our Hartmann Tweed weekender. Below, I wear a Ralph Lauren white boatneck summer dress and Elie Tahari heels. Continue reading “St. Regis New York” →

A Hudson Valley Weekend

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015Posted in LifestyleTagged cooking, country, friends, garden, home, house, hudson valley, hudsonvalley, lifestyle, new york, newyork, reciepes, summer, upstate, weekend11 Comments

As we begin to close in on the last weekends of summer I jumped at the invitation for a weekend upstate shared among friends. The cool mountain air, quiet afternoons for reading and home cooked meals filled my soul and recharged my batteries. We stayed in this amazingly redesigned Catskills home where nature was the framed art and dancing light our whimsical entertainment. Now the only problem I have is how to stop day dreaming of this peaceful place at the end of the road between tucked between a mountain and a creek…

This summer I have been reading photographer Sally Mann’s memoir Hold Still. There are some books I read on my kindle and then some I have to physically buy so that I can mark them up, make notes in the margins and revisit or even research what I find among the pages. One of my favorite underlined parts so far:

“Because I am still that girl when it comes to developing film. There is nothing better than the thrill of holding a great negative, wet with fixer, up to the light. And, here’s the important thing: it doesn’t even have to be a great negative. You get the same thrill with any negative; with art, as someone once said, most of what you have to do is show up. The hardest part is setting the camera on the tripod, or making the decision to bring the camera out of the car, or just raising the camera to your face, believing, by those actions, that whatever you find before you, whatever you find there, is going to be good. And, when you get whatever you get, even if it’s a fluky product of that slipping-glimpser vision that de Kooning celebrated, you have made something. Maybe you’ve made something mediocre- there’s plenty of that in any artist’s cabinets- but something mediocre is better than nothing, and often the near-misses, as I call them, are the beckoning hands that bring you to perfection just around the blind corner.”

Continue reading “A Hudson Valley Weekend” →

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “My Lost City”

April 24, 2015Posted in New YorkTagged aerial, airplane, city, cityscape, landscape, Leica, manhattan, my lost city, mylostcity, new york, New York City, newyork, newyorkcity, quote, urban4 Comments

“From the ruins, lonely and inexplicable as the sphinx, rose the Empire State Building.

And just as it had been tradition of mine to climb to the Plaza roof to take leave of the beautiful city extending as far as the eyes could see, so now I went to the roof of that last and most magnificent of towers.
Then I understood. Everything was explained. I had discovered the crowning error of the city. Its Pandora’s box.

Full of vaunting pride, the New Yorker had climbed here, and seen with dismay what he had never suspected. That the city was not the endless sucession of canyons that he had supposed, but that it had limits, fading out into the country on all sides into an expanse of green and blue. That alone was limitless.

And with the awful realization that New York was a city after all and not a universe, the whole shining ediface that he had reared in his mind came crashing down.

That was the gift of Alfred Smith to the citizens of New York.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, My Lost City: Personal Essays 1920-40

More New York HERE

Manhattan from Above

April 9, 2015Posted in New YorkTagged aerial, B&W, black & white, black and white, blackandwhite, helicopter, manhattan, new york, New York City, newyork, newyorkcity, nyc8 Comments

Being a photographer means always finding yourself in interesting new places and having crazy new experiences. For the #TiffanyNYMinute we found ourselves literally on top of Manhattan in a helicopter to capture the opening aerial shots… and I was terrified. Though the view was so stunning and thrilling to see the city I know so well in a new intimate way I pretty much felt as if we would fall from the sky at any second. But then again, I have an over active imagination.

Though Kevin and I were mostly rolling video footage I did manage to snap a few stills with my Leica in-between the mini-panic attacks I was hiding on the inside. The ground never felt so good.

P.S.~ New York Helicopter allows you to charter a ride for photographic purposes where you can fly anywhere you want and direct the pilot to certain areas or buildings, angles, etc. They also have windows you can open to shoot out of so you’re not hanging out like these guys….

* Seeing New York *

* New York in the Spring *

* New York in the Fog *

* New York in the Summer *

* Fashion on the Streets of New York *

IWC’s Timeless New York

November 14, 2014August 2, 2016Posted in Lifestyle, New YorkTagged accessories, accessory, centeal park, choose your own adventure, chooseyourownadventur, instagram, International Watch Co., iwc, IWC portfolio midsize, jewelry, lifestyle, new york, newyork, portfolio, portofino midsize, time, timelessnewyork, watch, watches12 Comments

IWC has launched a new Portofino Midsize watch for both men and women. When they reached out to me to show me the new line to see if I could come up with a creative idea inspired by it, I kept thinking about time, having time, making time, sharing time. So I thought – to me, time is the most valuable thing we’ve got- why don’t we take time together? So how do you do that with thousands of people and one small city girl? Well, yesterday we had an adventure together on Instagram– I let you decide how to spend my day in New York City, the perfect timeless backdrop to a timeless watch design, through a series of questions where time was of the essence. You chose what coffee we had, where we found inspiration, how we spent the afternoon and what to wear to dinner and I shared with you in real time what I saw. When I woke up yesterday morning I didn’t know where you would send me or what you guys most wanted to see in our city of dreams~ It was a thrilling experiment together…

but most all, thank you for your time.

{above~ four of the new IWC #Portofino Midsize watches I rotated between on our journey through Manhattan}

8:34am

I thought we'd spend some time together today, in my city, inspired by the new @IWCwatches #Portofino Midsize. Every minute counts… stayed tuned for a "choose your own adventure" journey with me in NYC! #TimelessNewYork

A photo posted by Jamie Beck (@annstreetstudio) on Nov 13, 2014 at 5:34am PST

I thought we’d spend some time together today, in my city, inspired by the new @IWCwatches #Portofino Midsize. Every minute counts… stayed tuned for a “choose your own adventure” journey with me in NYC! #TimelessNewYork

8:46am

Film or digital? What should I capture the day with? 📷❤️ #TimelessNewYork

A photo posted by Jamie Beck (@annstreetstudio) on Nov 13, 2014 at 5:46am PST

Film or digital? What should I capture the day with? #TimelessNewYork

10:09am

Ok! Film camera it is! According to my ⌚️ @iwcwatches it's time for coffee ☕️ Should I go uptown chic to #RalphsCoffee or downtown cool to @Shinola??? #TimelessNewYork

A photo posted by Jamie Beck (@annstreetstudio) on Nov 13, 2014 at 7:09am PST

Ok! Film camera it is! According to my @iwcwatchesit’s time for coffee ☕️ Should I go uptown chic to #RalphsCoffee or downtown cool to @Shinola??? #TimelessNewYork

12:20pm

Here we go to the coffee place you all voted for! #TimelessNewYork

A video posted by Jamie Beck (@annstreetstudio) on Nov 13, 2014 at 9:20am PST

Here we go to the coffee place you all voted for! #TimelessNewYork

Continue reading “IWC’s Timeless New York” →

Meet Jasmine Poulton

September 24, 2014November 18, 2014Posted in Fashion EditorialTagged accomidations, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, ashlee glazer, ashleeglazer, chopard, collection, diamond, diamonds, donna karan, donnakaran, fall 2014, fashion, fashion editorial, fashioneditorial, gown, hotel, jamie beck, jamiebeck, jasmine, jasmine poulton, jasminepoulton, jennifer macdougall, jennifermacdougall, L'Oreal, L'Oreal Professional, mandarin oriental, mandarinoriental, MO, model, new york, wihelmina2 Comments

Yesterday we played out one of my personal fantasies of glamour and fashion high atop the city skyline in a Mandarin Oriental suite with our British Wilhelmina model Jasmine Poulton. We were talking about dreams, the way so many come to New York to find them or fulfill them. I asked Jasmine about her own life, what brought her to our city, a place where it seems everyone is from somewhere, and how she ended up on this beautiful fall day in front of my lens…

New York is a city of dreams…my New York dream is….

Leaving every other weekend.

When I model I….

Act.

The reason I moved to New York is…

To be free.

I am most inspired by…

Nature, music, love, a mind’s endless ideas.

Fashion is…

More than what’s current.

Women are…

One of nature’s greatest beauties & powers.

Continue reading “Meet Jasmine Poulton” →

Mandarin Oriental Dreams

September 23, 2014November 18, 2014Posted in Fashion EditorialTagged accomidations, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, ashlee glazer, ashleeglazer, chopard, collection, diamond, diamonds, donna karan, donnakaran, editorial, fall 2014, fashion, fashion editorial, fashioneditorial, gown, hotel, jamie beck, jamiebeck, jasmine, jasmine poulton, jasminepoulton, jennifer macdougall, jennifermacdougall, L'Oreal, L'Oreal Professional, l'oreal professionnel, l'orealprofessionnel, mandarin oriental, mandarin oriental new york, mandarinoriental, MO, model, new york, New York City, nyc, oriental suite, wihelmina, wilhelmina2 Comments

High atop Manhattan’s skyline, overlooking Central Park and the Hudson River sits the proud Mandarin Oriental, glittering in the golden setting sun of an early autumn day. I love New York this time of year, I love the fantasy of glamour, a world where fashion, culture, business and design all collide into spectacular moments. When I was young and I dreamed of New York it was always like this – overlooking that powerful skyline that still mesmerizes me, in diamonds and designer gowns. Here, model and artist Jasmine Poulton brings my dreams to life in the Mandarin Oriental’s Oriental Suite in Donna Karan‘s very special 30th anniversary fall 2014 collection (remember when I took you backstage…) and Chopard diamonds from the high jewelry collection…

Continue reading “Mandarin Oriental Dreams” →

5 Favorite Lunch Spots of Tribeca

August 18, 2014September 9, 2014Posted in Lifestyle, New YorkTagged cafe clementine, cafeclementine, food, food & drink, food guide, guide, kaffe 1668, kaffe1668, list, locanda verde, locandaverde, lunch, lunch guide, menu, mulberry & vine, mulberry&vine, new york, New York City, newyork, nyc, recommendation, tiny's, top 5, top5, tribeca17 Comments

We’ve been living in Tribeca for a year now – not that long, but long enough to sample many of the neighborhood’s restaurants and make habits of where we like to go most often. Here are my current top 5 Favorite Lunch Spots of Tribeca…

KAFFE 1668

coffee shop turned lunch spot

I’ve been coming to Kaffe 1668 for coffee and organic juices (the Brazil nut is my hangover cure) for months before I realized they have an extensive and amazing lunch menu with many of the ingredients coming from local farms. Their Alkalizing Salad with Quinoa is a weekly staple of mine but when I’m really feeling like an all-American treat I go for the Turkey Club which is TO DIE FOR. Bonus – your lunch items come with a complimentary tea. Yay.

Below, outside Kaffe 1668 in Banana Republic’s recent collaboration with designer Roland Mouret which made the PERFECT high-waisted pant I’ve been living in! The collaboration is mostly sold out online but can still be found in-store.

TINY’s

The little space that could…

First off, it’s pink. When you’re a building as old as the one Tiny’s hangs out in, you have to really make a splash to be seen. Even if the facade wasn’t pink though, we’d still know about it because the food is DELISH. Why I love it: Perfect lunch spot for business meetings or casual dates with a very ‘hip’ crowd…. and the burata salad with peach compote is on my list of “last meal” items. SO GOOD.

Continue reading “5 Favorite Lunch Spots of Tribeca” →

“Fly the ocean in a silver plane…”

July 18, 2014Posted in TravelTagged airplanes, atlantic ocean, B&W, b&w film, b&w photography, black and white, blackandwhite, fly, flying, freelance, journey, new york, New York City, newyork, newyorkcity, nyc, plane, planes, travel, traveling, trip9 Comments

“…see the jungle when it’s wet with rain…”

As I write this, I am somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and the United States. I always request a window seat because you never know when you’re going to get that perfect shot of the sun rising over South America or see a distant thunderstorm illuminate the horizon on your descent into Singapore. I was just lost in thought gazing out the window and thinking about how flying’s magic is not lost on me. The fact that you can close your eyes in New York and wake up in a world you’ve only dreamed of in what seems like minutes still leaves me in childlike wonder.

I ponder sometimes if the pace of our distances allows us more or less? What would Darwin have accomplished in the era of air travel? Part of being a freelancer is never knowing which way the current will take you nor how hard the undertow will be but I feel so incredibly lucky to have seen so much of the world through my lens. I haven’t yet figured out what the ultimate influence will be on my life’s work of all the lands I’ve seen, and to be honest I am still exploring…it’s true what they say: “The more I travel, the less I know.”

Cover image originally from HERE

Second image is flying out from New York

Why do we look at photographs?

July 14, 2014Posted in New YorkTagged B&W, b&w film, b&wfilm, black and white, blackandwhite, film, franklin, franklin street, franklinstreet, hasselblad, iheartny, new york, New York City, newyork, newyorkcity, nyc, tri-x, tribeca14 Comments

A photograph is a moment of our time in life, a brief slice of happening. It’s the capturing of a memory, holding far more detail than we can ever comprehend…the way the light looked, the way it felt to be there. Sometimes, if the photograph is good enough, you can smell the air, feel it along your skin.

You can look at a good photograph and feel it come alive, the image dancing into a mirage of your memories – are they real? are they fact? – blurring the lines between what is my remembering and what is yours, what is a dream and what is your own reality.

I’ve been here before…or have I? I look at this photograph and I hear my heels click on the cobblestone walkway. I am sure I was here. In heels? Perhaps not…that’s something I’ve only dreamt about.

Donna Karan in 15 Seconds

May 22, 2014June 3, 2017Posted in VideoTagged 150fps, donna karan, fashion, fw15s, new york, nyc, video2 Comments

To celebrate Donna Karan’s 30th anniversary show the fashion community traveled to one of the oldest parts of Manhattan, to a financial district building now unused, layered in history, but primed for reinvention as Manhattan itself does on a constant, noisy basis. A footnote of that building’s history unfolded with a runway show by one of the city’s most iconic designers in a collection of aggresive reds and blacks, paired with a soundtrack that intensified the visuals. This is Donna Karan F/W 2014, shot last February at New York Fashion Week.

More Fashion Week 15 Seconds Videos on our Vimeo channel.

Backstage at Donna Karan

May 21, 2014May 22, 2014Posted in Fashion ReportageTagged donna karan, donnakaran, fall winter 2014, fashion, fashion reportage, fashion week, fw14, mbnyfw, new york, New York City, newyork, nyc, nyfw, reportage2 Comments

New York, New York…

~From the New York Fashion Week Archive~

The city pulsed in every beat at the 30th anniversary Donna Karan show. And why shouldn’t it? New York City has always been the heart of Donna Karan’s work, and this season it serves as the main inspiration. Set in a building along the New York Stock Exchange, the city’s ceaseless motion, glistening lights, and sleek skyline were all captured in the simply luxurious pieces that came down the runway.

These pieces only further served what we all already know – that Donna Karan may be inspired by the city, but she designs for the women in it. “Thirty years later, I see style as an evolution, a unique reflection of who you are, where you’ve been and where you are going,” she said.

In New York City or out of it, we’ll be going with you, Donna…congratulations on 30 wonderful years…

Continue reading “Backstage at Donna Karan” →

Kingston Wine Co.

May 5, 2014May 5, 2014Posted in LifestyleTagged 19th century, food, Glass and Loaf, Jean-Siméon Chardin, kingston, kingston wine co., lifestyle, mike drapkin, new york, painting, still life, Still Life with Bottle, stilllife, theresa drapkin, wine, wine share2 Comments

Some years ago, I made friends with a couple of charming New Yorkers – Mike Drapkin and Theresa Berenato – who have started a new chapter in their life since getting married: Kingston Wine Co, a charming wine store in upstate New York, just on the other side of the Hudson River from Rhinebeck. I am dying to get up to the shop and see what these two amazing souls have created but in the meantime while we entertain our busy lives, we are enjoying Kingston Wine Co.’s wine share program. This amazing package of wine that gets delivered by mail to you, curated by Mike himself (which, if you know Mike, you know he lived on a farm in southern France and worked as sommelier for a decade in places like Balthazar and Vestry Wines in Tribeca, so you KNOW it’s going to be good). Included in the package is the history of the wine, its grower’s story and a recipe suggestion by Mike and Theresa to enhance the experience of the wine. We love it. So cheers to you, friends, and thank you for the little package of love that arrives each month…I HIGHLY recommend it.

PS- Remember when I photographed Theresa in gowns? or when Mike made recipes for the blog?

photographic recreation of Jean-Siméon Chardin’s still life “Still Life with Bottle, Glass, and Loaf“