And in the end

A reason to smile again as Barack Obama wins the U.S. Presidential election

After laboring through eight years of a disastrous presidency, Americans can once again go forward with hope as Barack Obama wins the November 4, 2008 U.S. presidential election.

“That One”

How about John McCain start focusing on THIS one?!!!

An American worker watches her retirement investments vanish as the Dow Jones Industrials plunge nearly 778 points on September 29, 2008.

When the Dow Jones Industrials plunged nearly 778 points on September 29, 2008, many believed the financial markets had hit their bottom.  Many were hopeful that the “bailout,” or “rescue” package which was finally reskinned and signed into law would begin to turn our financial crisis around.  Since then, the Dow has lost over another 800 points, and markets worldwide are plunging to greater and greater depths.

Against this backdrop of financial turmoil, while people are seeing their retirement investments and education investments for their children dissipate, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, with outrageous audacity and sheer disrespect, flippantly referred to his Democratic opponent Barack Obama as “that one” during the October 7, 2008 presidential debate.

It is that very attitude of disregard, disrespect, and overwhelming hubris that has defined the Republican administration for the past 8 years.  John McCain, with that one insulting, childish, mean-spirited, and quite revealing remark, has sealed his place as a representative of ALL that is and has been wrong with our government for a long, long time.

Tough women don’t need guns

Step aside Sarah Palin.  Toting a machine-gun, hunting down wolves and bears in the Alaskan wild doesn’t make a woman tough.  (Especially not if she’s shooting from the air.)  How about this for tough?  Being surrounded by cranes, tractors, all sorts of heavy machinery, building materials, debris, and endless vehicles passing within feet of you at high-speed.  Women highway construction workers are found everywhere in our country, even in the “elite” Northeast.  So?  What’s your definition of tough?  Shooting wildlife from an airplane for sport?  Or, putting yourself in harm’s way building and rebuilding our nation’s roads?

A New York woman on the job, rebuilding our roads

Machinery designed to build, not kill

Highway construction worker keeping things safe

Portraiture

In a portrait you can see a whole world.  Every person is an amazing story.  After the lighting, composition, and all the technical details are in place, the photographer only then begins creating the portrait.  When the right note is struck and the ambience enjoins subject and photographer, the subject will emerge.  And the portrait is made.

Marjorie Borgia in her home posing in front of an oil painting of her by her late husband Cesare Borgia. Margie has enjoyed a long and successful career as a professional cellist. As an 80-something senior, she still plays the cello regularly and is a member of the Yonkers Philharmonic.

Marjorie Borgia, then and now. Music and art transcend time.

Marjorie Borgia, a brilliant and seasoned cellist, performs privately for me. Can I get any luckier?!

Summer, still.

Labor Day 2008 has come and gone.  As always this time of year the buzz is that summer is over.  What?!  Summer is NEVER over until mid-September, so there’s another few weeks.  (September 22 is the official start of autumn this year.)  This is late summer, arguably one of the most beautiful times of the year.  So, the beach, yes, the pool, definitely, bbq, of course…be outdoors and enjoy every remaining moment of summertime.  Once it’s really over, then it’s a long, impatient (for me) wait until the glorious warm weather returns.

Lazing by the pool at Fire Island

Summer, too

Thunderstorms.  Also summer.  Today’s one of the stormy days.  Good day for indoor location corporate photography.  Best we can hope for is that they move out fast, cause no damage to anyone or anything, don’t delay flights (too long, anyway), and they keep the garden well-watered.  After they’re gone, it’s back to the sunshine.  Can’t wait.

Intense storm rolling in over the Hudson River into Hastings-on-Hudson, on August 2, 2008

Summer

Standing at the water’s edge looking out at the sea, sunshine and ocean breeze caressing you.  That’s summer, and that’s what I live for during the other three seasons, nice as they all are in their own way.  Nothing beats summer time for me.  From June through September, whether I’m on a corporate location photo shoot in midtown Manhattan, or at my computer knee deep in post-processing, my mind and my spirit are where the woman in this photo is…on a beautiful beach soaking up my favorite season.

Soaking up the summer along the beach at Fire Island

“The Birds!”

Pacific Coast Highway, Sonoma County, driving south to San Francisco.  Along with all the gorgeous, dramatic scenery you pass, you pass right through Bodega Bay.  That would be Alfred Hitchcock’s Bodega Bay, the location of all those angry and vicious birds pecking people to bits.  The famous schoolhouse and church seen in the movie are still standing, and stopping by is a must-do.  Taking a few hokey snapshots is, too.  Here are a couple of mine from my recent trip out that way.  A little departure from corporate photography and stock photography.

Family = Love

How do you photograph unconditional love?  Many feel it’s not easy to even find.  Perhaps that’s truer than we’d all like to believe.  But here’s one place I looked.

A mother and her daughter…a lesbian mother and her straight daughter.  A woman who has been an open and proud lesbian as long as she’s been “out,” and her daughter who has always known, who was raised by an openly lesbian mother, who openly supports and defends her mother (and all human rights), no matter the adversity and outright hatred that exists for the LGBT community.  This is not mere acceptance.  This is love, true and unconditional.  You don’t photograph it; it commands everything in its presence.

I salute LGBT Pride by honoring these women, brave and loving and beautiful.  May our world be filled with more and more people, of any and every persuasion, just like them.

Alyson, wearing a “I Am What I Am” pendant, and Amy, donning buttons that read “F#%K Homophobia” and “Hatred is not a Family Value”

Three generations of love and support, Lenore joins daughter Alyson and granddaughter Amy

It’s All About the Wine

Just took a little break from corporate photography and visited Napa and Sonoma in California Wine Country. Even if you don’t imbibe (and I do), there is so much there to fill you with joy.  Perfect weather, gorgeous scenery, exquisite dining, happy people (with or without the wine!).  It’s a wine lover’s heaven, and a photographer’s paradise.

The Growing…miles and miles of rolling hills and vineyards.

The Tending…migrant workers are seen throughout wine country working the vineyards.

The Fermenting…large metal vats where the juice-to-wine transformation takes place.

The Swirling…“opening up” the wine, a must-do before tasting.

The Tasting…a Merlot, a Pinot Noir, and a Cabernet Sauvignon are poured for a tasting.

Flags at Half-Mast at Mondavi Winery…Robert Mondavi, a California wine country icon, passed away on May 16, 2008, at the age of 94, just two weeks before my visit.  Flags at his winery in Napa fly at half-mast.