The Climbing Tree held forth in a Frederick Law Olmstead designed park near the house in which I grew up.  Of course she predated Olmstead’s work.  She even predated George Washington’s work.  This old tree had seen some history.

“…Her impossibly long and knotted arms twisted out and about every which way – each completely covered with what seemed to be a hundred of years of tattoos – carved scars bearing names and dates and mathematical formulas of lover’s initials circumscribed by hearts.  She was an entire illustrated tree filled with evidence of those who stayed and enjoyed her at least long enough to make their mark.  Those gravity and logic defying branches stretched long and low – perfect for climbing.  She slowly waved them back and forth in the breeze begging passers to hop on one of her bark covered tendrils.    For those climbing aboard she provided a ready-made Indiana Jones fantasy complete with a tangled sea of writhing snake roots waiting to snap at your ankles should you swing too low…”

Occasionally I would stop by with my kids and let them climb aboard as I had done when I was their age and of course, I’d take a few pictures.

but i didn’t give the photographs much thought or place any exceptional value on them – they were just cool snapshots of my kids.

That is until this weekend.  On Sunday I was in the area again and went for a walk in the park and was stunned to find her gone.

My third thought (after, “who the heck would do such a thing”, and “why didn’t someone come up with a creative way to avoid this”) was “Oh man. I’m so glad I have those photographs!”

Sad fact that time eventually robs of us our youth, our beauty, our memories and ultimately, our existence – but the more of that we lose the more our photographs become worth to us.

And there you have it – the climbing tree reminded me of how quickly our photographs can appreciate in value.  Quite simply, before this weekend, I had a few pretty cool pictures of my kids playing in a tree.  I realize now I have irreplaceable treasures.

Well folks, the totals are in.  Between the funds collected on Halloween and the prints that were subsequently ordered, brian dorsey studios’ second annual tribeca costume collection raised over $1100 for UNICEF.

Thank you to everyone in our Tribeca neighborhood, parents and kids alike, who helped participate in making this year’s efforts so successful.  And a special shout out to Lance Lapin for hosting us in front of his Salon on West Broadway, and to Kim,  Lindsay and Celeste who freely gave of their time to help us pull this off.

Funds raised will be going to help eliminate childhood hunger, thirst, disease and illiteracy around the world.

We took just over 900 images during the 3 hour shoot (averaging a shot every 20 seconds) and a number of times people were lined up 12 and 16 deep.  Many thanks to Lance Lappin who provided us with sidewalk space in front of his salon as well as power and wine.  A special thanks to Lindsey and Kim and Celeste for donating their Saturday afternoon for a good cause – and to my kids – who trick or treated without their mother and father so we could do this for the neighborhood and for UNICEF.

Here’s a few highlights – leading off with Cole as Link from the Zelda series of games in a costume his mother and I made.

Dot and Toto.

A lion who can really roar.

This amazingly brilliant “American Gothic”.

Another wonderful costume – the marionette.

A group of friends traveling together – I personally was quite fond of the witch in her pink glasses.

A very cool William Wallace.

And I have to throw in this shot of both my boys with Kim, our studio manager, who makes just the cutest damn kitten.

Parents can download images of their kids free of charge from the Client Area of our website or order prints from Pictage.  All proceeds go to UNICEF to help children in need worldwide.

Thanks again everyone!

then there’s international work permits (which require not only approval from the foreign government but in this case we also had to get certificates of good conduct from the NYPD which meant fingerprints, background checks, etc. etc. to prove we were good people (so in case you were wondering, we don’t have criminal records).

of course it’s true;  there is an upside…

our room…

the view out the back of our room…

how you kill time waiting for your subjects to show up…

great weather… although i did thoroughly dunk my $10,000 1DsMkIII and 70-200 lens into the damp sand moments after this shot was taken.

but it is work.

here Kim grabbed a shot of me taking 3 seconds to calculate how many more seconds before the sun broke through the clouds, how many stops I’ll have to open up to compensate for the backlight, how many minutes we have before the sun falls below the horizon, whether or not gen’s hair will blow in her face if I have her stand over there facing that way, and how wet we can let her dress get before it gets too droopy looking….

And of course, most importantly, how can i make sure that Gen and Steven are having a good time while we shoot because without that – everything else is for naught.

I also wanted to give a special thanks to Helen Richardson www.anguillaweddingplanner.com who made sure everything went smoothly for everyone. She was not only the driving force behind all of the wonderful events we attended in Anguilla, but she made a complex weeklong series of things to do and places to be effortless for everyone.  Thanks Helen!

the new blog.

hope you like her.  made her myself.

i think she kicks butt.

how can a blog kick butt you ask?

well, first there’s the obvious.  she looks like the website.  duh.  should’ve done that years ago.

second, she’s easier for me to update so i’ll actually post more often.

third, and most importantly – she’s powerful!  check out the categories feature.  select a category that you’re interested in and voila! all the posts in that category appear.  you want to see what awards we’ve won lately? – click ‘accolades’.  wanna see my kids? click ‘the boys’.  wanna see what we’ve shot in the hamptons?  you get the idea.  way cool.

more features on the way too.

please let me know what you think (besides it’s time i update the website…).     thanks.

now i just have to figure out what to do with that facebook page thingy that everyone says i have to have.

~bd

Celeste and I had Charlie for 12 years and considered him our “first child”. When you were lonely, Charlie was there to keep you company. When you were overwhelmed, Charlie helped to put everything in perspective. When you were trying to cook, brush your teeth, get dressed, or move something heavy, Charlie was always in the way – directly underfoot.

He taught us patience.
He taught us the simple zen-like joy of just being.
He taught us how to give even when you think you’ve given all you can.
But most importantly, he taught us what the term unconditional love really meant.

In addition to the legacy of memories that he leaves us with – he also lives on in a way in the lives of the 3 clients of mine, who, after meeting charlie here in our studio, went out and got Tibetan Terriers for themselves (thanks for sharing the pics guys!). Such was the impact he had on others. If you liked dogs, you couldn’t not like Charlie – he was cute, funny, but most of all, he was chill. All he wanted to do was hang near you. Tibetans were bred as companion dogs for Tibetan monks and, true to form, Charlie was a companion. He didn’t ask for much, just proximity. My clients seemed to thoroughly enjoy having him greet them in the hallway and sit under our feet at meetings.

While there were many sad moments at the end and lots of tears shed I would like to mention a bright point in an otherwise painful matter – our veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Berg of Animal General without whom I’m not sure how we could have dealt with the situation. Her guidance, support and empathy actually left me feeling good about the whole thing – I was telling my friends, “Well, it went better than I could have ever possibly imagined,” due completely to Dr. Berg. She even shed a tear with us as Celeste sang a lullaby as we put Charlie to rest. He really was at peace. I know even he was comforted by her presence.

We followed Dr. Berg as she moved around to find a practice that best suited her and now we’d follow her anywhere. When the time comes for a new puppy, we’ll have to find a way to schlep him to the Upper West Side to Animal General to see Dr. Berg.

Charlie now rests in “the country” – meaning the backyard of my parents house – the house i grew up in. We did it the old-fashioned “hard” way since I thought we owed him that much. A large stone marks the spot where he lies wrapped in a shroud in which the entire family wrote our fondest memories of him along with with his favorite toys; Mr. Carrot, Mr. Shark, Teddy, and the Chomp-a-Bomb.. We thought it would help the boys process the whole thing as well (more thanks to Dr. Berg).

So thanks ChiChi (a nickname Miles gave him when he was first learning to speak) for being such a great companion. You will be sorely missed. But never forgotten. Woof. Good Boy.

luckily the car was in the garage at the time….

i’m not sure if this is officially procured gear – but i realized many of these firefighters keep a wooden doorstop on their helmet (above)

the irony is that it’s the building at the OTHER end of our block (to the left in the image below) that’s condemned because it’s been undermined by nearby construction and is at risk of collapse.

living in manhattan really does keep you on your toes…

Feel free to continue in the horn blowing on our behalf and tell everyone you know that it’s now official – We’re one of the Top 10 Wedding Photographers!

Before we moved downtown, we lived just a few blocks from there and we spent many hours perusing the dinosaur galleries when he was a wee tyke.