this is where i will mint all of my digital art purchase blogs as NFTs
this is where i will mint all of my digital art purchase blogs as NFTs
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Prelude:
My first foray into the world of online dating began on Thursday, October 17th 2019. I was 25 years old. It was the app Hinge and her name was Cayley. The date was scheduled at 8 PM. I choose a place to meet and communicated it on that preceding Wednesday. At noon on Thursday she usurped my decision making powers and switched the place of meeting. I obliged. At 6 PM Thursday night I arrived home from work to my studio apartment. I was a bit pressed for time, but absolutely needed to get a work-out in. There was simply no way I was going to show up to my first ever Hinge date without looking extra joocy. As an aside, I’m a bit strange and so back in 2019 I had a squat stand, with a complete olympic weight set and bench in my in my tiny NY studio apartment so I could do my workouts at home (this later proved quite invaluable in March 2020). I finish my workout at 7 PM and then shower. It is roughly 7 20 PM when I realize I have not had my after-workout protein shake. I down this. It’s around 7 30 PM now. I need roughly 20 minutes to walk to the place of meetup. At this point I’m a bit dazed. I’m nervous because this is my first Hinge date, and I’m a bit frazzled by how much things I had to squeeze in before departing. And then I realize. I cannot possibly show up to this date without getting a little schwasty. This is after all the first time in my life I am meeting up with a stranger from the internet. I have to take the edge off! Luckily, I had a Babe Rose in my apartment refrigerator. Why did I have a Babe Rose in there? It’s best if the reader not ask this question. I down the Babe Rose. It’s 7 35 PM. I’m ready to leave. But, uh-oh. All this running around, cramming in things, being nervous for a first date, downing a protein shake, and then downing a Babe Rose has left me feeling unwell. Well, next thing I know I’m throwing everything up in my kitchen sink! Oh no! Quite the inauspicious start to my first ever Hinge date! I recovered. I quickly brushed my teeth and scurried out the door. I arrived at the place at 8:02 PM. We hit it off quite well actually. In fact, we were the last two people in the restaurant prior to closing. At the end of the night, we said our good-byes, stated our intentions to ‘do this again’ and that was the last time I ever saw Cayley.
Write Up:
The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this photo was the book, ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby Jr. Why? This is a photo of a subway in Brooklyn. I am almost certain of this. The mood is dark. It doesn’t look like a conventional photo. Stock photos don’t have slime effects from processing. My mother would dislike this photo. The photo feels transgressive. If I could describe ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ in two words I’d use transgressive and dark. Also, the word ‘last’ appears in both titles. ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ also reminds me of a strange period in my life, but we’ll explore this eventually.
I debated whether or not to include Kendall’s entire description. I decided cutting out any piece of it would leave the reader bereft of the full picture. So here it is:
‘Shot on Portra 400 film, manipulated at home; no photoshop used.
I slow cooked this roll of film on my radiator in the middle of a snowstorm. I placed the film canister in a small jar, filled it halfway with apple cider vinegar and a chamomile tea bag, then put it on my radiator. I periodically took it on and off of my radiator for several hours at a time, over the course of a day and a half. After I let it soak in clean water for a few days, I developed it at home and scanned the images. Out of the 36 photos on the roll, I only really loved two of the shots, due to the extent of the damage from the soup.
There were a lot of photos I lost in the process of souping, but the two photos that did work out, made it all worth it. The way the blue/green "slime" effect lined up so perfectly with the windows of the train, blows my mind. It is truly amazing the magic you can make when you push the boundaries.’
My first introduction to any form of photography was through learning about Man Ray who was famous for toiling away in his darkroom mixing chemicals and exploring creative ways to develop his photos. Kendall’s description of how she developed this photo immediately made me think of him. Apple cider vinegar and a chamomile tea bag. How enterprising! I love the slime effect that resulted from Kendall’s souping process. This photo *feels *like New York. New York is gross. I say this in an endearing way, but it just is. Rats roam free, there’s garbage everywhere, and the apartments are old. What $2,000 per month in rent can buy here would shock you and not in a good way. Am I calling this photo gross? Gross carries a negative connotation and I don’t want to give the reader the impression I am being negative about the photo. I’ll call the photo magically gross. The kind of gross that is at the same time beautiful. If this feels contradictory it’s because it is. The beauty is in the contradiction. Kendall ends her description by declaring how it is truly amazing the magic you can make when you push the boundaries. I appreciate how with this one sentence, Kendall distilled one of the and perhaps the most important functions of art. Pushing boundaries.
The fall of 2015 was a strange time for me. The previous Spring I made the decision to return to school for my senior year in lieu of graduating early. To this day I don’t really know how I feel about this decision. My friends in college were older than me. After my junior year, they had all graduated and moved on. I entered my senior year not really knowing anyone. And being an introvert, making new friends has never been easy. On top of this, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be back at school. I made the decision to come back because I didn’t really know what else to do. I also wanted to delay beginning working full time as much as I could so school it was. It was a weird time in my life. I spent A LOT of time alone. I read a lot. I had a subscriptions to the New Yorker, The Economist, and The New York Review of Books each of which I read every week. I also read a ton of books. And that was how I stumbled upon ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby Jr.
I had watched the movie Requiem for a Dream the previous fall and was aware that it was based off a book by Hubert Selby Jr. Judging from Requiem for a Dream I was aware that Hubert had a rather expansive mind and a willingness to push boundaries/make people uncomfortable so I figured this was perfect for my next book. Keep in mind this book was the subject of an obscenity trial in the United Kingdom and was at one time completely banned in Italy. It’s a weird book. Moreover it’s written in a way that eschews the use of proper grammar. It’s literally and figuratively hard to read. I still bought the book. I wanted so badly to like it. To be able to proudly exclaim that I enjoyed it, that I understood it. I grew up an ardent rule follower. Reading this book felt like the antithesis of what a rule follower would do. To this day I love the feeling of rebelling against my former self. But alas, I liked the idea of reading the book. I didn’t like the book and did not finish it.
Nostalgia is tricky. During this time in my life I’m sure I felt alone. But, part of me longs to have it back. It feels false. I know it wasn’t good at the time but I still want to go back and re-live it. I’m unable to figure out why.
New York has been home to me my entire life. Brooklyn is a special place. I have fond memories of taking the L train from 3rd Avenue and 14th Street to Williamsburg to play soccer at Bushwick Inlet Park many summers ago. Of waiting on line outside of Output, the now defunct club which was very much a part of the Willamsburg scene back in the day.
I re-read this entire piece and I think a fair question to ask is what does ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ have to do with any of this? The best answer I can give to that is: probably nothing.
Postlude:
I’ll add this in the tweet as well, but I have been unable to get into contact with Kendall to congratulate her on the sale! I usually like to say ‘Hi’ and ‘Sup’ to creators I collect from so if you see this and want to tag her in my tweet on Twitter (@ckg_7) that would be cool.
Kendall Garrett is a talented photographer based in Brooklyn, New York
You can find her on Twitter Here
Her work can be found on Foundation and OpenSea
While you’re here, I host a Twitter Space every Sunday at 2 PM EST with Guido Disalle and Max. If you’re interested in Photography, come join us! We typically feature a handful of speakers and open the floor to the audience to come up and ask questions.
Prelude:
My first foray into the world of online dating began on Thursday, October 17th 2019. I was 25 years old. It was the app Hinge and her name was Cayley. The date was scheduled at 8 PM. I choose a place to meet and communicated it on that preceding Wednesday. At noon on Thursday she usurped my decision making powers and switched the place of meeting. I obliged. At 6 PM Thursday night I arrived home from work to my studio apartment. I was a bit pressed for time, but absolutely needed to get a work-out in. There was simply no way I was going to show up to my first ever Hinge date without looking extra joocy. As an aside, I’m a bit strange and so back in 2019 I had a squat stand, with a complete olympic weight set and bench in my in my tiny NY studio apartment so I could do my workouts at home (this later proved quite invaluable in March 2020). I finish my workout at 7 PM and then shower. It is roughly 7 20 PM when I realize I have not had my after-workout protein shake. I down this. It’s around 7 30 PM now. I need roughly 20 minutes to walk to the place of meetup. At this point I’m a bit dazed. I’m nervous because this is my first Hinge date, and I’m a bit frazzled by how much things I had to squeeze in before departing. And then I realize. I cannot possibly show up to this date without getting a little schwasty. This is after all the first time in my life I am meeting up with a stranger from the internet. I have to take the edge off! Luckily, I had a Babe Rose in my apartment refrigerator. Why did I have a Babe Rose in there? It’s best if the reader not ask this question. I down the Babe Rose. It’s 7 35 PM. I’m ready to leave. But, uh-oh. All this running around, cramming in things, being nervous for a first date, downing a protein shake, and then downing a Babe Rose has left me feeling unwell. Well, next thing I know I’m throwing everything up in my kitchen sink! Oh no! Quite the inauspicious start to my first ever Hinge date! I recovered. I quickly brushed my teeth and scurried out the door. I arrived at the place at 8:02 PM. We hit it off quite well actually. In fact, we were the last two people in the restaurant prior to closing. At the end of the night, we said our good-byes, stated our intentions to ‘do this again’ and that was the last time I ever saw Cayley.
Write Up:
The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this photo was the book, ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby Jr. Why? This is a photo of a subway in Brooklyn. I am almost certain of this. The mood is dark. It doesn’t look like a conventional photo. Stock photos don’t have slime effects from processing. My mother would dislike this photo. The photo feels transgressive. If I could describe ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ in two words I’d use transgressive and dark. Also, the word ‘last’ appears in both titles. ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ also reminds me of a strange period in my life, but we’ll explore this eventually.
I debated whether or not to include Kendall’s entire description. I decided cutting out any piece of it would leave the reader bereft of the full picture. So here it is:
‘Shot on Portra 400 film, manipulated at home; no photoshop used.
I slow cooked this roll of film on my radiator in the middle of a snowstorm. I placed the film canister in a small jar, filled it halfway with apple cider vinegar and a chamomile tea bag, then put it on my radiator. I periodically took it on and off of my radiator for several hours at a time, over the course of a day and a half. After I let it soak in clean water for a few days, I developed it at home and scanned the images. Out of the 36 photos on the roll, I only really loved two of the shots, due to the extent of the damage from the soup.
There were a lot of photos I lost in the process of souping, but the two photos that did work out, made it all worth it. The way the blue/green "slime" effect lined up so perfectly with the windows of the train, blows my mind. It is truly amazing the magic you can make when you push the boundaries.’
My first introduction to any form of photography was through learning about Man Ray who was famous for toiling away in his darkroom mixing chemicals and exploring creative ways to develop his photos. Kendall’s description of how she developed this photo immediately made me think of him. Apple cider vinegar and a chamomile tea bag. How enterprising! I love the slime effect that resulted from Kendall’s souping process. This photo *feels *like New York. New York is gross. I say this in an endearing way, but it just is. Rats roam free, there’s garbage everywhere, and the apartments are old. What $2,000 per month in rent can buy here would shock you and not in a good way. Am I calling this photo gross? Gross carries a negative connotation and I don’t want to give the reader the impression I am being negative about the photo. I’ll call the photo magically gross. The kind of gross that is at the same time beautiful. If this feels contradictory it’s because it is. The beauty is in the contradiction. Kendall ends her description by declaring how it is truly amazing the magic you can make when you push the boundaries. I appreciate how with this one sentence, Kendall distilled one of the and perhaps the most important functions of art. Pushing boundaries.
The fall of 2015 was a strange time for me. The previous Spring I made the decision to return to school for my senior year in lieu of graduating early. To this day I don’t really know how I feel about this decision. My friends in college were older than me. After my junior year, they had all graduated and moved on. I entered my senior year not really knowing anyone. And being an introvert, making new friends has never been easy. On top of this, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be back at school. I made the decision to come back because I didn’t really know what else to do. I also wanted to delay beginning working full time as much as I could so school it was. It was a weird time in my life. I spent A LOT of time alone. I read a lot. I had a subscriptions to the New Yorker, The Economist, and The New York Review of Books each of which I read every week. I also read a ton of books. And that was how I stumbled upon ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby Jr.
I had watched the movie Requiem for a Dream the previous fall and was aware that it was based off a book by Hubert Selby Jr. Judging from Requiem for a Dream I was aware that Hubert had a rather expansive mind and a willingness to push boundaries/make people uncomfortable so I figured this was perfect for my next book. Keep in mind this book was the subject of an obscenity trial in the United Kingdom and was at one time completely banned in Italy. It’s a weird book. Moreover it’s written in a way that eschews the use of proper grammar. It’s literally and figuratively hard to read. I still bought the book. I wanted so badly to like it. To be able to proudly exclaim that I enjoyed it, that I understood it. I grew up an ardent rule follower. Reading this book felt like the antithesis of what a rule follower would do. To this day I love the feeling of rebelling against my former self. But alas, I liked the idea of reading the book. I didn’t like the book and did not finish it.
Nostalgia is tricky. During this time in my life I’m sure I felt alone. But, part of me longs to have it back. It feels false. I know it wasn’t good at the time but I still want to go back and re-live it. I’m unable to figure out why.
New York has been home to me my entire life. Brooklyn is a special place. I have fond memories of taking the L train from 3rd Avenue and 14th Street to Williamsburg to play soccer at Bushwick Inlet Park many summers ago. Of waiting on line outside of Output, the now defunct club which was very much a part of the Willamsburg scene back in the day.
I re-read this entire piece and I think a fair question to ask is what does ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ have to do with any of this? The best answer I can give to that is: probably nothing.
Postlude:
I’ll add this in the tweet as well, but I have been unable to get into contact with Kendall to congratulate her on the sale! I usually like to say ‘Hi’ and ‘Sup’ to creators I collect from so if you see this and want to tag her in my tweet on Twitter (@ckg_7) that would be cool.
Kendall Garrett is a talented photographer based in Brooklyn, New York
You can find her on Twitter Here
Her work can be found on Foundation and OpenSea
While you’re here, I host a Twitter Space every Sunday at 2 PM EST with Guido Disalle and Max. If you’re interested in Photography, come join us! We typically feature a handful of speakers and open the floor to the audience to come up and ask questions.
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