Tag: new york

Categories
Photography Travels

St. Paul’s School

While in NY for Thanksgiving. I took the opportunity to visit a landmark of the town I grew up in: St. Paul’s School.

Built in 1879 by Cornelia Stewart, in memory of her husband and the founder of Garden City, Alexander Turney Stewart. St. Paul’s is a glorious example of High Victorian Gothic architecture and stands out among Long Island’s many cultural landmarks. However the school has been closed since 1991 and the building has fallen into disrepair.

There are some calling for it’s demolition. Not so surprisingly this is largely a group of individuals (I won’t name names but they aren’t hard to find on Google) who stand to make a lot of money on construction contracts and other deals if they are able to tear down the building and sell the land for other purposes.

Despite the overwhelming majority of Garden City residents voting against the demolition of St. Paul’s, the proposal to demolish it is presented as the popular option due to Garden City’s board of Trustees propping up two other undesirable options that they know residents will be split on.

St. Paul’s future remains in question but things look pretty grim.

You can learn more about the cause to save St. Paul’s here.

And you can check out my photo set here.

Categories
Photography Pop culture Technology

One True Home – 102.3MP Yankee Stadium Wide Angle Panorama

Of all the places I’ve spent my time. No place has as many fond memories for me as Yankee Stadium.

I shot this image almost exactly two years ago at the 2008 MLB All Star Home Run Derby. This would be the second to last game I would spend with her.

I only just now finally getting the chance to assemble it in Photoshop and Aperture. This is my tribute to the most important stadium in all of baseball and my one true home.

May she rest in piece.

Categories
Chicago Design General Photography Theatre

A few photos, a few words.

Batterymouth: Mark Walkley, Zack Whittington and Dave Urlakis.

Hey friends, sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated routinely. Back in December my apartment got robbed and it’s taken me until just now to finally replace everything. Unfortunately this has prevented me from having access to my full Aperture library for some time and has made doing photo work a chore.

Hopefully now this will be a thing of the past, I just got a brand new iMac and I’ve been reunited with my library and workflow. I’ve gone ahead and posted a bunch of new photos on my Flickr account and plan to post many more in the coming days.

So what have I been up to in the last few months? Well…

In March I went to Austin for the South By Southwest Interactive conference with a bunch of friends, had a blast, learned a ton and made lots of new contacts.

In April I took a trip home to visit friends and family, while there I caught the opening of the new Yankee Stadium.

A few weeks ago I went to the Chicago Red Stars home opener with the Chicago Local 134 in support of the team and my friend CEO Peter Wilt.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go with Aki and Mark to play “Journey To The End of The Night”, a city wide street game akin to manhunt/tag/hide and go seek.

I’ve also taken over PR / Marketing and Brand Identity for Long Pork and we’re having a blast with it. Right now we’ve got a show running every Saturday at the Apollo Studio Theater at 8pm through the 23rd. You should check us out.

Some of my photography is now part of a local collective called NMA Artists an unofficial group of artists, writers and photographers who happen to work at a certain major retail store on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Lastly I’ve had the pleasure of consulting on the Chicago Tribune‘s new ChicagoNow project. I can’t wait for the site to launch, it’s going to be big.

That’s all for now, life is pretty good, I hope to get the chance to update more often. Thanks for reading!

Categories
Design Pop culture Technology

You and The Atomic Bomb

My friends, submitted for your approval on this fine New Years Day, is a pamphlet found in the attic of my parent’s house.

What you see is just part of a piece of 1950’s Cold War propaganda in the vein of such nonsense as “Duck and Cover.” This particular piece was produced by New York state in association with Time Inc.’s Life Magazine as a civil service and is bound by no copyright. A pamphlet like this one would have been distributed to help individuals prepare for “The Bomb,” which at that point many felt was inevitable. Nevermind the fact that in an actual atomic blast, these methods would do very little, if anything, to save one’s life. They both created and eased fear among the populous while fostering dependency and loyalty to the government.

To me, it’s an amazing piece of American history both from a psychological and a design standpoint.  My grandfather was a chemist and member of the Nassau Country Civil Defense Commission, and near as I can tell this was his, there may be more. If I come across anything else, I’ll post it as well.

Enjoy.

Categories
Pop culture

Sad day for Yankees fans

Joe Torre is gone.

Some of the band-wagon fans will look at Torre and point the blame for the Yankees’ failures in recent years. But they fail to remember that in 12 years, Joe brought us to the postseason 12 times.

Before Joe, the Yankees hadn’t won the series since 1978 or even been there since 1982. The problem is in perception. Joe is the best manager in the game today; I firmly believe this.

Joe Torre is not the problem with the Yankees. The Yankees organization is the problem with the Yankees.

I recognize I am bitter right now about this, but I know in my gut that this is the wrong move. Ultimately, though, I’m glad it was Joe’s decision. My co-worker Frank said to me the other day that although he hates the Yankees, he loves Joe Torre. Joe is really the best, and he’s an all-around class act. Frank said it well: He deserves to work for an organization that appreciates him.

I will be a Yankee fan for life, but today is a sad day. And one where I am at odds with the team I love so much.

Good luck Joe. Go win another ring.