The Amish and Allergies

For some reason I find it hard to keep my blog updates coming regularly. I apologize for this!

Anyways, here is a hybrid media piece that I have been working on for quite a while. I shot the images for the German magazine Spiegel Wissen; for the allergy issue of this popular science publication...

The process was a bit demanding as the Amish generally don't like to be photographed, but had agreed to participate as they felt the issue at hand was worthy and as a favor to the doctor involved. Dr. Marc Holbreich helped us tremendously to get the access we needed... There was a "no posing" rule in place, but it turned out that most adults were actively avoiding the camera as soon as it was pointed at them... At least the kids were curious enough to allow me to get engaging material...

As I hadn't planned on creating a hybrid media piece right then and there was only a very limited amount of time on location I hadn't recorded any original audio... (Neither background soundscapes nor interviews!) So, I decided to compose a minimalist soundtrack and employ the wonderful talent of voice over artist (& poet & woodworker) Bryan Marx. Still it took me quite a while to move the elements around to make it a coherent and strong piece. The wonderful Saki Sato helped me fine tune my edit. Thank you to all involved!

Still hibernating, kind of...

After a death in the family and related issues I've just rekindled my more personal connection to photography... It's not that I didn't like it anymore... Or that I couldn't take any good pictures... But it just wasn't the outlet that I needed to deal with those issues... One of the first times this happened to me... I almost felt I was frozen to the core... Still outwardly highly functional though... Anyways: I'm at the tail end of a cold right now when the snow just turned to rain... Glad I managed to catch the image above earlier today... It's the view outside the bedroom here in Harlem... Wishing you all a good Valentine's Day if you celebrate...