the profile (enhanced)

me, 2012

© aguilar/aguilar

thank you, jojo

retro: jersey diner

somewhere in nj...

love the architecture and the font...

inspiration: the ballet dancer misty copeland and photographer inez van lamsweerde

abt soloist misty copeland, as photographed by inez van lamsweerde for w magazine (december 2009)

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as misty copeland and matthew prescott finished their performance of "falling" --choreographed by mr. prescott himself--at tonight's DRA benefit, my sister leaned toward me and whispered, "she is a gorgeous dancer."

impossible to disagree. (honestly, we could have been talking about her legs alone. amazing.)

when you have an opportunity to see her dance up close, as we could at the cedar lake theater, you'll notice she's even lighter, her muscles more precise than in any photos you'll see online. the gentle hyperextension in her knees deepens the drama of her leg action. but the extension through her whole upper body is just as exquisite. she doesn't do "bravado" or big ballet gestures (to be fair, the choreography didn't call for it, but still)...she just entrances you.

there are no high-quality, extended videos of "falling" (though there was a video crew at tonight's performance, so perhaps in the coming weeks, the dra will post one) but if you'd like to see a very short clip, start at the :22...

class picture: b&w street shots

on a day when i was assigned to find "light and shadow" the sky was perfectly...grey.

i didn't get too many good photos, but the day inspired a couple of memorable encounters:

mister hazmat.

i asked permission to take his photo ("sign" language, as he was on the phone).

i wish i'd thought to get his whole outfit, but i was so fixated on his face, his hood.

and then he flashed me that sign, with his funky-tipped gloves.

***

there was a single moment that afternoon when the sun burst through the clouds and created exactly the kind of dramatic shadow i needed to work with. i noticed a woman, directly across the street from me, sitting almost regally with her fur-trimmed coat, her legs crossed at the ankles, on the thick concrete slabs that create some roaming space for pedestrians around madison square park. she looked relaxed--and i hesitated to disturb her--but wanted to make a photo of her. so i made a gentle ask...

it turned out she didn't speak english. so we exchanged signs, i pointed at the camera, and she consented, with a nod. but by then the sun was gone.

still, i wanted a photo of her, but asked her to turn her head so i could get her strong profile. i pointed in the direction i wanted her to look. she stood up and walked that way. we were both confused, but had a nice laugh afterwards. (how funny that she would even think to take that kind of direction from me so willingly, yes?) she liked the photos, but the expression on her face in this one, as she's walking away from me, is my favorite.

***

all photos taken jan 10, 2012

© anita aguilar

class picture: b&w "light and shadow exercise"

east 38th street

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midtown east...

the ace hotel

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the ace hotel

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photos © anita aguilar

class picture: b&w "silver efex" exercise

friday (unfinished)

january 13, 2012

© anita aguilar

class picture: b&w "light and shadow" exercise

shelf.

@ the ace hotel, nyc

january 10, 2012

© anita aguilar

celebrate: 45

snapshots from one of my favorite photo albums.

taken at san jose church and fernando air base, philippines.

(congratulations...)

9.11.11: 2753 chairs

at bryant park, nyc

sept 11, 2011

© anita aguilar

us open 2011: practice, man

juan monaco

sept 3, 2011

© anita aguilar

paris postcard: who's that girl?

le marais, may 24, 2011

© anita aguilar

paris postcard: "35 et 41 rue de seine"

may 23, 2011 © anita aguilar

inspiration: kertész "on reading"

on view now through february 13, 2011 at the carnegie museum of art in pittsburgh is a collection of 100 photographs by andré kertész (a photographer less well-known than, but highly esteemed by, the likes of henri cartier-bresson, robert capa, and brassaï) devoted to the pleasure of reading.

hungarian born kertész was the son of a bookseller, with a deep interest in poetry --he was drawn to these public, yet intimate moments throughout his career.

as so many drift (surge?) toward e-readers, it could well be that these snapshots take on even greater appeal. they celebrate the romance, not just of reading, but of the books and newspapers themselves.

hope you like them.

greenwich village, new york (woman on rooftop reading), may 30, 1962.

andré kertész, american, b. austria-hungary, 1894-1985.

gelatin silver print © courtesy estate of andré kertész/higher pictures 2007

carnival, paris (woman reading behind stage), 1926.

andré kertész, american, b. austria-hungary, 1894-1985.

gelatin silver print © courtesy estate of andré kertész/higher pictures 2007

new york (boy eating ice cream on a pile of newspapers), october 12, 1944.

andré kertész, american, b. austria-hungary, 1894-1985;

gelatin silver print © courtesy estate of andré kertész/higher pictures 2007

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more on the exhibit here

if you can't make it there this winter, you can buy the book...

ladies' day: hitting the high line

a hat this big, not unwise with today's winter winds...

richard galpin's viewing station

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clear sky, cold wind...(big smiles)

all photos © anita aguilar

detour

at the start of every work day, i step off the 5th floor elevator, say hello to shawn, our receptionist, tap my picture id on a small, square black pad by her desk, and swing through our office's glass double doors. i take a several rushed steps. my eyes are always drawn to the wide windows on the right, windows that overlook union square park. i might smile a bit every day because of them.

but i always make a left, down a high and long, artificially bright corridor, to my dim, windowless cubicle. those front windows--all that sky, sometimes the sun-- tease me all day, every day. from time to time, on my way to or from a meeting in our conference room, i'll stop and have a lookout. (it's fun to be the one towering over the trees. i like seeing how we new yorkers move.) but i don't allow myself time every day to enjoy it. i'm not sure why. i should never be too busy to appreciate that view.

i stopped tonight:

with the g10. union square park, dec 2, 2010.

not a great picture, but a good idea.

will stop again, soon.

read a good poem: chaplinesque

fdr drive. nov 21, 2010. © anita aguilar

***

the resonant, true (and not outrageous) thing i read yesterday about the wikileaks:

The quality of the conversation is determined by the level of trust.

(via david brooks)

i spent part of last evening, then, reading poems on the idea of trust.

but i eventually found my way here (not sure what it may mean to you, but hope you like it)

****

Chaplinesque

We make our meek adjustments,
Contented with such random consolations
As the wind deposits
In slithered and too ample pockets.

For we can still love the world, who find
A famished kitten on the step, and know
Recesses for it from the fury of the street,
Or warm torn elbow coverts.

We will sidestep, and to the final smirk
Dally the doom of that inevitable thumb
That slowly chafes its puckered index toward us,
Facing the dull squint with what innocence
And what surprise!

And yet these fine collapses are not lies
More than the pirouettes of any pliant cane;
Our obsequies are, in a way, no enterprise.
We can evade you, and all else but the heart:
What blame to us if the heart live on.

The game enforces smirks; but we have seen
The moon in lonely alleys make
A grail of laughter of an empty ash can,
And through all sound of gaiety and quest
Have heard a kitten in the wilderness.

--Hart Crane (via the poetry foundation)

monochrome class: the high line

jen and sheena

my turn (thank you, sister)

november 13, 2010

all photos © anita aguilar

monochrome class: the nypl

went to the new york public library (my new favorite neighborhood haunt) to check out a tight little collection of portraits they've assembled for the "recollection" exhibit. frame after frame of big name photographers, though the ones i'm recalling now are eugène atget, berenice abbbott, brassai, helen leavitt, walker evans, robert frank, cindy sherman, joel meyerowitz, david wojnarowicz and (a really cute) william wegman (i'm not usually a fan). i also really liked two from photographers i'd never heard of before: a self portrait by louis faurer and a trude fleishmann early portrait of a hedy lamarr, as an ingenue, and these:

from margaret bourke-white "raymundo, coffee worker, brazil." gelatin silver print, 1931, which was transferred to the collection in 1986.

edward schwartz, "mexico." gelatin silver print, 1954, which he donated to the library in 2000

the gorgeous haya harareet, photographed by eve arnold in the 1950s, which was transferred to the collection in 2006.

the exhibition will be on view through january 2, 2011. if you're in the bryant park neighborhood and would like a break from the frenzy that surrounds the area, thanks to the lord and taylor flagship, the citipond (hooray, actually) and the holiday market, you could take a quiet stroll through. expect quite a few camera hounds (tourists and me), but still, it will be nice.

here's my practice from the day:

apparently i caught the eye of a tourist from san francisco, a lean, older japanese man, with a ponytail and a cap and a nice compact camera. i could tell that he'd been watching me as i worked my way up, down and around a particular stairwell, crouching, leaning. he smiled at me once, not in a leering way, just sort of as an acknowledgement of what i was trying to do. eventually he came over to chat with me and give me a few tips. i must really have looked like i needed some? one i tried right away--in a low-light situation, in order to minimize "hand shake," set the 2-second timer. it worked pretty well.

all photos (unless otherwise noted, i.e., the really good portraits ) © anita aguilar

november 6, 2010