V8 and NYC: The B Roll

When I go on trips or attend events, I often snap pictures and send them out to Instagram. It looks like I have a lovely life and lovely time, which, for the most part, I do.

But let’s be real. You get a filtered version. Literally and metaphorically.

I don’t post pictures that turn out blurry, that don’t look good, that have bad lighting, that were a great idea but poorly executed, that don’t tell a story. But I do snap lots of pics.

If you want to see my journey yesterday to New York City, check out my Instagram feed and/or look for photos tagged with #V8PowerUp either on Twitter or on Instagram.

But I thought it might be fun to show you what didn’t make the cut, because I either ran out of time or motivation (or both) or just didn’t like the shot. It migh give you a more accurate picture of how some of these trips actually go.

I present… The B Roll.

Up at 6am (which was really 5am because we turned the clocks forward) and driving to the train station. I tried to capture the best shot of the sunrise while I was driving. No lectures please. I was either stopped at a traffic light or removed from traffic. Mostly. And I didn’t even get a great shot.

Trying my best to make traveling by train look really interesting. As you can see,  it’s really not. Sure, I traveled through exotic cities like Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Trenton, but I just couldn’t get the money shot from the window of my train car.

Then it was time to personalize the start of my day by throwing in a picture of myself. So while the people on the train thought I must be very odd for snapping photos of myself, I took a few selfies. I picked the youngest looking of the three (on the right) and HEAVILY filtered it through Instagram. 

The train arrived at Penn Station right on time as just as I went out to grab a taxi, I looked up and saw this. I’m not sure what was more startling – a larger than life painting of Jennifer Love Hewitt on the side of a building or the words “Simply Irresistible” that accompanied the painting.

I entered Union Square as my first stop searching for the V8 bus and stumbled upon this cool statue of Gandhi. I was going to post it but couldn’t quite find a way to bring together Gandhi and Staples (in the background).

Then I found that party bus. It wasn’t that hard but you’d be surprised how dwarfed a big bus looks in the middle of Manhattan. Upon entering the bus…

I wanted to capture the magic of shoe shine. Brian and his customer Michelle were more than happy to pose for a picture but I just couldn’t make it look that interesting.

Then I wanted to show the massage chair. But I felt I really needed to bring you the experience. So for the sake of my audience, I volunteered for a massage with Robert’s magic fingers.

The only problem? I asked someone who didn’t know about the focus and light metering option on the iPhone. So I got some pretty mediocre photos that didn’t make the cut. But I still enjoyed the massage!

 Then we headed to Columbus Circle where I had a few more busts.

Like the butt shot. The lighting was all wrong.

And this beauty. Yeah, I was totally trying to capture the tip of my cowboy boot.

This statue of Cristoforo Colombo (didn’t he have a TV show in the 70s?). But again, lighting and stuff. Plus it looked cooler in person than in a photo.

So we did our thing and headed to our last stop – Times Square.

While we were waiting to embrace the crazy of Times Square, I decided to get my nails did. And it turns out that the manicurist, Myrdith, is actually celebrity manicurist and HuffPo blogger, Myrdith Leon Mccormack. And she has her own line of polish.

When we opened up shop, I decided to walk around Times Square looking for some interesting shots. And I got them.

I didn’t remember it being like this but Times Square is like the Cartoon Network gone wild. Everybody is dressed in something, acting all weird, waiting to take a picture with you and then hassle you for money. I saw a Mickey Mouse pull his mask up and I could swear he was a drugged up Mexican dude.

Parents – keep your children away. Seriously.

Then I thought, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

For these shots, I muscled my way into a tightly packed crowd of tourists in an attempt to a get a picture of me and my V8 broadcast all over Times Square. But it turns out the scale of that can compared to the scale of that screen made it a not-so-great shot. Instead, I got my head in the right spot and quickly portrayed myself as the scariest Statue of Liberty ever.

And after a pretty crazy day, I needed just the perfect shot to cap it all off.

It was getting late. The light was fading. My face was freezing. So I said to myself, if I feel compelled, I’ll just post later.

Instead, I walked 10 blocks to the train station, got a chicken and rice platter from a halal cart, and prepared for the long, uneventful train ride home (except for those two Germans I sat next to who chose to talk in German NONSTOP AND WITH NO VOLUME CONTROL.)

My stream may not always make sense. My online activity is sometimes sporadic. But my iPhone is always full.

Hope you enjoyed the B roll!