Urban view

It's one of the best spots to look at shiny NYC's skyline - across the river from Manhattan you got to Brooklyn. There is a beautiful pier with water taxis and infamous Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. And there is that view :).

The city moments

I was shooting another family portrait photography session in Central Park yesterday and just stuck there afterwards for a while. Crowds were enjoying nice weather and it was that amazing feeling of NYC's craziness at the same time, which I love :)

Most colorful person in the city

I see this guy in every NYC's parade. You name it - he is there. First time I met him at Easter parade in our very first year here, in New York City. Then Saint Patrick, Halloween, Mermaid - he is always around or in the parade :)

He was circling with those jars on the top of his head for a while

At first there was a bunch of guys dancing together, circling around and doing crazy stuff on their roller-blades. But every year their number were growing and suddenly a couple of years ago I saw a poster read that they are now an association. And they were fenced :) It didn't change the thing though. They are still great at having fun.

Public art installation on the streets of New York City

Walking to the subway by w46th St I stumbled upon these art installation. Quite catching and I haven't seen it before. Just took a few snapshots as memorabilia.

Family photography - Breakfast in dunes

The forecast for today was very promising and we decided to go to our favorite beach on Fire Island for a breakfast instead of having lazy Sun morning at home.

It's being our most visited place since we got into the country. It's still half way open due to non-season and reconstruction of the beach. But that's what we like at this time of year - no people :)
We definitely had a great time, relaxing on the beach and walking walkways through dunes at Robert Moses State Park.

 Besides here I can give a tip for those who often goes to NY state parks - they have an Empire Passport which runs at $65 for a whole year. So it's really worth it if you do more than 8 visits a year. We are buying it each year.
And we love Fire Island lighthouse very much - it's just great. So much history is behind it and lovely people work there. You must see it yourself. Also they finished tower's renovation and it's fully open for visits now.

One more point - due to my current health conditions I couldn't carry my regular camera equipment with me so all these pictures were shot using my son's point-and-shoot - Canon PowerShot SX120. I'd say it works great for family album ;)

Bryant Park Holiday cards with my photograph of 2 chairs in the park

I love Bryant Park in every season. I love it most in spring when daffodils blooming and everything around smells new life.
But I like it in the winter not less. It's just different. You could feel more attached to the place when less people around you. For me it's more calm, lonely there in the winter.

And I am a little bit proud that I was able to capture that feeling and the beauty of the park in a photograph which were chosen by Bryant Park Corporation for their annual Holiday Cards.
I believe it's quite compelling example of street-life photography. A silent dialog of 2 chairs that left behind... Ghosts of people passed by some time ago... They are together and they are alone, conscious and abandoned...

You may see more of my street-life photography of New York on my web-site and there are some documentary photography, photo stories and series as well.

Cayuga Lake Wine Trail

Ok, here is a beginning :)

We just got back from a long weekend (or a short vacation maybe?) on Finger Lakes. Four nights spent in a cabin, surrounded by trees on a lake’s shore; sounds of forest and freshness of air. What can I say – Wine Trail is an awesome way to spend few days! Even if weather is not perfect at all it becomes sunny after a first wine tasting ;) And it is getting just better and better with each next winery visited…

Those were the good days in any sense: family time, close to nature, out from politics and economic crisis (we just forgot about it). And we fell in love with Ithaca. Cozy town; nice people, well educated, energetic and diverse; atmosphere of fun. Great waterfalls again :) And our 9-years old son just got crazy about Cornell realizing that a whole town could be devoted to students – unbelievable :)



WOW! I didn't even know that this thing could exist - highway with seasonal limited use :)