Happy Birthday Rose- Marie!!

Rose- Marie is the beautiful mother of one of my good friends. They invited me to spend the afternoon with them at Mambo Italiano in Brooklyn to celebrate her birthday! They are an Italian family and I decided that in my next life I want to come back as an Italian! Not only do they know how to eat, but they sure know how to have a great time and love their family!





Kissing Cousins!



Singing Happy Birthday to Grandma!



Here the men got up and sang "That's Amore"- it was hysterical!



The ladies sang back with "I Will Survive" and topped the men by singing AND dancing around the room!





The Puma Family! Thanks for letting me be apart of the special day!

My New Friend Mike

Today I woke up not feeling great and decided to skip the high energy of the St Patrick's parade and trade it in for a stroll around Harlem. It was so beautiful out and the blue sky was a gift for all this gray we have been having!!! Maybe someone up there is Irish??

So on this walk I saw this pharmacy and joking around in my head I called it the Pepto Bismol pharmacy!! As I walked by I looked in the windows and what I thought was a super clean window was an empty window!! I started laughing as did the guy inside! He yelled for me to take a picture...which I did, and that is how a made my new friend Mike. After talking for a bit he asked me to come with him to OTB to pick some horses. He thought I might have beginners luck. We lost. Sorry Mike- I'm English not Irish!!!

Lastly, I got yelled at in OTB by some crazy old lady who said she would find me in my home and kill me if I took any pictures and he jumped to my defense!!! Thanks Mike!

I had such a wonderful time talking to Mike. He was actually born and raised right by where I used to live in Brooklyn. He moved to Harlem 10 years ago. He gave me some great advice that I truly appreciate.



Mike explaining to me about how in Africa they race zebras and donkeys!



Ok- so this is place I smelled long before I saw it!! It is a place that sells live animals and then they kill them for you and send you on your way with some fresh meat!! Notice how high above the birds fly by this place!



Poor things!! I have chicken marinating in the fridge right now...but I am not sure how I will feel about dinner later!



This sweet lady told me all about how they kill them and pluck them and do all the dirty stuff for you!!






I love all the famous people in the windows.



You tell 'em kids!!!! Love that!!!



I was really interested in this. Wasn't sure if it was going up or down- but I really liked it. Harlem is so creative!!!



And well...this just speaks for itself!!! AWESOME!! Thanks Greg for finding this!!!

My New York

I fell in love with this little girl. The joy she received from the 60 seconds that the train went above ground was so pure and so contagious.



Greg and I hung out with this man for about 20 minutes this morning. He is a retired nurse. His son and daughter are now both nurses. He told us that he collects bottles because he likes to work, it keeps him busy. He also told us that he has a huge farm down south and he is going there soon. I hope this is true, seems like a good man who deserves a nice retirement. He also said he is trying to quite smoking but it is harder now than ever. I wish I had asked him his name.



Not only are there now white people in Harlem, we have white cowboys too!









I really am curious as to how this car is moved. It was stuffed to the brim.





One of the things I love about Harlem, is that when you capture it in a frame it becomes timeless in some ways. This shot seems so 70's to me.

My New York

Currently I am working on a personal project I call, "My New York". I am not sure if that is the final title but that is what I call it. It is nothing more than pictures that show how I see this city. I have been here for a long time and a few years ago I fell out of love with it. In recent months my crush has re- appeared, not sure why but I welcome it. And so with that crush I am back to photographing the city. Here are some of my shots from this weeks trip to the grocery stores, the gym and other errands. All these shots are done with a point and shoot camera shot from the hip to avoid disturbing life as if plays out for me here in New York.

Women Photographers

Today I had the incredible opportunity to attend a seminar at B and H photo. It was in celebration of Women's History month and the fine people at B and H created a panel of 5 female photographers to share their images. There are few things I enjoy more than a good old slide show presentation of some great images and the stories that accompany them. I was in photo heaven!

The women were varied in their styles and photo niches and that is what made the whole seminar so well rounded and motivational.

The following are a series of images that I took on the way home. I thank the women who inspired me and reminded me of what I already know but sometimes forget to look out for, that photographs are everywhere!



I took this picture in the store before I left. I was cracking up watching these kids! I shot from the hip so the mother or whomever was watching them would not be suspicious! I look at this shot and all I think is GERMS!!! I hope that little girl does not get sick!



One of my new recent photo fascinations is reflections. This came by accident when this summer I was trying to photograph a church. I could not fit the whole church in from where I was standing but when I looked down I saw the whole church reflected perfectly in a puddle. I was fascinated by that shot and since have been giving reflections some extra attention.

Reflections add so much depth and dimension and give the viewer layers to dive into. Then the layers themselves can create new images or shapes that are not even existing but are the result of the two overlapping images.

This woman reminds me of my trip across the US on Route 66, yet the sidewalk with its gum spots and the signage scream NYC.



I added this shot for personal reasons. I actually do not think it is a great photograph but it adds to what I am about to share with you.

As a subway rider of 18 years, you can come to really appreciate the train and hate it. Today was a love day! What I loved about tonight's ride was the contradictions of stereotypes. I feel that there are a lot of stereotypes in NYC. As a seasoned New York subway rider I can usually take a good guess as to who to stand in front of while waiting for a seat based on what they look like and what neighborhood I think they will get off at. This might sound awful, but trust me, I get stereotyped all the time- I think it is just a part of New York. I also do not think New Yorkers are being mean when we do stereotype. I believe it is derived from our distinct neighborhoods that most people tend to live in with others like themselves. Remember, we are a salad bowl, not a melting pot! I was once on a train when a black guy said to his black girlfriend, (they were both standing), "Dont worry- you will sit where she is after this next stop because this is where all the white people get off". And he was right, although I was so tempted to stay on just to prove him wrong!!

OK, back to my point. Knitting, as we see this young woman doing here on the uptown #3 train. My grandmother, Nanny B was an extremely talented knitter. She was amazing!!! She would knit us beautiful complicated sweaters, watch TV, and hold conversations and never miss a beat or a stitch! Plus she was fast! I remember the sound of her needles as she zoomed though one sweater for us after another.

Well,here was this young woman with her hip sneakers and her music blaring out of her ear phones swaying to the beat to her tunes and checking out everyone that boarded the train at each stop...while knitting so skillfully, all I could think of was my grandmother. For those that don't know me, my grandmother came from England every year and was very BRITISH and proper. To be on the uptown #3 train and be reminded of my grandmother's knitting from a young woman knitting to the beat of hip hop was so incredible for me! In my eyes, this young woman beat a stereotype- and I LOVE that!



After switching trains to the uptown #1 train, I came across another defeated stereotype!

As I said, I was loving this train ride! Here were two young boys, NOT playing video games! The boy on the right in the middle had a chess trophy. I could not resist talking to them after I took this picture. The boy started to learn chess when he was in second grade. Do you know that they teach young kids how to play chess because it has proven to improve a child's ability to read? It mostly has to do with prediction skills, which is an invaluable reading skill as it is a chess skill.

This kid was so proud! He and his buddy were actually playing chess on this mat without pieces. I heard them saying which pieces they were moving to each other, such as "this is my knight that I am moving here" and they were remembering each others positions. These were obviously two very smart and highly motivated chess players!

Great to see kids playing chess and also having a passion! Thank you kids for breaking yet another NYC stereotype!

Thank you to B and H for the great event and to all the women photographers who were so inspiring to me!

What Happened?

It was so nice to go for a walk today, I finally feel better and it finally is starting to feel like spring!! As I strolled along the Hudson, admiring my favorite trees I noticed purple ribbons. Upon closer observation I discovered they were on a cake, a half eaten- half smooched cake!

I'm not sure what happened, but my mind went wild with ideas and pretend stories! I hope the birds, the squirrels and the rats enjoy it!

A Snow Day

For those of you that know me, you know that I grew up in Buffalo and I love snow. Give me the white stuff any day over the gray concrete jungle that NYC becomes for 5 months out of the year!

I was so excited to see on the news last night that a storm was coming and was looking forward to going out and taking some pics. Well, sadly I have been sick and woke up still sick, so I decided to stay in.

I mourned the images I dreamed of last night; people fighting the snow on Broadway, children throwing snow balls, and other snowy images of Harlem. Instead I went about my day as normal, at the computer, and then I heard shrieking. Loud, high pitched shrieking, the kind of shrieking that can only be created by... little girls. I looked out of my studio window that faces a pretty bleak courtyard to find just what I heard, two little girls dressed in pastels having a blast on a snow day. These two screaming, shrieking pale pink and blue girls were the highlight of my snow day! Thanks!

Its amazing to me what NYC kids have to come up with as far as places to play. These two were thinking pretty creatively and it sounded as if they were having fun...but still, it was no match to the hill we used for real sledding, with real snow, growing up in Buffalo.

Jeelna and Ronak

Jeelna and Ronak had an intimate wedding off the beautiful shores of the Hudson River in NJ. Their full on wedding ceremony is coming this October in India and we have been invited to photograph it. We cant wait!






How sweet is this? After he put the ring on Jeelna's hand he added a kiss, so romantic.





Following tradition, the newly married couple received their parents blessing by touching their feet.



This was a great part of this day! These two brought cutting the cake to a whole new level! Not only did they feed each other, but everyone got a turn to be fed by the bride and groom and also a turn feeding the bride and the groom...including myself and the minister!! It was so much fun and finally I get to have some cake too! Its hard on us photographers to have to take pictures of the cake and not have any! Especially us photographers with a wicked sweet tooth!



Friends phoned in with their best wishes.



I love this picture, Ronak's Mom adoring her new daughter in law!









Jeelna was a real sport for these photos. You wouldn't be able to tell- but it was actually quite cold and breezy out! We even took a few moments time out for her to throw on a jacket and warm up- and then she would jump back in for some more pictures! Thanks Jeelna! I am sure it will be warmer in India!



Congratulations Jeelna and Ronak! We wish you lots of love and happiness!