What I see

Late night on the Gowanus

2011-11-26T16:49:00.005-05:00

Smoking

2011-04-26T11:14:00.004-04:00

Seems like all the clubs we've been going to lately are underground clubs which allow smoking and geez why? I love hearing music and seeing all the DIY projects but it makes me want to rant.

DAY/NIGHT

2011-04-05T11:44:00.006-04:00

When the lights don't go down in the city

2010-07-12T01:44:00.003-04:00

Signs of life

2010-02-27T10:15:00.020-05:00

Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass

2010-02-10T20:54:00.009-05:00

Abstracts

2009-11-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

This is a series of sketches/photos I took experimenting with the idea of painting with light and movement. Exploring by moving the camera while taking pictures and trying to capture an image which is composed of images in the world but abstracted through movement.

2009-10-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

2009-10-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

Georgia's opening

2009-10-01T22:19:00.002-04:00

The Danger

2009-08-02T23:22:00.009-04:00

Blues Week part 3 the Icehouse

2009-07-29T15:00:00.006-04:00

Blues Week part 2 Late nights

2009-07-21T13:28:00.006-04:00

One very late night on the campus of Davis and Elkins College.

Blues Week part 1 Musical Inspirations

2009-07-19T10:39:00.004-04:00

4 Generations on the 4th

2009-07-06T17:55:00.014-04:00

I spent independence day with my grandmother, mother and daughter. 4 generations of independent women. My grandmother was an avid photographer and as a kid she and her brothers used to take photos and develop and print them and sell them to their friends. She was also a psychologist, college professor, a women's rights activist and a peace corps volunteer.

There is no doubt that she was a huge influence on me. These days there is only a brief glimmer of who she once was. Dementia and various health issues including hearing loss are taking her farther and farther away from us.

It's hard to watch but after such a healthy vibrant life I guess she is fading slowly. I find myself torn between really wanting take advantage of the small amount of time she has on the planet and finding it difficult to see her like this.

We had a nice evening of hanging out at Grandma's retirement home and taking her out to eat crabs at Barefoot Green's. Then we found a space right off the road on the small patch of grass between the river and the street which leads to the park where they were setting off the fire works. My daughter ran around with all the kids catching fireflies. Grandma sat there quietly, which in the old days would never have happened, she would have been walking around talking to all the people and their kids, but this time she just sat there. I was worried that she wasn't enjoying it but when the fireworks were over I asked her what she thought and she said that it was so lovely and that she had really enjoyed it so it felt good to have brought her along.

And they were lovely. It was a lovely night.

Younger Than Jesus

2009-07-02T23:02:00.002-04:00

Suggested exhibition.

Only two days left

Younger Than Jesus

50 artists from 25 countries all under 33
Closing July 5

I was required to go for a class I am taking and I was not disappointed.

New Museum

235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/411/the_generationalyounger_than_jesus

The scenic Gowanus Canal.

2009-06-30T00:01:00.004-04:00

AKA the Lavender Lake.

Happy St. Jean Baptist day

2009-06-24T07:45:00.002-04:00

They will be celebrating it at Sheep Station in Brooklyn.

Sugar Shack Burlesque perform at Jalopy

2009-06-21T16:36:00.009-04:00

The lovely Ladies of Sugar Shack on Friday night at Jalopy.

The performers for the evening were:

Donny Vomit, the human blockhead

Fem Appeal

Legs Malone

Run Around Sue

Home again

2009-06-01T20:49:00.015-04:00

John Wood at the Grey Art Gallery

2009-05-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

Suggested exhibition:
On the edge of clear meaning.
John Wood

May 12-July 18

Grey Art Gallery
New York University
100 Washington Square East
212-998-6780

The Met

2009-05-15T23:30:00.006-04:00

Suggested Exhibitions at the Met

The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984

and

The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion

Saturday we celebrated the end of the semester by going to the Met.

All Night Cookin and The Voodoo Billies at Jalopy

2009-05-09T07:52:00.015-04:00

Jalopy is located at:

315 Columbia Street, Brooklyn NY

I really love hearing live music there. They have great taste.

I knew the Voodoo Billies would be great but All Night Cookin was a tasty surprise.

Park Slope Rock School

2009-05-02T01:44:00.009-04:00

Flite

The national air guitar champion

4th dimension

Southpaw behind the bar

Justin and Julia

2009-04-24T20:00:00.001-04:00

Gold Mine

2009-04-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

Last week we went home again to Hartwood. On this trip we hiked out into the woods to explore the old Eagle mine which is on the property.

There's not much of the old mine left except a big hole in the ground and some old walls and structures which have all been overtaken by the forest.

When the mine was closed, around the end of the 19th century, much of the old machinery was left behind and was rotting until my family decided to donate what was left to the Monroe Park Gold Mine Museum which is in the county over from my family's property.

The next day we took a trip to the museum to see some of the old equipment which we donated and see stuff donated from other mines in the area. We also got a quick tutorial on how to pan for gold from Bob Sinclair, the museum's curator.

Saffire plays Wilburn Gardens

2009-04-13T00:59:00.000-04:00

Quote of the day

2009-04-05T13:00:00.004-04:00

"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."

-Diane Arbus

Blogs about: Diane Arbus

Sura

2009-04-03T23:47:00.004-04:00

105 East 9th Street

Manhattan btw 3rd and 4th Ave

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

2009-03-28T18:20:00.007-04:00

Suggested photo exhibition:

1,000 Polaroid test photos all in one line. It's amazing to see the focus of his work by viewing these tests.

Batting in Brooklyn

2009-03-28T00:14:00.010-04:00

3RD AVENUE SPORTS CENTER

800 3RD AVENUE
Brooklyn, NY 11232

Need a lift? Try the batting cages.

Robert D'Alessandro - Glory

2009-03-20T18:28:00.000-04:00

Suggested photo exhibition:

This week I went to see Glory, a series by Robert D'Alessandro

at the Gitterman Gallery

170 East 75th Street

A really nice series of black and white interpretations of what he saw in the 70s. A time when being patriotic meant different things to different people.

My Times Square

2009-03-18T01:00:00.003-04:00

Martinis at the Algonquin and Barbecue at Virgil's.

Drunk on the subway again.

Blackberry picking

2009-03-13T22:05:00.015-04:00

Inspired by the work of Emmet Gowin I decided that I would like to explore images from my home in Virginia. I came up with this piece based on a series of photographs I took at my parents' home last summer.

A little house in the big woods. This is my family home in Hartwood Virginia. This is where my parents live and where we spend time on holidays and in the summer.

Last summer my cousin and her kids came to visit too.

We took the kids Blackberry picking where there are fields of bushes. Blackberry bushes as far as the eye can see.

The ones that are easy to find and reach are often half eaten by the birds.

But the good ones are harder to find and are often hidden under leaves and branches with stickers.

Someone always gets hurt. But it's always worth it.

Last year we made blackberry short cakes. Short cake where I grew up is not cake at all but sweet biscuits sliced in half with fruit and cream in between the layers and spread over the top.
This year we used Carl's ice cream, Blackberry compote made from the berries we picked, sweet biscuits and of course whole Blackberries.

This last photo is by Allen Grimm.

Raul Otis and the Blues Serenaders at the Fabulous Jalopy Theater April 14, 2007

2009-03-11T21:06:00.004-04:00

Today Bob Guida passed away. I heard that he died doing what he loved, playing music. The world was a better to place to have had him in it. He was a very generous soul and he will be missed.

I found this photo in my archives and thought it was a fitting tribute to him.

RIP BOB

Al-Maghreb

2009-03-07T11:51:00.003-05:00

The Place of Sunsets

Lieh Sugai Photo exhibition opening March 6th, 2009

at Pratt Manhattan CCPS Gallery

http://prostudies.pratt.edu/gallery_al-maghreb.html

144 14th Street

2nd Floor

Show runs through March 31st.

Damaged Romanticism exhibition at the Grey Gallery

2009-03-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

Grey Art Gallery

New York University

100 Washington Square East

There were a couple of interesting photographers in this exhibition. One that caught my eye was Florian Maier-Aichen. One painter that grabbed my attention as well Julia Oschatz.

Snow day

2009-03-02T19:38:00.001-05:00

Emmet Gowan Photographs

2009-02-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

Suggested photo exhibition:

Emmet Gowan Photographs running February 19-March 21, 2009

www.pacemacgill.com/exhibitions.html

Instead of class Federico and I met at the Pac MacGill gallery. Emmet Gowan's photographs tell the story of life and death in black and white. He also experimented with color and alternative processes.

The Fabulous Jalopy Theater

2009-02-28T02:27:00.001-05:00

Tonight I went to the Fabulous Jalopy Theater.

If you have never been it's a lovely place. You can buy strings and things.

They have espresso and a great selection of teas.

Beer and Redhook Beef Jerky

And mandolins, ukes, guitars, banjos, banjars and pretty much any stringed instrument you ever dreamed of.

Or fiddles if that's what you call this.

And of course the musical performances are always delightful.

Tonight was lighting fingers night also known as Gypsy Jazz night.

Denis Chang Gypsy Jazz

And Franglais Gypsy Jazz

King of the kids

2009-02-20T20:26:00.001-05:00

I met Charlie O in 1984 my first year of college in Richmond Virginia.

Charlie was the guy in charge of all the punk kids that hung around Shaffer court. He used to call me a hippy and it drove me crazy, still does it, turns out. He was the guy who took care of them and taught them stuff. And they loved him.

He and his friend Cardin were in town this week for the toy fair at the Javits center. They were there seeking distribution and investors for their super cool new puzzle design called Magmerpuz.

www.magmerpuz.com

the back

I waited for them to come out of the subway at West 4th.

Meeting them in NYC seemed so out of context for how I've known Charlie. I waited under the sign for the Waverly Restaurant. Like a scene from a movie only in a place that I spend so much of my life now that is so much more familiar to me than Richmond.

We walked around Greenwich Village a bit and drank some beers just like the old days. Cardin wore her crazy hat which didn't really phase the natives but we did get some smiles.

Now Tom Bailey, he was a hippy. Charlie is starting to look like one too, BTW.

One of the things Charlie was known for in town was, he was the guy to go to if you wanted to know where the party was or what band was playing that was important to see. So if you walked around town enough eventually you would run into Charlie and he would be able to give you the low down. So when we made plans to hang out on Tuesday he asked me if I knew of anything going on. I said no, of course, because I never know what's going on since Charlie isn't around to tell me.

He said that he had heard that Tom Bailey was playing at Jack's Stirbrew so we headed over there and sure enough Tom was there and sounded fantastic with his trio.

Sadly I had to work in the morning and was feeling quite sick and of course somewhat drunk and had to leave early but I did get a couple of nice shots from the evening's escapades and was able to enjoy a few minutes of Tom's band.

Czech Photography VII - Europeans

2009-02-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Photo exhibition suggestions:
http://en.leica-camera.com/culture/galeries/gallery_new_york/
I saw this on my lunch hour. I was struck by the fact that many of these photos were taken in the 80s and 90s but looked much older. Both because of the black and white format and because of the nature of the times in the Czech Republic.
Beautifully captured images.

Swim in the Gowanus anyone?

2008-06-22T10:21:00.001-04:00

For several years now I have been a member of the canoe club, the Gowanus Canal Dredgers. http://www.gowanuscanal.org/

I haven't been the most active member but I have been quite a few times and taken lots of photos.

This is a series that I took on 6/8/2008, during one of the Stewardship days where I was supposed to be helping.

It was a hot day, about 95 degrees and humid. The water was actually pretty clear that day. It was high tide and the usual thick oil slick on top of the water was nowhere to be found.

Before anything was happening I thought it would be nice to take the girls out on the canal and let them paddle around a little. I put them in one canoe together and took one canoe to myself. This seemed like a good idea at the time.

I love to take people out on the canal because often they are fearful at first, what will happen if I fall in? I have always said, it's impossible to fall in, it's all flat water, not rapids, and you would have to be a real idiot to fall in.

After people get accustomed to being in the canoe and we start exploring a little they start to understand the beauty of seeing the city from this angle. Right below street level. You can see the remnants of all the various stages of development and construction of the city. Kind of like the rings of a tree.

There we were me in my canoe taking pictures with my trusty old Pentax K100. As I was coming out from under the bridge the current caught my canoe funny and the nose of the canoe started drifting to the right. It was no big deal I just was trying to correct for it but the current kept pulling me to the right and then it was like the current rotated my canoe with me in it right into the canal.

There I was swimming in the canal. Now mind you, this is in fact one of my worst fears, even though I pretend not to think it's possible I definitely never wanted this for myself.

At first I was in shock but then I realized that everything was okay. Thank god the girls were in a different canoe. It really wasn't such a big deal. I even was able to save the canoe because it flipped completely over and was floating on top and I was able to grab the paddle and put it on top of the canoe. As I was there I realized that there was no way to flip the canoe back over and get in, so I started swimming while towing the canoe back to the landing.

I wasn't that close but not that far either. I asked my daughter and her friend to go back to the landing and let them know that I had capsized. Though I knew there was pretty much nothing they could do for me, I thought it was a good idea in case I didn't make it back. I just calmly took my time swimming back to the landing.

And all and all it was pretty easy getting back with canoe and all in tow and put to rest my fear of falling in.

These are the images from the film from that day. The camera, as expected, is junk now and the film is too, kind of, but I thought it was kind of pretty too. It seems to tell the story of life underwater.

My daughter is very taken with these photos and described them as though it looks like you are looking at the canal through a broken window.