Andrew James is back in New York City, throwing a ball against the wall and thinking through his next move. He left during COVID after a couple of years in the city between 2019 and the end of 2020, and now, at 22, he has returned to the place where his filmmaking life first took shape. The apartment is modest: a kitchenette, a couch for guests who want to crash, a closet, and a loft upstairs where a small TV keeps him company at night. It is enough.
A matcha for nine dollars and a terrible egg
The first thing Andrew does each morning is make a matcha and cook breakfast. On the day his friend Preston visits, that means avocado, what Andrew calls his famous hash browns, and, by his own admission, ‘the worst egg ever cooked by any human ever.’ The matcha itself is a recurring pleasure with a recurring complaint: a matcha latte in New York runs about nine dollars, which he finds quietly outrageous. The meal is unpretentious and the company is easy, and it sets the rhythm for a day that moves between old haunts and new technology.
Andrew works as a freelance filmmaker, specializing in premium travel content for tourism boards and hotels. Much of that work runs through a company called Beautiful Destinations. He was an intern there at 17, walking up to the rotating doors of the old office on his first day feeling sick with nerves. Everyone inside, he recalls, was cool and calm, and the anxiety dissolved. The best part of that stint was sharing a workspace with seven full-time filmmakers: comparing edits, swapping notes, talking through camera gear, and brainstorming trips together.
Apple Vision Pro, FPV drones, and Brooklyn Bridge Park at dusk
That old office building is still standing, and when Andrew walks past it with his friend Greg, the two stop to try something new. Greg has just picked up an Apple Vision Pro, and Andrew puts it on inside a nearby space. Watching After Effects render in real time, floating in front of him, he calls it ‘honestly the craziest technology I have ever used in my life.’ Greg figures widespread adoption is two or three years out. Andrew is not sure whether to be excited or unsettled, and lands on both.
Later, an FPV pilot named Remy walks Andrew through a custom-built five-inch drone rig, complete with 1800 KV motors, S3 watermelon props, and a GoPro Hero 12. Remy’s advice for anyone starting out: skip becoming a ‘simulation hero’ and get outside, where real wind and real obstacles teach things no simulator can. The afternoon ends at Brooklyn Bridge Park, one of Andrew’s favorite spots anywhere in New York, with views of the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the downtown skyline including the World Trade Center. He sets up a long-exposure time lapse with an ND filter, pushing the shutter to around two seconds so the water smooths out into something silky.
A photo he took the last time he lived here
Somewhere in the apartment, there is a photograph Andrew shot during his first stint in the city. It has been sitting with him long enough that he wrote a line about it in an older piece of work: ‘There’s something about the skyline that brings out greatness within people.’ He calls the line dramatic. He also says he thinks it contains a hint of truth.
The skyline is still there. The loft is small, the egg was bad, and the matcha costs too much. Andrew James is home.
