Alli. Hover over the image for info. (copyright Edward Brydon)

Bergdorf Goodman 55, from my series “Holiday Displays of New York” on the cover of Rear Curtain issue 3.

Yes, that is my photograph above gracing the cover of a magazine! I am extremely excited to announce that my series “Holiday Displays of New York” has been published in the latest issue of the visual storytelling magazine and website Rear Curtain. This short series was completed last year during the Holiday season, and while the displays may have changed the intention and sentiment behind my photographs have not. Of course it is also entirely appropriate they should be published at this time of year. Working with the Rear Curtain team on this was as simple a process as there could be. I could not have asked for better; indeed I am very pleased to be associated with this magazine.

A glimpse inside Rear Curtain issue 3

Rear Curtain is a genuine photographic story-tellers magazine, filled with work that is of a very high caliber. In fact the quality is increasing with every issue as more and more people realize that they can submit their photographic series and stories to them. If you are looking for such a venue I urge you to go for it. Their mission is one I whole-heartedly support:

life  people  stories

At its heart, Rear Curtain is about storytelling. Images hold the potential to share some of the most powerful stories that connect us no matter where in the world we live. Finding stories that link people to one another and that reflect how we are all the same can make the world a better place. Through sharing our lives and those of the people around us–our family, friends, neighbors, and our community–we can move others to new points of view by showing what we all have in common regardless of race, culture, religion or geography. These stories can improve understanding and influence behavior, all with the hope of–in some way–changing the future.

Our mission is to be a place for emerging visual storytellers to share the stories that are important to them and also to be a resource of learning tools for those who wish to advance their storytelling skills.

I’d like to thank the whole team over there, Ray Ketcham, Matthew Connors, Sabrina Henry, and Stuart Sipahigil, for supporting my photography. I’d also like to thank my family, friends, and you, the people who visit this blog for also supporting my photography through comments, and timely confident boosts or critiques.

Editor’s note for Rear Curtain issue 3. Pick up a copy of this issue of Rear Curtain here, and maybe even the back issues too. You won’t be disappointed.

Brooklyn Heights

Half Moon over Red Hook Grain Terminal

Yes, I’m aware I’ve been a little blog-negligent of late. I’m trying to be more judicious about what I post, when, and why. The content shouldn’t suffer from forcing to a photo or article out. I have to say though that I’ve also been trying to get as much time with my son, who’s almost one (!!) as I can. It’s harder than it was before what with my commute. That makes my weekend priority to spend precious time with my family. I appreciate your patience and hope it’s been worth the wait. This was made with the Yashica 635 and 120 Tri-X400 film on a photowalk with a neighbor and some now mutual friends. While I have been craving getting out of the city to the countryside lately, an unsatiated craving, it was just the tonic I needed on that particular day to get out for a walk with little pressure. Thanks for the invite Dan, Alex and Christina.

Storm over Brooklyn

Hummingbird moth, (Hemaris thysbe) feeding, dorsal view. 1/3. Click image for larger view.

I recently started working at a location that is much less urban than I have previously been used to. More on my new job soon, I promise, but just to let you know it’s an exciting blend of what I did previously, and what I like doing in my spare time. Anyway, I’ve got to say it’s quite refreshing to see grass, plants, trees, and water while walking around the work campus and it’s possibly just the fresh air I needed. That said, I’m not used to stumbling upon new creepy-crawlies and such-like that are natural to this habitat. Not to say I’m shocked, it’s more of a surprised, “Oh. Oh! Cool!” That’s the recent reaction I had to what I had originally, at first glance, assumed to be a bumblebee languorously flying between flowers the other day. As I looked closer though it seemed too big to be a bee. The wings were bigger but still beating as fast, and the body was bigger. As I watched it dip a long protuberance into a flower I thought “Wait, is it a hummingbird…a baby hummingbird?” But still something wasn’t quite right: it had a proboscis, not a beak. Looking even closer, I realized it had antennae. “It’s not a butterfly, is it a moth?” I wondered out loud. Someone else close by who had seen me looking on with interest and heard my last comment asked, “Is there such a thing as a hummingbird moth?” It did not take long for a tandem mobile phone internet search to come up with an answer. Yes, indeed there is such a thing. Little Mr Hemaris thysbe, otherwise known as the Common clearwing, Sphinx moth, or Hummingbird moth.

Hummingbird moth, (Hemaris thysbe) feeding, lateral (right) view. 2/3. Click image for larger view.

These images are 1:1 crops of a [near] central portion of each image and thus represent 1/9th of the overall image–I don’t have that great a close-focusing range 50mm lens for this stuff. However, considering I had my camera on me, even with my manual focus, non-macro, 50mm lens, I thought I did quite well to get the images you see here. I guess that’s one way to confirm that “chance favors the prepared mind.” Never mind the technical details, it was just one of those little things that was so cool to come across and reminds you of the variety of nature. In fact they have a counterpart in Europe, an example of convergent-evolution–that is, the evolution of a similarly adapted species in separated environments. Cool!

Hummingbird moth, (Hemaris thysbe) in flight. 3/3. Click image for larger view.

Lone canoeist, Lower New York Bay

Little Lion Toy

With the apartment quiet, and deeply involved in whatever I was doing at the computer, there was a certain diligent peace to the morning. It really hadn’t been long after my wife and son had left for work and daycare respectively but I had moved into my frame of mind needed for the tasks I wanted to accomplish that morning. I was trying to make the most of my time between jobs, alternately completely relaxing and attempting to make headway in a few projects that had been on the backburner for far too long. But when I got up out of my chair and turned around to get something I was completely snapped out from where my head was at, I was thrust instantly into the singlar fact I had a son. A child. That I am a father. The visual of my son’s toy, sitting there on the rug in that shaft of light, went directly to my heart and the huge amount of love I have for him, my wife, and by extension my family. It’s a simple child’s toy, a wooden lion wearing a green helmet with wheels for feet and string to pull it (that of course he likes to chew on at the moment rather than use to drag it around), which harkens back to a different era a few generations ago maybe. Its presence there, alone in the room, hit home. Sometimes we need a reminder to stop and pause, to think, digest, and reflect on what we have. I spent a good while just sitting on the couch doing that.

South Beach (Fort Wadsworth), Staten Island, NY

Water’s Edge, Westbrook, CT. 120 Ilford Delta 3200 film in a Yashica 635 (thank you, Jill!)

I’m trying some new things these days; you’ll find that to be a theme over the coming weeks, since there are plenty of changes going on in my life. Photographically-speaking, I had a chance to try out some medium format film. I have been after one 6×6 camera for a while for a specific project I have in mind. I know I could use a camera I have, compose in 4×6 and then crop to 6×6, but if at all possible I prefer to work in a native format. It makes composition much more accurate, at least for me. Thanks to my friend Jill Harrison, she of the film- (and other things) obsessed For the Love of Brooklyn blog, I had the loan of a Yashica 635 TLR. Interestingly it can also take 35mm film, but that’s not why I wanted it. So what to do, what to do? I had to try it out immediately! I first went down to the Brooklyn Heights promenade with some Tri-X 400 loaded. There I met up with another friend, Barry Yanowitz, who talked me through handling a TLR a bit. I think I got some good stuff, but I definitely also made a few unintentional errors like double exposure, neglecting to focus, etc. I haven’t developed that roll yet though. My next opportunity to use the Yashica would be at the upcoming weekend.

I balked; we were going to a wedding. How would I be able to use a TLR in that environment with its slow process, the dim to non-existent light, and the fact I generally don’t bring a camera to a wedding? “Wait, what? You don’t bring a camera to a wedding?” No, normally I don’t because: 1) The couple have paid for a very good photographer so that they and their guests can get on with enjoying themselves, and I intend to do that! 2) I don’t want to get in the way of said photographer. 3) I don’t want to have to worry about my camera if I leave it at the table to go dancing, or when I’m a little…under-the-influence, shall we say. However, in this case there was an exception. Dave and Sara had originally asked me to bring my camera just to make sure someone photographed Dave’s reaction when he saw Sara for the first time coming down the aisle. That had me planning, gearing up, and thinking about angles, location, etc. When they decided they were going to do a formal “first-look moment” with their photographer, instead all my preparatory juices, the adrenalines, etc., had nowhere else to go. So, with the pressure off, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to take just the Yashica 635, for only my second time using it. Ha! I got my hands on a few rolls of 120 Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford Delta 3200 at Adorama, surmising I’d need film that can “see” in the dark–and off we went!

Man, was it a battle. The whole process of metering the light (using the pocket light meter app on my iPhone), finding the right aperture and shutter speed, cocking the shutter, then pressing the shutter button took longer than most of the moments I wanted to photograph. But the best way to learn is to set yourself a challenge, and I had certainly done so. I started to find a few quieter, slower moments to get myself into the swing of things, but sometimes I just had to go for it, like this one. As Dave and Sara ended their first dance I dashed back to my seat to grab the camera. I couldn’t easily find a way through the crowd, so I pulled a chair over and stood on it. I went through the whole process above as quickly as I could, trusting instinct more now than anything. I pressed the shutter. I couldn’t be sure I had anything, let alone the peak moment, so I carried on through the rest of the wedding, taking photos here and there. When I got the developed film back from LTI Lightside there were plenty of underexposed photographs that I could see, even before I scanned them, wouldn’t come out. But when I got to this one I sat back and sighed. Here it was, a perfect moment and a perfect reminder of the day. It was worth the battle to get this one photograph. It would still be worth it if all the rest of the photographs on the three rolls of Delta 3200 and two rolls of Tri-X 400 were crappy. Sometimes all you need is one moment in time to bring the memories flooding back. I can’t wait to wrestle with this camera some more.