Gastartikel: Cory Maryott

Ik kwam voor het eerst naar New York nadat ik een uitnodiging had ontvangen voor een privédiner in Brooklyn. Het evenement zou een handvol fotografen samenbrengen en er zou een panelgesprek plaatsvinden door twee van mijn favoriete fotografen, Hideaki Hamada en Justin Chung.

Stepping out of the subway station on the first night felt surreal. The buildings were all so tall, towering high above me in the soft glow of the last bit of daylight. During my short three-day stay, New York was quite kind to me. I met friends that I’d only known through the web, who took me around and showed me great places to eat and explore. Thankfully staying at such a central location at 1 Hotel Central Park made it easy to bounce around and check out different spots all across the city.

I rode the subway and had delicious Japanese food in Chelsea on my first night, followed by a fried chicken and gravy brunch on the Upper West Side the next morning. Across the next few days I would be rushing around trying to take in everything and meet everyone, while eating as much as I could. I got to have amazing tuna poke and fish tacos down in Nolita, just before wandering around Soho and checking out all the stylish shops. From there I walked the entire high line from the south end to the north— and was thankful my hotel, and namely the shower, weren’t but a short train ride away from that point!

My short trip was really pretty simple. I spent most the time wandering the streets and hanging with my new friends, taking photos. The weather couldn’t have been better and all across the city, pear trees where sprinkling their soft white petals everywhere in the breeze. The city buzzed with a certain energy about it. Simply walking the streets in good company and taking it all in was enough.

Walking around all day got to be pretty tiring. I was so thankful to have a home base to return to each night at the hotel. 1 Hotel Central Park is filled with an abundance of natural motifs—potted plants, salvaged wood— it was the perfect retreat from a days spent navigating the urban landscape. My room was so comforting, at times it was hard to leave it!

Mijn reis is nog maar net voorbij, maar ik mis het hotel en de stad nu al zo erg. Tot de volgende keer!

- Cory Maryott

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Cory is een portret-, food- en lifestylefotograaf uit San Francisco. Hij is onlangs afgestudeerd met een BA in Landschapsarchitectuur en werd vermeld in Refinery29's "30 Photographers to Follow on Instagram ASAP" en in een artikel van Fast Co. over zijn fotografie van het nieuw ontworpen kantoor van Facebook.

Als hij geen foto's maakt, kun je hem vinden terwijl hij avocado's eet, misosoep maakt en/of uitslaapt.