Shadows in the Studio
(Prospect Heights)
03.18.2010 | 02:45 PM •
It’s spring and the sun is once again pouring through
the skylights!
Xmas Tree Reflection
(Santa Barbara)
12.26.2009 | 09:53 PM •
The tree at our family reunion rental in Summerland
(next to Santa Barbara), as reflected in a large
flatscreen TV.
Bike Week (NSB)
10.17.2009 | 11:38 PM •
Thousands of Harleys descended on Daytona to
celebrate Bike Week.
Max Is Walking!
10.03.2009 | 10:40 PM •
After a couple of weeks of baby steps into our arms,
Max is proudly walking everywhere, usually with his
arms out in true take-me-to-your-leader zombie
fashion
Port Morris (Bronx)
10.01.2009 | 10:36 PM •
Locust Restaurant (Port
Morris, the Bronx)
10.01.2009 | 10:31 PM •
Studio Shoot with Max to
Celebrate His 1st Birthday
08.23.2009 | 11:00 PM •
Wait, you’re not mommy!
A calm moment before the bubbles really made him
hyper.
More God Clouds (Prospect
Heights)
08.18.2009 | 11:22 PM •
38 Witnessed Her
Death
08.13.2009 | 11:25 PM •
My friend LuLu’s play, 38 Witnessed Her Death, is
being showcased at the
Fringe Festival. It’s a
one-woman show with dancers choreographed by
Jody Oberfelder. Read more
about it
here. These photos are from
the dress rehearsal. More can be seen
here.
Pacific Panorama (Point
Sal)
08.08.2009 | 11:50 PM •
Click on the photo for a bigger image.
Playground (Prospect
Heights)
06.29.2009 | 11:06 PM •
Our favorite playground for Max is a few blocks away.
They’ve got swings, sculptures, free Fisher Price
toys, and a few fountains to cool off in. Summer in
the city!
Max and Yours Truly
05.25.2009 | 10:26 PM •
In honor of Max’s 9-month b-day, I took some
portraits of him. This is an outtake from the sweaty
shoot, shot handheld at 24mm. Note: we are not
totally nude.
Equivalents 2009 (Park
Slope)
05.22.2009 | 11:18 PM •
With apologies to
Alfred Steiglitz. The weather
was becoming balmy and the skies were incredible
Friday morning.
25,600 ISO Test
05.07.2009 | 11:43 PM •
The performance is pretty remarkable for 25,600 ISO
on the D700. I’m going to experiment with shooting in
broad daylight with high shutter speeds and lots of
depth of field (f16 @ 1/8000th).
Homage to Nadar
Project
03.07.2009 | 11:12 PM •
Cherry Trees in February
(Santa Maria)
02.20.2009 | 01:37 AM •
Max's Swirl
01.02.2009 | 08:30 PM •
My father once said that a swirl of hair on a baby’s
crown meant the baby would be intelligent...
ISO 12,500 on the
Highway
12.31.2008 | 11:26 PM •
Holiday Lights, Bokeh
Style
12.15.2008 | 11:39 PM •
Max on the iPhone
11.20.2008 | 11:28 PM •
Max on my iPhone, seen through a glass of water.
Max at 12 Weeks
11.19.2008 | 11:33 PM •
More on the way from our photoshoot to mark Max’s
12th week on earth.
Fall Colors at Night
11.07.2008 | 12:21 AM •
Halloween
10.31.2008 | 10:38 PM •
The nominees took some time out from their busy
campaigns to stroll with the crowds in the Park Slope
halloween parade.
Forget Joe the
Plumber...
10.15.2008 | 08:44 AM •
Meet Joe, the Peeler. Joe Ades is his name and he’s
as charming a salesman as you’ll ever meet. I’ve seen
the sartorially splendid guy a lot throughout the
years, but like most characters on the city streets,
you don’t see them for awhile, you start to get
worried. But there he was the other day shaving
carrots and working the crowd. For more info, read
the Vanity Fair
profile from two years back.
Alex Katz in His
Studio
10.10.2008 | 11:44 PM •
A Smile Is on the Way
09.15.2008 | 07:56 PM •
The first intentional smile is supposed to make its
appearance at around 4 weeks. In my book, Max’s
expression counts as a subtle smile.
WTC 7th Anniversary
09.11.2008 | 11:00 PM •
The view of the lights from Flatbush and Bergen, a
very similar view I had of the towers when I left for
a photoshoot and the first plane had just hit the
north tower...
Fun with Bokeh
09.09.2008 | 11:49 PM •
Screwing around with fingers and lights...
Max's First Outing
08.26.2008 | 11:38 PM •
We gave our little Yoda a chance to get aclimated in
the car seat and he quickly fell asleep.
All ready to go to the pediatrician. The appointment
went well.
Max's Placenta
08.26.2008 | 11:10 PM •
After the baby’s born, the mother delivers the
placenta. Often the butt of
many gross jokes, the placenta is actually an
amazing part of prenatal life. It forms the
barrier between the mother and baby and allows
nutrients to pass to the baby via the umbilical
cord. In some cultures, the parents eat the
placenta, aka placentophagy, after the baby’s
born. We did not do that. We are freezing it, to
either pulverize at some later date for medicine
for Max (need to research this further), or to
plant with a new tree somewhere outside of NYC.
I guess my fascination with this organ comes
from my father who probably would have loved
these photographs. For placenta eating tips, go
here, or for recipes check
here.
The baby’s side, above, with the umbilical cord.
The mother’s side, which is attached to the uterus.
Above, detail where the umbilical cord begins.
Closeup of the umbilical cord, which I cut about
forty-five minutes after Max was born. Shortly after
that the placenta was delivered and put into a round
Chinese food takeout container which we kept in the
refrigerator until I took these pictures.
Our Baby Boy: Max Miles
Takeuchi, 8lb 14oz, 22 inches
08.23.2008 | 02:55 PM •
His was a water birth, at home in Brooklyn. Born
auspiciously on 8-22-8 at 3:33pm. We’re still
debating his name. Stay tuned for many more
pictures...
A Special Night of
Music
08.03.2008 | 11:02 PM •
A perfect night of good vibes at Prospect Park with
an
African Guitar Music
festival, barbecued chicken, and a
rainbow...
Summer Storm
07.25.2008 | 10:58 AM •
A night of rain, thunder, and lightning...
Me & Muna
07.22.2008 | 10:57 AM •
An extra while finishing up at Alex Katz’s studio...
Canal Street Bargain
Hunters
06.20.2008 | 07:57 PM •
Led by the seller to a discreet doorway where DVDs,
CK1, and Louis Vuitton knockoffs await...
Wallstreet Mosaic
06.17.2008 | 07:54 PM •
I can't get enough of the skyless grids of downtown
skyscrapers. I like the compression of space, the
flattening of textures. The landscape becomes a
carpet.
Catacombs
06.01.2008 | 09:55 PM •
Continuing the Paris death tourism tour...
A Visit to
Montparnasse
05.31.2008 | 05:45 PM •
I came to revere some of my long dead heroes—Beckett,
Colette, Maupassant, Man Ray, Baudelaire, Brancusi,
Serge Gainsbourg—but did not expect to feel grief.
Not my own, but that of an elderly woman in a
sky-blue checked suit, bent over a mossy, concrete
tomb, clutching her rosaries, her weeping face hidden
in her hands. Though I’d seen a few nontourists
filling watering cans, sweeping away moldering
leaves, arranging fresh bouquets of flowers, their
actions seemed more a ritual than an expression of
loss. If I’d been a more courageous photographer, I
would have moved closer, filled the frame with her
private grief. But I can’t do that anymore, not just
because I’ve grown more cowardly, but because the
intensity of her grief was so palpable I did not want
to risk violating it. It awakened fresh memories of
my dead father and how I had not wept for him, hadn’t
felt like it. I missed him, despite my complicated
relationship with him, but the loss was not
inconsolable like this woman’s. Perhaps it was a
sister, a child, a husband, a lover that lay in that
tomb. Or perhaps she suddenly felt that soon she,
too, would be inside that cold box beside the one she
grieved for. As dozens of visitors wandered through
the grid of graves, cameras and maps in hand, I began
to feel the indifference of time. What would be
written on my grave? Would anybody really grieve for
me? Would there be money to pay for my plot’s upkeep?
What’s worth leaving behind? Death is an enormously
powerful equalizer.
Bird and Belly
03.09.2008 | 11:09 PM •
Julie's belly at 17 weeks.
Montgomery Mall (Hommage
to Ragubir Singh)
03.08.2008 | 09:44 PM •
Framing—what else is street photography about?
Windows within windows. Rectangles within rectangles.
A grid of views. A bento box of subjects.
Raghubir Singh, who took the above picture, is my
favorite Indian photographer. He made a great book of
pictures called
A Way into India,
which featured the Ambassador, India's
ubiquitous version of the VW, as object and
frame for his peregrinations through his
colorful homeland. Check out some of his
pictures
here.
1st Big Snow!
02.22.2008 | 05:04 PM •
A cardinal on the fire escape...
and a morning dove.
Custom House Outside
Details
02.08.2008 | 10:29 PM •
Horn Band in Subway
01.07.2008 | 07:20 PM •
Brass and drums inside Union Square station.
