A Grand Evening,..Our adventures in Gotham, The Cabaret Dancers, 1915, a good year for Taylor Studios

The year was 1915, and by chance, a great gentleman, Alderman O'Rourke, happened by our studio window front on Lenox avenue one Wednesday a little past noon, and inquired about our services and ability to capture photographs of prominent event goers at a function uptown at the swanky Hotel Algonquin. After settling the amount for the portraits, And the alderman gone, my studio partner and I marveled at the opportunity to venture uptown, and make photographs,..after all, this isn't Harlem. So when the day arrived, we grabbed our Kodak Autographic's and our Ansco Lamps, and headed towards Gotham. Once we arrived, we headed into the hotel via the wine cellar, near the horses. While setting up, I noticed two cabaret dancers practicing as for they were the entertainment, accompanying the orchestra as they play their symphonies. Very fleet and elegant they were, we were mesmerized by the fluidity of their dance. The madam yelled out to me, "make our photograph!!", and the gentleman dancer smiled. We felt compelled. What an opportunity. but had we brought enough 120 film to make photographs of the socialites, and the dancers? I didn't care, even though we had plenty, the moment could not escape us. The Pictorialists would not be happy with us, but it was a new day, and as a believer in the modernist movement, this could be my contribution to our new art form. it was a grand night, I remember it well. We never got the names of the two cabaret dancers,..but instead we captured their time, for all time.

The St.Patty's Day Parade Philadelphia 2014 and,..the arrival of old age

First off, I am sorry. It's been awhile, I've been flooded with work,which is a good thing, and It's kept me from writing,I've got some catching up to do. Now,...back to your regularly scheduled program....
So, here's how it goes.....I'll get a call, from a client, to make some photographs of their children participating in a function, or event,(in this case, a parade), I'll get the shots, then normally, at that point I'll grab some images for me, If you follow this photoblog, you'll see I enjoy parades, they are visual, colorful, and almost every frame tells a story. However, this year, I did the work, then I realized that I only wanted to do one thing, Get The Heck Out of There!!. I had no desire to hang and make photographs, none whats so ever. I was tired. I tried to fight the feeling, but there was no denying it. All I wanted to do was get off my feet. and I did. Years ago, I would have been all over the parkway, socializing, talking with folks etc,...not this year. I was tired. And also my back hurts. My knee hurts. I have a different mindset. I can only attributed this to....well, I'm getting old, and I cant do the same things I did years ago. I'm in pretty good shape, but it doesn't matter. If your brain tells your body to do something, or not do something, it is a battle you have already lost. And Sunday, I lost my battle. and so It goes..... I still managed to catch a few, In between resting on that comfy bench I found.