Tony Jerome 1951-2010

Tony Jerome, a photographer, editor, and one of the nicest guys I have ever known died last night, well before his time. He had been fighting liver disease for a number of years, and passed away in the hospital with his family by his side. He was my editor at the paper, and a good friend as well. He was such a good photographer and so committed to doing the best work imaginable. He was also so supportive of all the photographers who worked with him. He was a wonderful editor as well, taking great care to talk with writers and editors to understand the nature of the stories, and then to talk to the photographers with suggestions of some of the best ways to illustrate them. He also worked harder than anyone, both as an editor and a photographer. Writers and editors loved him and he would always bend over backwards to help anyone - to make everyone's job easier. He was also a passionate fisherman, and loved nothing better than to spend a day in his boat on the water, fishing. He would come to the office after a weekend completely sunburned, and grinning from ear to ear when he talked about his fishing expeditions. It just seems inconceivable to me that he is gone...

Life Without Texting?

I have been to three museums in the past week. One on Long Island, and two in Manhattan with Liz. I could not believe some of the people who were wandering through the exhibits, while TEXTING! WHAAAAAAT? Are you kidding me? Why bother to go to the museum in the first place? Now, to be fair, I grabbed this shot in the line of people waiting to retrieve their jackets from the coat check. What struck me however, was the intensity of the young woman. I watched her text for perhaps 10 minutes while in line. So I took the photograph because of that intensity, which I think shows in this picture. This is a cropped version of the original picture, which was 3/4 length. I thought it was stronger as a close-up. I love the glint in her eye from the screen of the cellphone.

Mom's Hands

When we went to Connecticut to visit with the Aunts and Cousins, we also went to visit my mom. She was in the hospital for a week with pneumonia, which came on the day after Christmas. She is now in a medical facility for recovery near the hospital, and is doing much better. My mom is 93, and these are her hands. She has had arthritis for a number of years, and both my sisters and I have hints of this, with the last digits of some of our fingers starting to head off at an angle just like Mom's. So here are her hands after 93 years. What's also interesting is that she is reading "The Book of Ruth" and that is my mom's name.

Amy's Book Has Arrived!

What an exciting day! Amy's book has actually arrived! She has written a book called: "Meeting Your Half-Orange - An Utterly Upbeat Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match." Her project has been underway for two years, and we have read the manuscript, but now the book is finally here! A box of them arrived from Amazon.com today. Pretty exciting to actually hold the book itself, after all this time! It is published by Running Press, and if you know someone who is having trouble meeting their soul-mate, tell them to buy her book. (A shameless plug by her dad!)

Aunts and Cousins

One of the reasons Liz wanted to come East was that she missed seeing family members at Christmas. So she decided to come home and visit my mom and my sisters and her cousins. We went to Milford first, then to New Haven where Jon works and had a GREAT meal in the restaurant Jon works in. It was so nice for all of us to have plenty of time to visit. And it was worth running out to the sidewalk for a second to take this picture, even though we were all freezing.

Mobile Matrix, 2006

This is a sculpture by Gabriel Orozco in the Museum of Modern Art. It is a Gray Whale skeleton from Mexico, with graphite markings on it. It is suspended in a huge atrium and is a spectacular object to see. So many visitors to the museum stop and photograph it, or have their picture taken with it. As you can see it dwarfs visitors. This is just one of the many pieces in an exhibit of photographs, sculptures and paintings by this amazing artist.

On The Way to Fun City

This is Liz on the LIRR platform at Jamaica station, on the way to New York City. We went to Manhattan together to go to the Museum of Modern Art to see several shows. It was COLD today, and windy on the platform, while we waited to change trains. Liz was smart and was bundled up, and I was not. So she was toasty warm, and I was freezing! I think this is a really cute picture of her. I will post some of the photographs I took at MoMA in the coming days. I have some REAL photographs, for a change.