Marta Fodor

2010 Hungarian Festival Photos

2010-06-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Kalotaszentkiralyi Tanchaz

2010-05-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Tanctabor, Kalotaszentkiraly, Romania
2008, Julius

Tanchaz (Dancehouse) May 8, 2010

2010-05-15T08:56:00.001-07:00

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Dancehouse, hosted by Csurdongolo Folk Ensemble in New Brunswick, NJ. Live music by Eletfa band.

Photos from fall-winter 2009

2010-01-19T19:31:00.000-08:00

Golden Festival 2010!

2010-01-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

It was an awesome time!
This is a video from this year's Zlatne Uste Golden Festival. The band playing in the video is Novo Izvorno, they play Macedonian village music. Our friend Kristina plays the tambura in the band. I shot the video while hanging on to Bela's back and dancing along with the circle.

Our wedding!

2009-06-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from our wedding, June 29, 2009, New York City. All pictures by Lily Erdy.

Pictures from Erdely/ Transylvania, Romania

2009-02-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

All pictures from our trip to Transylvania/ Erdely, Romania are online.

01- Budapest - gallery or slideshow

02- Balaton and Kazar/Nemti, Hungary - gallery or slideshow

03- Gyor, Hungary to Mera, Romania - gallery or slideshow

04- Kolozsvar and around Kalotaszeg, Romania - gallery or slideshow

05- Kommando Dance Camp, Romania- gallery or slideshow

06- Felsosofalva & Korond area, Romania- gallery or slideshow

07- Gyimes, Romania - gallery or slideshow

08- Kalotaszentkiraly, Romania - gallery or slideshow

09- Valaszut Dance Camp, Romania - gallery or slideshow

10- Szek (a wedding too!), Romania - gallery or slideshow

11- Mera, Romania - gallery or slideshow

Christmas

2009-01-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

Pictures from New York Tanchaz

2009-01-03T11:07:00.001-08:00

Photos by Marta Fodor and Bela Halacsy

Dance classes are back

2008-11-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Hungarian dance class, reviewing Mezosegi cycle. (we will move on to other styles once we all 'get it')
4PM, Sunday. Nov. 30.
Ripley-Grier Studios
520 8th Avenue
Between 36 and 37 Streets
16th Floor Studio 16N
4:00 to 6:00 pm
with recorded music

Please bring shoes for dancing with a sturdy, flat heel, not too tapered (ie. no high heels). For girls, the Chinese flat Mary Janes work well but sneakers are very hard to dance in. Expect to really sweat. One can bring a change of shirt or a towel to wipe off and a bottle of water, etc.

Metrofolk at Mehanata, NYC

2008-06-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

Click to play

Tanchaz (dance party) in NYC, April 2008

2008-04-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Pictures by Marta Fodor and Bela Halacsy

Pictures from Tanchaz in DC

2008-04-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Assortment of family and friend photos online

2008-04-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

I put up some family and friend pictures from the past summer to this Easter that have been sitting in my laptop unseen for months.

New website!

2008-04-16T08:36:00.001-07:00

My website has been redone, updated! It's brand new!
check it out!
Please leave comments and let me know what you think.

more dance stuff

2008-03-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

I thought this video showed Mezosegi dance pretty well. The legendary Palatkai banda are playing in it. Since we've been trying to perfect this dance it's really fun to watch it.

Csurdongolo performance at HAAC, New Jersey

2008-03-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the last performance on March 16, 2008 at the Hungarian American Athletic Club. We performed a dance from Kalotaszeg, Transylvania.
pictures by me and Gergely Hajdu-Németh

Also, the video:

NY I love you, but...

2008-02-09T22:26:00.001-08:00

it's a love hate relationship with NYC. Sometimes it's the best place I can dream of and sometimes I am aching to get out. Today I feel like one of those fish in the video below: just flopping around hopelessly....

Music by LCD Soundsystem

Some clips from a Csurdongolo rehearsal

2008-02-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

Bela and I are dancing in the back/middle where there are 4 couples dancing (after the kid with the stuffed giraffe). It's a Mezosegi dance.

click on screen above to view video in a pop-up window or
click here to download

Pictures from cross country trip are now online

2008-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

Most of these were taken by Bela since I was using a film camera.
Click on this link to view a slideshow in a new window.
or you can view images below:

New slideshow and book available on Hungarian Immigrants

2008-02-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have compiled a select few photos from my ongoing documentary photo project, Hungarian immigrants in the US, and they are in a new slideshow online:
click here to see it. Please let me know what you think. These images are in a new book available for purchase on www.viovio.com for $16.99 + shipping.

First post in a long time

2008-02-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

I just got back from our cross country trip. Bela is still out in California working with his uncle, the renowned sculptor Bela Bacsy. This is the first post of our many random videos we shot while on the road. It's silly... Enjoy
Music by Múm

Click on little screen above to view video in a pop-up window or
click here to download

Dancing Mezõségi in Manhattan late night

2007-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Rebecca shot this video after one of our dance 'classes' last week, which we held in Central Park. This was our third class and for this one we decided to hold it somewhere other than my livingroom where we were scratching up the floor. We've been working on Mezõségi dances from Magyarpalatka. Áron played viola and Jake the violin and Karcsi and Kristina are dancing in the video. Check out Áron's blog too.

Magyarlapádi Dance demonstration from Csipke Dance Camp

2007-08-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Our teachers Pisti and Julcsi demonstrate a dance from Magyarlapád (a village in Transylvania). The video is 12 minutes long.

Click above on screenshot to view video or click here to download

Click here to hear Marianna Nyitrai (the singer for Üsztürü) teaching a Magyarlapádi song to students.
click here to download this song. The quality of the recording is not vert good but it's good for practicing the song and remembering the melody.

Live music recordings from Csipke Hungarian dance camp

2007-08-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

I had some time today to go through all my recording from Csipke Camp on my computer. It was about a month ago but I'm just finally getting around to it.
The songs are up on the Internet Archive, an online library to which anyone can contribute to and access media from (from text, movies to music recordings, etc). Being that I will be starting graduate school for Library sciences in a few days this is very interesting to me.

Üsztürü live at a late night party outside, 12min, 16sec.
to download click here.
Szászcsávási Cigány Hallgató and Csingerálás (from Szászcsávás)

Üsztürü Romanian Purtata, Invirtita and Hategana, from Enyed.
Which would translate to walking dance, turning dance and fast couples' dance. 7min, 46sec.
to download click here.

Üsztürü Haidau, from Enyed. 2min, 36sec.
to download click here.

Pictures from Csipke Hungarian Folkdance and music camp

2007-08-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

A Night in Buza, Mezôség!

2007-06-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with the Hungarians up north in Ontario, Canada, for a weekend of dancing and music from Buza (a Mezôség village in Transylvania).
We all camped out and partied on Sylvie's horse ranch in Ontario and got eaten by bugs and had an amazing time!

Hungarian Festival in New Brunswick, NJ

2007-06-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2007
Performances by Csürdöngölô Hungarian Folk Dance Ensemble, Talpra Magyar, Regös Csoport, festival on the streets and evening party/tanchaz with Életfa Folk Band.

A photo in the Detroit Times

2007-06-14T13:28:00.001-07:00

My photo of cartoonist Mikhaela Reid is now in the Detroit Times.

Pictures from Akadályverseny 2007!!

2007-06-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Photo shoot with Mikhaela and Masheka

2007-05-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I had the chance to have a photo shoot with Mikhaela and Masheka who are both political cartoonists, and who are both coming out with new books (and are also getting married in September).
Some of the selects are here below, but to see all of them go here.

Coming June 1: “ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT MIKHAELA!” by Mikhaela Reid, with foreword by Ted Rall. See why Fun Home author Alison Bechdel says "Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on!"
June 12: NYC @ Bluestockings. Soon to come: Boston, DC and more!

see more from the shoot here

My neighborhood

2007-05-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

if you look closely you can see the Empire State Building off near the horizon line

Bowery and the ZZZZ fire-escapes

2007-05-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Csurdongolo Hungarian Folk Ensemble at Coexistence Festival

2007-05-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Performing a Rabakozi dance, Gypsy dances from Orko, Transylvania, Magyarbodi girl's dance and dance from Kalotaszeg, Transylvania.

This photo below was taken by my grandfather during the war when he was in Transylvania. The costumes on the women look very much like Kalotaszegi costumes, the costumes Csurdongolo was wearing during their performance on Saturday.

Zing Magazine Release Party

2007-05-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

North American Hungarian Festival (NAHF) in Montreal

2007-03-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

I never posted the photos from the festival. So here they are! It was an amazing experience, dancing/teaching/singing three days straight and partying every night at Tanchaz to amazing music until the morning and then getting up and doing it all over again. Good times.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

My photo in INDWELLING

2007-03-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

One of my images from the 20 x 24 Polaroid series will be on view as part of this benefit Celebration. The event is ticketed but there will be a FREE Gallery talk on Sunday, March 25, 1-3 PM by Joyce Tenneson.
See below for all the details.

INDWELLING, Living in a Female Body
The Women's Therapy Centre Institute 25th Anniversary Gala Celebration
March 23-25, 2007
Honoring Eve Ensler
Photography Exhibition Juried by Joyce Tenneson
The exhibit about women by women will capture what it’s like to live in a female body. Fumerist Kate Clinton, Music by BETTY
Weekend discussion, photographym music, poetry and personal testimony on the mounting crisis in women's body image: the shrinking of women's physical and social space and the advent of Size 0.
for more info on the event click www.womenmarchfourth.org
Friday, March 23, From 6pm to 8pm, Gala Reception and Photography Exhibition and Sale. Admission: $25
Saturday, March 24, Noon-6 PM, Speak-Out, film, music, poetry and more. Honoree and speaker Eve Ensler Admission: $25.
Sunday, March 25, 1-3 PM, FREE Gallery talk by Joyce Tenneson The Great Hall at The Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street at Third Avenue, New York City
Subways N, R, to 8th St or 6 to Astor Place

A Weekend of music and art

2007-03-19T06:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't written in here in ages and ages, I keep getting caught up in life, work, love, stuff. So here is a nice recap of the musical and artfilled weekend I just had.

Saturday I went to check out the Jeff Wall exhibit with Mikhaela at the MoMA. Yes, they are big, very big and yes, they are lit form behind which is beautiful. But I kept wondering if I was drawn to them only for those reasons. What I like about his work is that he treats his photos as some painters treat their paintings, in that he obsses about the composition and he wait for the perfect light, spends months setting the scenes up. But the most striking image that really got me was his "Invisible Man" (from the Ralph Ellison book), where a man is sitting in an underground room with what it seems like thousands of lightbulbs above him. Amazing, so amazing. Go see the show just for that image.

Saturday night the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble performed at the Metropolitan. I love watching these dances, and I guess since I started learning them myself I can see their talent even more pronounced. The guys are amazing with their fast and perfectly synchronized Legenyes dances and the girls make all the spins looks so easy and graceful. What I love the most is that it just looks like a big party, they don't always face the stage, so there is this illusion that we are just sitting in the dark and are peeking in to their party. They did a Kalotaszegi and a Mezosegi, pretty much the only two dances that I know (or am in the process of learning), so that was exciting. All the dances are based on authentic dances with the traditional costumes, the embroidered jackets, skirts, aprons and headpieces and of course the boots. The cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) player was amazing and this was the first time I heard a cimbalom solo, his hands were moving so fast that you couldn't see them, they were just a blur, and at times he wasn't even looking at the strings. Afterward we went to Heidelberg, an German bar, which was pretty much the only place on the Upper East Side on St Patrick's Day that wasn't crazy packed with drunk people.

Sunday I went to the European Folk Dance festival at FIT. Every type of folk dance you can imagine was on stage, from wild Ukranian dances that almost seemed like Broadway but with folk costumes, to beautiful Bulgarian women's line, then our very own Talpra Magyar, (led by Aron Szekely) and then a beautiful Norwegian dance. I went to a Norwegian dance class once at the Synagogue on 14th street, but seeing it performed by amazing couple on stage was different. They danced around the fiddle playing musician doing some graceful spins, and the men also had a Legenyes type solo piece near the end.

click here for all the photos from Talpra Magyar's performance

Monday. The Kevrenn Alré, a bagpipe band from Brittany, France, was on tour and they perfomed at Zebulon in Williamsburg. I have never heard of anything like it before so I showed up with Annamarie and Ingrid and found them jamming with a guitarist from Mali and a bluesy drummer, and some sort of flute/pipe player. At one point a dance started and Ingrid joined in. We later went outside and did our own dance on the street while all the drunk French smokers outside stared.

A Night at home

2007-02-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

Folding my clothes and getting some editing done. Time lapse vis Isight- my new favorite toy.

click here to download or click on image above for a pop-up window

Tanchaz Party in Garfield, NJ

2007-02-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Hungarian Tanchaz (Dance party) with Eletfa Hungarian Folk Ensemble and members of Csurdongolo Folk Dance Ensemble.

Root Dance Magazine Photography Contest

2007-02-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

My photo of the Csurdongolo Dancers won first place in the 'Community' dance photography category this year in Root Magazine's annual photography contest. see it here

A nice pic of Bela from my last visit to Ohio...

2007-01-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

Puerto Rico, part 2

2007-01-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

It's been very cold out lately.. super cold, we are afraid to go outside for too long, so I have been spending more time at home and thinking back to warmer times, like Puerto Rico. Also, a friend, Laura, published an article about the trip to Puerto Rico and she got some of my photos in there too. It's in this month's issue Clam Magazine! here is a little video about the magazine that has some cool music too. and here is a goofy video from Puerto Rico:

Click on screen above for video in a pop-up window or
click here to download

Hungarian Dancing

2007-01-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

These shots are from Memorial Day in a friend's backyard, dancing to a Mezosegi song (by Marta Sebestyen and Muzsikas :) and also from a rehearsal of the Csurdongolo Hungarian Folk Dance ensemble in New Jersey.

Click on image above for pop-up video or click here to download

Adam's Polaroid portrait project

2007-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Adam loves Polaroid film.. and he worked on a little project where he had his friends take self portraits with his Polaroid camera. This was filmed in Anabel and Kathy's kitchen back 'home' in Boston. All you need to be inspired is some Yma Sumac, a beer and some soon to obsolete Polaroid film. I love Polaroid film too... here is a series I did where I made a Polaroid pinhole camera out of a wooden box.

Click on image for pop-up video or click here to download

Anabel's grandma gives us a tour of her garden

2007-01-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

In August I went to Puert Rico with Anabel and some other friends. Her grandma lives there and this is a video of her showing off her beautiful garden.

Click on image for pop-up video or click here to download

Some shots from Budapest

2007-01-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

Click on image above to see video in a pop-up (good for both PC and Mac users)
or click here to download

some partying at the Magnum office

2007-01-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

some partying in the office...
click on photo for more
the nose on the righ is mine..... PhotoBooth is so much fun!

Now that it's cold out..

2006-12-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

I can show clips like this... of warm tropical places and beautiful clear blue waters and skies. so okay, the last shot is from Mantouk, on Long Island when it was too cold to swim still.

click on screen above to view or here to download

I've been away and many things have happened

2006-12-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

more to follow

Protest in front of the Hungarian Consulate

2006-09-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

These are pics from Friday night's protest.
On September 22, 2006 over one hundred Americans of Hungarian descent living in the New York metropolitan area demonstrated in front of the Hungarian Consulate General’s office in midtown Manhattan. American Hungarians voiced their solidarity with the demonstrators in Hungary who are demanding that Prime Minister Gyurcsany resign after a recent leaked tape to press he admitted to lying and "f-ing up".

First Video from Puerto Rico

2006-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

click on screen above to view or
click here to download

pics from the loud Mexican place on Bedford

2006-09-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

more from the workshop

2006-09-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

After meeting all these great photographers, David brought in some of his contacts from the other end of the process, the photo editors. We met Susan Griffiths, who has worked with David on a lot of his assignments at National Geographic. She talked about how the relationship between the photographer and the editor in her work and for the National Geographic is key in the process; she is incredibly passionate about her work, she said, "certain frames never leave me." She looked at all the student work in progress and went through very thoroughly and clearly talked about why certain images worked and why some didn't. She mentioned once that it has nothing to do with thinking, it has all to do with feeling, the same way that a photographer is not thinking when they are shooting, only feeling. (It is the same thing Paul Fusco has drilled into me over and over). She also said something like, "read the captions later, they are handy, but the initial reaction [the thing that gets you to look at the image in the first place] is the feeling."
After that, I went to a show I have heard about, work by a Hungarian photographer, Gyorgy Beck, who is working with liquid silver emulsion on aluminum, very similar process as my Victorian project from years ago, but different imagery altogether. (The show is at Fotosphere Gallry). The photographer happened to be hanging out in the gallery so we talked for a while. After that, I went to a photo crit in Soho organized by Athena, a photo crit group that basically all got started online. It was pretty wild to go from crazy photojournalism and National Geographic images, to experimental alternative processes to looking at fine art C-prints with no narrative,like the work of Saul Robbins , (who just had a show in Boston!) I always feel like I am so spread out in the kinds of photography I am interested in and think that it hinders me from ever becoming fully immersed in any aspect of it, I see this as a flaw, I am spreading out too thin. Is it a flaw? I can sit there and talk to a fine artist photographer about what a pain in the ass it is to be spraying lacquer on aluminum and how we both worked in gross basement darkrooms with the occasional dead mouse corpse, and a few hours before be looking at the wildest photo essays in progress like an essay on death and funeral homes in NY, and still appreciate all of this fully and understand the process and the intentions of the photographer.

Thursday morning, Mark Lubell, the Bureau Chief at Magnum NY came to talk about (mostly) Magnum in Motion, a new Magnum site that features online interactive photo slideshows of essays. It is really great because you really get a firsthand audio account from the photographer to accompany the images. A recent one that I really like is by Larry Towell, In the Wake of Katrina, on which his own music and singing is even included in the piece.
Thursday night, Brian Storm, from Mediastorm came to talk about his work. It was very enlightening and his big message was the importance of audio; how good audio leads to good images and a good stroy. He is very interested in how new technologies can be used to tell the story, how video is really becoming (already is) the next big thing for journalists. I am not sure if I am explaining this very well, but he really suggested that we all try it. He showed many great pieces that are all on his website and stressed the importance of cross platform distribution, good captions and in-depth metadata information and again, of sound. Very inspiring everning.

more from the workshop and mess in Budapest

2006-09-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today during the photo workshop Brenda Ann Kenneally came to talk about her most recent work that appeared in the New York Times Magazine Aug 27 called Children of the Storm, it is also online.
For a second night riots took place in Budapest, as people are demanding that the Prime Minister resign. There were 10,000 peaceful protesters in front of the Parliament and some smaller groups got into violent clashes with the police at the National TV Building, cars were burned, things were broken, etc. (I was staying just a block over from that building two winters ago). On a leaked tape Prime Minister Gyurcsanyi admitted that his government had lied to the public. There are excerpts from the speech on the BBC website, it's a long speech and he even says "we have screwed up. Not a little but a lot. No country in Europe has screwed up as much as we have" and also "We lied morning, noon and night".
From my time in Budapest it seems everyone I talked to sort of knew Gyurcsanyi was lying (but don't all politicians lie?) for a long time, and it was just a matter of time until something like this happened. Hungary is in a big financial mess with a huge budget deficit, meanwhile they are trying to adopt the euro?? It's also kind of sad and ironic that as the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 revolution approaches the country is an another mess.

a few very amazing and inspiring days and more to come

2006-09-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of crazy days. On Saturday David Alan Harvey's photography workshop began. David is an awesome photographer, a Magnum member and a National Geographic photographer. My favorite of his work is Divided Soul, which is about Spanish culture both in Spain and in the New World. I have been in touch with Marie, his assistant and she invited me to help out for the week. It has been an incredible two days thus far. On Saturday all the students arrived in the incredible studio of Rob Clark, a National Geographic photographer, accross the hall from David's loft in the 'Kibbutz' of photographers; some other Magnum photographers live in the buildings. Rob recently did a photography assignment for Sony Ericson where he traveled across America, equipped with his van, computer and a Sony Ericsson S710a cameraphone.

The highlight of the day was Eugene Richard's visit. I first heard of him when I found his Dorchester Days book on the shelf at the museum bookstore when I started college in Boston. Dorchester is a part of Boston I guess and seeing all the conflict, drugs and abuse from that time that he so intimately showed was very striking, it was the first time I flet so close to so much really painful and real problems. He gained the trust of the subjects and showed them with so much compassion. He had published about a dozen books on topics such as HIV, teen gangs, death in America and other harsh subjects. He showed us his latest project, which is a photo essay he did at Ground Zero after 9/11 called Stepping Through the Ashes. The essay just appeared on the Washington Post online.

I am thoroughly impressed with the work of the students and also David's energy, the environment really is a supportive one and all the people are incredible. I especailly like Ben Krane's work, from Little Rock.

Friday night was the first night I attended a Magyar (Hungarian) dance class in New Brunswick as a dancer and not as the photographer. It was strange to be trying to coordinate my feet to do things i have been watching for months as I have been shooting these rehearsals. We are learning a new song and I want to record it so I can practice. I was talking to Zsuzsi and she had an idea about me possibly doing a photo workshop for the kids' Cserkeszet (scout) group in New York somehow. The original plan was to do some pinhole stuff and we ever contemplated building a darkroom in the basement of Hungarian House but then we realized there is no ventilation. We'll figure something out. I have some ideas on how we could do some Cyanotype stuff instead.

Saturday night after the workshop I went out to Jersey again and went to Tanchaz ('Dancehouse'), the traditinal Hungarian Dance Party and Eletfa was the house band, whoa re by far the best and they rock the house. There was lots of beer to be had and people just went crazy. I actually did some dancing this time and wasn't just shooting the whole time. The Mezosegi dances always amaze me- it's lots of fluid and graceful spinning and more spinning and the songs are so long you feel like the dancers will keep on spinning forever. Lots of drunken moves by the end a bunch of people ended up crashing at the Gorondi family house like we always do. Eniko, the mom of the family just finished building a Montessori preschool for Hungarian speaking children in their house called Aprokfalva. If I had a little kid I'd want them to go there.

Sunday morning I looked at an apartment with Rachel and Pauline in Ridgewood and it looks very promising. We will make the final decision on it tomorrow.

And Sunday the workshop contunied. We had an amazing lunch on the roof of the building with crazy awesome views of the entire city, and the Williamsburg Bridge. Nick Nichols, joined us later. He is also a National Geographic photographer and specializes in wildlife photography and I guess it is something like advocacy journalism; he is now working in Congo on a stroy about elephants for National Geographic. He also was once a Magnum member, like Eugene Richards, and as Daid put it: "Once a Magnum photographer always a Magnum photographer." He showed us some of his current work and then as a complete change of pace he also showed us his new essay on the Rolling Stones, his favorite band!

I am now very tired and my back is still not okay, it's hard to sleep at night.

The End of Summer

2006-09-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am now officially apartment hunting and roaming around (mostly) Brooklyn. The song in this video is by Clientele, I really liked the lyrics although it's about a guy in London- his experience is similar. It is beginning to look like summer is now over... This is a one shot video, and it really replicates the feeling I get when I ride subways, and all the good wholesome thinking I get done while staring out a scratched up window.

click on screen to view or
click here

Union Square

2006-09-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

5th anniversary of 9-11

2006-09-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

See the new Magnum in Motion interactive photo essay on September 11. Photos by Magnum photographers who were in New York during 9-11 and their accounts.

this is a view of the Memorial in Light that was turned on all night on 9-11.

lower Manhattan

2006-09-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

view of Manhattan from Williamsburg

2006-09-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

this is the view from the roof of the building where David Alan Harvey lives and where I will be helping him in a week with an annual worksop he runs. His assistants Marie and Denise met with me and we talked about the plans for the week, then went up on the roof to see this!!

Puerto Rico trip

2006-08-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are my pics from the trip to Puerto Rico.
Click here to see a slideshow
Click here to see the pics with the option to dowload

Low and Iron & Wine

2006-08-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of Low. I will have video of Iron& Wine up soon.
I had a great moment at this show, one of those moments when you feel like all will be all right. Standing there amongst my friends, listening to this amazing music, watching the sun set, a little breeze in my hair and holding a cup of Brooklyn Lager it was the perfect moment and I was so content. Getting to the show was a nice story too: Right after work I had to go and rent some equipment so I was reluctant to lug it all the way to Williamsburg with me, especially since I didn't have a ticket for this show even. I went anyway, thinking I could sit in the grass outside and listen that way. As I was walking towards the pool, a old friend and old neighor, Jason, started waving at me from inside a bar window, as I approach another old friend, David, is out on the street flagging me down. Nice. We have beers, and it rurns out they are going to the same show. As we walk up to the gate, a woman walks up to us and asks if we need an extra ticket, um, like Yeah!! ahse gives it to me for free, I huge her. We walk in, and Low just starts playing my favorite songs. Sometimes I really love Brooklyn.

Bela in town from Cleveland!

2006-08-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Helene's last night in NYC!!

2006-07-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Picnic in Prospect Park

2006-07-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

One night of fire- Brooklyn Bridge

2006-07-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

Brian, Gamal and Jenna come to NYC

2006-07-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Mikhaela and Masheka's creation

2006-07-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

That's right... they are engaged. and they are both cartoonists so this is how they spend their time

click on screen to view or click here to download

Mermaid Parade on Coney Island

2006-07-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Click here to see all photos from the Parade.

Radical Fairies March to Stonewall

2006-07-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Click here to see a slideshow of all the images from the march

Magyar (Hungarian) Summer Session '06

2006-07-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here are all the photos from Summer Session '06, from northeast Ohio this past weekend. A crazy gathering in the middle of nowhere for young Hungarians. Fun times, fun times.

To see a slideshow of all photos, click here.
To see all images with the option to download the ones you like (low res- web quality), click here.

Photos from Magyarnap (Hungarian Day)

2006-07-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Here are all the photos from Magyarnap (Hungarian Day) in New Brunswick, New Jersey from early June.

To see a slide show of all pictures, click here.
To see all the pictures with the option to dowload the ones you like, (low res, web quality), click here.

Hungarian Folk Dancers in NJ

2006-07-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Click on image above or here
to see slideshow images of Hungarian Fold Dancers in New Brunswick, NJ.

Hungarian scouts gathering, commemorating the 1956 revolution

2006-07-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

These images are from a weekend gathering in upstate New York, where the young scouts got to experience the re-enactment of the 1956 revolution that took place in Budapest. This year markes the 50th anniversary of the revolution and it's also very significant to the Hungarian scouts in the US since most of their parents fled here after the revolution. Click here to see all the photos in a slideshow.

Spine

2006-07-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

I saw this man at Port Authority

Photographers' rights on bridges and subways, etc

2006-07-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

from Talk to the Newsroom: Assistant Managing Editor for Photography Michele McNally

Clarification on Photographing Bridges

Q. I read what you told a student photographer in your interview on "Talk to the Newsroom." I need to bring you up to speed on the law so that you may tell people their rights to photograph.

It is perfectly legal to photograph bridges and tunnels from public areas. Imagine if you couldn't take photos of the Brooklyn Bridge? Port Authority and TBTA have signs up indicating no photography, but where is the law? Test it one day.

Second, photography is perfectly legal of bridges and tunnels from areas that are not part of their property. Imagine if you will, that you were in the rest stop at the Verrazano Bridge and took a picture of the bridge. Wouldn't you say that is perfectly legal?

Third, you said it is even less legal to take photos on the subways. Let me say that the MTA attempted to pass rules that would have banned photography, but the NY Press Photographers Association, with the help of numerous other organizations fought and won this battle.

The MTA lists this on Section 1050.9 Part C of their rules and regulations where it specifically gives the public (not just the press) permission to take photos in the subways. This rule goes for Long Island Railroad, Penn Station, Grand Central and other MTA properties.

Further, after winning this battle, the MTA sought to make it illegal anyway. We, with the help of NPPA, ASMP, NJPPA, and the NYCLU threatened to sue and the MTA again backed off with a letter sent to us from Catherine Rinaldi, General Counsel and deputy executive director for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) who conceded to photographers in a letter that there is “no ban on photography in the Long Island Railroad or the Metro North Transit system.”

While your advice on dealing with police is probably the best advice that anyone can give, it is important to advise your photographers and any other photographers that it is their constitutional right to take photos in any public place. The NYPD also has their own rules that subject officers to administrative hearings if they violate them.

"NYPD Procedure Number 212-40
"In order to cooperate more fully with members of the news media and provide them with access to cover newsworthy events, the following guidelines will be adhered to unless safety interests or proper performance of police duties require otherwise:

"To the extent it is feasible to do so, the media’s access to demonstrations on private property will not be impeded by the department.

"The media will be given access as close to the activity as possible with a clear line of sight and within hearing range of the incident.

"When the incident spill over or occur on private property, members of the media will not be arrested for criminal trespass, unless an owner or representative expressly indicates that the press is not to be permitted to enter or remain on the property.

If the ranking offer at the incident determines that press access must be restricted in certain circumstances (i.e. in order for the Department to carry out its law enforcement functions), he retains the discretion to do so."

I'm sending you this information because you should be best informed of the rights of your photographers. Your attorneys could confirm all this information and it can be found on-line. We are always with you as your colleagues and your counsel on photography issues is important to all of us.

I hope this information is helpful to you and provides you with the ammunition that you and The Times needs to continue to do their jobs unfettered.

-- Todd Maisel, Vice President, NY Press Photographers Association

Thomas' farewell gathering

2006-07-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Thomas is leaving to go back to Dennmark in two days! so a bunch of Magnum peeps got together to wish him farewell :(

on F train

2006-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Rooftop Films

2006-07-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Darfur

2006-07-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July

2006-07-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

The best view... from Brooklyn side at the Fulton park

Jenna and Josh

2006-07-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Molly's house out in western Mass

2006-07-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

morning commute

2006-06-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

sometimes the mornings getting to work is so nice. I live one stop away from work, Bowling Green, which is right in downtown, two blocks from Battery Park and Wall street. As I get off the train I see: an MTA worker who sings "gooooood morning" as commuters walk by and smiles at little kids, and I mean she does this every morning, then a Watchtower guy preaching "when you know the truth you will make good decisions" and hands out his magazines, then right as I reach ground level I am immediately bombarded with newspaper vendors, then tables selling nudy framed art, bags, notebooks, jewlery, ties, watches and people seriously stop and it suddenly becomes a market. I stop to get a coffee and a muffin from this Persian man in a cart, he makes it just right with just the right ratio of coffee:sugar:milk. This man seems to know everyone: as I walk up he is talking to a woman about her job, then as she leaves the next customer doesn't even order- the cart guy just immediately pours him his coffee and continues a conversation with him they must have been having yesterday about Turkey. I walk into the building and post todays' schedules on all the conference rooms doors and one of the conference rooms is in the corner of the building: I can see all of Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge, if I was higher up I could see our house I think, I can see a helicopter landing pad, Battery Park, South Street, the Staten Island Ferry. nice.

Dresden Dolls show

2006-06-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight I shot the Dresden Dolls at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. They are a band from Boston; I felt kind of nostalgic showing my Massachusetts Driver's license to get my pass. I saw this band way back when I was still in college at a loft/benefit party in South Boston for an art space that now doesn't exist. It was one of the space's annual huge bashes and it was in a dingy old factory building, with cement floors, clip lamps for lighting, installation art, artists, people in costumes and sexy dresses, great food and drinks, interesting people, all kinds of music, people in funky hats and it was a really great night. It was the first time I saw the Dresden Dolls, they were set up in the middle of the room and Amanda was sitting at her synthesizer with a clip lamp pointed at her feet, and Brian was at the drums. All the people were gathered around, sitting or standing around them, but there was no separation between the audience and them- they/we all blended together. I like small spaces like that where there is no 'stage' and no hierarchy of performers, organizers and audience. I really liked them, and I bought their promo CD that night (which was a really bad recording but still great). It was strange to see them at this theatre, which is completely corporate, there are bouncers everywhere, mostly 14 year old identical looking girls who came to see the headliner band Panic! At the Disco, carpeting, a bathroom with a sound system, plasma TV screens, cell phones in lit up neon cases, a huge metal wall that separates the audience from the stage, expensive tickets (not a 'donation'). Since it's such a crazy venue with strict bouncers, they only let me shoot 3 songs (no flash of course) then I was quickly rushed out of the 'press pen', wheras I have shot shows where I could use all the flash I wanted to, could even shoot up into people's noses or up their skirts if I so wanted to. There were no friendly artists holding plastic cups of wine and snacking on donated Iggy's bread, no art teachers mingling, and people dressed up like fairies or naked with body paint, and no wild dance party afterward where you met a bunch of really cool people. I suddenly felt so sad and so old to see them here, and it felt like my nice nostalgic memory of them is somehow being violated. Seeing them like this is half the experience, it's as if just where the stage ends- the performance ends, the act was 'staged' for the audience (it was). When I saw them years ago, the performance was throughout the whole room and everywhere- they were just the loudest and most noticeable in the room and we happened to be crowding around them. Never would I have thought that the next time I'd see them would be in Times Sq and I'd be weraing a press pass.

One boy held up his cell phone during one of the songs and swayed it back and forth as if it were a lighter. I hope it was a Nokia phone.

I met Laura, who runs this blog: http://www.somorescene.com/, she was there to write about Panic! at the Disco. I met some 14 year old girls at the show who came to the theatre at 9AM! to get a good spot, and one girl said she is following the band around during their tour. I think the Myspace thing really got this band going.

NOTE: Amanda recently did a show at the Brooklyn Lyceum that sounds more like their sort of thing! I missed it but it sounds like it was probably good! They are doing similar events all throughout their tour in the US.
Fuck The Back Row! A Night of Short Films and Dadaist Vaudeville... This is a program of short films submitted by Dresden Dolls fans that have been selected by long-time Dresden Doll friend / collaborator / indie-film iconoclast Michael Pope and BriAnna Olson
Amanda Palmer will close the evening by performing songs from not-so-popular film soundtracks.

Mikhaela and Masheka's engagement gathering

2006-06-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Mikhaela and Masheka both being cartoonists, of course Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoonist Ted Rall will officiate their wedding in Sept. 2007. This is a link to Ted's website.
this is Masheka's blog.
this is Mikhaela's website
and here is a link to a great interview with the lovely couple

from the roof of the Met

2006-06-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Montauk

2006-06-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Magnum Fashion Party

2006-06-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

click here for more Magnum Party Pictures

AIGA Opening and MassArt alumns

2006-06-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

from my last days at Magnum

2006-06-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Helene over a cigarette break

Nick and Thomas

James

Simon

Marta, Rachel and Helene

Nicole's last night in NYC

2006-06-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Nicole drinking yellow Corona, eating yellow corn at a yellow countertop, in a yellow Tshirt at Cafe Habana, awesome.

Best meal ever and a hot waiter.

Puerto Rican Pride Day

2006-06-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

video coming soon...

Memorial Day on Coney Island

2006-05-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

Long Island City and PS1

2006-05-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Boston for the weekend

2006-05-13T23:24:00.000-07:00

awesome people back home...

Dave and his layers, 1-2-3

2006-05-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

hanging out at the Magnum office

2006-05-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

three Magnum photographers and some staff hanging out..
(it's in French)

click on screen to view or
click here to download

Beat Box/Hip Hop Subway Ride

2006-05-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

click on screen to view or click here to download

check out www.beatboxerent.net for more info.