Looking Back

I started this blog in the begging of the year and now is a good time to look back at all that happened.
I have to say it has been both good and bad. I lost my best friend, which i am still dealing with, I attended 3 other funerals besides his, which is way too many for 1 year, but life must go on.

My Photography has been evolving, I was published by +Anetta G. Heller and +Artur Heller who run Camerapixo magazine. Camerapixo also has PressID, if you are street photographer or trying to do more journalist work, this could be very helpful.
I was also published in +dodho magazine. You can find links to all the articles in my earlier blog posts.
One of the projects I worked on got turned into a book, you can find it here. There is another project I am slowly working on and hoping it will come to light in 2013, so stay tuned.
Another picture of mine was published in the +Plus One Collection Magazine, which I helped put together, it was all for charity and well worth the time, a big thank you goes out to +Ivan Makarov and +Andy Lee for all their work, please follow them on Google+

Here is one my latest pictures of Snow on Park Avenue, this shot was taken at ISO 3200 handheld through the window, I have to give credit to my new camera for having an amazing sensor technology.

Most importantly I want to wish all the people who follow me Happy Holidays and great 2013 may it bring happiness and joy to all. Thank you for reading!

Life Around Us

As photographer you notice things that others may not, because you stop to capture that moment in life and when you later look at that picture you realize how many things are happening at the same time. Life moves all around us and its wonderful being able to capture a moment of it.

Each one of us have a different vision about life, but being able to express that vision is very important and photography helps me do that. There is more to life then just you regular daily routine and I hope my pictures show that.

OK, enough of philosophy let's talk about something more exciting like m43 camera's. There has been a lot of development in that field, just look at Olympus OMD EM5 camera. Sigma finally came out with lenses for m43, so there is finally 3rd party support for both Panasonic and Olympus, which means more is on the way.
I am actually considering picking up Sigma 19mm F2.8 lens, the reviews on it are great and the price is right. 

All my shots that you see on this site are taken with Panasonic G3 paired with Olympus 45mm F1.8 Lens and Panasonic 14-45mm, which is a great setup for the money

Thank you all for reading!

Leadership

This past weekend I had the pleasure to meet with Story Musgrave and Stan McChrystal. Both are amazing people who accomplished a lot in their life, I urge if you do not know who they are to look them up and read about them. Now how does this relate to photography, well something Story Musgrave said during his speech that stuck with me, he said work on your strength, don't worry about your weaknesses. If you like photography and you are good at it, just continue to take pictures and you will get better at it.
Picture above on the right, was taken by a friend it is not the best quality, but any picture with him is better then no picture at all he is an amazing human being.

Leadership and photography, how does one become a leader. Look at people like Trey Ratcliff, I consider him one of the leaders in photography and he does that by being open, by sharing, by communicating with community. Stan McCrystal said during his speech that to be an effective leader you need to share information, you need to communicate, build trust in the community. Listen to his speech here.

Some other notes worth mentioning, in case you missed the post about my book, it is out and available via Blurb. I am working on my second book, which I will try to publish with LULU as it seems cheaper, but second book will take a bit longer as I am still gathering material for it. Here is a teaser that I will likely use for the cover of the book.

Thank you for reading!

Welcome to New York

Welcome to New York is the title of my new book, that I finished early. The book shows my vision of this great city. Book can be view and purchased @ Blurb. It comes in both digital and hard cover versions.

New York and New Yorkers are so full of life that taking pictures of the city and it's people is a pure pleasure. Life in the New York City never stops, at any time of the day or night there is something happening and there is always something to photograph as you will see in this book. The book consists of 3 chapters and each picture is accompanied by a quote.Chapter 1, in this chapter you will see your everyday people going about their daily routine. Chapter 2 is very different, it consists of people who actually live on the streets of New York. It shows you the not so pretty side of the city in the comparison to the fun and happy New York. Chapter 3 explores the subway system of the big city, specifically the multitude of the musicians that you see on the platforms.

Full Link to the book just in case the above does not work:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3362825?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=bookstore-share

Thank you for reading!

The Book!

Good day to all, in my previous post I mentioned about working on the book and it is coming along nicely. The book will consist of 3 chapters, and it will be about 50 pages give or take a few depending on the images I decide to put in there, each page of the book will also have a quote about photography. I will announce the book here on my blog, followed by Google + and twitter, so please follow me if you want to stay updated on the release. Book will be available in both hard cover for your coffee table or office and as an eBook for you mobile device/reader.

Thank you again fro reading and as the image above illustrates i now need some coffee :)

Changes & Thoughts

I decided to change the Title of the blog, I think it better reflect my thoughts on photography and where I am going as a photographer. As I think about it, I realize that what interested me in street photography and photography in general is that a a photo can convey so many messages, it can tell story of someones life, it can open up your imagination. Once you see that photo that will move you, that speaks to you, then you will understand why I changed the title.

My next project will be a photo book of New York and the people in it. Yes there are plenty out there already, but I promise you it will be different than others. I am still working on the material that will go into the book, but I am hoping it will be ready towards the end of the summer.

As always thank you for reading and your comments.

Photowalk with Iesha & John

Back Story, Iesha found me via my blog and contacted me saying she will be on vacation in NY this week and asked if i had some time for a photowalk. I was happy to make some time, I always enjoy meeting new people who are like minded and love photography, we met today in midtown and took a train to Union Square. There are always plenty of weird and fun people and  things to shoot in that area. 

We walked around the area for about an hour as we were waiting for one more person to join us. 

Here is a picture of Iesha.

John sent us a text at around 5pm and we went back to Union Square to meet with him and continue our photowalk. We took Broadway down toward China Town, talking and doing some shooting on the way. During our walk we run into another photographer his name is Rameen, he was showing his work, lots of great jazz picture and a few others, i will provide a link to his work later.

Once we got to China Town I had to take the train home as it was getting late, and i needed to go home so i can spend some time with my kids and family. This was a fun afternoon walking around New York, meeting new people and photographing New York City and its people.

Iesha can be found on her blog One Life, many Shots

Rameen Gasery can be found at his website

John Can be found on Instagram @rottenronin

Thank you for reading!

Summer on the Streets of New York

It almost 90% degrees out and the humidity is about the same, welcome to New York City summers. The city comes alive during the summer with so many interesting people, not to say that city is ever boring, or other seasons are not fun, but summer is just more cheerful and photo opportunities triple. Do you have a favorite season for photography?, let me know by leaving a comment below.

Few other things worth mentioning:
1.  The deadline for photo submission to plus one magazine is May 31st. For more information about the magazine and how to submit, please read this Google plus post.
2. I came across an interesting kickstarter project called photoville, please take a look.
3. If you have not heard or seen Humans of New York, i highly suggest you take a look.
4. Google + One Year Anniversary Photowalk is approaching, click here for more info and to find information for your city/location

Thank you for reading

Seinfeld Episode or Street Photography

As i was taking picture's on my way home from work on Friday night i was thinking about street photography and how many photographers concentrate on taking a street portrait vs an actual street photograph. Warning this is purely my opinion it is neither right or wrong just what i think, which i hope was reflected by the humor of today's title :)

Many street photographers concentrate on taking a portrait shot on the street, yes it takes some "brass" to come and ask can i take your picture, but to me it somewhat looses the element of the street as all you see in the picture is that person, the picture itself looses the story. Step back show some buildings, show more people, give the picture some life, so the reader/audience can see something else except a strangers face. I guess to me there are really 2 genres, street photography and street portraits.

Thank you for reading, all comments are always welcome :)

Fallen Riders

This post is slightly off my usual photography nature, but i hope you like it none the less.

Today(5/6/2012) was a special day, "First Annual Ride In Memory of Eddie.T". The Ride was organized by 2 clubs, Bikers of Brooklyn and BRATVA, all the proceeds from the Ride went to Eddies family. It was very dear to my heart to see all this people come out and show their support, the only way this day could be better if Eddie was with us, instead of watching over us. His family was there and i know they appreciated everything that was and is being done. It was a difficult day for many, but we pulled though it as one big family that supports each other. Talking about support, it has been  nothing short of amazing.

On the side note there were so many photographers there today, It must have been some organized photo-walk, if it was i hope the word will spread and more people will attend next year. The ride is not only in the memory of our fallen, brother and friend, but also to raise awareness that people should be tested after certain age, if they should continue to drive. Please Click on the link and sign this petition!

Once again i want to thank on behalf of myself and his family, all the clubs and people who came out to show their support, words can not describe how much it means.

Thank you all for reading and your continued support.

State of Affairs

Good Day to all my readers!

First a little self promotion my pictures got published by Camerapixo, you can register on their website for free and look for me in the Issue 18, Page 165. You can also read it here. I am also in talks with another online magazine about possibly publishing some of my subway series pictures.

So what's next, last few weeks have been rough due to the loss of my friend, you can read all about it in my march blog entry, but what is great is how many people came together to help. A big Thank you goes out to all those people, you know who you are. How is any of this related to photography, well photography is helping me to deal with all of this, its relaxing and it helps to see the life around you. Other things worth mentioning new Google + interface is a nice step in the right direction I do think they need to utilize the white space better, but I still like the looks fresh. On the same note recent changed to 500px navigation and addition of statistics are awesome.

Well i think this is all i have for today, thank you for reading and if you want to help out a little click on one of those Google ads :)

Extra, Extra Read all about it

Today was a  regular day, i took some street photos to process at the later time, i got home spend some time with the kids, had dinner, walked the dog, all routine things. 11pm The phone rings, its never a good when the phone rings at night, its my best friends wife, he was in accident and he is in the hospital. OK  i get dressed and take off to go there and then my world gets turned upside down, when i get to the hospital i am meet by the cop and the doctor telling me i am sorry and shaking my hand. MY friend of 20 years is gone just like that. Earlier today i spend probably about 3 hours talking to him about all kinds of things the longest we spoke in the long time. The hospital was rough between his family and so on, i tried to stay strong and not show any emotion at least there, did not know how to deal with it any other way at the moment. Fast forward i am home writing this, because i cant sleep, i cant do anything i am sick to my stomach and i need to talk this out as i am drinking a bottle of scotch. So what now, whats next i don't know everything has changed. The best thing about life, is life its that simple, nothing else matters! The tears are running down as i am writing this and my thoughts are all over the place. He will be remembered, life goes on. There is so much more on my mind but i just cant get it together at the moments, so i leave you with this pictures as a memory