Jan 27, 2013

"The Dream @50" Celebration at The Met

Yesterday I had the pleasure of covering 'The Dream @50' Celebration at The Met.  This was an art contest awards ceremony that included submissions from local K-12 students, meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech.  Though the actual date isn't until August 28 (something I've always remembered as it's also my birthday), holding this event in January was a great, touching way to start of Black History Month this year.



The assignment for the art competition was to present a piece that reflected on the progress of the Civil Rights Movement in the decades since MLK's work.  What was really interesting/inspiring was how much of the artwork dealt with not just the state of Blacks, but of all races, religions and orientations.

The ceremony included two performances by students from the Harlem School of the Arts.  Between the artwork and the performers, there was some amazing stuff presented.  I kept having to remind myself that these were elementary, middle and high school kids dancing and singing and painting, etc.  - which made the work 'RULL' impressive, rather than simply 'really' impressive.

Curators made several references to works form the American Wing throughout the ceremony, so I decided to take a walkthrough afterwards and as a bonus I've included some of those HDR's.






Jan 15, 2013

2013 NYC Winter Jazz Fest

I had the pleasure of photographing the NYC Winter Jazz Fest in the West Village this past weekend.  Not a whole lot to say here, so let's get right to the pictures!  


Bonus:  Here's a botched HDR of an upright bass player at Sullivan Hall.  I rather like how it came out.