So, the last thing that happened that day, after the museums, after a nice dinner of Thai food, I walked back to my hotel through Times Square. I was tired enough at this point that half of the things that were happening didn’t even register. I shot just sort of habitually, automatically, but I’m glad I did.
Then, I plodded back to the hotel, slept, and spent two days at a hacker conference that didn’t have much to offer me. There was a nice 2-hour interlude at the Met Breuer, to see the Diane Arbus exhibit, which was super interesting. There was a clear delineation between the early and the late work. Like, you could see pieces, themes, motifs that would coalesce in the later work, but it wasn’t there. Then, suddenly, something clicked, and the pictures went from really good to better than anyone else ever. (My pet theory is she got a medium format camera and a light meter, but I have no evidence apart from the aspect ratios and grain structure of the different periods).
After the conference, I took the ferry to Brooklyn to grab brunch with a friend, and then went to the airport to catch my flight. The flight was over clouds until roughly Utah, which was too hazy to really see anything. Then, just as we were circling, there was a break in the clouds, and I could see the whole bay below me, welcoming me home.
