Year of the Purge

"Boy #1 at Storage with Back of Car Seat", Jersey City, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley. He was moving out with his older brother. Him and his brother had stored the back car seat in a storage room.

I would love to spend several hours working on an intricate blog post about how horrible my move out of storage was yesterday. Blow by Blow how the day unfolded. Unfortunately, as some bloggers know, time does not permit me. I will say one thing on this passage to freedom: getting lost on the Jersey Turnpike during rush hour will make even the most peaceful of devotees boil over into a fit of road rage.

This is the year of the purge. Now, instead of two storage spaces, I am a proud owner of one very organized storage space far out in Hudson County. Chances are I won't visit my storage space for another 10 years. However, all the stuff... photographs, books, clothes, kitchen ware and the boxes assigned as miscellaneous are no longer in some vague and esoteric holding space. All is now packed sky high in my parlor level apartment. As a friend said to me upon seeing the piles of banker boxes and Hefty Heavy Duty bags, "thank God you have a large apartment.

"Storage Spaces #1", Hudson County, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley

  

"Storage Belongings #1",,Jersey City, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley.  Bag of recyclable bottles, Rocking Horse, and filled garbage bag were some of the few random items stored for one owner. These were the belongings being removed from one storage space yesterday.

"Storage Space Elevators", Jersey City, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley

Now, comes the worst part or the selling, haggling and then finally disposing the remnants of whatever doesn't exchange hands from me as seller to buyer. The point is to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The point is to ignore subconscious infantile feelings of loss, pain and suffering that can come with the emotional attachment of material items or the disdain of an object that once held so much love and promise. Soldier onward! Ruthless I must be!

"Phil in U-Haul", Hudson County, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley

I am downsizing and downgrading. "More is less"is a cliche fits but fits here. All those Buddhist and self-help books on tackling procrastination, ADD, and organizational tactics for the right brained challenges that plague me have planted a seed of freedom and sunshine that I hope will greet me on the other side of the chaos.

Pictures of chaos to come soon. I was waiting for the morning light to take the photos.

"My Mom's Film Projector", Hudson County, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley. Keep! This stayed in storage.

"My Gum Ball Machine", Hudson County, NJ, 7/2011. Juliana Beasley. Keep! This stayed in storage.

Thanks to dear friends who lift heavy boxes, drive U-hauls, and are left brained and no how to pack a storage space for best access. Without you guys, I would be sitting in a pile of shit. Literally!

Sisters

"Lisa", Rockaways, NYC. Spring, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

I met Lisa and Sandra four or five years ago out in the Rockaways. They are sisters.

I took these photos one day at the church where their foster father Pastor Gary presides in the Rockaways. I wish I had more time to spend with them, but they were rushing off with their family to lunch after services. 

"Sandra",  Rockaways, NYC. Spring, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

Joanna' Summer Luau Party!

"Baby John Running", Rockaway Park, NYC, June 2011. Juliana Beasley

I had a 10 hour photo blast shooting two Saturday's ago at Joanna's 8th birthday party at her Uncle Mike's house in the Rockaways.  My work in progress, a very new work in progress that began in the last week of May revolves around the Water sisters, their children and their children's children and their friends. The work will be a part of a group show entitled "Family Values" in a couple of weeks at Michael Mazzeo Gallery in Chelsea which opens on July 7th.

"Jean", Rockaways, NYC, June 2011. Juliana Beasley

I am excited to show off this work so early in the process.

"Joanne and her Grandson", Rockaways, NYC, June 2011. Juliana Beasley

Meanwhile, my book dummy of "Last Stop: Rockaway Park" is close to being bound together... By whom? By me!!!

Aloha!

Baby Toe Tag

"Baby Toe Tag", Rockaway Park, NYC, 05/11, Juliana Beasley.

I went out to the Rockaways a couple of Sundays ago with no particular agenda, just a camera, flash and film in a knapsack. I ended up sitting on a stool in a local pub that I often frequent when the owner, Carmel told me that Margie's (one of the bartenders who works there) granddaughter was being baptized that afternoon. I jumped on a local bus and scurried down several streets and into a church full of babies and their respective families sitting in pews. I had just missed the baptism. Just like I had missed my nephew's one hot summer day over a decade ago.

"Baby Ava in Her Baptism Gown", Rockaway Park, NYC, 05/11. Juliana Beasley

Little Ava had just been blessed. Margie invited me to a party after the baptism. I got in a big SUV with the family and was shuttled to an anonymous reception hall.

Slowly, the room began to fill. Ava was taking a break, sleeping in her stroller before all the guests arrived. I looked down at her little foot and noticed we had something in common. We like to hang one foot out from under the blanket when we sleep. I hear it's called the Irish foot.

"Photo Album and Baby", Rockaway Park, NYC, 05/11. Juliana Beasley.

More photos coming soon. Just gotta' warm up that scanner.

Pictures Without Stories?

"Father and Son at Bar Mitzvah", Paris, France, 2008. Juliana Beasley

Here are a couple of mixed random shots that I took in 2008 with my beloved Contax T2.  Each photo has a story. If I don't know the story, I can make it up. I have no other choice. Give me a picture, any picture and I will tell you there is a story to be told.


May 18th, 2011

Today, when I left my apartment, I shoved the my Contax T-2 into my knapsack and headed towards the Path train, making my way from Jersey City to the WTC stop in Manhattan. I'm not the sort of photographer that carries a camera with me at all times. I have special days when I plan to photograph something somewhere and then I have the other days. Sometimes on those other days, perfectly absurd and ironic and beautiful moments have appeared and happened before my eyes. There I am, empty handed and thrust into a storm of regrets, a world of ghostly photographs that never would be and never were.

"Flowers and Purse", Paris, France, 2008. Juliana Beasley

The excuses:

My make-up case and gel already weighed me down.

Did I have to choose between my personal journal, my agenda, my "project idea" notebook, my i-pod?

Oh, yes, my umbrella. It might rain later.

A hoodie. It might get chilly later if I stay out past sunset.

And I couldn't leave out my bottle of Diet Coke or Poland Springs or that extra large bottle of Ibuprofen. God only knows, I could get a headache at any given moment.

The camera was too bulky. I couldn't do it. I could easily convince myself that the chances of the lost photo op were much too slim. So, why bother? I could always take the camera with me tomorrow when I wasn't rushing out the door late on my way to an important appointment.

Out in the streets of Manhattan, I had already forgotten the small titanium bodied beauty at the bottom of my bag strapped over my shoulders. I went uptown to the upper east side to the podiatrist's office and then downtown to Chelsea to do some errands: the copy shop for laser prints, Staples to buy a stapler, Adorama to order some 4X6" prints for some of my subjects. I turned up the volume on my i-Pod and the Pet Shop Boys carried me effortlessly from one task to the next.

"New Jersey Businessman in Subway Station", NYC, NY, 2008. Juliana Beasley

By the time, I returned to my neighborhood in Jersey City and exited the Path Station, the sky was a surly gray. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled out my umbrella, prepared for what looked like a downpour.

I walked up Mercer towards Jersey and half way down the block, I noticed an older man with dyed black hair and very high cheek bones eyeballing me. He was sitting in car in the driver's seat like a taxi driver waiting for a customer to come out of a building. His slender figure was accentuated under a loose blue satin jacket that matched the color of the interior of the car. I stared back, smiled and kept walking until several stoops later I set down my knapsack on one of the steps. I unzipped my bag and for a moment, I hoped my camera was in my bag. I worried that perhaps, I had only dreamt packing it away with me that morning before leaving the apartment.

I reached inside and felt the compact case and pulled it out. I got it!

"Abandoned Bungalow in the Rockaways", Queens, NYC, 2008. Juliana Beasley

Spazio Labo Brings Photography Workshops to New York!!

 Photos from last year's workshop 2010 by Erica McDonald.

I recently found out about "Photography Workshops in New York City" from fellow friend and photo comrade Erica McDonald when she asked me to come and present my work during a workshop she is co-teaching with Andrew Sullivan. Others presenters include Amy Stein, Spencer Platt, and Amy Touchette. How's that for variety?


This is the second year that under the umbrella of Erica's very multi-faceted photo organization, DEVELOP  teams up with the Italian photography association, Spazio Labo to teach a documentary workshop from May 22nd to May 28th. Spazio Labo is also offering two other photography workshops from May 4th to June 5th.  Just a note here: The DEVELOP link here is the You Tube Page. Erica has informed me that the DEVELOP website will be up soon... so, hold onto your hats kids! But, what a teaser!


Spazio Labo’ – Center of photography- is a cultural non profit Association founded in Bologna in January 2010 with the goal of spreading the culture of photography in all its many meanings and uses and to be a planning and production photographic centre, a real source of creation and exchange of proposals, an independent reality open to sharing the passion for photography.


The idea of the "Photography Workshop in New York" originated from the personal experiences of Laura de Marco and Roberto Alfano, founders of Spazio Labo’ – Center of Photography in Bologna, Italy. After both personally learning the in and outs of the NYC photo scene, they decided to put together a workshop program that would put students immediately in touch and in tune with the same experiences they developed over time. Their idea is to impart valuable information on students such as:  contact networks, training methods, creative atmospheres, possibilities for professional experience; all elements of the vast cultural offer characteristic of the city that can be considered as the current capital of the art of photography.


Here is a list of the three workshops being offered:

“In Plain Sight” with Donna Ferrato, May 14-20 

You can check out and read about Donna F. dazzling and inspiring her students on their blog. Fantastic Donna!

“The Personal Documentary” with Erica McDonald and Andrew Sullivan, May 22-28 

“New York Reports” with Davide Monteleone and Maurizio Garofalo, May 30 – June 5 

Big Heart

As I begin to write this piece, I lack a desire to labor over words and sentences that might not only look precise and meaningful, but that tell the entire story behind the photograph. My mind can not hold steady or remain focused long enough to create the kind of colorful descriptions and anecdotes, I often try to tell when I present a photograph. I am unsettled. My dear Moishe, my lovely dog is very sick.

"Frontal X-Ray of Moishe's Heart", Jersey City, NJ. April, 2011. Juliana Beasley

For those of you who have read my blog or have in the past, you are familiar with my dear companion, Moishe, a little white Bichon Frise/ Terrier mix that I adopted from the NYC ASPCA back in 1998. He was 3 years old and needed a home and I was 30, had just lost my mother without warning. I needed unconditional love and some laughter and I needed to take care of myself by taking care of another.

Moishe was diagnosed years ago with heart disease, as well as lung disease. Now, his condition has progressed. Days are spent monitoring his behavior, his demeanor, his eating, his sleeping, and now the short walks that end midway down the block. The last days, he has not had the enthusiasm he normally has when I pull out his harness and shake the dogs tags to his typical delight, a signal which he knows means that he is going outside. I am only giving you a rough sketch. The sort of sketch a clinician might write in a patient's records and yet, I see it also includes the pain that is watching a loved one die when you foolishly believed they were going to live forever.

Moishe's has a big heart. It is growing larger and larger. Literally and figuratively. This muscle is expanding so much that now, it presses up against his trachea and makes his breathing labored and renders him exhausted after little activity.

He still has bushes and grasses to sniff and treats to be devoured. And he has the warmth of our mutual love and the abundance of years of our coexistence in three different apartments in two different states.

I have lovely stories to tell about Moishe. And heroic ones too. We lived a whole life that we shared exclusively with one another.