Book on Adoption

I have had the pleasure of working with Andrea Poe on a book proposal. We are hoping to create a coffee table book about adoption. Some interesting names have popped up like: Magic Johnson, Drew Carey and Senator Mary Landrieu. We hope to go into the homes famous folks who have adopted and also the not so famous. She is pitching the book in NY this week.

See her blog about adoption that reaches over a million people:

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/red-thread-adoptive-family-forum/

We have talked of traveling to Haiti and Guatemala to get a closer look at those country's policies on adoption.

The proposed title is The Red Thread. Stay tuned....

Weezie so Peezie

I had the chance to photograph this little girl on Fishers Island. It is the kind of image you can't push for or even plan. It was a gift. The light, the gesture, the scene....like a John Singer Sargent portrait.

It makes me happy to be alive. To be a creator. To see beauty. To be a part of the world of things and people. I am grateful to be at this age of mastery. All the work and striving is now paying off effortlessly. Like a jazz musician, I am no longer running scales. I am playing music.

Hot Models

I have been blessed with the opportunity to help the Talbot County Tourism Office with some great shots of our home county. To celebrate the four big communities of Easton, Tilghman Island, St. Michaels and Oxford, I cruised around with two models, a stylist and an art director. Debbi Dodson is an amazing asset to the community. She knows everybody- Tilghman fishermen to fastidious hoteliers.

We were paying homage to Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica and of course Ralph Lauren as we showed off the upscale options for dining and cavorting in the county. Hair, make up....lifestyle!

Sailing with Peter

I took to the sea with my Brother Peter aboard his 40' Sloop, Lion. We sailed from Fishers Island to Newport. Getting to Newport is a boat lovers dream. 12 Ms abound and there was a Trans-Atlantic race just beginning. We saw these Water World-esque war ships getting ready to fly. These kevlar knives go zoom.

I tried to imagine how I would fare on a two two week journey into the heart of the beast. My only reference point is a 9 day meditation retreat I did with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Somwhere around day three I got sick of my own mind, but day four offered the sublime relief of just being present to what is. Just present. Sailing has a silmilar austere discipline. Wind, water and lines, thirst and elimination. My head got clear out there without all the cell phone chatter and cars.

Then there is coming home to the warmth and busy-ness of home. Went to a carnival and fireworks with my wife and two beautiful kids. Although the hyper adrenal sugar infused overload was the opposite of sailing, I had fun and just let it roll. The mild vestibular dizziness of being on a boat is like the lingering scent of a lover. A reminder deep down in there. I was out there in the clean ion rich air.

Quietly Capturing

I have had the pleasure of shooting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for many years. Shooting here at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is really fun as it is nothing less than a visual playground. The whole history of the Bay is right there in wood and iron. http://www.cbmm.org/

During the ceremony boats of all kinds traverse the horizon. It is like a Richard Scary book. A curious kayaker will come right up to the ceremony as 50 foot Skip Jacks sail in the distance. It is quite a show. And that is what I love about weddings. They are shows. The best transform from demure Baroque fashion shows into sweaty rock shows.

As a photographer I have an all access pass to the show. I get to go places where even the groom or the Mother of the Bride are not welcome. I go into these realms with great respect as they are sacred. It is my job to be present and bare witness. So I watch and record. I feel the energy and flow. Is it a tip toe moment or an air guitar 80's Hair Metal moment? The vibratory spectrum is wide at the best weddings.

So I love to shoot weddings because it is so intimate and ephemeral. People ask me, "Isn't it really stressful? How do you do it?" I find weddings energizing. Don't get me wrong, it takes me 48 hours to recover! But the actual wedding weekend, I have learned to break it up in chunks. One step, one moment, one scene at a time. Dressing, eating, dancing, connecting- oh quick there is a once in a lifetime moment! This way I stay present. Really present! Quietly capturing. Gleefully shooting.

I have shot sports and weddings share an adrenal component with that art form. It is hard to to do well. I stay in shape as some wedding days are 14 hours long. You can't keep up without training. I suit up and show up. Every lens has been air blown, every battery is fresh. Energy bars are in the bag. I look at it like an Outward Bound Expedition. I consider every worst case situation that I can and bring my Leatherman, gaffers tape, rope. An extra safety pin can save the day for a clothing disaster. I want to be there for my client.

Really it is so much more than shooting. You have to love it or you miss it. You have to love them or you miss them.

Kids Yoga Training in NYC

I just got back from a four day Children's Yoga Teacher Training in New York City. I have been teaching yoga for 9 years but only two years to kids. We were on 14th street at the perfectly delightful Karma Kids Yoga Studio. http://www.karmakidsyoga.com/ It is the cutest space that is the perfect nest for teaching kids yoga and keeping it fun and safe.

Our teacher was kundalini yoga teacher Shakta Kaur Khalsa. http://www.childrensyoga.com/ This was a 30 hour training in Radiant Child Yoga. I learned so much. Not just about poses or sequencing, but more about meeting the child as a perfect being. Seeing them as a great soul already. Of course, that also hit some buttons for me as a parent of a 7 year old and a 3 year old.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take this realization to my students (old and young!) and to really be a great and loving father. When I am out of center- to stop and regroup. Too many times have I faltered on this when it is late, I am hungry and burnt out. I want to stay centered to be at my best. After my kids came, I struggled to find the yoga matt. But now it seems simple and clear. Get up one hour earlier. Practice. Wake them up. Make breakfast, get them off to school. It is possible to have a practice that keeps me working from Source and be a householder.

The greatest part was Shakta reminded me of the Kundalini Yoga that I first practiced in Eugene, OR. at U of O. http://www.3ho.org/ I got credit for doing yoga! Anyway it is a very electromagnetic yoga that awakens quickly. I feel clear, aware and energized when I practice their style. From that place life just flows perfectly. When I am there, everything is possible. All blocks fall away. It is miraculous.

I feel gratitude to the 16 other participants. ALL WOMEN! They came from all over the world to take this training and bring yoga back the children. London, Turkey, Monaco and even New Jersey. I learned a lot from their energy and wisdom. I listened very closely to their concerns trying to learn closely what their concerns are.

Finally this was the "last" training to achieve my 500 hour Yoga Teacher certification. That journey began in March of 2002 at the Kripalu Yoga Center. www.kripalu.org What an incredible opportunity to have been able to study, laugh and learn from so many wonderful teachers. Everything from yogic sleep to Chakra Anatomy. And once again, I am reminded that it all comes down to having an active practice. Being charged up to spread love and peace and good humor is the way. I bow to all the teachers who have helped me to wake up. And my debt to them is to pass it forward.

Passing it on to children is an incredible opportunity. I teach in two days and excited to see how the new teachings meld with the kids' energy.

Thinking About Contemporary Photography

There are so many exciting things going on visually. So many talented image makers. It is humbling and inspiring to see this new work. This level of technique and story.

So here are photographers that I have seen and thought, "Wow!"

Alec Soth (above) has blown up to nuclear levels of success. I loved his work that focused on the South. His eye is blank and full. I saw his work at the Pace Gallery in NY about ten years ago.

Soth: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=alec+soth&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=a0NATfzhBMrGgAeNg5mbAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CE8QsAQwAg&biw=1737&bih=839

He has way more compassion than Avedon, but there is a naked quality to his subjects. There is a nakedness to his landscapes too. Who was that female Dutch photographer who shot the awkward adolescent women with the ocean in the background? Dijkstra Rineke! His work has formal intensity like her work.

Also you have to consider " la vie bohemme lifestyle" photographers like Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans. "Look I am having sex with a junky!" There is an American iconography and vernacular that Soth has continued from these two. Empty motel beds, couples entwined with sad non erotic looks on their faces looking right into the lens.

Perhaps Timothy Greenfield Sanders should come into the discussion. But he seems the one trick pony compared to Soth, who seems to be at play. There is an innocence to Soth's eye that pulls me in. He isn't trapped in a formula.

Soth seems less fucked up than Goldin and Tillmans. Sweeter than those two. Mapplethorpe's portraits took the formality even further. Soth is less fussy about visual cleanliness. He likes the mess and containing it in the frame. Human mess. Industrial landscape mess. Frailty.

Mary Ellen Mark, the low rent Diane Arbus, has to be considered in the Soth discussion. He doesn't look for freaks exactly, but he does demand a certain rawness that Mark pays her rent with.

To go beyond Soth and move into a broader look at contemporary photography, I received a couple of cool tips from my friend Tim Devine.

1) Alex Prager is the love child of Cindy Sherman and Hitchcock. LA Darling and blowing up huge at MOMA. http://www.alexprager.com/

2) Julia Fullerton Batten: She has a great eye for solitude/loneliness as well as a great eye for color harmony, line, and the absurd. Cinematic narrative in a single frame. http://www.juliafullerton-batten.com/

3) Martin Parr: http://www.martinparr.com/index1.html

4) Mark Zibert: http://www.markzibert.com/ He is definitely in the Editorial camp, but his technique is so flawless, it is just interesting to see someone work at the top of their shooting and post production canoodling excellence.

I also have to throw Julia Blackmon into the mix. Her art history winking composites are fun and telling about the privileged suburban lifestyle. She is a morphed Tina Barney on hallucinogenic steroids. Funny and fun!

A couple of interesting blogs to check out!

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/

http://thephotographypost.com/blogs/post/rachel/

Thinking about photography....

My Big Fat Gay Wedding

I had the distinct pleasure of shooting my first gay wedding. When these two women committed and said "I DO!" in front of their family and freinds, a palpable ring of love expanded out from their unifying kiss. I could feel it. The world could feel it. It was love and hope and a huge leap of faith.

Later in the day, they had a photograph made with their grandmothers. I couldn't help but wonder how far we have come. Ending slavery, giving women the vote, getting rid of don't ask don't tell- all of it lead to this moment of liberty for these two people to say a simple, "I Do." Their grandmothers were totally tickled and happy for their babies. 50 years ago this act would have been impossible or at least kept very much on the down low.

But on this glorious, cold day the generations came together to affirm love. To affirm that the this commitment is not for sissies and will take all the family's support to survive. I was honored to be a tiny part of this incredible step forward for these two people and our country. Where love counts. Where love is the final arbiter. Where love in all its messy and true manifestations can ring out in circles for the earth to rejoice in.

Not only are they no longer second class citizens, they are pioneers and ground breakers. I applaud and rejoice their union. It makes it easier for the rest of us to be truly free.