Random Shots

I had an interesting comment for one of the images in my most recent blog post. The image was part of an experiment with my Fuji EF-20 flash unit. The commenter asked what settings I used to get the image, as in shutter, aperture, and ISO. I can't understand what significance that could have for anyone unless he/she were to know the exact ambient lighting conditions at the time the photo was made. Otherwise the settings are just numbers without context. Oh well ....

I recently purchased a photo book entitled Robert Frank In America. Frank's best known work was is book The Americans which was released yet again this past year. The Americans, the result of the work Frank produced while funded by his Guggenheim Fellowship, consists of eighty three photographs he took while traveling across the United States. Robert Frank In America places those photographs in a more complete perspective that documents the routes he took in his travels and the mapped locations at which the images were shot, and more importantly the book includes many more images that were shot during those travels. I highly recommend both books.

Occasionally I like to go back through my catalog to find images that I flagged for processing but didn't have a chance to work on. I get a chance to look at work that has had time to percolate, and if I don't get out to shoot for one reason or another, I can still exercise my creative juices. So here's a few random shots from this past week.

Fuji X with Flash

Using an on camera flash has always been a bit of a crapshoot for me. In my DSLR days I shot TTL or TTL-fill flash and took the results as they were. But learning a few principles and practicing using them can allow for much more flexibility, so I spent the afternoon yesterday with an experienced friend and experimented a bit. The Fuji EF-20 is a power packed little unit, with a guide number of 20 meters (about 65 feet) that allows for five different power modes in increments of 1/2 stops. When we went our separate ways the evening light was well underway, so I had a chance to play a bit on my walk back to Penn Station.

My goal was to understand how to shoot with the flash with the camera in completely manual mode - except for autofocus, using shutter speed and aperture to control the effects of the flash and ambient light, and how to use ISO in conjunction with them.

Here's a few shots with the flash, and some shots I took during the afternoon without flash (those are his big feet on the right in the first image):

A Jewish Wedding II

More photos of the hasidic wedding I attended last week.

A Jewish Wedding And The Walls Of Jericho

What could they possibly have in common?

Last week I was invited to a hasidic wedding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The ceremony was to begin at 7:30 and the following reception to continue until 2AM the following morning. I knew I wouldn't have the stamina to last for the entire event, and that I would probably be heading home around 10PM, too late for me to want to contend with New York subways and New Jersey Transit from Penn Station. I had to drive during rush hour traffic and contend with  very limited parking availability in Brooklyn. I was anxious (a not uncommon phenomenon). My GPS got me through the traffic and when I arrived at the venue a parking spot was waiting for me not twenty five feet from the entrance to the reception hall. It was a message from somewhere that I was supposed to be there.

That still leaves the question of what do a Jewish Wedding and the Walls of Jericho have in common. I had never been to a hasidic wedding, so I was keenly interested in the rituals of the ceremony. Anyone who's ever been to a Jewish wedding is familiar with the Chuppah - the wedding canopy under which the actual ritual takes place - usually, but not necessarily, outdoors. And also with the groom breaking a glass at the end of the ceremony signifying that despite the joy of the wedding, Jews still mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

But there's so much more: the final drawing up of the Ketubah - the Wedding Contract, the covering of the bride's face with a veil (badeken in Yiddish), escorting the groom to the chuppah by the two fathers, escorting the bride to the chuppah by the two mothers. And to answer the original question, the bride is led around the groom my the bride's mother seven times. Why seven? In Genesis we read that G-d created the World in six days and on the seventh day - Shabbat - he rested, so the number seven assumes mystical significance as representing perfection.

But wait, there's more, and more to the point. After the Exodus from Egyptian slavery, when the Hebrews were about to enter Canaan, the first city they were instructed by G-d to redeem was Jericho. G-d commanded Joshua to march around the walled city seven times while blowing a shofar and when he did, the walls came 'tumbling down'. So, the seven circuits of the bride around the groom are to signify the breaking down of the walls of individuality and the joining of two people into the sanctity of a married unity, to build a home and family.

It was a pleasure to be able to attend the ceremony, and doubly to be allowed to document the proceedings with pictures. I shot over 800 images. A small selection (10 images) follows and more will be coming in the near future.

A gathering of relatives in the woman's room (both before and after the ceremony there is no mixing of the genders during the reception).

The bride and her mother:

The groom's father and some relatives:

Filling in the names on the ketubah (wedding contract)

Leading the groom to slaughter (just kidding):

The bride circling the groom seven times:

Reading the ketubah:

The groom's father greeting the rabbi:

Guests enjoying the reception:

At The City Winery

Yesterday I spent the afternoon and evening at the City Winery in New York. My friends and fellow musicians David 'Dawg' Grisman and Del McCoury performed a show of duets - vocal and instrumental - music drawn mostly from bluegrass and traditional Appalachian genres. And of course I had to photograph the event. The two veterans played to a sold out house and obviously had a blast doing it.

Dawg & Del

Seeing two old friends tonight at the City Winery in New York. Should be a blast. When I was a young pup just learning my fiddle chops, David Grisman and I played in the New York Ramblers. At about that same time, Del McCoury, a one time banjoist, was playing guitar with and learning to sing lead from the Father of  Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe. The Blue Grass Boys at that time, along with Del, consisted of Bill (Brad) Keith on banjo, Billy Baker on fiddle, and Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass.
I hope to have pics later this week of the Dawg & Del duo.

Following are a few more shots from my chilly photowalk in Manhattan this past Saturday:

A dog's life:

Hey you, gimme dat cup!

Weekend in NYC

I walked the streets in midtown this weekend. Even though it was colder than I anticipated, it was fun to be out in the crowds. I've been focusing so much on a major project that sometimes my sense of play gets lost in the intensity. The next seven weeks are going to be interesting on Fifth avenue.

My friend, David Grisman, will be performing at the City Winery on Tuesday as part of a duet with the legendary Del McCoury. I'm looking forward to spending some time with two old friends.

Here's some of what I shot on Fifth avenue. More to come.