Let the Summer Begin......

Tokyo in Summer

http://vimeo.com/114720748 Every summer I look forward to my yearly trip to Tokyo to visit my wife's family and basically do nothing but relax, eat delicious food, and spend time with my family. But I've developed a habit of taking some time to myself every year to play around photographically, and stretch myself to try new things. It's just one more way I enjoy the trip every year. This year's experiment moved to time-lapse video, something I've moved heavily into in the last 18 months and an aspect of my work that I enjoy more and more. So let me take you on a bit of a tour through the city that has become my second home. From Odaiba and it's wonderful views of the Rainbow Bridge, to trendy Shibuya and the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Views of the famous Eiffel Tower "tribute" called Tokyo tower, the sleepy neighborhood of Akatsuka, and a ride on many of the trains that make up the city's amazing mass transit system. Hope you enjoy, and if you're ever going I may have a suggestion or two for you. Stay tuned for part 2: Hong Kong!

Inside the Steinway & Sons Piano Factory

I was lucky to be able to shoot in the legendary Steinway & Sons piano factory in Astoria last week. A place where some of the finest musical instruments in the world are made. I didn't know exactly what to expect going into it, but it definitely wasn't what I got. I think I just assumed that I would be walking into a massive, modern factory with tons of machinery and automation, something akin to a car assembly line... just substitute pianos. Instead what I saw was probably not all that much different than how they built pianos 100 years ago. Walking in and seeing all the handwork and craftsmanship that goes into each and every piano was truly beautiful. I really didn't think anything was built this way anymore. The collection of craftsmen, talent, and old and new woodworking knowledge was a true delight to behold.

Wall Street Journal Photos of The Week

Happy to say three of my photos, including this one of Grand Central Terminal, ended up in this week's Wall Street Journal's Pictures of the week. See the WSJ gallery here.

Apple Harvest at The Stone Ridge Orchard

I love and look forward to this time of year every year. The weather cooling... Fall slowly starting to come in... and apple picking! I've long made it a point to go apple picking every season, this year I got to shoot it for the first time. What a great day. Thanks to Elisabeth Ryan and the folks at Stone Ridge Orchard for a memorable experience.

Japan 2013

Every year my family and I pack up for a trip to Tokyo. My wife was born and raised there and her entire family still lives there. It's definitely become more routine over the years... but I never tire of it. My family there is fantastic and I've grown to love the country like a second home. ...and the food! I don't need to say much more about that, do I? The one thing I never will enjoy is the practically weeklong jetlag I deal with every time. Out of all the traveling I've done, I think Japan has the worst jetlag. It's 13 hours different, literally the exact opposite schedule of home. I find myself wandering around in a daze for the first 4 or so days I'm there every time. This trip I decided to try and make use of my dazed, early rising state and set out to try and make a surreal set of pictures of urban Tokyo life. Some of the little scenes I see when wandering around because nobody else in the house is awake  yet.

See you in 2014 Tokyo, I miss you already.

Portraits at the YAI House for Developmentally Disabled Senior Citizens

Several weeks ago I found myself on assignment at the YAI house for developmentally disabled senior citizens in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Apparently, the recently opened facility used to be a convent, and when the leadership of the church realized that they only had two sisters living in the huge building, they decided to see if they could make some other use of the facility. In comes YAI and it was a match made in heaven (pardon the pun). It was a fantastic story I got to work on, and I had great access to the facility, shooting whatever candid photos I wanted to. While it was a really great story, and made for great candid images, what I found to be much more interesting were the amazing residents of the facility... truly wonderful people. I arranged to come back a few weeks later to work on a portrait project, and here are the results. I want to say a special thank you to my colleague Pearl Gabel who helped me out on the shoot. Her gentle way with the people really made for a great day for us all. I couldn't have done it without her. Enjoy!

Several weeks ago I found myself on assignment at the YAI house for developmentally disabled senior citizens in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Apparently, the recently opened facility used to be a convent, and when the leadership of the church realized that they only had two sisters living in the huge building, they decided to see if they could make some other use of the facility. In comes YAI and it was a match made in heaven (pardon the pun). It was a fantastic story I got to work on, and I had great access to the facility, shooting whatever candid photos I wanted to. While it was a really great story, and made for great candid images, what I found to be much more interesting were the amazing residents of the facility... truly wonderful people. I arranged to come back a few weeks later to work on a portrait project, and here are the results. I want to say a special thank you to my colleague Pearl Gabel who helped me out on the shoot. Her gentle way with the people really made for a great day for us all. I couldn't have done it without her. Enjoy!