Meet and Greet

I've been back home in Toledo, Ohio for the past six weeks because of family issues and thought I'd make a crack at getting some photo work while here. The photography industry is much different in Toledo than in New York. It's smaller, but-probably because of this-it's much more accessible. Whereas in New York I can contact a hundred editors and not get a response from one, here in Toledo I've heard back from everyone that I've reached out to for work. That's very refreshing.

Since I got back into town, I've been freelancing for a weekly arts and entertainment mag called City Paper. (http://www.toledocitypaper.com) I've been doing their event photography, which is great, for going to all these events throws me back in the loop after being gone for so long.

Last night there was a great event called "Meet and Greet." Around ten galleries in town opened their doors in the evening. Art, music, soicalizing, and wine was there for the masses and there even was a trolley to take people around to different venues the city. It was a great time, and has made me appreciate being in Toledo for the summer.

Church Project

I just took this great Documentary Photography class at the International Center of Photography-ICP- here in New York. Taught by the super-talented Andre Lambertson (http://www.alambertson.com)it got my photojournalism juices going again and got me started on-what I'm calling now-The Church Project.

Brooklyn-where I live-must be one of the most international places in the world. Along with this diversity comes a whole lot of religion and a whole lot of churches. My block alone has three of them, one being on the first floor of my apartment building. Every Sunday morning, drumming, chanting, and zealous praises are heard coming from the floor below me, but no one else in my building had a clue what was going on down there; just that it was some sort of Hispanic church.

So I decided to find out for myself what exactly was going on down there and kind of just walked in one Sunday. Everyone was quite welcoming and even gave me a pesonal translator as the service was in Spanish. Bongo drums in the corner solved the mystery of the thumping my roommates and I had heard upstairs. One of the members of the congregation started playing them as the others began singing and chanting and hallelujaing to He-zus. It all seemed pretty calm and churchlike in the beginning until people started chanting louder and faster and falling to the floor in relgious ecstasy.Apparentely, this church was of a Baptist faith and the yelling and collapsing and shaking were indications that the members had made a connection with Jesus.

I was quite intrigued as the Greek Orthodox masses that I went to as a kid never managed to get this interesting. The idea for The Church Project was born. Here are just the meagre beginnings, hopefully on future visits and to different churches that will allow me and my camera in, I'll be able to capture more action. This was my first visit to this church so didn't want to snap too much....and, I'm just warming up. More later.

A Photo

Since this is a photography blog, I guess I should put up some photos.

I made this one today. I'm getting into creating tiled images, like the background of this one.

I never thought I'd be a blogger.

But they say blogging is the thing to do these days. A blog, I've been told, is more dynamic than a website and gives viewers a better update of what you're doing. I always thought blogs were kinda creepy. Posting personal stuff on the web had always seemed weird and exhibitionist to me in an obnoxious sort of way. But here in the States-which I've just moved back to after a ten-year absence-blogging seems what folks are doing to connect and network. And they don't seem to be used just for spouting off emotional stuff like how I remember blogs to be. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking that blogs are pretty cool these days as people can share their news, professional pursuits, and musings.

So welcome to my blog.