Tuesday, December 23, 2008

basking in beauty with my brothers...


towards the end of every year i always seem to find myself in a state of perplexed emotion. i don't know if it is the gathering of family or all the sentimental reflection that goes along with all that is special about this time of year.

since my brother sam died, i've had trouble truly indulging in family gatherings, tree lighting and all around christmas time merriment. at times, i think about my brother and my momma who are watching all this crazy world living from high above in the heavens and they must be smiling and laughing and joyously wishing they were here with us to all hug and kiss and smile and smirk.

but life, as we know, isn't a fairy tale. and things that seem too good to be true, usually are. i'm really not trying to sulk over here above the hudson, more, i'm just relaying what i know and how i feel.

in essence, these are the moments that i live for. life, i think, is for laughter and it is for joy and it is for those moments, where we are on an island of happiness and peace and calm with the ones that we truly truly love so much on earth and in heaven too.

love and health to all...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

selling veggies in a winter wonderland




On many friday mornings in 2008, I woke up at 5 am to bike to 97th and work at the Bialas Farms Farmstand.

This past friday was the last regular farmstand morning for Bialas Farms until May, when the new veggies arrive so fresh and so ready to eat in anticipation of summer and stevie wonder's birthday. Friday it was snowing and the fun of selling veggies in a winter wonderland was contagious.

These little snaps were taken with a new camera that I now own, that arrived in my lap when I was hanging out in a cave underground where sometimes beautiful positive and lovely things fall from the sky. Well, sort of...

love and health to all..

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

crazy in the crates


so on a wave of positive procrastination, i searched my cribbo for some old school family images. in true style, i found some some gems that had both been hidden and had also be exposed, but never ever scanned. i laid these prints out on a flatbed et voila, they were digital. then i smiled, knowing that although many of them had been in my home, a lot of you all have never been there, only here. and so above, is the first of a few gems that will be coming to this lovely lenz, just in time for the holiday season.

from left to right, this is my cousin mikey, my cuz and his sis margaret, my brother sammy and myself, some lazy summer afternoon in riverside park, back back back in the day...

love and health to all...

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

steaming through lunch


an old school image, circa after september 11, 2001. when i was roaming lower manhattan...

love and health to all...

Monday, December 15, 2008

taking it back...


...to familiar faces in new delhi, india circa january 2003.

love and health to all...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

the favela project






this is evening i rolled over to a brasilian restaurant in midtown manhattan to take photos for the first ever nyc benefit for the favela project.

the evening was filled with caiparainas, samba, soccer and unexpected friends.

some moments from tonight's festa...

love and health to all...

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

clouding


according to the weathermen and weatherwomen of the world, it's supposed to rain and/or snow in the new york city region from today till friday. it's a cloudy day here, the gray sky is covering manhattan and the sun is nowhere to be seen. when i went to college in minnesota, i remember wishing that i'd just develop my own major and focus on the study of the physical beauty of clouds. academically i never went there, but spiritually i was and still am feeling that love on the daily.

years ago i found myself in new zealand. there, in the land of the long white cloud, i studied drawing, printmaking and indigenous arts of the south pacific.

one day while walking in a national park in the land of the long white cloud, this airy puff appeared over a ridge. i snapped and caught it forever on a 35 mm film strip. this cloud was rare and since that day i've never seen one like it...

love and health to all...

Monday, December 01, 2008

hey, can i still win that contest? my entry is past the deadline...


years ago while studying in the south pacific, i found myself in the lovely city of melbourne, australia. always or almost always, i had had my camera with me to photograph this marvelous city and the urban landscapes in and around melbourne.

at that same time, the library of carleton college (the college in minnesota where i was studying at the time) was holding a study abroad photo contest with a small purse to the winner, the runner up and so on and so forth. the contest was for images with the theme, well naturally, having something to do with a library and libraries of the world...

i remember arriving upon this library sticking up out of the sidewalk and immediately thinking, holy moly, this is the photo i'll use to enter the contest! of course, this was way before i had gotten into digital photography and such, so this image was originally a negative. i think i was with my friend sam when we ran into this gem. i handed him my camera, ran to the base of the cornice with my sketch pad, climbed this piece of man made rock and slightly uncomfortably found a corner of the library where i could peacefully sit and read...

i wonder if i can still enter the photo contest...

love and health to all...