APA Board members from around the country met this weekend in NYC in conjunction with Photo Expo. It was wonderful to meet board members whom I didn’t know & to put faces to those I had spoken with on the phone but never met in person. APA is a fantastic organization for photographers working in all areas. Having recently changed it’s name to reach beyond the traditional borders of advertising photography APA is working hard to find ways to support photographers & provide programming that is exciting and relevant at a time when our industry is going through major changes. From the economy to the changing face and technologies of photography it is a pretty exciting time. Scary – certainly, but change usually is and with it comes many opportunities for growth. APA has some great plans for the coming year and it is wonderful to be a part of this fantastic organization both as a board member and member of the APA|NY chapter.
http://www.apany.com
My friends, Steve + Rosie, throw a Halloween party every year. The kids make pizza from scratch and it gets cooked in the wood burning oven out back. Steve converts the hill in the back yard into a giant mud slide and everyone carves pumpkins. The twenty pumpkins this year came from the Haverstraw community garden and are the direct descendants of last years pumpkins – the seeds went into the compost pile and out came pumpkin vines…Adults participate in all the above and drink large quantities of wine. The house and yard are left in ruins and for some reason Steve + Rosie do it all over again the following year.
I was taking Duncan to do a short stretch of one of my favorite running trails when I realized that we were in front of a trail head. About 100 feet to the east was a section of slope that I had slid down in the dark a few weeks ago. We had been out for what was to be a very short hike when we had decided to explore an additional section of trail. It was late in the day and we had no flash lights, signal devices, etc with us. In other words we shouldn’t have gone off exploring right then. I started up the trail head to see where we had gone wrong & realized two things. We had only missed the actual trail by about 100 feet and we were better off for having picked a clear section and slid as the proper trail was fairly steep and boulder strewn – possibly not the best choice in the dark – with a dog and a couple of kids… The Guinea hens belong to someone, but roam the area along with a large herd of wild turkeys and local deer both of which like to run out in front of your bike when training in the park at dusk…
Bron Imaging is doing a fantastic job with their Shoot NY event during this year’s Photo Expo. I attended Karen D’Silva’s panel which was totally well put together. Karen and her fellow panelists were engaging, informative, insightful and generous in their presentation and willingness to answer questions . The take away message was – Mine your own life story for source material, present it imaginatively, execute it flawlessly. Karen is going to be doing another presentation with APA|NY in November and based on the audience’s response to yesterday’s presentation it’s going to be an awesome & highly attended event.
I also got to hear August Bradley, whose work I am madly in love with, give his presentation. The best thing about it was to see what a completely lovely, thoughtful and generous human being he is, not to mention being hugely talented. The take away message from August - team work, respect for and kindness towards your team members, and dedication to your craft are key elements in creating great images.
Generosity, community, lifelong learning & dedication to one’s craft would be the overall themes of the day. The NY photo community is full of people who embody these qualities. Bron Imaging put on all of these amazing panels, with more to come today, for free. Many Thanks to Colin King and Jim Reed for their continuous and genuine support of Photographers.
Steve Morris is a friend, amazing builder, stone mason, craftsman and more. He and his girlfriend, Rosie, have created a stunningly wild & beautiful home along the Hudson River. Steve also raises chickens and builds beautiful homes for them as well. I spent a day with Steve & Rosie eating really good, really Mexican, Mexican food from the local taco joint and shooting Steve as he worked on the shake roof for the wood fired oven he is building. Steve, Rosie & Tacos Marianita totally rock !
A few weeks ago a lovely friend took us out Kayak fishing on the Long Island Sound. The two in the photo fished. I paddled off into the distance for no good reason other than it was a beautiful day and there was a small island to be visited. Jody caught the two Blue Fish, cleaned them, packed them up and sent them home with us. We had a completely rockin Ceviche that night along with a nice bottle of wine and toasted the kindness of friends.
