A Snow Blow Day

After getting 20 inches or more of snow since last night, a man blows snow off a sidewalk in Chatham this afternoon.

Amnesty International Regional Conference

Last month I spent the weekend down in Pittsburgh to photograph the Amnesty International USA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference. Often conferences don't make for exciting photos (people standing at podiums, anyone?), but I thought I'd share a few of my favorites anyways. It was actually a terrific conference, and I hope to make it out to San Francisco for the national Amnesty meeting/conference in March 2011.

Above - Clockwise from left: Amnesty International USA executive director Larry Cox addresses the conference; Rodolfo Montiel Flores, a former Prisoner of Conscience who was tortured and illegally detained by the Mexican military, speaks with an interpreter at a forum; and a petition for Reggie Clemons, who is on death row in Missouri.

Above - Using LED lights, conference participants gathered in a park across from the hotel and held up their lights to recreate the Amnesty candle logo, as seen from an aerial view.

Above - Workshop on Islam and Human Rights.

Anna and Steve Wedding

A good friend of mine, Anna, got married to Steve over Labor Day weekend, and I had the joy and privilege to be on Long Island, New York to photograph the big day.  The most unique thing about Anna and Steve's wedding day was that they processed from the church to the reception house (less than a mile), through the neighborhood streets, following a mariachi band. So fun!

While I captured many beautiful moments at their local church ceremony and reception at Anna's parent's home, I am showing mostly the black and white shots on the blog today.  Just to spice it up a bit.  The last few are in color however - because I changed my mind at the end that this would be an all black and white post.  Congratulations Anna and Steve!

 

Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving Day morning, I covered the local Turkey Trot for the Columbia Paper. The kids did a one-mile walk/run first, followed by a three-mile race for adults and kids. I photographed the one-mile first, and then put the camera in the car and ran the 3 mile myself.  My first race in more than 10 years. I finished in 25:40, which wasn't anywhere near the top, but at least it gave me an excuse to have seconds at Thanksgiving dinner.

Above and below: Kids line up for the one-mile race.

Above: Staying warm inside waiting for the three-mile run to start, people watch for the first kids to cross the finish line from a nearby window.

Waylon and Norah Portraits

For the second year in a row, I had a great time with Waylon and Norah for their Christmas photo session in Old Chatham, New York. It is great to come back a year after the last shoot to kids who are a little more excited about getting their photo taken than the last time. I just love Norah's hat and coat combo in the outdoor shots. So elegant and classy for a two-year old! (for more photos and to order prints, visit here.)

The Hewryk Family

I haven't been attentive to the photo blog these last few weeks, mostly due to being on the road for photo work in Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania. But now I am back in New York and trying to catch up before the holidays roll through.

The official wedding season is over for me. Just a few weddings here and there through the winter. I will post some more summer/fall wedding photos in the coming weeks from the archives of "unblogged" weddings. In the meantime, I have lots of family and kids photos on deck too. So keep checking back here for some diversity of work, including conferences I documented in Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

But first, the cute and wonderful Hewryk family, in the Catskill area of upstate New York: