Waiting for Mermaids

Photoblog by a former photographer in Brooklyn.

[photomelissa]

Last night’s blood moon was a thing of beauty. 

[photomelissa]

Skywalking

I attended "Skywalkers: The Legacy of the Mohawk Ironworker at the World Trade Center" on Saturday & got more than I bargained for. The exhibit is a collection of tintype portraits of Mohawk ironworkers, shot by photographer Melissa Cacciola. The 30 ironworkers photographed were some of the many who re-built the World Trade Center, so the exhibit's 67th floor of 4 WTC location is appropriate. The portraits are beautiful, & I encourage you to see them in person if you're in NYC, or view them on the artist's website...iPhone photos I took don't do them justice.

I loved how the photos were mounted on the windows, which you'd normally think was unwise considering backlighting, especially on a sunny day, but it made you see these behind-the-scenes faces against a view you wouldn't be able to see without their work.

After spending some time with the portraits, I took advantage of the 360 degree view of NY & NJ the location had to offer, shot some photos & videos on my iPhone, & enjoyed the scenery.

Thanks Lauren for getting this one of me.

In other news, I'm now on Snapchat, a couple of years late. Are you? I'm melissamurphyny.

[photomelissa]

These two know how to throw a party. 

Josh+Vince 12/18/2014

[photomelissa]

A shot from my quiet New Year's Eve. 

Happy New Year.

[photomelissa]

I felt like being productive this morning so I killed time during my commute cleaning up my camera roll*. Found a few older shots that never made it to Intstagram for some reason or another, so I'm sharing them here, along with a couple of newer ones. I'd say these cover the nicer parts of my few weeks of radio silence (not pictured: the week I spent on my couch sick & the 55 hours a week I spend sitting in front of a computer...thrilling stuff, there). 

1 The old TWA Flight Center during Open House New York

2 An old train in the Brooklyn Army Terminal, again during Open House New York

3 Looking south on 5th Avenue

4 Taking the sun on the Met roof

5 Worrisome skies over Dumbo

6 Pretty Brooklyn Heights

7 Art appreciation 35 floors up

8 Cheering at the 5 mile mark

* I recently upgraded my phone to one with 128GBs of fabulous storage space, so weeding through phone photos to make room for new ones ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY is thankfully a thing of the past. It's been really nice to not be constantly deleting, or at least not doing it so frequently.

[photomelissa]

Open House New York was this past weekend. Go anywhere fun? I did :)

Some fun stuff I liked on Tumblr recently:

Chris' view from the Manhattan Bridge

Woodstock, as seen by Jenny

Ben's blue portrait

Rueben's silhouettes

Lucy's food & people

Anjali's shadows

[photomelissa]

A couple of weeks ago my friend Ellen hosted a small group of friends for some drinks & jazz music on her roof. 

[photomelissa]

Went to Woodstock over the weekend & wound up getting sick. My original plan was to shoot in the early morning light around town...instead I shot in the early morning light from my bed with my phone. 

[photomelissa]

Had a last-minute job today...I was asked to shoot at Public School's Spring 2015 show at Milk Studios today on behalf of Aerosyn-Lex Meštrović, an amazing artist who designed the colorful fabrics used in some of the pieces. 

Pretty amazing day :) 

[photomelissa]

Scotland could never decide what kind of mood it was in, & I think that's one of the reasons why it's so beautiful. 

This shot was a gamble. I'd already bugged my cousin to pull over a few times for photo-ops, & tho I'm sure he wouldn't have minded one more time I felt like I was being a pest, so I shot this out the car window. The clouds were getting really dark but that mountain kept glowing, it was breathtaking. I'm extra pleased at least one turned out more thank okay.

Sadly I can't remember what mountain this is, but I don't believe it's the one I climbed, Ben A'an. In the next couple of weeks I'll share more on that...experience...as well as some other photos from my time in Ireland & Scotland.

[photomelissa]

I'm alive....& sadly not on this beach.

[photomelissa]

I watched the sun rise twice in Coney Island this weekend, & I've decided it's my favorite time to be there. Just a few swimmers, some people capping off a night of partying, lots of older ladies & gentlemen taking walks, the usual one or two people with metal detectors on the beach, & me. I was there to shoot, so I'd like to go back sans camera to just sit in the sand with a book. 

Some links to peruse:

Jenny's show at the J. Cacciola Gallery in Chelsea is this week, I encourage you to check it out

I really love airplanes, & this shot by Adonis is one I'd like hanging on my wall

Elizabeth Weinberg's photos of the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ape-movement coach are fascinating (be sure to click thru to the Telegraph article, too)

Helen's shot of pink skies in Alaska

Erica explored an underground city in Turkey

Ben's self-portrait

[photomelissa]

Sara, 3 times.

[photomelissa]

There's something very relaxing about photographing a friend, especially when said friend is a natural in front of the camera.

These are a few favorites from my shoot with Sara.

[photomelissa]

"NYC, You Inspire Me…by allowing me to discover something new about you every day."

Sara Zucker, archivist-turned-fashion/beauty girl doing digital for NARS Cosmetics, photographed at Hallet's Cove for Mandarin Oriental, New York's NYC You Inspire Me campaign.

Sara is a friend whom I met years ago through Tumblr (yet another reason I'm indebted to the platform), so this shoot was extra fun.

[photomelissa]

A couple of iPhone shots from my shoot with Ellen Hunter NYC yesterday. I'm exhausted but exhilarated. 

[photomelissa]

Galway

Whenever I'm in Ireland, one day is always spent in Galway at my cousins place. They have a beautiful house right near Galway Bay with an enormous backyard facing west, so when it's summertime & the sunset seems to last for 4 hours, the view out their back windows is spectacular. This particular day was a rainy one so after stuffing our faces with brown bread & smoked salmon we just hung around watching a hurling match. At one point the rain shower turned into a sun shower.