Happy Father’s Day to all dads. Remember to photograph your children’s growing moments.

I believe that it is always a good time for a wedding. More I believe that one should have one’s wedding photographs to hand down to your kids and grandkids. I am happy that I have used and continue to use film for these important occasions. These prints here are from a wedding that I photographed 10 years ago. I continue to use film for weddings and my other commissioned work. Photographs of these life celebrations and transitions should be made to last.

A wedding client from 10 years ago just contacted me to do scans from her wedding photographs. I am happy to report that, of course, I have the original negatives plus her hand made wedding album is in perfect shape. Robert Polidori, the photographer artist, has said “Film is made to remember, digital is made to forget.”

This series of the groomsmen and groom tying their bow ties from my client’s wedding is still so enjoyable. I love these details of a wedding day.

Important for me as I build my own practice is to talk about artists who inspire me. Two of them have shows right now in NYC.
Elizabeth Peyton has a beautiful show of portraits of a single woman artist done over 4 years of time. It is called “Klara 13 Pictures” at the Michael Werner Gallery. Her inventiveness inspires me as I continue to photograph and produce art with people who are friends and clients.
Tracey Emin’s show at Lehmann Maupin has just opened. She is so personal and yet her work addresses my thoughts and the thoughts of many other women I know.
Lori Field’s work may be seen for a short time still at Claire Oliver Gallery before they go on exhibit at The Noyes Museum. Lori works with silverpoint and draws portraits with flowers and animals. It all seems like fantasy as these twirl on the page, but the meanings are meant for contemplation.
I often work with flowers and animals and combine them with portraits for clients to add meaning for them at these junctures in their lives.

Nothing can compare to beautiful spring light as it shines in our spaces. Displayed here is a framed bridal portrait. The view behind her is the NYC skyline as seen from the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, where her wedding took place. Here also is a view from Madison Square Park on one of our beautiful spring days.

Your wedding is a precious time. Your bridal bouquet is the symbol for this beauty. I love taking the elements of a wedding and combining them to give a larger thought through the art work.

Every season brings new experiences and adventures in a child’s life. Sometimes it is as simple as noticing the first flowers of Spring. When photographing children I am always attentive to what interests them and I look to bring this into the prints I do for my clients. Telling the story of this time in this child’s life inspires me.

I did this print artistically in palladium on thin, translucent Japanese gampi paper and used flowers, that we saw that morning, in relief in the printing of this print. I have always been inspired by the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, both in how she approached doing portraits and in her printing of them. I feel that the interpretation one does in printing a photograph is as much a part of the art as taking the photograph.

Recently I photographed this beautiful bride. I used my large format 4X5 camera and worked traditionally. I am incorporating this kind of portraiture with my documentary approach. I will add more posts with other photographs from our session and fill in more details about the wedding day.
The bride is wearing the dress that her grandmother wore on her wedding day. The bouquet she is carrying is designed by the artist Sarah Bedford.

These first days of Spring are a time to embrace the energies of nature. Two art shows, one recently opened and one closing after this weekend, are a perfect way to celebrate the arrival of Spring.
At Pace Gallery on 25th Street in Chelsea, Jim Dine’s masterful paintings explode with the forces of nature. They seem to me to be where Van Gogh’s Starry Night would go if one were to take those explosive stars several steps further. Dine incorporates sand with the paint on his canvases.
Jazz-minh Moore in her show at Claire Oliver Gallery on 26th Street paints directly on birch and carves into the birch. Her women merge with the wood and nature at the same time. To quote from the statement about her work: “She applauds the fiercely real, unposed, unsimulated and unperfect, in favor of embracing a sense of exposure and freedom of movement.” I also believe in the beauty of the real in my work.
The palladium art piece here is my work, the rush of water of Spring on a river branch in Vermont.

Children learn to love and protect from caring for animals, especially very young animals. Many scientists are concluding after studying animals that they are not too different from us. What better way to teach our children respect for these non human creatures than to have them care for them.