Senén does Writing: Sunrise with instagrammers

Big Apple 3 A. M. 

The day is Saturday and my phone alarm is screaming. It's vibrating furiously crawling away from the table, trying it's very best to drop to the floor and escape my desperate attempt to shut it. It's time to wake up and head out to shoot sunrise. I grab everything that's laid out on the table, glance at the MTA last minute changes and run outside, it will take me two hours to reach Coney Island. 

Arriving at Coney Island

The subway is full of people trying their very best to get home from last night's bender. As i'm walking by I spy a beautiful couple laying on the floor of the dirty subway station, the female is wearing a very short sparkly turquoise dress, one broken shoe and her partner’s coat. Her makeup is messed up and her head is rested on his shoulder. He’s doing his best to stay awake, making sure no one gets too close, he’s counting the minutes till the train arrives wishing he was home already.

 I am very tempted to capture this moment.

I reach my destination just in the nick of time, with the thundering sun rising over the horizon and the morning birds singing their song.

The empty Boardwalk

My friends are already there, further down the path running to line up shots as soon as possible. We meet up and spend the next hours capturing portraits in the emptiness and silence of the morning sunlight. The only people we see are early runners and elderly couples. We talk about how Instagram has changed and how we’re adjusting to keep things interesting.

Mr Phil Yoon

 It was a successful morning, some incredible photos have been shot and now the sun is too high for to continue shooting. We have breakfast together and head out our own ways.

Days like this have become a somewhat of a tradition in my life. Be it cold, raining or cloudy. The call to shoot sunrise usually comes from Instagram, sometimes a direct message sent by friends, other times a post that is seen by hundreds of thousands of people. The idea is always the same, let’s get a group of talented folk with a passion for shooting together. Let’s see the city from a different point of view and embrace our own unique weirdness.

This is not something I’ve done all my life. For the most part I’ve shied away from working with other photographers. I grew up in a competitive environment where every photographer was jealous of each other. The typical photographer wouldn’t hesitate to stab you in the back and climb over your dead corpse in the desperate attempt to land more gigs, or so I thought. Seeing them not only working together, but also using each other as inspiration and as photo subjects was something alien to me.

Paola aka Monaris

For the change of heart and convincing me to open my eyes I have to thank my friend Paola.

She’s nothing if not persistent, driven by a hunger of great things that is matched only by her heart and love for the people around her. She's not only a great photographer, It also helps that she has one of the most genuinely warm smiles I’ve come across

She told me about this thing sunrise thing happening in Seaport and argued with me until finally convinced me to give it a try. I figure at the worst I'll get a few cool photos of the city in a area I don't normally visit. 

Pier 17 swarmed by eager instagrammers in the morning fog

That was two years ago and I'm still amazed by seeing the relationships that were formed that day. I still look at those photos with a smile in my face. I've always been grateful to her for pushing me to go. It really only took that one meet for me to get it. Only the dedicated come to shoot sunrise, they bring a passion and for the most part an unique vision. It’s the type of inspiration that can feed an artist. Embracing the community has changed the way I shoot.

Creating moments.

I recommend to anyone that's on the fence about joining a meet to give it chance. Come to one with an open mind. It just might change the way you shoot forever.

Too many to tag

Senen Does Writing: Sunset with Marien

Note: this series is part of a long term project I shoot every year with my friend Marien. If you want to read on the others years, you can check the previous blog entry here

It was the start of another year and another excuse to spend a day with Marien in Puerto Rico, getting in curious situations while capturing images. This year we decided on the sunset. Looking for the dying sun as we tried our best to capture the magic of the moment, we headed for the private beaches of Dorado where our good friends Yiyi and Gaby gave us access to a serene beach which served as the perfect backdrop for the session.

This time I left all the lights and only brought a reflector with me that my lovely fiancee was wielding for me. It seems almost like returning to the first year, going back to the basics and enjoying the simple pleasure of the shoot.

In order to reach the place, we had to jump climb down a wall which gave us plenty of privacy except for the rare lone fisherman that was in the area

This year we had a curious visitor, we noticed a stray dog that was walking all along the coast. 

He was a scared guy that didn't let us get closer, however he got stuck in the area and couldn't find the spot to climb out. We stopped shooting and tried our best to help him, but the little buddy wasn't having any of our help.

Seeing as we couldn't really do anything without risking getting bitten, we continued our shooting while he sat near us keeping a nervous and steady watch.

Marien as always is a joy and pleasure to shoot and helping us keep the shoot as fun and light as possible.

Once we finished shooting, we tried our hand at directing our buddy out of the rocks.

This time he finally listened to us and was able to find the path out of the rocks.

The last time I saw him he was enjoying a victory poop as he ran away to other adventures.

Once the shoot ended, we sat in great company hearing and telling funny stories, sad stories and just hating that the moment had to end. Until the next one...