“To photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson

“The Decisive Moment ” was the first photo book that I found in the library. As I thumbed through the photos taken all over the world from the 1940’s to the 1970’s I knew what kind of photography was for me.”

“That was when I started my study of great photography and the people who produced these incredible images.”

Video Pete Mecca

Eugene Smith

“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.”

W. Eugene Smith

Film Pete Mecca

W. Eugene Smith was no doubt one of the greatest war correspondents of the last century. As the photographer for Life, he followed the island-hopping American offensive against Japan, from Saipan to Guam, from Iwo Jima to Okinawa, where he was hit by mortar fire, and invalided back.

WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. February 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima (Japanese island). US Marine demolition team blasting out a cave on Hill 382.

His war wounds cost him two painful years of hospitalization and plastic surgery. During those years he took no photos, and it was doubtful whether he would ever be able to return to photography. Then one day in 1946, he took a walk with his two children, Juanita and Patrick, towards a sun-bathed clearing:

“I knew the photograph, though not perfect, and however unimportant to the world, had been held…. I was aware that mentally, spiritually, even physically, I had taken a first good stride away from those past two wasted and stifled years.”

While he was right about his stride towards recovery, Smith miscalculated the photo’s importance. In 1955, a heavily-indebted Smith decided to submit the photo to Edward Steichen’s now-famous Family of Man exhibit at the MOMA. There, it became a finalist and then the closing image, thus cementing its position as the ur-icon of all family photographs.

***Tomoko & Son in Bath, Minamato, Japan 197***2

“I’ve never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.”
— W. Eugene Smith

The Fifties & Sixties

My early photo experience…

***“This day in History… “TheHindenburg disaster 1937”***

I saw this photograph in a real estate office window when I was about 7-8 years old during the early fifties. They would change the photos daily. I was always intrigued by the events they introduced to me on my way home from school. I would go home and read the story in my Encyclopedia Britannica.

Everything was black and white in those days.

People were moving to the suburbs and purchasing houses and cars.

WW War 11 was over and the surviving soldiers returned to their loved ones.” I like Ike” meant a new world to the Americans. A path to prosperity was a wish for many. Some chose college and many went to work in the factories producing new cars and tv sets.

The “Baby Boomers” were born. The country was happy.

Until…

A huge mushroom cloud rises above Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands July 25, 1946 following an atomic test blast, part of the U.S. military’s “Operation Crossroads.” The dark spots in the foreground are ships that were placed near the blast site to test what an atom bomb would do to a fleet of warships. (AP Photo)

The Photos in the insurance window became a little more ominous from abroad and in our country.

A President is assassinated…

The People march for their civil rights

The 60’s end in Vietnam

Iconic Photos

“When a photographer raises his camera at something that is taking place in front of him, there is one moment at which the elements in motion are in balance. Photography must seize upon this moment.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Once upon a time…

A Blind Man sang to the world during the pandemic

Once Upon a Time…

The last year has been a very strange and scary time for everyone. Governor Cuomo’s & Murphy’s stay-at-home Executive Orders seem to be working. It had been in effect since March 21st. This virus is tough but so many people in my community are working hard to follow the guidelines. As we approach the Christmas season there is a new variant called Omicron attacking the country and it is causing a very severe uptick in illness and hospitalization throughout the country.

As a former photojournalist and news producer, I have seen so many scenes of bravery by the people in the frontlines. The doctors, nurses, EMT people have done great work while risking their lives daily. We should not forget the public bus drivers, custodians, and everyone who has contributed their time and goodwill.

The teachers and the parents have had to work extra hard to keep the children safe while continuing to teach the children. The media and celebrities and professional athletes have all done their part.

“What’s true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

Insurrection 2021

“And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.“
Donald Trump

YouTube

No heroes here except for the police.

Everyone needs a mentor in the beginning.

In addition to Bresson, the photographer who had the most affect on me was Mel DiGiacomo. He was an important part of my teenage years and helped me during a rough period in my early adult life. I was his photo assistant during the early years of his photo life and learned how to use a camera , develop film and print in the darkroom.

Most importantly I learned how to see.

I reconnected with him recently and he allowed me to use his photos in this short film.