Thank you Heather!!!

No you are not seeing things, the image from below is now larger! I now have the abilities and the knowledge to have a new and improve blog with larger images! I am so lucky to have had a tutorial from Heather Dipiazza. Heather is a professional photographer and graphic designer and her knowledge of both fields and photo shop is amazing! Best thing about Heather...she has been hired as our wedding photographer! Greg and I are so excited and I feel so at ease because I know she is going to do an amazing job! If you click on the title of this photo (thank you Heather) you will be connected to her blog!

New Yorkers in Spring

The day I was born...many years later!

Off to Fire Island we went to clean up the beach house. This is the view from the equivalent of my birthday pony ride- Greg pulled me on the wagon the whole way to the house! We were stopped by one woman who wanted to know what she could do to make her husband pull her on a wagon!
One of the greatest parts of my birthday was meeting Victor on the Long Island Railroad! As we were riding on the train I noticed the man in the next seats over writing in a sketch book that had photographs in it. He was writing pretty privately but those of you that know me know that I have a long neck! I waited patiently for him to look up- and when he did I jumped at the chance to ask him if he took the pictures! He had and they were AMAZING!!! We chatted the whole way and he was so inspiring! One of the things that we discussed were photographs we have mourned because we were not able to capture them for various reasons. Maybe the camera was not on hand, maybe the situation was not safe- could be anything. This morning when I woke up I thought about these pictures that I had wanted to capture but I let go. I knew that two of them were here in Harlem and did not involve people, so I jumped on my bike and captured two of the morned images.

One thing I wonder about is this phenomenon to throw sneakers onto the telephone lines and why it is done. Is it done when the shoes no longer fit them and they have a new pair, or is it done to people by bullies and then they have to walk home without shoes?
I saw this neighborhood memorial weeks ago and wondered if the bottles were always there. Well I got my answer, the bottles must stay. I jumped off my bike and I got all the looks from the neighborhood hood people, these were the looks that originally kept me from taking this shot! I figured that everyone must have known this young man whose life was taken too quickly. I looked them in the eye and smiled and then took the shots with respect. Nobody said anything to me. Maybe Spanish Harlem wont mind after all if a crazy white girl runs around and takes pics! I hope not!

Spring is here- finally!

I dont think any of the other seasons get welcomed with such joy and pleasure as the first real Spring day! For us NYC people that was Friday and Saturday of last week. I love the picture above of this teenage couple basking in their love and the sun, on a slab of rock overlooking the Hudson river.
These pictures were taken on the Hudson River bike path. There is one section by 116 where there were so many Pear trees clumped together that standing underneath it one was just completely lost in a world of beautiful spring blossoms.

The Pope on 5th Ave

This was the moment the crowd was waiting for, a too quick drive by in the Pope mobile! It was great walking around and taking pictures of the people that came together to welcome the Pope to NYC. Click on the pictures to view them larger.
This one just could not walk any more!

Notice Grandma in the far right hand corner working her hot pink celly!

Double support.
Double waiting.
Double duty.
Pope in training!

Million Trees NYC

Often you see people fund raising and wonder where the money goes. Well when Greg and I left our Harlem apartment this morning we were shocked to see HUNDREDS of people in white t-shirts digging in the dirt that was never thought twice about before. All these people gave up their Saturday moring to help make NYC more beautiful, and we felt so honored that was actually our neighborhood that was the fruit of todays labors. This is such a wonderful idea, Harlem looks good in green!

Hayden and his new little brother Caleb!!

Sunday I had the honor of photographing a good friend's family. Jillian and I taught together and she and her husband Steve now have two beautiful boys! This is Caleb, he is 6 weeks old and just precious!


This picture is Caleb's foot, the hand above is Hayden's. Hayden was helping his little brother take the same shots that he had when he was 6 weeks old!
Notice the lollipop? Well its not a regular day that Jillian would be feeding Hayden a lollipop, but when the camera is out and time is limited it is amazing what leverage a lollipop has!
Hayden like all 3 year olds is establishing his place in this world. He is also adjusting to a life that that involves a little brother! At times he was not thrilled about the photo shoot but he tried his best to be a great sport!
Congratulations to Steve, Jillian and Hayden! Welcome little Caleb!!

Candle Pin Bowling

What to do in Vermont when the skiing conditions stink? Candle pin bowling. I had never heard of this game, the cousin to BIG ball bowling! The ball is made of the same material, but it is much smaller- slightly larger than a softball. There are no holes for your fingers, you're suppose to hold it with your finger tips. The pins are much skinner and a lot harder to knock down. There are advantages to this version of the game. You get 3 tries for each frame, trust me, you need them! Also, the knocked down pins known as "dead wood" dont get swept away. The dead wood stays right where it lands, leading to some heavy strategy options. Meaning, if you hit the dead wood instead of the standing pin you could knock a whole bunch down at once! Conclusion: Candle stick bowling is a lot friendlier on your thumb! But it is very hard to control the lighter ball- leading to lots of gutter action. Bottom line is I won both games- so I am all for this crazy little bowling game!

The New York Times

March 29th I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Lauren and Brendan.  I would love to post some of their wedding pics but right now they are in sunny Costa Rica and have not seen them yet.  What I can do is say how excited I am that these two got into the New York Times and used one of my photographs!  This is my first NYT posting.  Thanks Lauren and Brendan so much for thinking of me and giving me credit!

Harlem winter

I was looking back on my old posts and I saw that I had put up fall pictures. To be thorough I thought I would add a Harlem winter picture. Honestly we had an extremely boring winter. With hardly any snow fall, our winter was mainly cold with gray skies and concrete. I find the winters in NYC really sad, I am I so thankful that Spring is on its way!

Grasshopper

This is one of my favorite pals Gina! Gina and Ben are expecting their first baby this July. This photo shoot was not planned, we spontaneously decided to take some shots and had so much fun doing so. Gina was telling me that she and Ben thought the baby on the sonogram picture was so long and skinny!! Lovingly they nic named the baby Grasshopper! We decided to raid Gina's sister's lipstick and write the name across the belly!!

I love this shot because Gina looks like a little girl, a very pregnant little girl!!! Gina and Ben are going to be amazing parents!!! I cant wait to take some shots later in the pregnancy too! Congratulations Gina, Ben and little Grasshopper!

Nicholas at 13 days

Meet Nicholas, yes I know the above is spelled worng, we were missing a "I" so this "T" will be photoshopped. Nicholas is only 13 days old and is easily one of the cutest and well behaved models I have ever photographed! He was a perfect angel the whole time!
This is Nicholas with his Mom, the love looks on her face were just as precious as he was. This photo shoot was also suppose to showcase Matthew, the big brother! Right now Matthew, 2 years old is not so sure about his new little brother. Hopefully in a bit more time he will get adjusted to this huge change.
Perfectly asleep in Mom's arms...

Matthew Propis

Matthew Propis was the boy next door. Yesterday he turned 35 and made a special request that he get "blogged" for his birthday! Matthew was my very first friend, we meet as babies and were 3 weeks apart in age. We shared germs, games, trees and we even had the same boy doll, "Joey".

This is a picture of Matthew on his wedding day surrounded by his buddies. Matthew I hope you are enjoying your birthday, I cannot believe that we have know each other for 33 years, it hardly seems possible. Thanks for being such a great friend and as you would say, "go blog yourself"!

Maria McKendry aka Baby

I have had a dear friend now for MANY years named Baby. I am lucky that we are friends because when we first met at a young age I was such a bad girl that she was told not to be friends with me! Good thing she didn't always listen!

Baby was my first buddy to get married. She met a man I said would be perfect for her, and he was! It was at Maria (Baby)and Eric's wedding that I got my first taste of wedding photojournalism. I was a bridesmaid, but I had my point and shoot on me all night. One of my favorite shots of all time was taken of Baby getting ready. This image is one that I will always love for many reasons. Mostly I love it because is it of Baby. It also reminds me that a good image does not always have anything to do with a good camera, but more to do with finding the moment and having the instinct to take the picture.

Baby, aka Maria McKendry, is celebrating her birthday today! She was feeling nostalgic and started Googling old friends names to see what people were up to. She mentioned to me that with her married name she does yet exist on Google. It is a shame, because Baby has done so much since she has been married, she has given birth to 3 incredible children and is raising them to be great little people!

Google should have a whole section for amazing mothers! Happy Birthday Baby! I hope that this blog entry makes it into Google as your birthday present! Thanks for being a wonderful friend, Happy Birthday!!

Giants Superbowl Parade( click title to watch video)

Although there is something quite graceful about his young man, the scene here was anything but. The parade was very frustrating, the streets to see the parade were blocked off and hundreds of people found themselves with no where to go. As a result, fans became angry and started attacking the vehicles left on the street. The crowds were not cheering for the Giants but rather chanting " F#*K the POLICE!"

Here the same group moved onto another car. The were trying to tip it, that is after they throughly vandalized it.
One might ask, where were the police? I photographed this scene for about 25 minutes. One cop showed up and had no control and left again. 10 minutes after that, cops showed up on horses, about 12 of them. They ran through the streets chasing the crowd away. The horses where so scared, but so were the punks.

It was such a sad scene to me. Here was a winning home town team, and here was a city willing to put on a parade for the people of the town to celebrate. Instead, cars were ruined, people were hurt and day of victory became a day of violence.


CLICK ON THE TITLE OF THIS POST TO WATCH VIDEO FROM NEWSDAY. You can see me taking pictures in the lower left hand corner in the blue jacket. As a photographer is was a wild experience, thrilling yet intimidating as well. One man kept yelling to the others that I was a cop. I told them I wasn't but he got a group to chant that I was a cop. Fearing for my camera and myself because there was no way out I started chanting "F#*K the COPS", luckily for me it worked.

At home with the Garvey boys!

I have always loved photographing kids. Especially when they are being allowed to be just that- kids.

From the milk mustaches, band-aids, favorite stuff animals, and messy hair, this is what children are really all about. Photographing children like this allows their childhood and how it was lived to be represented. Real children, in their real environment, on a regular day during their lives. These are the kind of images that in 10 years from now will conjure up an accurate memory of the past.