Event Photography and Mehanata Club LES NYC

Recently I have decided that being an event photographer is a large part of my calling in life.  I adore being out in the crowd and more than just being a participant in the party, I love capturing the images created when people get together to have a good time.

In an effort to beef up my event portfolio and also to grab some great images of my good friends, I went to Mehanata in the LES last night.

They were having a costume Russian bash - perfect for fabulous photos!
The music as always was wonderful.   All the happy dancers and drinkers turned out in their best USSR gear and the party all in all was a great success.

Here are some images from the evening.  These are some of my favorite - highlights if you will from the night.  If you want to see more (or want to make sure I got your cute face in a photo) please check out the complete set on my AT Photography page on Facebook.

Record Runner...Boys fighting for the best 12inch

I had a dream...and in it two of my friends were fighting over records, in a room full of records.

After thinking about this idea for a few days I finally decided it would make good photo shoot.  Though my set up here at the house was not ideal for the shoot, I think what I got was pretty good considering.  

After getting the shots I had dreamed up, we did some portrait shots for my friends.  I put a couple of them up here as well. 

Thanks to my boyfriend who kindly let me use all of his old records for the project!  He is awesome :)

Enjoy!

Before cleaning up the mess I had made I decided to take a few photos of my love.
This one is golden if you ask me :)
Hipster kid who finds peace in a room of music - or at least that is what I was going for :)

Face Mask

Just an idea I had and my boyfriend was kind enough to let me try it out.
A little comedy never hurt anyone :)

Get Wet...An Inwood Summer

This summer Sid and I moved to Inwood (for the uninitiated that is near Washington Heights).

Not having any A/C, I was thrilled to see that our boys on the block had a low cost solution to the 90 + degree weather - open up the fire hydrant and get wet!

Being the enterprising guys that they are - they also turned the resource into a quick cash venture - car wash.

Here are some images I captured on one of the hot days in our beautiful city of New York. I hope you enjoy...

(If you would like to see larger images please visit my Flickr page)

Tableau Vivant

Tableau Vivant - French for "living picture."

According to Wiki : The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.

I've been thinking a lot about this concept because of the Tableau Vivant created and produced by Sarah Small (SarahSmall.com). Her show is in every way an extravagant group of costumed and non-costumed actors and models. They are indeed theatrically lit and Sarah moves about them posing each individual and couple as the show progresses.

Sarah is a photographer - and as such she also takes photos during these performances. Her photography from past Tableau Vivant performances has been breathtaking and intriguing in the extreme.

Seeing her work has lead me to think about capturing movement and emotion in my photography. Ideally an image should convey something of the subject one is photographing (that may be stating the obvious, but you never know). But beyond the obvious emotions often displayed in more theatrical images - even a simple portrait should capture something of the inner thoughts and feelings of the subject. However is this even possible as every image is interpreted by the viewer in a very individual way? Can one convey a pure emotion in photography? Does it have to be an extreme outward display of emotion (crying, screaming, laughing) to convey the true meaning? What do you think?

I thought of this when I captured these images last night.

Some artist friends have come to visit us in the big city from up state NY and being in our home - they instantly became models as well as tourists :)

Jesse Owen, a visual artist from Woodstock was kind enough to let me post these for an example of the question I've been mulling over. Three images with slightly different expressions - a slightly different pose each time - what do these images say if anything about the person being photographed. Is the movement in the photographs enough to make one think of the actual movement in real life? Does it take more than one image to make one think of a "living picture?"

In any event I would love to hear your thoughts on the concept of a Tableau Vivant as well as these images and how they strike you.

Camera Phone

So I must say that taking my camera equipment with me every time I travel isn't my favorite thing to do. Instead I've become reliant on my camera phone. I've got a G1 from Tmobile and it has a great camera...for a cell phone.
Recently I downloaded the FX camera application along with Photoshop mobile (gotta be able to correct some things on the fly) - and it has become an obsession.

Here are the results of my recent addiction...

Brooklyn

Living here in Brooklyn I often walk past things that make me smile, inspire me or sometimes make me cringe. Here are some pics of my latest Brooklyn finds...




I love that people do this - they put all sorts of weird things in their windows. This one with figurines of Garfield made my cold walk worth it :)

My friend and I found this courtyard that was just too cool not to sneak into. See we do have some green here.

Like something straight out of west side story.

My friend found this building that looks like a giant red castle in the middle of Brooklyn. We decided that one day we might need to take it over and live there - letting all of our suitors come and beg for housing :)