Mark Mckenzie is one of the top ice sculptors in NYC. Apparently there are less than 10 serious ones currently operating here in New York. To shoot, we met Mark at his small carving studio in Ozone Park, Queens and were enthralled to watch him do his work. We watched as he flowed between the many tools and techniques that he used quite quickly and effortlessly. 

It was also interesting to see Mark's freezer, where he kept many of the sculptures that he is currently working on. He had a bunch of ice carved Buddhas sitting in there. Mark told us that he has a deal with a top Japanese restaurant in downtown Manhattan where he supplies a new ice Buddha everyday of the year. Every day. He said he cant go on vacations because he has a deal to deliver a new Buddha 364 days a year. Quite the gig.

Shi Yan Ming was a pleasure to meet. He has been involved in many movies and productions in the past and yet was extremely nice and easy to deal with- even during the interview when there was a freakin’ earthquake! No joke, we found out later on that an earthquake, which originated in Virginia, had effected a lot of the east coast. But meeting Shi Yan Ming was great as he let us shoot him in his beautiful studio on the edge of Chinatown. Seeing a huge Wu Tang symbol in the corner of the studio was funny as well (the RZA has been a student of his for many years).

In The New Yorkers’ first collaboration with The New York Times, we were lucky enough to meet-up with a New York original. Mentoria Hutchinson has been working as a traffic enforcement officer in New York City since 1980. After being hit by a vehicle for the second time during her tenure, Mentoria knew she needed to find a way to stand out in traffic. She's been dancing ever since.

I’ve known Steve Powers for years and he never fails to impress or surprise. I told him that we wanted to do a New Yorkers feature on him and he told me to come to a new address in Brooklyn that I've never been to. When I arrived, I was surprised to see that he had set up shop in a 5000 square foot space in downtown Brooklyn. Even more intriguing, but in character for Steve, was that he had somehow convinced some community board to provide this space to him for free. Like the title of his book, Steve is a master of “The Art of Getting Over."

If you’ve seen it, you will know what I am talking about. Susan Gardner’s house in Boerum Hill is one you’ll remember. She’s an artist and has been working on this particular project for the better part of two decades. She told us that it has become like a community arts project, with both give and take. Kids from the neighborhood will sometimes snatch little toys and trinkets from the fence or the building, but the cycle continues when Susan leaves her front door and occasionally finds a bag filled with new items, anonymously donated to her never ending project. If you get the chance, you should check it out. It's at 108 Wyckoff street in the small Brooklyn neighborhood of Boerum Hill.

Creeping around on walls, doorways and service boxes in the city are Guess tags and stickers. Look around you. They’re there. They’ve been making their appearance for about two decades now. 

For some, graffiti is what they look for, for some it’s a nuisance and others never even knew it was there. But it is and there is a story behind it. There are zombies walking through the city everyday- people moving from point A to point B with no joy or reason other than that’s what they were told to do. For me, seeing stylish tags by someone who has been practicing their craft for years is another little reminder that we are here and alive and some of us are still motivated by things other than money.

It’s pretty safe to say that Sarah Petroski works out more than your average New Yorker. Maybe you think you’re in shape because you bike to work everyday or have a pull-up bar in your apartment. The kind of shape that Sarah’s in requires her to not only be at the gym every day but to dedicate her life to fitness. Unlike other girls, her role models growing up were strong female athletes like Gabrielle Reece. Beyond just working out, Sarah teaches group fitness classes, does personal training, and is a fitness model. With all of that on her plate, it’s no surprise that the longest she’s ever gone without working out is one single day.

For more info about Sarah, check out her website:
sarahpetroski.com

Being a locksmith means that you literally have the keys to the city. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with that kind of access, which is why it takes a very specific kind of person to be a successful locksmith. 

Trying to shoot in Phil's shop was no easy task. At 125 square feet, it's the smallest free-standing building in Manhattan, and as if that wasn't unique enough, the entire facade is adorned with sculptures that Phil created by welding keys together. He's been involved in the New York art scene since the gritty, underground scene of the 60's and 70's (Max's Kansas City, Andy Warhol times) through the gentrification and rebirth that turned lower Manhattan into what it is now. If you're in the mood for conversation, ask Phil about "the edge" (no, not the guitarist). Guaranteed he'll have a lot to say about the evolution of arts in Manhattan...

We shot with Colin Huggins on a scorching August day last summer. Colin is a truly amazing musician, much better than you would expect from a street performer. On nice days, he plays his piano free of charge in New York’s Washington Square Park for all to enjoy. 

We wanted to really get a good feel for Colin’s daily routine so we met him where he starts his working days- a Manhattan Mini Storage in downtown NYC. Colin has a system set up that he has honed over years where he wheels his piano down to the street level and then pushes this gigantic thing up 6th avenue, across west third street and into the park. Once he arrives in the park, out of breath, he must re-assemble the piano that has been taken apart for transport. Its quite a process and just one of the amazing things that everyday New Yorkers do. NYorkers.com was lucky to get the chance to ride along.

Celia's a dancing machine! There has been a common thread in some of Celia's best known work where she will do double-duty as both the star and the director, performing her own brand of energetic, tongue-in-cheek, and visceral choreography. We caught up with her during a commercial shoot for Aritzia, for which she was doing just that. In the Vimeo community, she gained popularity and recognition for her shorts "Prom Night" and "Audition." Both of these pieces are excellent examples of her quirky sense of humor, as well as her affinity for letting scenes play out in long takes. Celia's unique style has even caught the attention of some very popular TV shows...

At the top of a tiny building on an unassuming block lies the rooftop garden of Gordon Hawkins. If you were walking down the street in Carroll Gardens, you would probably have no idea that one of New York’s nicest rooftop gardens was lurking just above you. But that’s one of the many charms of living here. Unfortunately the house is being sold so we are some of the last privileged few to see it in full bloom.

Gary Arnold is the mad scientist of sound. In his trademark black t-shirt, his unkempt hair wildly sticking out in every direction, Arnold keeps nocturnal hours at his mixing board, creating mind-blowing audio mixes for movies, television, commercials and more. After 23 years of toiling under the constraints of various post-production houses, Arnold broke away in 2006 to become the owner and sole proprietor of Gary's Chop Shop, a high-end audio facility in lower Manhattan. While his manner and methods may seem unconventional, the two Emmy awards adorning his window sill are proof of Arnold’s genius.

Alidoro sandwich shop is a neighborhood gem. If you don’t believe me, the line out the door gives further proof. But if you appreciate great food, it's well worth the wait. These Italian sandwiches are pure goodness. Walter Momentè runs the place and is the maestro of what might be New York City’s finest sandwich.  Check out Alidoro online at alidoronyc.com/ and follow them on Facebook.

Seeing a fashion designer creating their line is more interesting than you might think. So much goes into the process and for a smaller, hands-on designer like Lindsay Jones, there is an insane amount of work to be done. Lindsay was draping and cutting fabrics by hand to the point that she started bleeding, which she said is not uncommon for her at all. I’m sure some designers could care less and it is just a business for them but seeing the time, care and effort that Lindsay puts in was refreshing. Her passion was obvious. We shot as fashion week was approaching so stress was high and hours were long. Lindsay says she was routinely working until 3 or 4am to get everything done in time for the show.

Rabbi Joshua Alpert, aka "Mr. Shabbos," is a Jewish musician and educator in New York. A firm believer in marching to the beat of one's own drum, he has taken to the street to perform his own style of Jewish music that incorporates elements of bluegrass, country, and Irish folk. Though his jovial personality and spiritually unconventional music raise eyebrows in the Orthodox community that he calls home, he'll tell you that if you care about what people think about you, you're never going to get the job done.

John Youngaitis is New York's only working taxidermist. He learned the craft as a young child in his father's shop located in East New York. When gang members started using the stuffed animals in the window for target practice, he knew it was time to leave. Take a look at his new storefront in Middle Village, Queens.

One rainy evening, we took a ride with Kellam Clark, an interior designer and artist who lives and works in a warehouse in Crown Heights. While we rode around visiting some of his pieces, he recounted stories about his neighborhood, his career, and his life. He's turned a warehouse into a workshop/studio/apartment complex, built doors out of reclaimed wood from dumpsters, and cohorted with the prostitutes that used to populate his block. Not to mention the occasional lawsuit from a client who didn't feel like paying for his work. 

On the way to his warehouse for the interview, he asked, "Do you like gin?" Before we got rolling, he mixed us both his go-to cocktail: the Aviation. Watching the process of making it was pretty wild. After the interview was done, he made Aviations for all of his crew and roommates, who then sat around drinking, talking, and laughing while his apprentice cooked dinner for everyone. Maybe it was the gin but the whole evening felt surreal...yet at the same time strangely refreshing. Moral of the story: you never know what kind of people you'll meet in a warehouse in Crown Heights after midnight.

If you're a young punk rock fan, you would probably give an arm and a leg to have been able to see the bands that Mike Joyce has seen. If you also happen to be perusing Mike's project "Swissted," you might have a heart attack when you see in plain text that all of your favorite punk bands have played shows together. Thus is the beauty of Mike Joyce's passion project; a re-imagining of old punk show flyers in the Swiss Modernist style. As Mike explains, though it's clearly not the grungy, anarchic style typically associated with punk rock, the Swiss modernist style complements punk rock in its similar rejection of extraneous frills and self-indulgence. "Swissted" takes the ragged collage show flyers and reduces them down to the line-up, the date, and the venue with a few simple design elements, allowing the audience to geek out on who played together and where.

New York City and jazz music go almost hand in hand. Since the 1920's when jazz was really beginning to hit its stride, the energy and diversity of New York has attracted and inspired many of the greats in the scene. Aimée Allen's contribution to today's scene is her beautiful voice and compositions, both of which draw from a plethora of influences, not the least of which being bossa nova. An attorney by day, Aimée moonlights as a jazz singer, frequenting clubs in New York as well as overseas in Paris. We had the unique opportunity to film a private performance of one of her own compositions, "Eden, Autumn, and Noah Too."

Being a cat in New York is a pretty simple life. Sleep, eat, lick yourself, chase the occasional mouse or cockroach...not to mention taking in the view from an apartment window. They got it made in the shade.

This is not your mama's sound system! Coming from a DJ/event producing background, as well as having a love of Jamaican bass music, Q has always had an ear for sound quality. That being said, despite advances in technology, most modern venues still don't cut it. Systems might sound distorted, they might sound murky, or they might be just plain unpleasant. It was for that reason, as well as a reverence for the history of Jamaican sound system culture, that Q decided to build his custom "Tower of Sound" right here in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Rather than mashing the full sound spectrum into just bass and treble, Q's system splits up the audio spectrum into 5 levels. What this allows for is unparalleled quality and clarity for every element from basslines to cymbals and everything in between. And I guarantee that you've never felt bass like this before!

William is neither homeless nor deranged. He works as a real estate agent and walks around in a suit, which is perhaps why he turns so many heads every time he enters Washington Square Park and is immediately covered in pigeons. He knows the birds, they know him, and every day during his work breaks he stops by to visit them. For the average passerby, fraternizing with pigeons is often seen as an activity reserved for the dirty or the insane. Being that William is neither of the two, the next most logical explanation is that he simply loves animals.

In New York City, when not in a Broadway theater, magic often comes in the form of street and subway performance. As a kid growing up in Harlem, Tricky Henry got his start in magic by hustling on the streets of Harlem and Washington Heights. He would make bets with random pedestrians that he could perform such feats as eating lightbulbs and then producing them, unbroken, from his ass. His love for being the center of attention and shocking his audience lead him down the path to become a professional magician. Now, he spends his days manning the magic shop at Abracadabra on 21st street, as well as giving hired performances. As he explained to us, "I think I have the best job in the world. I get to perform tricks all day. You can't beat that."

"They turn music into fire and then back into music." This quote from the late Lux Interior of The Cramps is one of the driving forces behind Blackie Pagano's occupation. For over 20 years, Blackie has spent his days repairing and restoring vintage vacuum tube amplifiers. Unlike many other areas of electronic design, audio (music especially) has been holding onto the past. The allure of vacuum tubes, an invention from the early 1900s, is their warmth and their mesmerizing glow. While modern technology is capable of replicating the sound of vacuum tubes, there's no replacing their look or their character. This is where Blackie comes in. Clients from all levels of recognition and walks of life have gone to Blackie to have their vintage amplifiers repaired. Though friends will drop by the shop from time to time, focus is crucial when dealing with potentially lethal voltages.

Making a living at writing and drawing editorial cartoons is no easy task. Imagine having to sit at your desk and crank out punchlines that you think people will like. Then, imagine having to pick and choose from those punchlines and create accompanying drawings. Then, imagine having to submit them every week with no guarantee that they will be printed and that you will be paid. This is the life of the editorial cartoonist, and stressful as it can be, when a cartoon gets landed in a magazine as prestigious as The New Yorker, the reward is great.

We met with Joe Dator in his neighborhood of Astoria, Queens on a Monday, the day before his pitch meetings. Fueled by coffee and adrenaline, he cranked out tons of sketches and concepts to show to The New Yorker on the following Tuesday.

Believe it or not, not every pageant queen starts as a toddler-in-a-tiara. For Joanne, the beauty pageant scene didn't enter her life until adulthood. In January of 2013, she was crowned Miss New York USA after having entered the pageant as Miss Hell's Kitchen. We caught up with her on location at The Carlton Hotel as she was doing a photo shoot in anticipation of the Miss USA pageant.

Dmitriy Salita, aka "Star of David," is a Ukrainian-born Jewish-American professional boxer. He is currently one of the top fighters in the world. We caught up with him training at a real old-school gym under a parking garage in Brooklyn, called the Starrett City Boxing Club.

Matt Baldassano is one of a very small group of New York City wine makers. Using techniques taught to him by his grandfather, Matt and some carefully selected friends make wine out of his Lower East Side apartment. The grapes are shipped in and the rest of the job is taken care of by hand here in NYC. For more info, check out  villagewineryclub.com

Warren Donner has style, and he couldn't care less whether you like it or not. But it's not just his clothes-it's so much more. From the yellow Corvette to the jewelry to the hair, Warren has turned himself into a visual masterpiece. If you don't like what you see, that's okay, but if you cross him, he ain't holding back.

Anonymity. It’s a big part of living in New York. Over eight million people roaming the streets of NYC allow the same people to pass you day after day without you ever getting to know them. The same can be said about the over 600,000 dogs in NYC. At a glance, one dog is no different from the next. Except Harry Grumbles. We recently had the opportunity to film with Harry and when his short, rotund body didn’t fill the frame, his larger-than-life personality surely did. Harry runs New York, at least in his mind.

The first time I saw Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens was in 2005 at Southpaw in Park Slope. It was at a record release party for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' new album "Naturally," and at that time Naomi went by Naomi Davis. I had never heard of her and it would be another two or so years before her first full-length would come out, but as soon as she took the stage, myself and the rest of the audience were immediately uplifted by her presence. Though the backbone of her music is religious, she's always delivered a message that anyone can get behind; the message of love. Eight years later, she's performing every Friday night at the Fat Cat in West Village to all different kinds of people, and every time I've been there to see her, her music leaves the room grinning.

Shooting with Sabe made for an interesting Friday afternoon. The heat and humidity was oppressive both outside and inside his Brooklyn studio but his place had a very cool and artistic vibe. You walk in and there is art everywhere- covering the walls, tubed up, and on the floors. 

We found Sabe’s work to be extremely process oriented and the process is actually a huge part of his art. Apparently he doesn’t like to draw or create in the traditional sense by just using his hand. So for years now he has been creating a series of different machines that actually create his artwork. I asked Sabe to explain some of his processes and below is what he wrote:

“Painting with compressed gas and a heat gun is thermodynamic art. A process discovered by accident. Once perfected, the procedure involves ink freezing, diluting, heating and coagulation. The end result is always random and arbitrary. The windshield machine was built with an interest in the notion of automation and involving robotics with the process of painting. The drawing motor equipped with a dimmer to control acceleration is a geometric pattern drawing machine. Velocity and angular momentum determine if the line drawn is a sphere or spiral. Sabe's art is interdisciplinary involving an understanding of engineering and physics.”

Even if you're not in the market for an instrument, just stepping foot in the Music Inn is like stepping foot into a museum, rich with music history from around the world. 

On a nice day, you're likely to see Jeff perched outside the store on a plastic deck chair, sipping coffee and watching the Greenwich Village crowds go by. He's seen the city and its music scene change over the years, from sitting in on sitar with Sly & the Family Stone in the 1960's until now. We were fortunate enough to get a sneak peek into his basement workshop where he's working on his own creation; a new instrument that brings the elements of tonally rich acoustic instruments to a volume that can compete with the hustle and bustle of New York City streets...