Posts filed under travel

hey there it's hal

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hello izzy's fans, its Hal here - her super cool english friend from a little rural corner of an already little country - she has asked me to write a blog post for her which ofc i said i would because i love her work aaaand shes super rad. it won't be easy however sticking to her consistent format of inconsistent punctuation but i'll give it a shot. 

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so yeah i'm an englishmen living and working in england amongst fields and trees and sheep etc etc which sounds pretty boring i know and.. well it is frequently uneventful but i find ways to pass the time. for example i post to instagram a lottt (@hal_ellis_davis) and because i'm super cool i usually have art and photography projects lined up to fill up my time. (to give you an idea just how cool, i am currently wearing a herschel cap backwards and drinking black tea and listening to red velvet so .. can you even deal).

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i'm a freelance photographer but recently i've been keeping my commissions to a minimum as i have just started university *pokey out tongue emoji* which is very exciting - last week i made an post modernist installation of defaced frank lloyd write books and fabric vegetables - university is what you make of it right?!

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anyway the maaaaain subject of my post is that i am finally leaving the confines of europe in two weeks, something i haven't actually done before! and i'm not just going anywhere i'm coming to N Y C !!! superrrr pumped of course. not just because new york and the steam system but also i am spending the whole day with miss rael and also also it's halloween! so below are some examples of what i hope to see and do whilst in the concrete jungle (where dreams are made of) with some inspo photos i've swooned over these past few years.

 

1. go up the rock. for obvious reasons. its pretty cool.

photo from google images

photo from google images

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2. shoot the might of the brooklyn bridge.

photo by chris ozer

photo by chris ozer

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3. die inside the apartment by the line, or stake it out, i haven't decided which yet.

photos from google images

photos from google images

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4. catch an autumnal NYC sunset.

photo from gabriel flores

photo from gabriel flores

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5. grab some lattes or teas or smth at Happy Bones.

images via trotter mag / stefan karlstrom

images via trotter mag / stefan karlstrom

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6. check out chinatown from the manhattan bridge. 

photo by chris ozer

photo by chris ozer

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7. admire the west village in a decorated halloween-ey state.

photo from google image

photo from google image

and then number 8 was a photo of central park in autumn but it was taking years to upload and also my mum wanted to use the computer and also also it wasn't my favourite photo of the leaves anyway. ANYWAY i can't wait to get to new york and see izzy and see all this cool stuff and take photos of it.

peace out, Hal

x

Posted on October 17, 2015 and filed under travel, blah blah blah, i take photos.

scandinavia

moderna museet in stockholm, sweden

skogskyrkogården in stockholm, sweden

the cabin at the treehotel, northern sweden

the morning of our departure from northern sweden

moderna museet in stockholm, sweden

"stop smiling!"

a live art piece. good thing they had clothes on...

a wall in helsinki, finland

i didn't really realize how far behind i am on my summer school work. it's okay i guess– i can figure it out, but i'm trying to enjoy the summer as much as i possibly can. quite easy for me to do at the moment. 

we've been in scandinavia for about a week now with one week left in copenhagen and stockholm (again). it's been a pretty amazing experience. my mom, q and i have found such cool things just walking around these tremendously beautiful cities. i did not want to bombard you, reader, with so many photographs at once; however, i have uploaded all of my favorites to my portfolio:

stockholm day 01, stockholm day 02, northern sweden day 01, northern sweden day 02, and helsinki

for those who live in these areas or who are thinking of traveling to scandanavia, i compiled a list of places that we went (that i hope you can check out + enjoy) (list will be updated when we visit copenhagen!):

stockholm–

  • moderna museet (museum of modern art)
  • pärlans (homemade caramel shop)
  • järna (flower shop @ hornsbrukgatan 24)
  • talent gallery (print shop)
  • arkitektur och designcentrum (architecture/design museum)
  • hammarby sjöstad observatorium (water landscape)
  • gro (small, set-menu restaurant)
  • lilla ego (restaurant)
  • oaxen slip (restaurant)

helsinki–

  • urban a (clothing store)
  • vitra store (furniture [!])
  • pino (modern trinkets)
  • plootu (coffee shop)
  • formverk (furniture)
  • pastor (asian fusion restaurant)

happy summer, everyone.

 

Posted on August 23, 2015 and filed under travel, i take photos.

while i'm gone

[shots from plant food and wine]

the past couple of days have been spent relaxing in los angeles. emphasis on the relaxing. i've been enjoying it tremendously. we're home for about 31 hours before we make our connecting flight to london and then to stockholm early in the morning. there are no words to describe how much i'm looking forward to our scandinavia trip; however, i'm a little tired. 

it's always worth it though. traveling.

this was a small check-in before things start picking up again. you'll hear from me next in europe!

have a great thursday, everyone.

Posted on August 13, 2015 and filed under travel, i share stuff, i take photos.

things i've learned + jazz camp

unfortunately, i didn't take many pictures at campus, so you're going to have to deal with more portland photographs (disgusting, i know...)

i was pretty weary of going to camp; but, what's new? i'm pretty weary about doing anything.

so that small worry that started on monday grew like an epidemic until wednesday and most likely caused all of the innumerable health issues i had this week.

i don't even know what i was worrying about. probably stuff i shouldn't be worrying about... like always.

but despite the fact that this flaw pretty much f*cked up most of my week, i learned some things too. 

and trust me, camp was in so many ways more awesome than it was stressful (as i believed i've accidentally implied above).

i've learned that (music-wise + life-wise) 

...practicing for 15 minutes every day can get you places (even if that is all you can fit into your terrible high school schedule)
...worrying = terrible thing to put yourself through. don't do it.
...at the end of day (literally at the end of the day for campers), you just have to let go and some of your best sounds and music will become of it. (reiterating the "stress = bad" logic)
...the people that you meet now could be the people you'll encounter (probably in new york city) later (and you'll probably have to host some of them. i'm getting ready now!!)
...listening to depressing music at dinner can make you feel like crap for a few long minutes, but can actually urge you to play better throughout the night (who knew?!)
...talking to new people = fantastic

while all of these things pretty much apply to me and jazz camp, if you take them out of context, they are relevant to every-day-social-life-things-you-should-be-doing-anyway qualities. so this applies to everyone.


so to wrap this all up, i'm going to share my favorite albums and selective songs from the slowly rising jazz world for all of my new camp followers out there (and to my already existing ones, of course). au revoir for now.

 

songs from the analog playground - charlie hunter quartet

favorite songs/ mitch better have my bunny, percussion shuffle, creol


 

fact finding mission - trichotomy

favorite songs/ strom, fact finding mission


 

the gentle war - trichotomy

favorite songs/ chase, wrestle, cute


 

the house that trane built - various artists

favorite songs/ stolen moments, alamode, hard work

 

have a great week, everyone!

Posted on July 26, 2015 and filed under travel, blah blah blah, i share stuff, i take photos.

guana

as many of you know, last weekend my family and i took a trip to the british virgin islands, a set of small islands near san juan. it's been wicked cold in the nyc. last week it was 9˚F, so it was nice to add a zero to the end of that number...

it was the first time i've ever seen waters so clear and blue. yes, i've been to the beach multiple times (thanks, cali), but to see water to pure was probably like seeing snow for the first time. it seems almost impossible. there was plenty of fruit-eating, sun-bathing, and sleeping. sleeping in has never felt so good. 

there was rain, but it was beautiful. it was the type of rain that you can swim in because it's so warm and soft. there was something about this place that made me tranquil, and i don't think i have ever had such an experience like that before. 

next week, exams start, so i guess this trip was a stress-reliever of sorts. i'm looking forward to that. not. 

have a lovely weekend everyone!

Posted on February 21, 2015 and filed under travel, videos!!!, i take photos.

PDX

grapefruit rose + passionfruit-sichuan peppercorn sorbets at fifty licks 

papa + q

farm cabbage 

farmer girl

one of five dishes on the vegetarian tasting menu at racion

capturing light

downtown.

the berries we picked

book selection at table of contents

pick-your-own sunflowers

table of contents #selfie

well. it's been a great 10 days here in oregon with my family, and at jazz camp.

i've made relationships with people i will never let go of, and i'm one step closer to becoming an even better musician.

i finally made my way to fifty licks, a super small batch hip ice cream parlor in portland. they have a lemon-saffron sorbet cocktail with shiso leaf. (6 more years. 6 more years...)

we went berry picking at sauvie island farms. you can't really get a real farm experience in new york, right? i probably ate about 2 pounds of blueberries and golden raspberries. the aches were worth it. plus we got to sit in a vegetable cart. win.

while we were in downtown, portland, we made our way to clyde common in the ace hotel for brunch. and stopped to peek around the little shops around the area. 

the coolest shop of them all, which wasn't actually located downtown, was table of contents. it was so beautiful i wanted to cry. i was going to buy a pair of maison margiela hammer pants, but apparently "they are cool, but not cool enough for you", according to my mom. eh. fine.

we went to ración last night. my first tasting menu, and definitely not my last. it was good. great. fantastic??? right. it was the perfect finish to the end of our trip here in oregon.

i won't ever forget this one.

Posted on August 16, 2014 and filed under travel, i take photos.

only in brooklyn

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yesterday (or a few weeks ago), we took a trip to williamsburg, brooklyn (aka the most hipster-y hipster place that i know in all of new york). if i could live anywhere else in the city, it would be here. 

first, we headed to breakfast; to a spot you’ve most likely have already spotted on this blog.

its name: reynard , [and to this day, it’s my (second) favorite brunch spot]. 
its location: the wythe hotel on none other than wythe street on the outskirts of williamsburg. 

any place with a choice of steel cut oatmeal for brunch is bumped up to the top of my favorites list. it just so happened that reynard is one of them, and i got just that. mmmm, creamy steel cut oatmeal with sautéed apples and cinnamon. even though we could easily make this at home, it was completely worth every penny.

after our beautiful, sun-lit breakfast, we made our way to the heart of williamsburg, where we visited a few of my favorite spots:

i think i will be coming here again, to explore new places. until then, stay tuned.

 

Posted on February 2, 2014 and filed under travel, i take photos.