Grand Army Plaza is one of my favorite spots in Brooklyn. Sure, it’s just a little plaza across from the verdant giant that is Prospect Park, but the arch is stunning. Enjoy your Memorial Day.

It’s always kind of surreal to see geese floating around like miniature ships and think that they can fly.

They’re just such big birds, it’s hard to translate that into an image.

They sure are majestic, even if they love the taste of human flesh. (I’m only half-kidding.)

Speaking of majestic…

Mallards are a lot more chill. Don’t you wish this guy was your pet?

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend!

These guys were jamming out at the farmer’s market near Grand Army Plaza this morning. Great sound! Too bad the second clip is out of focus, but it sounds rad.

So recently I decided to go absolutely hogshit on my poor, battered bank account and bought a Nikon D800. Last Friday it finally arrived in the mail after a few months of backordered waiting and I had to take an afternoon work break to rattle off a few shots.

I slapped on a nice 50mm prime, which — forum elitists aside — is my favorite walkabout lens. I have trouble justifying spending nearly $2,000 on Nikon’s best pro 24-70mm zoom when a much lighter, smaller, faster, and just as sharp prime clocks in at about a tenth of that.

What handsome coworkers I’ve got, about what you’d expect from an establishment like Vice. You know, I don’t even think I shot this. Looks like someone else managed to snag some inaugural shots.

Taking pictures from behind is for wimps. Men ask for portraits. I was so befuddled by the new rig that I got too flustered. Yep, I’m blaming it on the camera.

Here are some geese. What I’m finding insane about 36 megapixels (other than them melting my computer when processing photos) is how much you can crop. I was much farther away than this crop suggests.

Here’s a massive panorama that, leaning buildings aside, really shows off the resolution of the D800 sensor. Head to Flickr for the full-size shot.

These dorks asked for a contemplative band shot, and I had to oblige. Sure beat sitting in the office for that half an hour of wandering about. Here’s a question though: I know it’s trustafarian Williamsburg, but how are so many people finding time to tan in the park during a weekday afternoon? What a bunch of jerks.

Sundays are altogether too easy to waste. You wake up, yank the laptop open, and spend the morning looking at corgi pictures and reading news that doesn’t matter.

Which makes it so much better when a couple friend call to say they’ve got a full pot of coffee up on their roof.

It’s easy to suck back a couple-four cups while enjoying a sea of trees. You can’t get this in Manhattan.

After deciding our own roof was too bare — and pulsating from the coffee — we ended up at a nursery looking for some fresh greenage.

The problem with going to a good nursery is that there’s just too many awesome flowers and plants.

You want to take them all home. And then you see how much that would cost.

Maybe just a couple will suffice! Still, with a little home improvement and friendship, that’s a Sunday spent right.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is one of the coolest places in New York. Next to the already-awesome Prospect Park, it’s just one massive flora adventure that’s perfect for strolling on a weekend.

With flowers in full bloom, we paid a visit and, let me tell you, we weren’t disappointed. More after the jump.

As you’d expect, with the whole joint exploding in color, there was quite a crowd.

But who cares about people when you’ve got sights like this!

Lovely!

Imagine this shot with the girl on the left actually facing the camera and all the other bozos out of there. Walking on a carpet of pedals was quite the regal experience.

I need to work on these types of shots, but holy cow.

How’s that for a garden walking outfit?

The garden also has a number of huge greenhouses with different ecosystems inside.

The tropical greenhouse was pretty stunning.

Flowers are so psychedelic sometimes.

Case in point. This thing was massive!

These guys were called shrimp flowers or something to that effect.

I loved the desert section. Cacti are so cool!

Their flowers look like little alien spawn bursting out of their skin.

Look at this fuzzy guy! I kept thinking the pictures were out of focus, but nope. Just fuzzy!

I’m a really big fan of bonsai. It’s one of those thing I wish I could get into. One day I will.

Imagine having this guy chilling on our desk. It’s so cool, just like the rest of the garden. Until next time!

Some time long ago, during the first fake spring NYC witnessed this year, my good friend Michael turned 25. We celebrated with a rooftop BBQ that was easily the most respectable, adult thing I’ve done in ages. Look at how nice these two look!

Grown-up and happy. If that’s how things are going these days, I guess I can accept. Just as long as there’s grilled meat, that is. Click through for more.

It’s not often that I end up on the other side of the lens, but when it involves a hot, steamy grill, I can’t complain.

Brand new mini Weber getting broken in with some spicy pig. Around this time I set the camera down and settled in for a calm evening of friendship.

And then this happened! This adorable little pup was scampering about like a dust mop, and this gentleman decided to recreate The Lion King. Pure brilliance.

You had to feel bad for that poor prop dog though.

Imagine witnessing the entire circle of life and the universe in one ten second flash. You’d be traumatized for life.

Yeah, that dog needs therapy. Fun BBQ though!

Meet F.Stokes, a killer rapper from Madison, WI that I interviewed for Motherboard awhile back. I had a few shots sitting on my computer, so I thought I’d just plop them into a post for you all to enjoy.

And while you’re at it, follow him on Twitter.

As always, thanks for checking out Blackfaded.

Once again, it’s been an embarrassing length of time since I posted on here. Luckily, I love this set of photos I shot on an adventurous weekend trip I took in February to visit Amber at Yogaville, an ashram and yoga school in rural Virginia.

The crowning jewel of the Satchidananda Ashram (named after Swami Satchidananda) is this temple, which is shaped like a lotus flower. Click through for more photos of the place some call a cult. (Not that I would.)

The temple is a stunning thing to see in the middle of hundreds of acres of woodland, which were filled with trails for that we were able to stroll about on a chilly, overcast day. Yogaville is a 45 minute drive outside of Charlottesville. It’s deep country.

Fungi make me happy, so even if this isn’t the greatest photo, it’s getting shared.

Look at this fucking yogi.

Moss and what I think might be granite makes for interesting subject matter, although I’ve never really been sure how to take this type of shot.

This woodsy path reminds me of my time in Costa Rica.

What a lovely find!

Speaking of lovely finds, this rock was a gem. I was having trouble framing it with the old plastic chair sitting in front of it, but I think you get the idea. That’s the joy of shooting a prime (non-zoom) lens: it really makes you walk around and work to get a shot, rather than just standing there like a bozo zooming in and out.

One more for good measure.

This little cabin could have had some seriously Deliverance-style vibes to it, but it was actually chilling hard.

This was is kind of an isolated area, some industrious soul just wanted to make sure his work was neat.

Little statues like this one popped up all over Yogaville’s trails, presumably set there for reflection.

At the top of a bluff sat this shrine. Not a pretty day for shooting it, but it was cool to see.

The man himself, Swami Satchidananda.

This was hopelessly backlit, but it’s still a pretty darn cool statue (if that’s the right term).

This bowl contained offerings for puja.

This was the entrance to the main temple. Unfortunately we were too late to actually go inside, which is a double bummer because it’s filled with lasers.

Night was coming, so we scurried off before the wolves/vampires came out.

But I still managed to snag one last shot before sun fell. What a beautiful place, out in the middle of nowhere!