Though I’m not a black and white photographer, sometimes I choose to pull the color out of my shots after I walk through the streets of New York. Here’s why.
I grew up in New York City. It’s my forever hometown. Though I haven’t lived there in decades, my life forever orbits around it.
I’m as close as the 7:55am Metro North train into Grand Central Terminal.
Discovering What’s Around the Corner
Many of the photos I’ve taken of the Big Apple over the years are simply the result of my commutes and what I’ve run into on the streets of Manhattan.
And I’ve found that more than a few of my resulting shots look better as black and white versions.
Prometheus Watches Over the Ice (2021)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Why am I drawn to the black and white look? When you think about New York City, what are a few descriptors that come to mind? For me, I would say:
Classic
Dramatic
Timeless
Gritty
And these are also some of the ways that black and white images present themselves. So, the visual and energy alignment is clear.
Better in Black and White
That’s why I occasionally feel compelled to click on the tiny black and white button when editing my New York City photos on my Mac Studio. (My tool of choice is Adobe Lightroom. It offers a variety of B&W ‘looks.’)
As a result, my selected shots often benefit from their visual conversion into the black and white universe.
Sure, they still look nice in color. I just like them better in black and white. It generates a classic timelessness about them.
Here are more examples.
Atlas Lifts World Cup Awareness (2026)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Scabby the Rat Protests (2026)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Morning Commute at Grand Central Terminal (2025)
Photo by Barrett Lester
East 63rd Street (2022)
Photo by Barrett Lester
48th and 5th Avenue (2021)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Smith & Wollensky (2021)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Bliss (2021)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Outdoor Dining (2016)
Photo by Barrett Lester
Follow Your Flow
I usually don’t go looking for photos to snap on the streets of New York. Certainly not black and white ones. They find me. And I often don’t recognize the opportunity to convert them to black and white till much later… sometimes years later when I review them again.
I’m not sure what that says about me as a photographer, but it does reveal something about my creative process.
We all travel our own road that leads us into inspiration and towards creative execution.You just have to go with the flow and see where it takes you.
Meet Mr. Tech, a robot and a time traveler. I invented them and then brought them to life in their own commercials below. But here’s their true purpose.
I had a mentor who once told me about her 80/20 rule when producing content. The rule said you should spend 20% of your time ‘creating’ and the other 80% ‘promoting’ what you made.
Leaning into the spirit of that 80/20 marketing rule, I’ve decided to spin up a few Gen AI characters inspired by my blog topics to help promote a few of my past posts. (And of course, by doing that, I’m instantly breaking that rule.)
So please meet my three AI spokespeople I created who are now starring in the below 30-second At Home with Tech commercials.
So yes, I hope you watch my above AI commercials and then read my blog posts they’re promoting.
But truthfully, that’s not the main reason why I created them.
I gave myself this marketing assignment, because I wanted to learn more about how to make these AI spots.
For this project, I used Google Flow (Veo) as my Gen AI tool of choice.
The Steps to Bring My AI Characters to Life
And while parts of my workflow generated cool, unexpected AI iterations, which I used for inspiration, much of my creative process still relied on this human’s creative vision.
And because this astonishing technology is still highly imperfect, I found a clear need for an organized process that would lead me to an acceptable level of creative consistency and output.
So, I had to stick to the following steps:
Create the characters and their voices first
Generate their environments
Then put them together
Write the script and figure out each shot and length
Be ready to adjust certain shots if they’re not generating correctly
Don’t forget that each failed video generation drains your monthly credit allotment
So allow yourself the flexibility to leave certain ideas behind
Give yourself enough time to account for platform generation delays
Simplify as needed
Though you can perform basic video edits on the Google Flow platform, I decided to bring my clips into Final Cut Pro for more advanced results.
I’m Learning a New Way to Communicate
None of this went especially quickly, and I found there were clear limits to what this ‘beginner’ could accomplish. What I ended up with wasn’t exactly what I envisioned, but it was close. It still feels remarkable that this is even possible.
And though there is some commentary out there about how AI may be taking away our need to ‘think,’ let me tell you, I had to do a whole lot of thinking with this. It was like trying to solve a puzzle that was regularly shifting on me.
Sure, I traveled through several phases of frustration. But I also found the process entirely fun and invigorating. I was like a Star Trek ‘Q,’ creating realities from the whims of my imagination.
Of course, I know it’s only going to get easier. Not only because AI is constantly improving, but because this ‘organic’ is learning too.
Radical Change
As I travel through this new creative process to visualize my own ideas through AI, I hope you enjoy my silly AI spokespeople and find more of my blog posts.
Saving time doesn’t have to be a universal rescue mission. It can be accomplished in short increments lasting just a few seconds. And the Shortcuts app on your iPhone helps you do exactly that by simplifying many of your screen tasks.
How many times a day do you tap or swipe your phone screen? One study suggests the number is over 2,600 times for the average smartphone user. Though it’s ten-year-old research, the conclusion is clear. That’s a lot of finger action… and a fair amount of mental work as well. Any way to reduce all these taps would be welcome, and Apple offers one solution.
Apple Shortcuts has been around for years in a dedicated iPhone app called… Shortcuts. You select from a variety of predesigned shortcuts to activate that will help speed up certain tasks on your iPhone.
You can also create your own shortcuts using a series of ‘actions.’ You can even automate many shortcuts to run automatically. (Yes, they’re called… automations.)
If you’re new to using these shortcuts, their powers enable you to combine multiple actions with a single tap (or you can also use Siri).
How to Set Up an Apple Shortcut
To get started in Shortcuts, you simply select the Gallery icon on the bottom of your screen. This brings up all of Apple’s shortcuts. Then if you tap on one of them, it explains what it does. If you want to activate it, tap on “Add Shortcut” or “Set up Shortcut” on the bottom.
After that, the new shortcut is easily accessible in the main library view in the Shortcuts app. You can also choose to create a little icon for your shortcut that lives on your phone’s home screen for even quicker access.
You activate the icon by tapping on the three dots on the top right of the colorful shortcut box. This brings up more choices. Select the drop down by the name on top and select “Add to Home Screen.”
Six Shortcuts to Try that I’ve Found Useful
Dictate & Share
There are multiple ways to dictate messages on your iPhone, but this as efficient as it gets. You tap the shortcut to begin recording, and then you can immediately start talking. After you’re done, you choose where to send your text file.
Email Myself
Though this may feel old school, emailing something to yourself can still be a quick solution. Once you activate this shortcut, it’s available directly from the ‘Share Sheet’ that displays after you tap the ‘share’ icon (square with the up arrow).
Directions to Event
Sometimes when I get in the car to drive to an appointment, I realize I need directions. Then, I have to open my Calendar app and tap on the address I’ve added to my appointment. This activates my Maps app and I’m ready to go.
But this shortcut speeds up that process by instantly pulling the address and sending it to the Maps app. (No more need to first open my Calendar app.)
Estimate Meeting Travel Time
Have you ever worried how long a drive is going to take depending on traffic conditions? As long as you’ve added an address and day/time in your calendar for your destination, this shortcut first confirms the future event and then calculates the current estimated travel time.
This is especially helpful a few hours before you intend to leave to see if traffic is already building up.
Share Location
There are several ways to do this from your phone, but this shortcut enables you in one tap to immediately share your location to a predetermined contact via text.
No need to go to your Messages app and choose who you’re texting. It’s lightning fast.
Play Podcast
Often, when I decide to listen to a podcast, I get a little cranky spending time after I open the Podcasts app to find my specific podcast, even if I follow it. If you have a favorite podcast, this enables one-tap access to it from your iPhone’s home screen. No Podcasts app required.
I created this shortcut myself by simply tapping on the plus-sign at the top right of the Shortcuts’ screen. Then I typed “Podcast.”
From there, I scrolled to the bottom, which displayed the podcasts I’ve been listening to. Next, I selected the podcast I wanted. After that, at the top drop down, I updated the name of my podcast shortcut and tapped “Add to Home Screen.”
You can repeat this process for as many podcasts as you like.
Be Kind to Your Finger
Shortcuts certainly aren’t as cool as what AI can do for you these days, but they do eliminate some unnecessary finger taps throughout your day.
Alternately, you can continue to take the extra few seconds to do it all yourself for each screen task. But those seconds add up quickly!
I do think proactively setting up easy shortcuts to help simplify your own user interface is a no brainer.
