"I brought you flowers but I ate them"

 "It doesn't matter, honey. I love you anyway."

"Honey? There's honey?"

Happy Valentine's Day.

Thanks Grover, Allen and the team at PhotoShelter for sharing your wisdom

I'm new to the world of photography (relatively speaking...I've spent plenty of time working with hundreds of different photographers thanks to my career in advertising as a creative director and chief creative officer) so when I decided to pursue my passion with camera in hand in a more active way, there were lots of choices to make and options to consider.

Arguably, the most important is one's website and the range of functionality each of us requires. (There's lots more like blogging and micro-blogging and social network "activation" but that's for another post.) Things like SEO are critical. As is customer support.

There are many choices but none that worked for me as well as PhotoShelter. And while each of us has our own unique criteria for what we are looking for, some of which are purely subjective (like the selection of creative templates), one simple thing puts PhotoShelter at the top of my list: their commitment to sharing their knowledge. (From their own experience and from their communities.) This is huge and harder to accomplish than most people think.

Of course, I appreciate all the work and commitment that has gone into their physical product (it's power, functionality and ease of use.) But as a photographer with lots to learn, I can't tell you how much I look forward to their webinars and how I devour their white papers.

In my opinion, this is what distinguishes good companies from great ones. Putting out a quality product is a first step. How a company works after the sale to ensure the success of their customers is an even bigger step. And when a company chooses to celebrate the accomplishments of their "community"; well for me, that is perhaps the biggest step.

And for that I wanted to say thank you to Allen, Grover and their team. You have made a difference for me and it is appreciated more than you know.

Another day, another kid who'd rather be out way early in the morning (helping his dad) than way late at night (worrying his dad)

Amazing things happen when you stop to talk to people before even thinking about taking a photo. Perceptions change. (Sometimes dramatically.) Connections happen. (Sometimes instantly...if you ask the right questions or are willing to share something meaningful about yourself.) And the relationship between photographer and subject is transformed.

By the way, the portraits always get better. Guaranteed.
And even if they don't, you get better.

Cookies to die for.

As a creative person, I learned very early that often the simplest of things can be quite difficult to perfect. When there are just a few elements in a composition, every single one counts and proportions are critical.

I suppose this is why I have such respect for bakers, especially bakers of cookies. What you can't see in my photos (but I ask that you take my word and trust me) is that these cookies are pure perfection.

They are from Jane Greene of Chappaqua, NY. I met her at the Chappaqua Farmer's Market as she was sampling her creations. You had to see the smiles and hear the groans of delight from the surprisingly large crowd who had braved the icy drizzle to spend some quality time at this wonderful indoor market. Jane was the star of the show. According to my daughter and her friend who were with me, they were the best cookies they've ever eaten. And 12 year olds know their cookies.

To see how absolutely delicious they are for yourself, contact Jane at jlgreene@optonline.net

Meerkat Melodrama

Another day, another joke he hadn't heard before

Telling jokes while composing an image is tougher than you'd think.

Portrait of a Cinereous Vulture

Another in my ongoing series of "Finer Feathered Friends"
This fellow , also known as the Black Vulture or Monk Vulture is the largest bird of prey in the world.

Why some people just can't seem to make the society pages

Alternate title: Put the food down when a photographer walks by.

Took in the Westchester Magazine 10th Anniversary Party last night. Great food at my buddy Anthony's oh-so-fabulous restaurant just beneath the clouds. (Can you say "Happy Anniversay, Ralph" or "Are those Anthony's famous Burnt Orange Creamsicles made with liquid nitrogen frozen vanilla custard?" Not with your mouth full of baby lamb chops or short rib sliders you can't.

Of course, it's not always the food. Occasionally some folks are just not ready for their closeup

or can't let their whereabouts be known

A Melenistic Leopard posing for me

Lions and tigers are beautiful. Don't get me wrong. But for outright animal magnetism, Leopards gets my vote.

The real story of how legwarmers came to be invented

Rumor has it that back in 1981, a certain peacock farmer in Montezuma, Kansas had grown quite upset after his continuing efforts to breed a peacock with more plumage on its lower extremities failed. (He was frequently overheard saying "All I want is just one stinkin' bird with nicer gams.") He then begged the women of his rural town to knit brightly colored tubes for his flock to match his assortment of Buford Bronze, Spalding Purple and India Blue peafowl. The women agreed for they were all tired of pettipoint and quilting and he had promised them that each would have a chick named after her. The women set to work knitting pair after pair that were loose enough so as to fit over the peacocks and peahen's oversized talons. With nothing to hold them up, they ended up all slouchy.

It was then that a very enterprising local aerobics instructor happened to drive by the farm and over a bit of chicken coop wiring (that said farmer  had angrily thrown into the road) leaving her with a flat tire and several hours to wait for her cousin to come with the towtruck. Soon after a fad was born.

Little known fact: If you play the soundtrack to Flashdance backwards, you'll very clearly hear the sound of happy peacocks.

Who knew?

Missing summer in the worst way

So we got another foot of snow last night. The kids have used up all their school snow days. The snowplow bill for the month is over $500 dollars (have a stupid long driveway)

All I want is a day at the beach.

A Monochrome Flower Study for an upcoming project

Trippin' in the garden on Miracle-Gro

After way too much hemming and hawing on my part and and way too much prodding and poking from friends and colleagues, I'm happy to say that a vibrant (to say the least) book of my more colorful flower photography coming soon.

A new Long-Tailed Hornbill Portrait (plus a few recent ones)

I am totally fascinated by this fellow (at least I hope it's a fellow because if its a girl, she is destined to stay single for all eternity)

This is a West African Long-Tailed (or White Crested) Hornbill.
They are only about 18" tall with a 42" long tail but their countenance is remarkable and has surely inspired many a horror story. For me they are clearly inspiring although I wish I could get at least one of them to smile for the camera or at least look a touch happier. Oh well... at least they don't try to peck my eyes out like they used to.

Portrait of an Ocellated Turkey as a young man

Another one of several tests for a new series I am working on. Thoughts?

Stones and snow playing nicely together

Another day, another chef dreaming about Prawns, Pork Belly, Foie Gras, Piri Piri pepper, White Truffles and Iberian Jamon (always Jamon)

Anthony is a Chef and Restauranteur I've gotten to know fairly well over the past several weeks. Shooting the full menus of his two restaurants as well as he and his staff at work tends to do that to folks. I have never had this much fun working (nor eaten as well) in my entire life.
   What is almost as amazing as the food (and believe me, it is "ohmigod, to-die-for good") is how effortless he and his team make it look and how gracious they all are even under the most stressful of times (I've been there in the kitchen shooting through crazy busy dinner services). Anyone who's been in a kitchen or seen the likes of some well known TV chefs, knows how rare and special this is, especially when the food is of such a high caliber.

Fabianna, Queen of the Baboons

Fabianna, Queen of the Baboons, giving the man who called himself her Keeper her most provocative look and a slow, deliberate view of her assets; so full, pendulous and scarlet red...

There he was again, with his brilliant sparkling eyes and knowing smile. Taunting her. Teasing her. Each beat of her heart like a primal chant in the villages near her birthplace. She could see the banana he secretly carried, long, ripe and proudly curved; swaying back and forth gently. It made her shudder with anticipation. With each breath, her chest heaved like a bulimic after Thanksgiving dinner...


With sincerest apologies to anyone with an eating or Romance Novel disorder. These are serious issues and should not be made fun of.

Perfectly poised Peacock with plumage proudly pointed posing

So here's what you do: find a beautiful background with lots of color and plop yourself down on the ground hoping that an equally beautiful and colorful bird parades along. If you dream enough, one will eventually come true. 

And then if you're really lucky, the perfectly pedigreed peacock will want to be your pet.

Plotting his escape while seething about how much he hates straw.

Give me anything to sleep on...soft grass, fragrant banana tree fronds, luxurious moss, a Hasten's Vividus mattress from Sweden...anything but this friggin' straw.

Finer feathered friends

A series of tests for a large scale project I'm working on.

When photographers go bump in the night

I really must learn to walk a bit more softly. I am (hopelessly) the quintessential bull in a china shop) and this charming fellow clearly did not appreciate it.

Nose to nose with Pattycake, a Western Lowland Gorilla

I highly recommend pretending it's summer so you can take summer hours and happily visit one of your favorite places. Mine is the Bronx Zoo where I was literally the only person in the vast zoo other than the zookeepers and other staff. Headed off to the Congo Exhibit for a family reunion of sorts where I camped out with my camera and watched the antics of the gorillas (my hairier relatives) who didn't seem to mind my company. In fact, based on some of the images I got, quite the contrary. Pattycake was playing with one of her teen boys when she noticed me and came over. And just looked at me. I almost didn't want to raise the camera to take a picture because of the connection I felt.

I have a large collection of neon letters. (Doesn't everybody)

Living in New York and getting to Las Vegas and other "electrified" cities on a fairly regular basis, it's not hard to amass quite the collection of glowing letterforms in all sorts of shapes, sizes and varying degrees of decay. (As far as I'm concerned, the more burnt out lights a letter contains, the better. And when it's rusty and dinged up...ooh baby!) Now I just need to figure out what to do with them all...perhaps a kiddy alphabet book for the post-apocalyptic toddler or a series of monogrammed note cards for their parents.

Another day, another guy's guy just waiting to kick the first ass of the first guy who looks at him the wrong way

So what the hell you lookin' at?

The most comfortable place on Earth (as far as 5 week old Caitlyn is concerned)