"In Your Easter Bonnet"

Irving Berlin would have found this year's NYC Easter Parade most entertaining.  The "parade" isn't really a parade but rather a mob scene on 5th Avenue outside St. Patrick's Cathedral.  There were cameras and ipads trying to capture the essence of the event, but all in joyous celebration of a lovely sunny day.  Smiles abounded and people moved around to capture the best picture of those who had designed a unique creation. And they were unique!

What was impressive was the calmness amongst a huge crowd, the smiles, the children dressed up, people of all ages and identities, decorated dogs, music, acrobatics, and a festive atmosphere. 3000 people had just attended Mass and the priest made an appearance on the steps of St. Pat's.  In this era of security concerns, it was reassuring that the atmosphere did not reflect any of those fears.  It almost felt like a different era in our history.

Here are some of my favorite photos.

NYC Montages

Flowers are lovely, but now and then it is important to work on other subjects for my montages. When I travel to NYC, I take many pictures that can be used at a later date.  Here are some to view and react to. Which are your favorites?

Flower Workshop in NYC with Barbara Bordnick

I just returned from a very educational workshop under the direction of floral photographer, Barbara Bordnick. We first went to the flower market in lower Manhattan and chose flowers to photograph. Then we learned a great deal about sophisticated lighting with strobes, much of which I do not think I will be able to duplicate.  Barbara and her assistants gave instructions on lighting, floral arrangements, and processing of the images for printing.  Once again, it is apparent the power of Photoshop!

The flowers photographed included tulips, peonies, poppies, and phalaenopsis orchids.

Here are a selection of the images I photographed this weekend.  Please give any comments and suggestions.