The Congo

I visit a photography website called The Big Picture pretty often and it posts photographs from around the world on a regular basis, usually dealing with news happenings and world events. I've been aware that there is some sort of hell on earth going on in the Congo for a while now, but several months ago, TBP posted a series of photos from the Congo that are truly devastating. This picture above is one that really just, I don't know, it leaves the viewer speechless. I've been meaning to post it, but I hesitated because it's so personal. I've always wondered how photographers are able to take pictures of people when they are in such dire circumstances, it seems like a violation of privacy. On the other hand, I guess if they didn't take the photo, how would the rest of the world know of the atrocities going on there? I know this is a bit different than the pics I usually post and I have no idea what to do or how to help the people of the Congo, but the look in this man's eyes and his determination to take care of these children, most likely his own, is something I think about. I don't know what else to say except that I hope the conflict in the Congo is resolved quickly and soon. And that this man and his children are alright.

Here is the link if you'd like to learn more: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/conflict_in_congo_refugees_on.html

(YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) Click on pic to enlarge.

Spring colors of NYC

Sky-high glass and steel with little earthbound blossoms. Happy Springtime!
Photo by Paul Romaldini

Dolphins - part deux

See what I mean about Dolphins? In this photo Mavrick, a 14-month-old male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, goes to greet Akaasha, a six-month-old female Bengal tiger at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. on Thursday, March 5, 2009. This photo is amazing, even a bit surreal, no? Who you?? Park animal staff strolled by the dolphin exhibit as they escorted the tiger cubs on their daily walk around the park. (AP Photo/Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Nancy Chan) Click to enlarge.

Dolphins are special

Well, all animals are special really, but dolphins (and dogs) are just something else. First of all, they always look like they are smiling. Second of all, just check out this video of dolphins blowing bubble rings, it will make you smile.

Women 4,3,2,1

Dinner Party - 1957
















Film still from Pedro Almodovar's Volver
















(REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)

















Film still from Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura

This probably seems like a weird combination of pictures, and I guess it is, but I find all four pretty intriguing in composition and also in that they capture women at different unsuspecting moments. The dinner party photo is a bit funny - the regalia and the expressions. The next one from Volver has such rich color and there is so much drama in the photo alone, never mind that it is from an Almodovar movie. I love looking at film stills almost, if not just as much, as watching the movie. Frozen images that reveal detail and story. The next picture depicts not women but two girls, sisters, refugees of the Congo. It is a more serious photo which reminds me of the old photos you sometimes see of immigrants just arriving to America who simply stare at the camera. Their expressions tell so much beyond their years and the way they tentatively hold hands is so moving. The last photo is of the great Italian actress Monica Vitti from L'Avventura . She had an incredible face and here she is staring at it. Why? See the movie! Although it is a bit abstract, it's Antonioni after all.

(Btw, click on photo to enlarge, particularly "Sisters")

Welcome to the world little Nico!!

This is a happy pic for a very happy day.

(ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

Chrysler Building

New York City makes me dream a lot. Walking around all the time, looking up at those great feats of man - the skyscrapers- and millions of people all bunched onto a little island getting to where they are going and where are they all going? I think it's a magical place, although it does drive me crazy. As someone put it, the City of Ambition. I love this pic. Please note that it is not strictly black and white, there is some yellow in there! Click photo to enlarge. Photo by Paul Romaldini (aka P-Boogie)