Henri Cartier-Bresson

I'll start this post by saying this: if you're a photographer and you live on the east coast (or have the opportunity to get to New York City), you absolutely must get thee self to MoMA to see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit before it closes at the end of June.

Holy. Moly.

To say it blew my mind was an understatement.

300 of Cartier-Bresson's photographs in simple white frames with white matting on gray walls in room after room.

I spent 2.5 hours wandering around the exhibit on Saturday and it was worth every penny I spent getting up there and back (and every penny I spent at the gift shop afterward!). Also, if you go, pick up the free audio guide at the entrance to the exhibit. It offers some really interesting commentary on his photos and world travels.

I went with the goal of being inspired to improve my street photography and portraiture - I came away with more inspiration than I thought possible.

I fell in love with several of Cartier-Bresson's photographs during my visit, including one that I cannot find anywhere online (must mean that I have unique taste). I'll have to take a photo of it out of the coffee-table book I purchased that has a copy of all 300 photos at the exhibit.

Some of the others I found most inspiring:

Cartier-Bresson didn't shoot many landscapes and never shot a landscape without a touch of something "man-made" in it. I love the simplicity of this shot. I bought a 16x20 version to hang in our office, where I do a lot of my photography work.

Simple. Perfect lines. Perfect blurred motion. Perfectly contrast-y.

Taken when cameras first became portable enough to do street photography and fast enough to capture stop-action. Look at the poster in the background, with the dancer in almost the same pose. Genius.

Five for Friday

1. Remember the old adage "be careful what you wish for"???

Remember back in January when I posted how I was missing my brother, but that was okay because he was done with his military service in July and there would be a happy homecoming?

Well, July turned into next week and the "happy homecoming" part has turned into him coming to live with Brad and I for a few weeks. It's a little scary and nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time. The scary part: how are three adults going to share one tiny bathroom? The nerve-wracking part: what is he going to do while I'm at work all day that doesn't result in our condo being burned down? The exciting part: I get to spoil him/re-do his entire wardrobe!

If anyone has any fantastic ideas for a big glittery sign I can meet him at the airport with, I'm all ears. I'm going for maximum embarrassment here - and yes, I'm already considering a small battery-operated tape player which will be playing patriotic music!

2. Tomorrow, I am embarking on a crazy, one day journey up to the Big Apple and back. Why so much travel crammed into one day? Well, because our life is a little insane right now (see #1), but a certain Mr. Henri Cartier-Bresson has an exhibit at MoMA which I have no choice but to go see.

Who has the best husband? Clearly, I do. Since he's:

1. getting up at 5:45am to take me to the bus stop (which is a random street corner in Rosslyn where apparently a reputable bus company is going to pick me and my fellow intrepid/cheap travelers up),

2. coming to pick me up at said bus stop/corner when I get back at 10:00pm,

and, most importantly, 3. going to clean like a mad man and reorganize the house for our unexpected guest.

Wohoo for Brad!

Wohoo for awesome-world-traveler-and-photographic-genius Henri Cartier-Bresson!

Wohoo New York City!

3. I dunno... what else? How could there possibly be more because, lets face it, #1 and #2 are, well, HUGE.

4. Oh! I will give a shout out to some recent new parents. My cousin-in-law Mindy, after being pregnant forever, gave birth to the cutest little boy last week. A friend and coworker of mine, after being on total bed rest in the hospital since February gave birth a few weeks ago to the two cutest twin girls ever and both girls got to come home this week. Added bonus? She already sent us a thank you note for our baby gift - you go girl! My friend's Mike and Kerri are expecting their second any day now (and are in the middle of changing jobs and moving to Wisconsin). So many babies! Such good birth control - sorry Dad ;)

5. I would be remiss not to mention the continued pain of Cleveland sports fans everywhere. In what was arguably the most important game ever for the franchise, the Cavs lost last night to eliminate themselves from the NBC playoffs. Just depressing that the best time in basketball falls to the Cleveland sports curse. Additionally, the 13-19 Indians should be pretty much paying me to attend their games by July. And we won't even discuss the Browns... ahhh, the joys of being a Cleveland sports fan, or as one of my friend's said "A 'there's always next year' sports fan."

Start spreading the news...

Just when I thought we were going to be without a June trip, we firmed up plans this weekend to meet a bunch of my crazy family in New York City to honor a very special lady.

I always smile when I know that a trip to the Big Apple is on the horizon... even if its reasons are bitter-sweet.

MoMA

I love art. I love art museums (Brad is learning to appreciate them). While we were in NYC, we decided to spend Friday afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art, also known as MoMA. It was a great museum, with lots of classic works. And, unfortunately, lots of not so classy people. Eh, what do you expect? It was still loads of fun though. I could have spent hours walking around, sitting on a bench, taking it all in. Especially enjoyable was the special exhibit they had on Monet's waterlilies series. Wow. Massive and amazing.

Pollock.

Warhol.
Mondrian.

Dali.

Miro.

B observing

van Gogh.

Cezanne.

Monet.

loving the art, not the crowds!

New York Icons

Central Park

Empire State Building
Little Italy
Flatiron
Rockefeller Center

New Year's Eve ball in Times Square (now up year-round!)

Chrysler Building

Macy's celebrates Christmas and Thanksgiving at the same time!

Clearly, you'd be insane if you were in New York City and didn't visit the ginormous Macy's store there - in fact, the world's largest department store.

You'd be even more insane if you didn't visit during the holidays when their most fantastic decorations are up.

You've be even more insane if you were there on Thanksgiving and didn't go see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yet, that last one almost didn't happen! Luckily, my Dad is pushy (like the native New Yorker he is), so we braved the crowds, found a spot two blocks from the actual parade route, watched the balloons float down Central Park West and had a fabulous time! Some people moved/I kind of nudged them out of the way and I stood on top of a security barrier, giving me an even better view of the parade.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't join in on the squeels of joy when Santa came down that street, officially kicking off the Christmas season!

inside the ginormous Macy's

the new location of the previously located big green square on Herald Square

(now relocated since the parade doesn't go down Broadway any more)
outside the ginormous Macy's

Parade time! Mickey floats down Central Park West

Snoopy

Buzz

the crowds at Columbus Circle

la la la la la la, la la la la la

Doughboy!

SANTAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!