• Sunset Lake/ Benson, Vermont

    Last August, I spent a week at Sunset Lake in Benson, Vermont with my wife, daughter and friends. I spend 90% of my time in the city so this was a very welcomed change of pace. I hadn’t been to Vermont in many many years and forgot just how rural is it. I encounter more strangers in the first five minutes of my day in Philly than I did the entire week we were there.

  • Portraits of Anna

    Anna, a brilliant mathematician and alluring model came in for some portraits earlier this month. We shot in three locations within my studio’s building, a balcony, stairwell and hallway. I kept it simple with a single light/ beauty dish supported on a large rolling boom stand.

  • fast faces.

    these portraits are from a headshot booth i set up and ran during a biomedical convention a few years back. about a thousand people stopped by over three days for a quick and easy portrait. I was recently scrolling through the folder containing all the images and was mesmerized by how each face shape morphed into the next. You don’t realize how bizarrely different yet the same we all appear until you see something like this. 

     

  • Sofia

    I was driving around North Philly last fall and caught a glimpse of this striking spot. The contrast of the colorful decaying leaves against the rusted metal and industrial facade was the perfect setting for some moody fashion oriented portraits. I sent my model, Sofia, a snapshot of the location and she told me had the perfect dress to match the tone. The building is owned by Verizon and I had a feeling that putting in a request to shoot on their property would be either ignored or denied. So Instead of asking for permission upfront, I figured we’d ask for forgiveness later. I set up two lights on rolling boom stands, one equipped with a beauty dish and the other I honestly can’t remember ( i really need to start documenting my behind the scenes setup) There was no opening in the fence so we had to lift everything and everyone over. I figured we’d have a few minutes to work before someone came out to yell at us and at most i’d get to fire off a few test shots. After and hour and a half of shooting various set-ups in different spots we wrapped without incident. I love discovering random locations to shoot. If and when I come across some place interesting I generally take a picture, write down where it is and upload it to a folder on my computer. I’ve got about fifty places I still haven’t gotten to yet. Any volunteers wanna step in?

  • Sculpting Biceps and Light

    The time, dedication and discipline it must take to transform yourself into this bulging mass of muscles is nothing short of impressive. I like noodles and cake way too much to ever stand a chance at achieving such a goal. Fitness shoots are fun though because you really get to play with light and shadow in an incredibly interesting way. William here is a champion when it come to sculpting biceps but I train and sculpt light. 

  • March For Our Lives

    A selection of images from the Philadelphia March For Our Lives protest/ march held on 3.24.18.

  • dnc and the innocent shuffle

    of the one thousand three hundred and ninety five photos i shot today at the dnc protests this is my favorite. a little girl playing in fdr park in south philly directly across from where the convention was about to kick off. detached from the anger, violent rhetoric and divisiveness she found joy. we as humans experience this type of blissful innocence for such a short time. it’s a time of peace, love and happiness. i want to help create a world where my nine month old daughter can revel in this for as long as possible. i didn’t feel that love and happiness today. from the moment i arrived i felt anger, hate and rivalry. obama says we can do better. i agree. we say black lives matter and want food not bombs, a higher living wage, equality between the sexes and last but never least LGBTQ rights. but we can’t unite behind a candidate that can bring us closer those goals. i fear this lack of unity will lead to the election of a president that will make my daughters life more difficult. yours too. please think hard on this.

    2016 DNC little girl
    2016 DNC little girl

  • The Geator with the Leader

    What do you do if you’re the newly sworn in mayor of Philadelphia? Well if your South Philly born and bred mayor Jim Kenney you throw a rager at the Pennsylvania Convention Center featuring Philly mascots, legendary DJ Jerry “Geator with the Heater” Blavat, food trucks serving up everything from fried chicken to korean tacos and of course free booze. You’re off to a good start Mr. Kenney now get to work.
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry "Geator with the Heater" Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are
    Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney opted to host an Inaugural Block Party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center instead of an inaugural ball on Jan. 4, 2016. Mascots from area teams join legendary DJ Jerry Blavat on stage while images of the Mayor are

  • Derek and the Puppets

    Meet Derek (Bagel) Bakal and his puppets. They’re an odd yet wildly entertaining and very photogenic bunch. If you’d like to learn to make puppets you should reach out to Derek.  He’s a brilliantly creative teacher/ mad man.
    Pupper Master Derek (Bagel) Bakal
    Pupper Master Derek (Bagel) Bakal
    Pupper Master Derek (Bagel) Bakal