Yunding Ranch

Chapter 293 Freelance
On the other end of the phone was Fred who had disappeared for a long time.

After leaving the ranch, Fred disappeared.Lu Li came back to New York to attend the graduation ceremony before, but he didn't see Fred. He called him, but no one answered, so he could only leave a message in the voice mailbox; but after leaving the message, Fred didn't reply. After he entered that barren mountain, he never came out again.

It was a pleasant surprise to actually receive a call from Fred today.

"Your Facebook hasn't been updated for a while. Could it be that your ranch has closed down?" Fred's joking words made Lu Li laugh.

Then Lu Li joked back without showing any weakness, "I was still guessing if you were arrested to perform in a Las Vegas show. Now it seems that we both guessed wrong."

Fred chuckled, "Where are you now?"

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask you this question?" Lu Li left the subway station, but found that he was still in the area of ​​Greenwich Village. After all, he had studied here for four years, and his physical memory was very clear. Walking unconsciously will always come back here. "Where are you wandering now?"

"New York, I just came back last week." Fred didn't continue to circle around, and said directly, "I met some editors of magazines and editors of some websites. They were quite interested in my photos and hoped to invite me They take pictures."

"Congratulations!" Lu Li was really happy for Fred, "So you are now a freelance videographer?"

"Well, I also plan to open a website of my own, post my works on it, and record different journeys." After graduating, after a brief period of confusion, Fred has now rediscovered his own way of life and life goals. Everyone became enlightened.

"Like that blogger from 'I'm in New York'?" Because of Fred's relationship, Lu Li's voice became lighter, and the fatigue from the journey was relieved a lot.

"People in New York" is a blog started in 2010.The blogger is a young man named Brandon Stanton, who moved from Chicago to New York because of his failure in futures.He was impoverished at the time and decided to record some microcosms of the city with his own camera.

"Hi, mind if I take some pictures for you? I'm running a personal blog called 'People in New York.'" That's how Brandon started his photography project.

This shoot lasted for three years.He photographed more than six thousand people.At the beginning, the work was just a simple photo, and later he recorded the interesting clips in the process of chatting with people, and posted them together with the photos to form a short character story.

Under his lens, all kinds of people on the streets of New York are smiling, comfortable and relaxed, beautiful and free, willing to share their stories.They all have their own characteristics, their own style, open their hearts to show themselves, and show the fragments of the city of New York condensed on them.

New York is a very special city. It is not only the world's first capital, but also one of the cities with the most complex culture, the densest population, and the most obvious gap between rich and poor.Everyone living in this city has his own strong characteristics.Brandon's project captures this wonderful moment.

In October 2013, he selected 25 photos and published the album "People in New York", which sold 2013 copies in just half a year and topped the "New York Times" bestseller list.Brandon was also named one of the "Thirty World Changers Under 30" in [-] by Time Magazine.

The young man who was on the verge of bankruptcy caught the light at the corner of his life and became a millionaire.This is New York, and this is life.

Now, Lu Li compared Fred to Brandon.

"Ha, that's right." Fred nodded. "But now there are a lot of followers, and I don't want to call Brandon number two. I just want to record the world in my eyes."

"'The World in My Eyes', I like this title, I think it can be used as your website domain name." Lu Li expressed his support with practical actions.

"Hey, look, a reporter-photographer collaboration. How about, write a little bit for my website if you get a chance?" Fred extended the invitation with a grin.

Lu Li shrugged, "Of course there is no problem. However, you should know that I charge money according to the number of lines, right?"

Fred couldn't laugh or cry, "Don't worry, your manuscript fee is indispensable. But, is there any discount?" The two joked, and Fred almost forgot the purpose of his call.

After graduation, everyone went their separate ways, scattered all over the world.Not to mention whether it is easy to reunite, but everyone gradually has their own career and life, the common language gradually decreases, and the emotions naturally fade.Fred and Lu Li are quite special, they both became freelancers by chance, and the friendship between the two lasted in a wonderful way.

"I called you to ask you, Gavin Grand of the New York Observer, do you know him?" Fred finally brought the topic back.

"Gavin? I know him, but we haven't met him before. He is the editor of the life edition." Lu Li recalled it carefully, and then remembered the name, "He is a very interesting guy, the first thing in the morning. , must have gone for a stroll in Chinatown, do you know why?"

"Because you like Chinese breakfast?" This was the first guess in Fred's mind.

"You think everyone is like you, a foodie." Lu Li laughed directly, thinking about it carefully, he couldn't help but laugh too. "No, he went for a walk in Chinatown."

"Because he saw before that many old people would carry a birdcage, or put on a mandarin jacket, go out for a stroll or a walk early in the morning, and then sit in a nearby park and play chess. He thinks this kind of lifestyle is too It’s comfortable, and he can see different city styles, so he also started to learn.”

Lu Li remembered that the first time he saw Gavin in a mandarin jacket in Chinatown, his jaw almost dislocated, and then Gavin dragged him to the side to play a game of chess.

Mathematics is not Lu Li's forte. Chess, which requires calculation, logic, and thinking, is certainly not. As a result, Lu Li was killed to the point that he was left behind. The old men next to him laughed at him, "Throw away everything from the ancestors." It's gone." After Lu Li went back, he closed the door and practiced chess hard for a while.

"He's such a wonderful guy." Fred thought about the scene, and couldn't help laughing.

"What, you have something to do with him?" Lu Li brought the topic back, without continuing to digress.

"Oh." Fred patted his head, "Yes, he called me and said he liked my photos very much, and wanted to collaborate with me on a series to capture the life in Chinatown. I hesitated, Because Brandon Stanton has already photographed a lot in this part of New York, if I go to shoot again, it will inevitably be suspected of being repeated. I just want to ask you if he wants to ask me to shoot some, imitating Bran Den Stanton style work."

"No." Lu Li nodded in understanding, and then gave his opinion, "Gavin is a lover of exotic cultures, he always believes that the United States is a country without cultural background, and what he likes most are those with Countries with ancient history. For example, China, Egypt, and Greece. He believes that the things inherited from these cultures are irreplaceable.”

"So, he doesn't like Brandon's modern and humanistic things. He prefers the things of life, that is, the collision between culture and life. What he needs is uniqueness." After finishing speaking, Lu Li added One sentence, "However, these are just my own superficial understanding. I don't meet him many times. Occasionally, he will pull me and ask some weird questions about China. Sometimes, I couldn't answer it myself, I was really blushing."

Fred pondered for a moment, "Okay, I see. I'll have an interview with him to see if this project is feasible. He asked me to meet at an Ethiopian restaurant, which is really..." Fred couldn't help frowning, with question marks all over his face.

"Haha, it's very characteristic of him." Lu Li laughed loudly.

"What about you? Where are you now?" After finishing the business, Fred also said something politely.

Lu Li couldn't help laughing, and didn't answer directly, but asked in a mysterious way, "What do you think?"

Fred froze for a moment, "You are also in New York, aren't you?"

"Correct answer." Lu Li chuckled, and Fred's cursing voice came from the other end of the phone, "How about it, do you have time for dinner tonight?"

"Of course." Fred said decisively, "Why, you still plan to sneak back to the ranch without meeting me? I don't agree. Where are you now? I'll go find you."

"I'm here on Eighth Avenue and 21st Street." Lu Li raised his head and looked around, "I'm going to find an agency to rent an apartment here, otherwise every time I come to New York, I won't have a place to stay, it's really troublesome gone."

The streets and alleys of Manhattan, New York, are like an orderly chessboard. The east-west direction is called Avenue, numbered from south to north, from First Street to 220 Second Street; Avenue to No.12 Avenue, which is also mixed with a few avenues that are not named after numbers, such as Madison Avenue, Broadway Avenue and so on.

Therefore, when people say their location, they always use the street as the coordinate, and the positioning can be completed very simply.

As soon as Lu Li said this, Fred immediately understood his location, "Okay, I'm here on Fourth Avenue and Eighteenth Street, you go to the agent first, I'll go straight there in a while, and I'll give it to you when I'm nearby." your phone."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Li looked at the suitcase in his hand, and then at the bustling streets around him. It seemed that everything was exactly the same as when he first arrived in New York in his memory, but it seemed that something happened that he couldn't see. Variety.

Stuffing the phone into his pocket, and checking the directions left and right, Lu Li dragged his suitcase and started looking for the sign of the real estate agency along the street.

(End of this chapter)