Category Archives: Photos

Travel Photo Journal 8: Amherst: The Yiddish Book Center: Molly Picon to Kutshers

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          The Yiddish Book Center is on the Hampshire College Campus. This is another place I have written about over the years; Aaron Lansky, its founder, made it his personal mission to save every Yiddish book he could, and he has, over decades, done so. The books have been rescued from all over the world and are in the process of being translated and uploaded to the internet. There is always an interesting exhibit, and the collections on Jewish culture and Yiddish authors are fascinating.     The Current major exhibit: Photography by Marisa Scheinfeld: Echoes … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 7: Williamstown: Williams College Museum of Art

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Williams College  is a joy to visit; pleasant beyond words, manageable in size and it provides the area with theater and art. The Williams College Museum of Art is a delightful, compact venue to view incredible collections. While there, I saw an exhibit of Whistler’s early sketches and small paintings which were almost a prequel to the Clark’s current exhibit. There was a comprehensive exhibit on Andy Warhol that focused on his beginnings as a graphic artist, book illustrator, designer, book cover designer, children’s book author: all the things I never knew he was before he became a pop art … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 6: North Adams to Williamstown, The Clark

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  Carpeaux saw a woman weeping in the street; she had just lost her child. She became the perfect model for “A Mother’s Pain.” One could spend a day at “The Clark” especially since its make-over. It’s a joy to take a drive through the countryside and park, a big difference from the city, though it isn’t all that easy in the summer. The permanent collections are glorious and the exhibits are unique; the museum does get crowded. The exhibits include Whistler’s Mother. An Arrangement in Gray, Black and White. The famous painting was usually displayed in Paris at the … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 5: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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Walk to the Boiler Room and you will pass Totally Totem, look up to see All Utopias Fell. There is so much more …     The work of Anselm Kiefer is housed in a new pavilion. They reflect his German identity, (b.1945), how he confronts it and addresses it. His pieces are massive and material. He weaves poetry redolent of war; decay, shipwrecks     The Women of the Revolution is comprised of twenty lead beds, each represents a specific French woman who was part of the revolution. The artist fills the beds with water and dead flowers. These … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 4: North Adams: Mass MoCA: The Old Boiler to the Misbegotten

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I’ve created several posts about North Adams and here they continue. On another day there was a visit to the Eclipse Mill. Old mills on canals are often being converted to artists’ living quarters/work space/shop space. I’ve made a couple of friends over the years. It’s important to support the people who create art. The thought of a reasonable loft space is very tempting!   Back to Mass MoCA. In the old boiler building from the Sprague  Electric Company there is an audio installation by Stephen Vitiello, All Those Vanished Engines. There are haunting voices of those from the time … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 3: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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It rained on and off; that was fine, the exhibits were endless. More fascinating works were found in a small gallery with a library/book theme, called Bibliothecaphilia. Here, there is the work of six artists who explore the meaning of a library. Jena Priebe’s work, The Secret Lives of Books imagines interconnected pages and exploding knowledge. Meg Hitchcock ingeniously cuts up sacred texts from a myriad of sources and she recreates them, letter by letter to form other sacred passages connecting religions and time. Jonathan Gitelson’s work, Marginalia, explores the marginal notations on pages that people leave behind, as well … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 2: North Adams: Mass MoCA

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Approaching the entrance to Mass MoCA in the building with the clock tower; the buildings through the front gate also house business, shops and a restaurant.  It took two days to plow through the galleries. I’ll just touch on some of the work. Art in the lot: SuttonBeresCuller: Big Top Grand Stand   The building is a conglomerate of huge spaces that have been divided into smaller units. Above, looking through the main level, with back to gallery entrance (that expands to three floors) toward the shop and café beyond. To the left is the entrance, to the right are … Continue reading →

Travel Photo Journal 1: North Adams, MA: The Porches Inn

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    Intro: I’ve spent a good fourteen summers in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and that’s OK; it’s like coming home. Despite the places being the same, the museums and galleries are always changing. The trip begins in North Adams, a town that was not too long ago, shabby and run-down, filled with the struggling, the jobless.  Since the creation of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Mass MoCA, in the former factory of the Sprague Elecric Company, and the rehabilitation of former company housing into a cool hotel across the street (The Porches), the place has turned around. … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Flora, Fauna, Farm, Flushing, and a wedding: NY: ifone Fotografy: Part 2

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Streets and People Flushing, Queens (a former place of residence) has become the refuge of thousands of Chinese and other Asians; it is known as the “new China Town.” New York City’s first China Town area is in lower Manhattan, but the new immigrants find Flushing much cleaner and more pleasant. However, an original resident might find it difficult to navigate the signage. Back at the Farm People volunteer their services.   … and visitors feed the animals.   Goats: I’d love one as a lawn mower The farm is a cool place for a wedding. Here is one of … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Flora, Fauna, Farm, Flushing, NY: ifone Fotografy: Part 1

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Flora home garden Lens experimentation The iPhone can zoom into macro mode, but the olloclip system can get to 7x, 10x, 14x, and 21x. I am still feeling my way with the strength of magnification.   Fauna in and on the home front               Flora & Fauna at The Queens Farm Museum, my now-place for fresh eggs and produce      

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Photography: Making the Most Out of Simplicity

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  I put away the heavy gear years ago and enjoyed a very nice, lightweight Nikon with built-in 18x optical zoom. I still enjoy it; it’s been fine for blogging and other site posts. But something crazy happened: instead of graduating to a big-ass camera with all the accoutrements, I remained satisfied.   When I got an iPhone 5 I began to find something fresh about it being with me all the time, being available and having a zen-like simplicity. Then I got “the 6.” It was a better camera and I began to decode the settings and to learn … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, LIfe: The N. Y. Botanical Garden

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    The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York is honoring the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo from May 16 – November 1,  2015. Please visit this site for a multimedia bio.>>> Frida Kahlo Another article is here But first, a little Mexican food-truck lunch before the art and then the florals. The truck is fittingly called : Casa Azul, or “blue house,” named after Frida’s home and studio. [Food trucks are becoming popular all over the country. The tacos here were wonderful: the choice; fish and beef. And don’t forget the Tamarindo Jarrito soda.] Frida Kahlo was … Continue reading →

Goodbye to Al

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    This past Sunday I attended a memorial service for a lovely friend of the family. He passed peacefully in March and had reached the age of 95. He had a broker pack him up, sell his apartment and he moved to an assisted living facility in Connecticut near his sister. I sens that he sensed the end was near. He was a brilliant, kind and gentle man who was active in the New York State Teachers’ Union. He was a high school teacher and held degrees in business.   You can read more about Al here, as well … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Back to The High Line For The Extension

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  Please refer to this post, written in 2009 when the Highline first opened, for the back-story and photographs: click>>>NYC Photo Journal: The High Line: abandoned rail in the sky becomes a park Click>>>Link to updated map and info The Highline has been lengthened to The Javits Center at 11th Avenue and 34th Street. At 2oth Street there is now an entrance. Once the hike upstairs is made, there are views on both sides: the Hudson River, and the Meatpacking District. (The lower west side of Manhattan) On the weekend it was packed with tourists, but the lovely wild flower … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: A Return to The Brooklyn Museum: Wiley, Basquiat

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  One of my favorite places is The Brooklyn Museum. I caught two current exhibits by black male artists. Kehinde Wiley (Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, at the Brooklyn Museum) Born in 1977, Wiley studied the old master painters; he embedded black hip-hop portraiture into the framework of the old to create the new. The backgrounds, redolent of kitschy wallpaper backgrounds from old Catskill Mountain hotels, the culture of the past is imbibed with that of the present in huge works. Colors are bright, vibrant, somewhat garish. The subjects rarely look directly at the viewer, most are presented three-quarter face, … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Water, Water Everywhere, or Nowhere

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  It was a rough, water-logged-basement-Winter. Ice water was permeating the basement floor in several spots near a window. I spent many days during periods of freeze-thaw, throwing towels on the carpet, removing them, and putting them, soaked with ice water, into the dryer. Only to repeat the scenario time after time. Endlessly. When Spring came and it was warm enough, it was time to act. The foundation had to be waterproofed, a massive job, but another Winter like this could not be tolerated, whatever the cost. The work was done outside, nothing inside was disturbed, despite my expecting the … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: 5. Color Pop in the Back Yard: It’s About Time

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The Krauter Vesuvius Plum does not bear fruit, but beautiful blooms. It was consolation when the very old apple tree in the back yard died. Pink is pink. Gotta have it. This is just the beginning. After the tree fills up with beautiful blooms, they will drop and make way for red leaves.     Waiting to be planted: violas. Alas, it is too cold.   Inside, the violets bloom and the orchids, wait to be let out.        In time, it all changes     The flowers leave like pink falling snow, and red leaves take their … Continue reading →

Today We Remember. We Never Forget. Never Again.

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  Today is an important anniversary; it was seventy years ago on this day, 4/29/15, that the Dachau Concentration Camp was liberated. The photo above is of Gershon Press, who you might call a cousin. The photo was taken after the war in a DP, Displaced Persons’ Camp; he is still wearing part of the camp uniform. Taken from the photo archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Gershon Press poses after the war in his concentration camp uniform. Shirley Press is the daughter of Gershon Press. Gershon Press was born in 1921 (though official documents listed his birth … Continue reading →