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.

Caught In The Act!

I love to look at photographs, the real things - not on a computer screen. New York City is heaven for it with all its galleries and museums. And I love to collect photography books, but it's expensive. Still, when I'm at home on a rainy day I can spend a day with Gene Smith, Winogrand, Walker Evans .... and Robert Frank. Speaking of whom - I just received a book by Frank entitled In America which is a collection of work edited by Peter Galassi. It has some of the same work included in the classic Frank book The Americans but presented in a different context. The two books go hand in hand with Walker Evans' American Photographs and all three provide a glimpse into an America of the past century that I only faintly remember. As I look at the people in those images, I see an entirely different kind of American - jaded, unworldly, chauvinistic. Almost all of the images are more considered than Winogrand's, but just as spontaneous and candid - not as studied as Cartier-bresson's work. This is definitely not 'street' photography. I find a lyricism and poetry in it that's completely absent in the work of Martin Parr and his ilk.

When I listen to music, see a drama on stage, look at photographs (or any art work) I want to be blown away by it, or pinned to the back of my seat, or have my guts twisted. Otherwise it's boring, and why bother. Evans, Frank, Smith, Winnogrand - these are the guys that do it for me.

Oh how I wish I could have that effect too.

I had to drop off a portfolio of work in Midtown yesterday afternoon, and afterwards had a chance to roam around Times Square to photograph. I must have been surrounded by bright orange light because I was caught in the act quite a few times (even by Elliott Erwitt - the last photograph)

                                     

                                     

Who, me?

I spent three days at the Photo Plus Expo in NYC. Met some great people, collected some printing paper samples, and saw lots of gear and software that I have no use for. Two of the three days was dedicated to networking and personal PR work, but it was all fun.

Even though Saturday was rainy, I spent about an hour on the street before my train back to NJ. Shooting in inclement weather can be uncomfortable, but rainy days, while posing their challenges, also present some interesting opportunities. When I pointed the camera at him, this gentleman suddenly turned guilty-looking (wonder what he did).

What to do? What to do?

For a project I've been working on, I have to edit a collection of thousands of images down to twenty that will tell the story well. Incredibly difficult because I really love so many of them.  In the past I've done major edits down to about fifty or so images and then asked people I trust to have a say. But being able to do the selections alone and independently is really essential, so I struggle on. It may not be my twenty  most favorite images, but the series will certainly tell the story.

In the meantime, I've been trying to get out and shoot unrelated stuff just to clear my mind. On Monday I took a walk through the Lower East Side and Chinatown. The weather was beautiful, but way too sunny. Very harsh contrasts, even in late afternoon. Winter light is so much more forgiving. But we work with whatever G-d gives us, eh?

So, here's the stuff:

Going Back In Time

Every so often I like to browse through my catalog of photos just to review what I was shooting one or two years ago compared to now. Often I find images that I may have passed over, or meant to work on but never got to. Since I've been a bit out of commission for the past week I had the chance to look back, and found stuff that I thought was worth working over. So here it is, no particular order or subject. I just wanted to see how they looked on the blog.