Every year, I make it a point to go and capture the light when the days are at their shortest. This year, it turned out to be a vibrant, sunny day, albeit very cold, and I strolled down a country lane in Ohio with my plastic twin-lens reflex camera capturing these shots.
Category: Uncategorized
You Don’t Cut Your Own Bangs – Why Shoot Your Own Holiday Portrait?
When my sister was about seven, my mom decided to trim her bangs for her. But my sister couldn’t hold still, and kept drooping her head further and further down, until… When she lifted her face, she had a spiky, fuzzy buzz cut framing her forehead!
I told this story to my hairstylist, Eric Carter, the last time I was in his chair, getting my own bangs trimmed. I was laughing hysterically in the telling, as big sisters do at a sibling’s hilarious misfortune. But Eric was not amused! In fact, he was cringing, and visibly uncomfortable, and saying, “People shouldn’t cut their own hair,” as he carefully attended to mine with obvious skill and practice. That’s when it dawned on me that I feel the same way when people talk about using their point-and-shoot vacation snapshots on their holiday cards.
Continue reading “You Don’t Cut Your Own Bangs – Why Shoot Your Own Holiday Portrait?”
Birth Annoucement Photography
Many of my clients ask me to come to their homes and photograph their babies when they are just weeks old, so that they can create a birth announcement featuring authentic images from the baby’s first photo session. I wanted to share this particularly gorgeous design one of my clients found on Tiny Prints.
She used four different shots from my session with her, her first daughter, and the baby, to create this lovely arrangement.
Shooting with Sarah: Film v. Digital
For years, I apprenticed with photographers who shot on film, and glanced awestruck at the forever classic imagery in vintage copies of Life magazine, or of French street photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson. By the time I finished college, one of my mentors was shooting half on film, half on digital. Five years later, the entire photo industry had “gone digital.”
There are lots of reasons for this rapid change, many of which are echoed in stories of any and all other types of technology from iPhones to facebook. And, digital photography, like digital anything, does present certain advantages – so many that I needn’t recount them here, but suffice it to say, that I bet you can hardly think of anyone under the age of 45 who doesn’t have a digital camera of some kind.
The Brooklyn Music Factory
In 2001, after finishing film school, I spent a lot of time in the inspiring jazz scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where improvisational music deeply influenced my shooting style – both in terms of composition, and in terms of sensing the rhythm and spontaneity of a moment.
During that time, I had the pleasure of meeting Nate Shaw, while he has on tour with his band The New Power Trio. Nate and I got talking about Brooklyn, my future home, and where he lived and worked (and still does). We stayed in touch, and I shot photos for The New Power Trio’s next album when I arrived in New York the following February. Continue reading “The Brooklyn Music Factory”
Getting Ready for Fall
Lately, the thought of where things come from has been fascinating to me. I like going to the farmer’s market and buying my veggies from the same guy who works in the fields, feeling connected to the source of my sustenance. My friend Julie (awesome architect and “green adviser” at Go For Change) and my brother both turned me on to this 1970s BBC television show called Connections, that traces things through their fascinating histories, showing the subtle twists and turns in the evolution of thought that brought about things as we know them, in ways we might not realize.
Governor’s Island Field Trip
Last weekend, I took the ferry to Governor’s Island, and was magically transported back in time. Luckily, my camera documented the entire experience on black and white film.
Chive Blossoms
For the past few years, I’ve kept a lovely little garden on my fire escape, including flowers and herbs like mint, chives, and rosemary. Recently, one of the chives sprouted beautiful, little white blossoms. This photo series is straight from the camera – the images have not been PhotoShopped or altered in any way. I’m offering these photos as limited edition canvas prints, as well. Please email [email protected], for more information.
What are our children trying to teach us?
Are you enjoying and engaged in your own life the way your child is? Or, do you feel that sometimes the moments are just slipping by you? Are you simply trying to raise your kid, or does the thought occur to you, that this child came into your life to help you overcome your own shortcomings?
Continue reading “What are our children trying to teach us?”
Inspiration: The Nature of Things & Moments Past
Things have been catching my eye, so to speak. For awhile, I have been quietly obtaining objects for my home that relate in some way to nature, and to things of the past – whether they be actual plant life or antiques, or simply designs inspired by those things. I thought I would gather them together here in a photo essay, to see what visual relevance appears.
