Top 20 People's Choice! Thank you and come out and celebrate!

Thank you to everyone who rated me in the Artists Wanted competition!

I made it to the top 20 in the people's choice... Hooray!

Check out all the top 20 here:
www.artistswanted.org/exposure/

My photos, along with those of the other top 20, will be projected at a party Saturday night at Dubai. You should come. It should be very cool and fun! Info below. :)

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This Saturday, June 28th you are invited to the opening of:

Dubai:Brooklyn
http://www.dubaibrooklyn.com
Art : Music : Performance
Made exquisitely out of control.

Explore 14,000 sqft. of intimate spaces, interactive art
installations, spontaneous performance, a massive
dance-floor and perfected sound-systems raising the volume
on these hot summer nights. Over the course of the coming
months, we will be building and evolving the space with a
team of artists from Peripheral Media Projects/Ad-Hoc Art,
ArtistsWanted.org, The Madagascar Institute, 3rd Ward Brooklyn,
The Lady Circus and more. Expect a new experience with each party.

Dubai Sounds Like:
The heartbeat of the dance floor and the whispers of
strangers. This series will showcase the best
up-and-coming dj talent, live bands and unexpected
performance. This Saturday the music will rise from
classic 45s, to funk, house and electro-beats to a
special Space Hause set bringing in the sunrise and beyond
(expect to dance through dawn).

Featuring:
DJ Duane, $mall Change, Mr. Finewine of WFMU
and the Brooklyn favorite: Zemi17 and live accoustic
set from The Sadges.

In the downstairs Dome of Dubai:
The Amoeba Collective brings a full-scale gamelan
installation with dozens of instruments shipped from
Indonesia and the eery beauty of Dok on Therimin. This
set is something that needs to be experienced to be
believed. After, the Burning Man collective ImageNode
takes over with Morgan Packard of Microcosm playing
abstract and sexy live PA ambient electronics, Skillcrane
with live PA laptop and guitar duo loved by hoboes
worldwide and dj Borne welcomes the morning with a dub,
experimental, downtempo DJ set.

Dubai Feels Like:
That sticky insane summer party offering the best of this
city when all boundaries are abandoned. Expect a little
sweat, lust and passion plus a touch of heady Danger with:
roving gypsy cacophony by the beautifully fierce Lady
Circus; out-sized sculpture by Ryan O'Conner; the Golden
Bough by Project D. in the Arboreal Room; live silk
screen installation by Peripheral Media Projects; video
art by Sebastian Patane Masuelli and a double-dose
of fire from Squiddle and Mr. Kennedy.

Dubai Tastes Like:
Absinthe and hookahs, sweat and cherries, cocktails and
the lips of your next great love. Beyond the usual
underground party fare, we have upgraded our bar options
with a range from cheap beer to the best Absinthe in the
city. On the open-air terrace we will be serving high-end
down-home Brooklyn eats from the Urban Gourmet.


This event will also feature a special exhibition of the
20 most popular photographers from the recent Artists Wanted
Exposure competition. This showing will feature work from:
Scott Irvine, Ethan James, Qi Peng, James Mello, Amanda Wiltse,
Nevil Jackson, Pete Eckert, Brian L. Schiele, Juan Cohen,
Paula M. Grez, Janine Martel, Monica Hoover, Marianna
Marisova, C. Drew Taylor, Oluwademilade Olubanwo, Reka
Nyari, John E. Stevenson, Lukas Thoms, Kyle LaMere, and
Hilary McHone.

Dubai is at:
341 Scholes St., Bushwick Brooklyn.

Don't forget to vote!

http://www.artistswanted.org/BrooklynHilary

Still time! Vote daily!

I've entered a photography competition called Exposure and would love your help!

Please go to my page and give me five stars... (There is a people's choice award!)

http://www.artistwanted.org/BrooklynHilary

The ultimate winner will have a massive scale photo show and a cash prize. That'd be pretty cool, eh?

Thanks in advance! (And if you're a photographer - enter and I'll help you out too!)

I like this pic.

I took it yesterday.

The Moth StorySLAM

I've been going to The Moth at Nuyorican Poets Cafe for years, but now I have a group of friends who go (and some even participate) with me regularly!

Here are the girls, hamming it up while waiting in line to go in.

Kelly of The Kelly Project, Emily, and Jen of Writeous Chicks.



We bring booze and snacks, chat it up, and listen to great stories. I love Girls Night Out! :)

Lunch + Photo Walk+ Loser's Lounge = Fun Thursday!

On Thursday, I met up with Eric (one of my oldest friends) for lunch at Kelley & Pin. I had never been there. I had a Malaysian curry and it was way yum!

Here is Eric:


I then wandered around LES/Chinatown areas with my friend Thaddeus. We snapped lots of shots and then had dinner at Cafe Noir.

Thaddeus:


Other stuff:




(More pics on my Flickr site.)

Then it was off to the Loser's Lounge tribute to The Kinks. So much fun! I was stage managing, though, so didn't get to WATCH. Just heard it all. Luckily I get to see the show tonight.

Still tickets available - Joe's Pub, 2 shows on Friday and 2 on Saturday. Go! Have fun!

So many awesome performers and Keanan Duffty made his Loser's Lounge debut! I worked with him on the T.Rex Celebration in Central Park last fall. He's super-awesome.

Target Photo Center & Flickr

So my friend told me how easy it is to order photos from Flickr to be printed at Target.

I decided to give it a shot.

This is how it went.

Monday:

Placed order. Super easy! Just picked a set and moments later got an email saying they'd gone to print.

At about 9:30pm, I decided to go pick them up at Target. The store closes at 10, but the photo center closes earlier, so I was out of luck.

Tuesday:

Went back to store around 10am to pick up photos. My email confirmation said $1.60. The girls at the counter said $3.60.

I showed them the email and they shrugged, saying it scanned at $3.60. But I could come back at 2pm and talk to a manager.

Didn't have time to go back that day.


Wednesday:

Went back to store in the afternoon. No one at the counter. No one around to ask if I should wait. Stood around for five minutes. Grumpy woman returns and says "Can I help you?" in an annoyed tone.

I explained to her that I had come to pick up my photos, but there was a price discrepancy. She scans and says "It's 3.60."

Me: Well, my email confirmation said $1.60. There was a discount through Flickr.

Her: No, there are no discounts. 18 photos, 20 cents per photo.

Me: Well, I'm not paying more than what my confirmation says. If you don't honor the price, I'll get them somewhere else and you will have wasted money printing them.

Her: Okay.

She proceeds to take the photos out of the envelope and move towards the shredder.

Me: I'm not coming back her. I'm going to blog about it.

The blogging thing definitely didn't impress her. She shredded my photos.

WHAT?!?!

I kinda wanted the shredded photos, but I left the store, calmly. I was angry, but amused at the same time. What kind of customer service is that to haggle over $2 and lose what could have been a lot of business in the future? Considering I'm a photographer and all. And Target is right near where I live.

So I went home, twittered about it, and sent a reply to the original email confirmation of the order. I didn't have much time, so kept is short and sweet. (I also didn't know if it would get to an actual human.)

My email:
I just watched a Target employee shred my photos after I refused to pay more than $1.60 (total stated in confirmation) for my photos.

I'm upset.

Thursday:

I received a great reply from customer service at Flickr!

Dear Hilary,

I'm sorry that your experience at the Target store was so unpleasant. I have resent your order to the store and notified the Target lab employee that you in fact are owed the $2.00 discount that you received online. If possible please also print your confirmation page to show a supervisor. I recommend filing a complaint with the store's management. I have also asked the Target lab employee to call you when your order has been reprinted. Again, I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

Best Regards,
The Flickr Team

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Note: I haven't received a call from Target yet and haven't had a chance to stop by the store again. But no matter what happens, I'm appreciative of the quick response from Flickr. I'll update when I get to the next step!

Last weekend ruled, by the way.

Last weekend was super-social and fun.

In a nutshell:

Went bowling at Gutter Bar in Williamsburg with my friend Bill. We got there kinda early and got a lane right away. I won 2 out of 3, but Bill's comeback made me wonder if he was holding back at all in the beginning. Hmmm. I love to win, but only if it's fair and square. ;)

Here is my only photo, at a booth in the bar area...



I also went to the Bronx Zoo and to my friend Sam's BBQ, both to celebrate his birthday.

I'm not much of a nature/wildlife photographer. But here are some turtles. I love turtles!


And the silliest picture of Sam I ever did see:


The BBQ was in a community garden that Sam is helping to build up. Very nice space and I hope he has lots more BBQs there in the future!


After a very long, very hot day in the sun, I went back home instead of going to any of the big parties I was invited to.

On Sunday I had brunch with a couple friends. You might not believe me, though, cuz there's no photographic evidence!

Adn then I joined my kickball team, The Benchwarmers, for our first game of the season in Prospect Park! I seem to be able to kick okay, but catching and throwing? Not so much! But a great, fun group of people. Can't wait till the next game.

:)

Please give me 5 stars! Photo Competition!

I've entered a photography competition called Exposure and would love your help!

Please go to my page and give me five stars... (There is a people's choice award!)

http://www.artistwanted.org/BrooklynHilary

The ultimate winner will have a massive scale photo show and a cash prize. That'd be pretty cool, eh?

Thanks in advance! (And if you're a photographer - enter and I'll help you out too!)

Hip Slope Mama

I wrote a guest blog post for Hip Slope Mama! Just a bit about my photography and what I'm up to and stuff.

Very cool site with contributions from lots of amazing Park Slope women.

Check it out at http://hipslopemama.blogspot.com/

P.S. Park Slope rules!

Monkey Butt!

Look at my friend Raymond in his anti monkey butt powder commercial.

hehehehe

Mike Hedge in Brooklyn!

Last night, I met up with Mike Hedge in my hood. He lives in Cali, but has been traveling around a bit and managed to make his way to Brooklyn in the process.

We first met in person at the Sundance Film Festival in January. We're both kinda obsessive shutterbugs.

We also met up with his friend Marshana, who is awesomely fun and cool!

Here are some photos from our Park Slope wandering... (See all photos here.)

Marshana & Mike:


Mike lookin' tough:


Marshana playfully responding to our paparazzi-like behavior:


Mike & Me:


Mandatory jumping shot: