Lights of Montclair and Glenridge

Lights of Clark and Westfield

Lights of Belleville and Nutley

The Black Friday Pics

Out at five, coffee and camera in hand,  my first Black Friday experience was an eye opener in more ways than one.  Barely dawn, I arrived to find stores already open, parking lots jammed and shoppers loading up their vehicles mountains of stuff.  The pace was frenetic, but shoppers, for the most part, seemed happy, if not ecstatic!  Some  posed for the camera and there was no trampling.. at least that I witnessed.  One thing can be said with certainty:  people love to shop and a good bargain was had by all!

Shopping for Staples?

Picture Black Friday

Get your camera out and join me on Friday to participate in this interesting project:  Picture Black Friday.  Started by two photographers, Jake Stangel and Joer Colberg, Picture Black Friday is an open invitation to document this strange and uniquely American cultural tradition that seems to get more bizarre each year.  I love this kind of independent project and I don’t know about you, but for me, snapping some pics makes this day of  mega shopping a bit more palatable.  For more information about the project and how to submit, check out the website:  www.pictureblackfriday.org.  See you out there in the trenches.  Careful, don’t be trampled!

Vivi’s Harp

One evening while wandering with my camera,  I was summoned by  harp strings  to an enchanted wood.    There I found a red gowned girl and her harp sitting  on a  bench beneath  the gloaming sky.  She told me her name was Vivi and  I quickly snapped these photos in case you would not believe that such a thing were true.

Millions of Cats: Tips for Editing Your Wedding Photos

Today’s Brides are lucky.  Family members, friends and even people you don’t know, not to mention your professional photographer, can take hundreds of images, download them almost instantly to sites like flickr, share them on facebook and email endlessly.  But like so many things in our digital age, this is both a a blessing and a burden.  After all, what does one do with all those millions of pics!  It’s a little bit like the classic children’s story by Wanda Gag: Millions of Cats.   In his search to find a cat for his wife, an old man is followed  by

Hundreds of cats,

Thousands of cats,

Millions and billions and trillions of cats!

Well here’s my advice….Wait!

If you are editing your own photos for an album, to post online, display  or give as gifts, the first thing to do is wait.   Just sit back relax and look at your photos over and over without making any choices.   There’s no replacing that fist glimpse of your photos – like a sip of great wine –  and how fun it is to relive that momentous occasion, but, interestingly enough, the photos you like a lot at first, won’t necessarily be the keepers.  I don’t know why that is,  just a lesson learned from editing millions of pics.  Some of them grow on you – again, like a great bottle of wine which opens up and breathes –   you will notice new things,  something more subtle and interesting can emerge.     After many viewings, and some time, you don’t even have to think so much about it.  A sort of intuitive process will take hold and the really good photos will emerge.  Simple as it seems, that’s my my first and, maybe, best  advice…. wait and take your time.   Don’t be in a hurry.

Secondly, if I have a second wisdom to pass along it’s just to restate the old Bauhaus mantra Less Is More.   Everybody likes a posed shot.. a flattering portrait.  That’s what one expects and should expect, because why go through all the trouble of a pretty dress and luscious flowers without showing them off?  But, two or more similar shots might be boring…

How about combining that classic shot, from the template,  with  one that’s  more “off the cuff?”

Which brings me to my final point, that good design is always about subtracting…. subtracting the obvious and replacing it with the unexpected.

Here’s another couple of  examples.

It’s All Happening at the Fair

Someone told me it’s all happening at the fair.  I do believe it.  I do believe it’s true….  the State Fair at the Meadowlands, that is.

 

Recherche du Temps Perdu

The title pretty much says it all..

I first took pictures of  my son Marco and his friend Jack in a Pierrot costume after being inspired by the great Nadar photographs of Adrien Tournachon.  My friend Suza made the costume and Jack is her son.  So, it’s altogether fitting that we’re now planning a show together with these and some of her own beautiful shots of  children.  

My 4th was spent shooting… five boys… skateboards,  helicopter toys, bicycles and red, white and blue cupcakes!