tender spaces

I was reviewing the film that I have had developed over the past year and noticed a lot of photos taken in parks and green spaces. I picked these out and put them together because they express what is meaningful to me about being in a park.  I love how art installations or structures in and around parks allow each person to interact with nature and their environment in a new way. Sometimes the trees and the natural growth are the art itself.  Parks can be so vast that it is hard to take it all in.  I like to use the camera to notice the small details, the tender spaces amidst the vastness.  These photos were taken in Sunset Park, Elizabeth Park in Hartford Connecticut, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and on the High Line. The final photo in the post was taken on an iphone. The others are film taken on a Pentax K-1000.

Yum Yum Dim Sum

It has been way too much time since I last posted here, but I am back.  And what better way to be back than with photos of Dim Sum.  Back in May, I was lucky to be invited out to celebrate the birthday of a friend at Pacificana in Sunset Park.  The day just felt right from the beginning.  From the group of people who came together to the walk down 8th Avenue, Brooklyn’s own Chinatown, to sharing a meal and celebrating a friend.  We sat at a circular table at the window and the light was perfect.  There is something about communal meals, dumplings and laughter…you should try it sometime.

upstate

I have come to realize that almost anywhere you travel in New York that is not New York City is referred to as upstate.  In this case, upstate was the Finger Lakes region.  I was compelled to visit after reading about the farms and wineries producing bushels of local flavor.  I fell in love with Trumansburg, a sleepy town about 20 miles outside of Ithaca, where Seth and I stayed at a B&B.  I sometimes fantasize about moving up there to an old cottage and being an apprentice at The Piggery or another nearby farm.  Saturday mornings would be spent at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market and afternoons making jam or ketchup or pickled beets.  I would have a craft room and a bike with a basket.  But then my city side kicks in.  Thanks to the greenmarkets and CSAs, much of what is grown on New York farms is available here in Brooklyn.  My 20 quart stockpot works just fine in my tiny kitchen.  And when I need a nature fix, upstate is just a short drive away.

inside out

In September I visited Boston for the weekend as I have done every couple of months since moving to Brooklyn.  On this particular weekend I joined some friends at South End Open Studios.  Even more than the art itself, I love being able to be inside the artist’s studios.  It’s a little like being inside their creativity, seeing what inspires them, the setting they choose to create in.  It’s an honor to be invited in.

This day is coming back to me as I write this.  I remember loving the feel of the Pentax in my hands, the heaviness of it.  I remember the way the light was streaming in the windows and bouncing off the brick of the converted warehouse building. I was interested in the lines going every which way- lines from the sun, the window panes, the brick, the rafters and the fabrics.  I was in sync with the camera and it felt effortless.  One of my favorite kinds of camera moments.

 

the beginning

Welcome!  This blog has been over a year in the making, but it turns out all that time wasn’t really necessary.  I was waiting. Waiting to know exactly what this would be, to have it all figured out.  I was worried that it would not be perfect.  I don’t know what it will be, it is not figured out and it will never be perfect, but I will never do it if I wait for all of those conditions to be met.  So here I am.  I am just doing it. And it will evolve into what it is supposed to be over time.

Last May, my apartment was broken into and several of my cameras were stolen.  At that point I was mostly using a Canon Digital Rebel XTi to take photos.  The bright side of the break-in is that it has reignited my passion for film photography.  I borrowed my friend’s Pentax K-1000 wish a 50 mm lens and I was off and running.  The photos you see above were taken in the upper portion of Central Park on an unseasonably warm December day.  We started at the Discovery Center on 110th Street and meandered through the Conservatory Garden, around the reservoir and down to the Swedish Cottage and the Shakespeare Garden.  It was great to experience some time for quiet reflection in the middle of Manhattan.  The perfect end to the day was a stop at Fatty Crab for some steamed pork buns.