Catskills Mid-October '08

A selection from my recent trip to the Catskills...

All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Ghosts mourning the woodlands

"the ghosts of emily dickinson mourn the loss of the american woodlands"
by Mary Armentrout, Critical Correspondence

Blue Earth Alliance

I'm very excited to learn about Blue Earth Alliance, an organization supporting the work of documentary photographers who are dedicated to drawing attention to critical issues affecting the well-being of our world. Take a look!

Blue Earth Alliance | Photography Inspiring Social Change.

An autumn day, midtown east

[Click on any photo to see it larger.]
All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Historic Yankee Stadium and surroundings

[Click on any photo to see it larger.]

I wasn't a baseball fan until a gang of co-workers took me to a Yankee game sometime back in the late-70's (the Reggie Jackson/Billy Martin era). That began a long love affair of ups, downs and occasional hilarity, which came to a crashing halt with the firing of Joe Torre. Oh, well...I still love the old stadium and its history, and--I'm going to risk sounding like a cranky old-timer now--the new, gilded one will never compare!

I took these shots yesterday morning, the next-to-last day of games at the old stadium.

UPDATE: A couple of great pieces from The New York Times about the final game

A Long Goodbye to an 85-Year Run
by Tyler Kepner, The New York Times, September 22, 2008

Fans in Mourning as Sun Sets on the Old Yankee Stadium
by Manny Fernandez, The New York Times, September 22, 2008

2008 Bessie Awards Party at Spiegelworld

Moon above (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Hilary Clark accepts her Performer award for body of work (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa Want to see more? Visit my Bessies Awards slideshow on my dance blog--InfiniteBody. Click here.

Labor Day in Central Park

All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Bountiful

A slideshow of just a few--ha-ha, well, less than half--of the photos from my recent trip upstate to Delaware County in the Catskills.

All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Chasing waterfalls

On the Circle Line tour of Olafur Eliasson's New York City Waterfalls art installation

All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Locations: South Street Seaport's Pier 16, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Governors Island

The streets belong to the people.

My photos from the Astor Place-to-East 14th Street stretch of SummerStreets 2008. Click on any photo to see a larger image.

A walk along the Hudson

Yesterday, after sitting for a new friend's photojournalism project, I took a long walk from the new West Houston-to-TriBeCa stretch of Hudson River Park down through part of Battery Park City's riverfront. I love the Hudson River. Going there always soothes me.

I took many, many photos of flora, structures, and construction along the way, later discarding a little more than half. I got lucky when I reached this fountain pond and found some folks throwing scraps of bread to a duck, some fish and a couple of pigeons. These are a few of my favorite shots of the day.




Fountain pond, Rockefeller Park
Battery Park City
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

What is beauty?

My email buddy Amanda Vallo--who has the Monday Morning News blog ("humor and insight on life and living with a spinal cord injury")--has surprised me this morning, and brought tears to my eyes, by including one of my photos in her video essay on beauty, posted on YouTube.

Here's what Amanda wrote about her video:

this is the beginnings of my contest entry for "Be on TV!" the BBC is looking to get 1. 15 sec. clips of disabled people introducing a BBC program. and/or 2. disabled people's thoughts on what beauty means to them. i'm hoping the final entry is a winner! : )

Best of luck, Amanda!

"Giant leaves floating in the sea"

Golden Ray photos of amazing mass migration
by Nick Allen with photos by Sandra Critelli, Telegraph.co.uk, June 24, 2008

Fly By Night

Jeff Scher's Fly By Night
from his New York Times blog, The Animated Life

Jeff Scher is a painter who makes experimental films and an experimental filmmaker who paints.

Joe Wigfall: Winner of WNYC photo challenge

Joe Wigfall Wins WNYC Street Shots Challenge

A wonderful project and an inspiring winner. Enjoy this video!

Strolling in and around The Cloisters

Along walk to and within The Cloisters
Fort Tryon Park, New York, NY
[To see a photo larger, click on it.]
All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

A matter of seeing

New York Botanical Garden
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Field Trip #1

From time to time, we'll take a little detour into other territory. Today, let's visit beekeeper Gerry Gomez Pearlberg's blog--Global Swarming Honeybees--and read her musings on life and death and some bluebirds of happiness.

Global Swarming Honeybees: Of Happiness

Widening our circle of compassion

All photos: Arizona
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us "universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Albert Einstein

unorthodox portraiture?

New York Botanical Garden (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

I am beginning to work with two intriguing possibilities in mind:

• Every photo of a non-human is a portrait.
• Every photo of any kind is a self-portrait.

And, you know, maybe there's a third:

• I tend to take a lot of photos of non-human kin from nature.

This one, then, is either a self-portrait or a cousin with a pretty good family resemblance. What do you think?