Florence 2006

I'm editing a group of panoramic work that most likely will be in my upcoming book amongst other new material .

One of the things I didn't plan or intend on doing while over there was to make panoramics .

After all , Florence and Venice are so densely packed that my original thought was to work the crowds as tapestry in a flat plane but I ended up wanting to take in more.By the end of the first week the marriage of the crowds and architecture were more honest to me .

The test prints so far seem to work in a 65 inch print length., maybe even bigger.

This group was all done w/ a Fuji 6x9 Pro medium format camera. Also known as the Texas Leica to its users.

I think Atget would have approved of the camera.

In my next entry I'll upload some of my studies of Bruneleschi's Duomo which I truly feel is God's house.

My wife and I have this habit where we like to leave nickels and pennies in some nook or cranny of a special place so that we can one day go back and see if they've been claimed or are still there awaiting our return.

Oddly enough...we couldn't find a spot within this area of Florence...but if you find yourself at the Boboli Gardens and Fort Belvedere we left a few there. 

The Anti-snow show

Untitled Thoughts..........

Henry Hudson's River

I first saw the mighty Hudson River in 1993. 

Back then I was still living out West in California and although I had visited New York several times-

my view of the Hudson consisted mostly from the air while flying over Albany.

That Fall I was photographing the  historic manors of the Hudson River Valley .

My first stop was Clermont.

If memory serves me right, this is where I first found myself connected and mystified by the Hudson. 

This is the mighty river that captivated  numerous explorers, the lifetime obsession of Frederic Church,subject of

countless stories and poems....

It never fails to take my breath away.

Looking South, Clermont view  2010

Livingston's Tree , upriver, Clermont view  2010

Vine Flower ,  Clermont grounds, NY  2010

Old fence, railroad tracks, Clermont  2010

Visiting

I've passed on one too many phone booth clusters in my lifetime.

There's something beautiful and poetic about how they're crafted and placed.

One can only imagine the decades of conversations that have taken place within these booths ...

When I was in Los Angeles last summer , I remember how many there were at the UCLA Medical Center. Floor after floor of them. All slightly different.

Its a typology and vernacular that will soon disappear I'm afraid.

These photographs all resulted from a recent visit to very familiar places for me in New York state.

Thinking Out Loud

Backyard Days

Lee Friedlander Copyright

Shine on, O moon of summer
Shine to the leaves of grass,catalpa and oak, all silver under your rain to-night ..........................
Shine on , O moon
Shake out more and more silver changes
Carl Sandburg


I've spent the better part of 25 years photographing gardens and backyards and it was only fitting that I join the fold.
My summers are spent tending to it whenever I'm home. Last season I grew sunflower, cabbage and melons, the former due to missing them in Tuscany last time I was there.
My retriever McIntosh is my daily companion for the most part. This is his turf as he knows every square and protects and patrols it as such .
Its changing and evolving like me .

Mark Steinmetz Copyright

Huger Foote Copyright

Gregory Conniff Oneonta,NY Copyright

My dying Pussywillow, NY

Michael Lardizabal

Mac by the grapes, NY

Concords

McIntosh