Here’s to getting paid to explore neighborhoods I usually don’t get to hang out in! Last week’s photo challenge: Making The Hub at 149th Street look glamorous when it’s gray and freezing out, and people are feeling harried, cold and grumpy… Anything is pretty, at dusk. Even in November.

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Two publications featured my Chinatown 9 Man Volleyball photos this past Sunday: The Washington Post Magazine and German Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

I have to say I really enjoyed shooting sports for a change – that’s the rare occasion I get to say that! But what a great excuse to hang out in the park on a beautiful July weekend to photograph the New York Mini tournament in Seward Park a few weeks back. Seventy-eight US and Canadian East Coast teams gathered for the regional 9 Man competition, before they’ll face off again at the NACIVT North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament in the coming days in Washington, DC. If you’re in the capital region, check it out over Labor Day weekend – they’ll have Pennsylvania Avenue blocked off for a Chinatown streetball competition! Now, how often does that happen?
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A portrait shoot for German Bild am Sonntag: Cissy Houston discusses the just published memoir of her life with Whitney.
Photographed at the W Hotel, Hoboken, NJ.

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Twenty years ago, on June 6th, 1993, a dilapidated freighter carrying a human cargo of 286 Chinese migrants ran aground off the New York Rockaway peninsula after a hazardous four months sea voyage. It was the largest group of undocumented immigrants ever apprehended while trying to cross into the United States, and the televised rescue effort and widely published images of emaciated men huddled on a NYC beach covered in blue blankets became an enduring symbol of a new kind of immigration crisis, where concerns over border security met with the perception of rampant human smuggling operations run by Asian gangs.

A new body of work in progress, this series of diptychs and portraits sets out to convey the experiences of some of the men who agreed to pay exorbitant amounts of money for a smuggler’s passage to a new life in the United States, while placing those individual experiences into their historical context. The arrival of the Golden Venture occurred just as changes in U.S. immigration policy were imminent, ending an era of relative openness and reform, and heralding the beginning of large scale, indefinite detention for immigration infractions. View the rest of this entry »

New cross-platform work: I created these portraits and a short video of Cindy Gallop – ad agency maven, Ted Talk phenomenon, web entrepreneur and 21st century sexual etiquette revolutionary – for Libertine, a brand new British magazine for women that aims to “celebrate inner life over outer appearance.”  I’ll have to take their word for it, since the content is only available in print, but “columns on swearing, also manners, a powerful essay on self respect by the great Joan Didion, some stunning luxury photography, fiction, fountain pens, business, biohacking and 3D printed dolls” sounds potentially promising. View the rest of this entry »

For New Orleans Magazine‘s March issue, portraits to accompany a Q&A session with playwright John Patrick Shanley, author of the amazing Doubt, a Parable.

Thrilled to see some of my Sandy aftermath coverage put to great use for Hamilton-Madison House! With props to Blue Pollen for some beautiful design work…

During the second part of my reporting on the blackout and lingering problems affecting residents in the Chinatown/LES/Two Bridges area, Hamilton-Madison House had established a key presence as a neighborhood relief center and organizing hub, and I am happy to see these photos help them tell the story of that difficult time and their efforts in providing for the community.

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I produced this series of images for Flemish-language newspaper De Morgen’s weekly magazine, to accompany a story by journalist Margot Vanderstraeten who had spent time with young Modern Orthodox Jewish families from Antwerp who were now living in New York City. The only hitch: None of the subjects she interviewed wanted to be photographed.

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As of today, Inviolata Mmbwavi is officially a candidate for Lurambi constituency for the March 4th elections in Kenya. As one of the country’s most outspoken women AIDS activists, she hopes to make history by winning the support of her rural home area after making her home in the capital for all of her adult life.

When she was first diagnosed with HIV at age 19, Mmbwavi felt ostracized and discriminated against at home; it took her moving to Nairobi to find her voice and join forces with other HIV activists to battle the stigma.

Besides her AIDS activism, however, she is  inspired to run for office to ensure that the progressive women and minority rights enshrined in Kenya’s new 2010 constitution will be upheld. Women are guaranteed 1/3 representation in parliament – and like her, many women’s rights activists are gearing up for the outcome of the election and how that quota will be dealt with.

I photographed Mmbwavi last October, when she was in New York to meet supporters.  Read Andy Kopsa’s article to find out more about her. You can find her facebook group (and fundraiser) here.

Hot off the presses, another biennial report for the Sargent Shriver Center on National Poverty Law that I was fortunate to work on with graphic designer Cliff Questel.  After some brainstorming and tossing around of ideas, it was decided that opting for very simple, full page studio portraits would be the best way to tell the story of how the Shriver Center addresses key issues as diverse as budget cuts, child care, the foreclosure crisis and prisoner re-entry programs.

Meet Robert, Liliana, Elise and Mitzi:

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