Season of Change | Nov 18

This November, I find myself awash in change. It’s in the air, in the light, profoundly echoed in those who’s lives touch mine. This is my niece, and these are images from a park not far from her house. My niece was the first of her generation to really impact my life. She helped me find the uncle in me. And now she’s on her way to college, on her way. These are the never dry fields of Bear Creek Pioneers Park, for 40 years the home of the Harris County Fair. 2016 was it’s last. Hurricane Harvey made sure of that.

They are together here because they share a place and as images they offer my humble expression of hope, transformation, and a certain communion of understanding.

TO BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION... HONORABLE MENTION, IPA 2018

The International Photography Awards conducts an annual photography competition for professional, non-professional, and student photographers on a global level, creating one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. The IPA recognizes photography’s leading talents who are creating, shaping, and defining the world of photography today.

Truly honored to be part of this conversation. I am deeply moved, restlessly inspired, and fully humbled by this group of photographers and jury members. The photos we made for consideration were part of two series I shot earlier this year. Young actors (including my son) portraying the impossible journey of refugee children in Naomi Iiuzuka's "Anon (ymous)". And, Juilliard-trained virtuoso musicians ("Noree Chamber Soloists") beautifully cultivating a passion for classical music in young audiences. Both portrait series are really about facing our fears, looking into the storm, and actually making something in a world that often pushes back, sometimes with great success. These photos would be impossible without the generosity and bravery of these courageous subjects, the support of John McEneny (Piper Theatre) and Michael Saarela, and the hospitality of Tibi and Amy Wallin Smilovic.

ipa ~ International Photography Awards

Lord of the Flies (2018)

They may be 11-12 years old ... they are also complex, introspective, and profound. We made these portraits to hang in the halls of MS51 as a legacy, a tribute to these brave souls and this generation of leaders who stare directly into the heart of darkness. Let future generations look into these eyes and learn from their courage and compassion.

First Responders | Women

There are over ONE MILLION fire fighters in the United States, only 7% are women. (NFPA)

In 2013, Mercedes Benz invited us to travel across the country to meet some truly spectacular first responders. It was an experience that will stay with me forever. Many thanks to the city of Palo Alto, California and especially Captain Catherine Capriles. She opened her community to us and taught us what service is really all about. 

Below are a few portraits I shot of Elena Maskalik. She works for the San Jose Fire Department. For her, fire-fighting is a way to give back, a way to make a connection with people on a daily basis. A Ukrainian immigrant, San Jose was her gateway to the United States. She is deeply-honored to be able to serve those who first welcomed her. 

Michelle Wake | To Disappear

Bathed in the magnificent warmth of an early June sunrise, together Michelle and I made this photo in the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal. It was the first time I met her. We spent a couple hours riding the ferry back and forth, getting a little sea sick, getting to know a bit about each other. The accidents of light, the precious privacy of early morning, taking a mysterious adventure together, the loop of her haunting music echoing in my thoughts, it was a bit of time that keeps on. 

I'm thrilled to share that Michelle's latest album, "To Disappear," is available today. You can check it out HERE!

Thank you Michelle. Congrats! The album is exquisitely you. 

a2073178868_16.jpg

Cynthia Daignault @ The Flag Art Foundation

In a tower rising, in a gallery world, where the noise of the street, the chaos and grime of the rest, are quieted - Cynthia Daignault gives us appropriation as collaboration on the 10th floor of the Flag Art Foundation. 

Thanks again to LaPlaca Cohen for the invite and to The Flag Art Foundation for the hospitality. 

Flag Art Foundation

Cynthia Daignault

LaPlaca Cohen

The Joyce Theater, where dance is.

In 1989 I left Louisville, Kentucky for college. Four and a half hours north, wandering Middle Path, I stumbled upon the hillside sanctuary of Kenyon College's dance studio. There, emboldened by the kindness and passion of dancer | professor | choreographer Maggie Patton, I observed the best and studied from the best. Almost by accident, I discovered an essential passion within me. 

At that time, central Ohio was (and probably still is) a center of the dance world. Every show we saw was world class. It was all we knew. 

When I moved to New York City in 1994, I needed to find the familiar. I needed to get out of my taunting apartment, to resist the disorienting terror of this enormous place. The Joyce Theater, it's art deco sign reminding me of the Vogue back home, became a new hillside sanctuary. Pilobolus was the first show I saw there. And, that night might have been the first time I was able to really fill my lungs since moving to the city. My brain expelled the toxic fears, my imagination was on fire.

It is not original to say this city invites the best to claw and grapple with every new obstacle. It is here that some triumph, many struggle, and all fail (some better than others). We find transformation in unexpected places. The Joyce reminds me that herein lies the extraordinary. 

Warmest thanks to my friends at LaPlaca Cohen and the Joyce Theater for allowing me to wander and share a quiet moment in this essential temple | foundation | theater | school. The Joyce is dance, and for 150,00 audience members each year, it is a warm, intimate, welcoming invitation to witness greatness. 

The Joyce Theater

LaPlaca Cohen

Pilobolus Art Organization

School Play

The very first week of middle school, in the overwhelming haze of new place, new faces, new patterns, Dakota's drama teacher asked for volunteers to go with him one evening to a process drama workshop at NYU. 20 Kids would be allowed to come, first come, first serve. It was a feeding frenzy. Dakota called me from school, I would have to meet him out front precisely at dismissal so that I could sign his form and he could return it as fast as possible. That evening, those fortunate kids, those who didn't even know each other at all, performed improvisational drama for a group of graduate school students. I would have been incredibly intimidated. They literally exposed their souls. Such bravery. 

Now, a few months later, those same kids (along with the entire 6th grade drama department) take the stage to perform an interpretation of Hansel and Gretel. 

I know I'm a proud dad, but, these kids are fearless, deeply talented artists. 

Women who have lived

My mother used to tell us all the time, "I've lived." As kids, it used to make us cringe. I had no idea what she meant. She's been gone for more than sixteen years now. Every day I have a better sense of her words. I begin this project as a tribute to my mom, Janice Faye Causey Amar, and to these spectacular women who have agreed to spend a little time with me. Together we take these moments to celebrate the lives we have lived, are living. 

Eben Bull | Craftsman | Musician | Artist

What is the measure of a person? What is the measure of how we live? 

Recently, I spent a few hours inside the handcrafted sanctuary of Eben Bull. There is not one inch of that space that isn't thought out, that doesn't have Eben's imprint. To be in that space is to know a lot about that man. It is complex, it is warm, it is quiet (though haunted by the echoing noises of those who live above and around him), and it is rich with layers and the unknown. 

Celebrating Students and Alum @NYiT - The latest from Photographer, Jeremy Amar

Ready for Their Close-Up: NYIT Students and Alumni Star in New Marketing Campaign

NYIT has great stories to tell—and starting this August, the university is finding new ways to tell them, with an assist from its new marketing agency, Oberland. (and Photographer Jeremy Amar)

In August and September 2016, look out for:

  • Ads on bus shelter kiosks and newsstands around the Manhattan campus.
  • An NYIT wrapped double-decker bus that circles Manhattan (going past the Fifth Avenue museums, Columbus Circle, and Lincoln Center, and traveling as far south as Wall Street). 
  • A 30-second video about the university (see below) that will be distributed digitally in Manhattan and within a five-mile radius of the Old Westbury campus.

This effort is only phase one of an integrated brand campaign across traditional, digital, and social media, which is designed to showcase our outstanding faculty and the ways in which our inventive, curious, and creative students and alumni are making a difference and determining their own destinies. Stayed tuned for more.

Gurung Honey Hunters

Andrew Newey Photographer
High in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal Gurung honey hunters gather twice a year, risking their lives to harvest the honey from the world’s largest honeybee. For hundreds of years, the skills required to practise this ancient and sacred tradition have been passed down through the generations, but now both the number of bees and traditional honey hunters are in rapid decline as a result of increased commercial interests and climate change.