Washington Square Park early November
Yesterday was a warm, 75 degree November day in the New York area. I took my camera to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, New York City, one of my favorite places in the world. On any given day one can see and be part of a cross-section of humanity, from ordinary people enjoying a pleasant day to street musicians, artists, chess players and performers showing off their talents. It is open, tolerant and a great place to see slices of life. I love going there because I never know who or what I’m going to find.
Children with autismdance class and soccer clinic
The American Autism Association offers services and programs to children with autism and their families to promote positive development, personal empowerment, and independence.Among the services provided are ballet classes and soccer clinics. I recently had the privilege of photographing the children.
The People of Bright Side Manor
Bright Side Manor is a private not for profit senior citizens housing facility in Teaneck, New Jersey. I recently had the opportunity to photograph the residents there and learn a bit about their stories
Harold was a New York City detective for many years. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in New York City on one occasion Harold intervened when a woman tried to stab him with a knife. Harold became part of Dr. King’s security detail whenever he came to New York. The men remained friends. Harold always wears a coat and tie
Norma was a nun. She worked in hospitals assisting nun/nurses for many years until she became ill.
Elliot was a commercial interior designer. He worked at times for Time Magazine and Life Magazine. His colleagues at Life Magazine gave him a gift of an original photo by Alfred Eisenstadt, the iconic photographer. This photograph is called “Mystic Connecticut.”
Augie was a friend of and worked with the singer Tony Bennett. The woman dancing with him takes care of him.
Trish was a camp counsellor among other things. She was jealous of her brother’s motorcycle so she got a teal colored motorcycle and rode it around town.
Below is a slide show of some of the other residents:
Portraits of Nicaragua — PeaceWorks January 2016
In January 2016 I went to Nicaragua as part of a delegation of PeaceWorks, a non-profit organization that works with communities throughout Nicaragua. Visit the website at http://peaceworks.org/ We visited Cusmapa where PeaceWorks works with a women’s collective that makes crafts from pine needles and with various agricultural projects dedicated to organic and natural farming; Palacagúina where we work with local farming communities, and where we climbed a mountain; Las Peñitas where we relaxed on the beach after a week in the mountains, and where we help fund a project that harvests eggs of sea turtles and returns them to the sea as they hatch; El Porvenir, a coffee growing cooperative on a remote mountain, (best coffee I’ve ever had) where we funded a medical clinic; Las Pipitas which works with developmentally disabled children; Inhijambia, which works with street children in Managua, the capital and Axayactl, a women’s empowerment group fighting violence against women and promoting women’s economic development and social justice. Theses are some of the people we met along the way.
For more pictures see slideshow below:
Art
I met Art while working in South Carolina with All Hands Volunteers. I could not resist his portrait
A Reading of “The Adding Machine” by Ripple Effects Artists
In its own words “Ripple Effects Artists Inc., is dedicated to mounting cutting edge theatrical productions of masterly written published works which ask bold questions and provoke dialog.” Each theatrical production donates a portion of the proceeds to a human rights organization that is aligned with the theme of the production. These photos are from a reading of The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice. By way of disclosure, I am on the Advisory Board of Ripple Effects. See more photos in the slide show below
My Nicaragua journey
In January 2014 I went to Nicaragua as part of a delegation of PeaceWorks, a non-profit organization that works with communities throughout Nicaragua. We visited Cusmapa where PeaceWorks is helping to develop an ecotourism site, and works with a women’s collective that makes crafts from pine needles; Regádio where we helped a project that brings water from a spring outside the village directly to people’s houses; Palacagúina where we work with local farming communities, Las Peñitas where we help fund a project that harvests eggs of sea turtles and returns them to the sea as they hatch; El Porvenir, a coffee growing cooperative on a remote mountain, (best coffee I’ve ever had) where we funded a medical clinic, Inhijambia, which works with street children in Managua, the capital and Axayactl, a women’s empowerment group fighting violence against women and promoting women’s economic development including an innovative pig raising project. .
These are some of the people and things that I saw.
Portraits in the style of Richard Avedon
I am fascinated by Richard Avedon’s portrait series in the American Southwest where he photographed his subjects against a plain white background. I tried to emulate him using PhotoShop to acheive the result. Here are some of my early efforts.
FACES
I am fascinated by the faces of the people I photograph. Some of these are head shots and some are cropped from photos of people engaged in some activity, or simply posing for me. I got the idea for this series as I zoomed in on Photoshop during post production and close cropped around the face. I noticed that the eyes in particular created an interesting and sometimes powerful image. So here are my first attempts at expressive close in face shots. Enjoy.
Click on any photo below for a full screen slide show
From a Richard Avedon wannabe
I have been intrigued by Richard Avedon’s portraiture against a stark, blank background ever since I saw his show “Evidence” at the Whitney Museum in New York City in 1994. With the advent of digital photography and photoshop I have begun trying to emulate him. I am collecting all the digital portrait work that I have done over the last ten years and trying to convert them to the Avedon style. These are my first efforts. With apologies to the master.
Steve's World - A Photographic Journey 