I know I’m not the first one to say it,  ”the best camera is the one you have with you.” Leica, Nikon, Canon, Hassleblad, Holga, Oatmeal can and now the iphone! It’s true. Our cameras have become phones and our phones have become cameras almost overnight. So really,  there is no good excuse for missing the decisive moment… except if you get a call. Here’s where I go for all things iphoneography: www.iphonegraphy.com

Thankfully, in this part of the world, old man winter has been on vacation. With the average temperature in the mid 40′s and total snowfall barely reaching 5 inches, it’s been more like a November never ending. Whatever it is, I’ll take it and thank you. Still, it’s plenty cold if you want to take a dip in the Brandywine River in your favorite boxer shorts. Such is the experience each year for thousands of polar plungers ready and willing on river banks and beaches anywhere the crow flies. I decided to honor their bravery and slight insanity with a portrait series taken at this year’s Brandywine Valley Association’s annual Polar Plunge. The Brandywine Valley Association provides water protection and environmental education for the Brandywine Valley through educational programs, environmental studies and projects.

Meet Elizabeth Pugh: actress, writer and singer/songwriter. She wrote and performed I’m Not Finished Yet, a one-woman show that ran in NYC and Dublin, to soldout audiences and critical acclaim. Academy Award winning director Jim Sheridan helped produce I’m Not Finished Yet at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival again playing to soldout audiences and critical acclaim. She assisted director Ken Bowser on the documentary Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live. Here, I’d like to introduce you to her music: Elizabeth Pugh. She overcame her fear of singing about four years ago with a little help from Irish folk musician Dave Murphy  and kick started her Irish debut by performing at the famed Bankers Pub in Dublin.  She has gone on to open for several important Irish musicians, such as Padraig Digam and Sinead Murphy, until recently moving back here to her hometown of Philadelphia. Elizabeth has wasted no time catching the ears of WXPN / World Cafe Live and was a featured artist at the Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg.

Check out the photo/video world of my past student and now friend, Herman Van Den Brandt  http://www.hermanphoto.net/  Born in Kinshasa, Zaire and raised between Spain and Belgium, Herman traveled a lot as a child.  He was a talented basketball player which led him to a university here in the United States.  Then, ” photography kidnapped me ..” Herman said.  Making himself popular among his Facebook friends, Herman would post party pictures and leverage himself with local promoters  http://www.facebook.com/hermanphotographer   A true sign of the times, he went without the traditional support of a photo studio and learned what he could from YouTube tutorials before deciding to hang his studio sign with pride.  After a long absence, Herman recently reconnected with Godeliv, his print and runway model sister.  She is an amazingly tall and beautiful model being represented by agencies in Barcelona, Germany and NYC.  They shot for the first time here in the US this past summer and I wanted to share some of these photos with you:

The Native Vision Camp is close to my heart. I’ve been volunteering at this camp since 1999 and more steadily since 2004. The camp is supported by the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health who’s mission is to work in partnership with American Indian and Alaska Native communities to raise their health status, self-sufficiency and health leadership to the highest possible level. Using the Native Vision Camp as a background, Alex and Ronnie of Commonwealth Pictures created an amazing video for Easton Lacrosse and the Dream Crazy Tour. The camera follows Austin, Alex and Zach as they take this year’s camp on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico head on. It’s an amazing piece which comes as close to the experience as I can think of. Easton chose 31 of my images for this production. I am extremely proud and grateful to be a part of it.

I often find myself in interesting situations, as seen here by this week’s images.  These may seem unrelated at first but in reality they are all connected in life.

A bonfire in the woods.  I was lucky enough to come across this ritual on a late night walk.  This photo can conjure up a variety of meanings, different for each of us.  What does it mean for you?  My next assignment, to follow a big pink gorilla through a cornfield.  What does it mean for you; a haunted trail, a fun costume?  After all, it is breast cancer awareness month.  What is October without a little blood and gore?  For this 30 year old woman it means a second chance at life, correcting a major heart defect.  The blood on the hands of the surgeons says so much to me about how fragile we really are.

What do all of these images mean for you?

While on a recent shoot at The Spatz Airfield in Reading, PA., I had some time to get up close and personal with a 1952 Martin “Silver Falcon”, a 1957 Locheed “Neptune”, a 1964 Custer “Channel Wing” and a 1964 Douglas “Skytrain”. I was transfixed on the amazing detail and attention that went into making these planes the best and most useful aircraft in the world. The signs on the WWII planes, which were hand-painted on the fuselage to remind airmen of safety concerns and weapons locations, would have been more than necessary for someone as forgetful as myself particularly in such a stressful situation as war. You had to be on the ball; you had to want to fly and it took a team of your buddies to make it happen. Staying alive was important too which took courage only you knew you had. If you are interested in seeing these planes for yourself please visit: The Mid – Atlantic Air Museum

Annie Willcox is a talented artist and graphic designer. She effortlessly blends old and new, past and present using mixed media. In fact, Annie makes the two disciplines work so well with each other it’s hard to decide which is which. She is inspired by our visual culture and the balance between city and country; Annie combines typography, screen printing, digital media and collage to form the basis for her work. Annie and I are set to collaborate on a show opening October 19th in conjunction with the opening of the play  All My Sons  at the Delaware Theatre Company:  October 19th – November 6th 2011 . This play, about the criticism of the American Dream, was one reason why Arthur Miller was called to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s when America was gripped by anti-communist hysteria. Miller sent a copy of the play to Elia Kazan who directed the original stage version of All My Sons. Kazan was a former member of the Communist Party who shared Miller’s left-wing views. However, their relationship was destroyed when Kazan gave names of suspected Communists to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare. Our ten piece show will consist of a combination of my photography and Annie’s art work to illustrate the psychological underpinnings of Miller’s true genius.

THE END OF SUMMER

The summer days are fading fast, as they must
From endless hours to short and fleeting light
The bird’s once bright, immortal tune, now cries
A melancholy aura to the dusk
The children fiercely climb, and dream, and race
Before their wild and unchained days depart
And yet beneath the zeal lies a half heart
For there isn’t time, there’s only enough space
The sun seems low, a hazy orange sphere
Now reminiscing sweetly of the days
When endlessly before you summer lay
And as in the deep, crimson dusk you stir
Your soul joins with the birds in wistful brood
Crying for lost summer days, for childhood

                                                                   - Anonymous

These are my photographs of Cliff Williams which were taken for his article in the June issue of POZ Magazine. His story is amazing and inspiring. This excerpt was taken from the article, “Shelter From The Storm” written by Suzy Martin: For People with HIV, housing can mean the difference between health and sickness. For five years, Cliff Williams’ official residence was the Philadelphia shelter system. During that time the medication he takes for depression was stolen and Cliff constantly worried that staff would share his HIV status as gossip. Williams had to wait for distracted workers to fetch his medication causing him to be late for medical appointments more often than not, in effect forcing him to choose one or the other. No wonder Williams and his doctor decided to delay starting his HIV treatment. To read more: POZ Magazine