Last week I was very fortunate to attend an intensive workshop held by the prestigious VII Photo Agency . The workshop was taught by Ron Haviv and Antonin Kratochvil, two photographers whose work I am very familiar with and admire. Check them out here.
Each person attending the workshop had to create their own assignment and deliver a photo essay by the end of the week. Throughout the workshop my work was critiqued and reviewed by Antonin. Oh man! It was truly a humbling experience.
At the end of the week I feel like I have revised my way of thinking about photographs and I have also been injected with a new energy and inspiration.

I chose to document homing pigeons and the people that raise them on rooftops all over Brooklyn. If there are any images that you feel does not belong in this series or any image you like the best please feel free to leave a comment.

Homing pigeons have very strong navigational instincts and will always return to the coop where they were born.

One man told me that he sold a few pigeons to his brother down at the tip of Florida. The birds got out and a few months later landed back on the rooftop in Brooklyn. That is close to 1,500 miles! (I can’t even drive to Jersey without a GPS navigator.)

Howard has been keeping pigeons since he was a kid and bred a few prizewinners.

It was just a few weeks ago that Efrem and Eva got married at the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn. It was early enough that the leaves had not yet begun to turn but the signs of fall were evident in the chilly morning air and the deep blue color of the sky.
The grand reception was held in the Palm House and the ceremony under a huge willow tree in the gardens.

…like dining in the forest

Mary and Alan had a very downtown wedding…. as far downtown as you can get in Manhattan. The ceremony was held at the Seton Shrine right by Battery Park. The shrine is named after the first American (New York) born saint and the old church seems to be wedged in between the majestic downtown skyscrapers.

Yes, I did up the saturation about 15%. Too much?

In this lovely Polish tradition the couple is offered bread, salt and vodka. I think one of the glasses contained water and the other vodka. I’m not sure which one Mary got be she does look the happiest.