Friday, December 25, 2009

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

till we meet again



the semster ended...hm, I want to say chillaxing began...but, that would just not be true so let's leave it at, semester ended:)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

the life and times of jason duncan...


jason walks dogs in south brooklyn
and one in manhattan...that one is a puppy and needs to be walked two times a day so...jason walks dogs in south brooklyn and two-dogs-worth in manhattan
he lives at the end of the 4 train
his household has a cat
he plays drums in a band
the band practices in his living room
he has multiple tattoos and hates waking up early

I loved this assignment:)












p.s. if anybody should require jason's services:
http://www.littlebuddiesdogwalking.com/

Saturday, November 14, 2009

sugarcoating the underground

a month or so ago, we got two weeks in our picturemaking class to do a story on the NY underground. and underground in this case was anything that was happening...well UNDER ground:)
and then of course you get the feeling something very big and unexpected is what is expected of you. and you have all these grandiose ideas that are not even ideas really but just glimpses of imaginary photographs you think somebody much better and more experienced than you would make...and then you see the clock ticking away and you realize it's time to be realistic and find something where you will actually have free hands at doing what you do, where, hopefully, you will feel comfortable enough to do a good job while still having a subject that interests you and makes you want to take pictures. and THEN you spend four days trying to think of, find AND gain access to such a place. two weeks suddenly sounds like 5 minutes
well, I was lucky enough to have spotted Veniero's bakery and pastry shop/cafe my first month in NY when I was still living in East Village (ahhh, East Village...well, anyways:). I would pass it every day on my way to school and I would catch a glimpse of the baker's feet down in the basement through the basement shaft. I had thought even then of photographing there so...this assignment came just right (well, just right after I gave up on the idea of exploring secret hallways of the Met or spending a week in Bellevue's morgue...)
in any case, I was then more than lucky to get permission from the owner family (robert and his sisters) to visit the under ground bakery as many times as I needed plus I also got the guys that actually do the baking to get used to my presence and, I like to flatter myself, even like it (to a certain degree:)
it turned out to be a lot of fun so this is for Carlo, Erasto, Mike, Segundo, Teodoro, Sacramento, Jose Luis and Angelo (who actually had no business being downstairs but I think he just wanted to work his way into the final edit...and he did!)
and special thanks once again to Robert and his family










p.s.if any of you go and visit Veniero's on account of this post (hands down the best ITALIAN cheesecake in NY!), please mention my name casually so maybe I get a slice or two on the house...

and to prove how serious I am about this cheesecake, here's what cahrles got for his bday:


I never joke about dessert...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

this week I met eileen...


I don't know...I just thought I should make a note of this encounter cause...I have a feeling there'll be more to say some time in the future
I might be wrong but...we'll see - at least I hope I'm not

in any case, I was shooting in the funeral home (that's a story and a half...will tell it some time soon) and, since there was a wake in one of the chapels, I was constrained to to the other part of the house. suddenly, a lady came and asked me if she could just sit for a bit in the room I was in...guess, she just needed a moment to...breathe (she was actually the only daughter of the man who the wake was for)
well, we started talking and I got to know this amazing female pastor, who lives and has a congregation in, no more nor less: Marlboro, New York.
I hope I get to see more of her...and of Marlboro:)