Today is International Women’s Day, a century old celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the globe.
My oldest daughter attends college roughly an hour’s drive from our house. She’s studying vocal performance and music history. Despite being relatively close to home, I’m a believer that college should be a time of personal as well as intellectual growth, an opportunity to experience those first tastes of independence. So, I do my best to let her have her space, to let her experience new things and make and learn from her own mistakes. I’m proud to say she’s doing just that.
But the school’s music program has put on more than 250 open to the public performances so far this year, several of which she’s taken the stage for. Now, I know I just went on about how college is a time for independence, but you, dear reader, are kidding yourself if you don’t think I took advantage of only being an hour a way to make sure I was in the audience for most of them.
Giggles rose from the backseat of the car the first time we drove past the dilapidated Beury Building on Philadelphia’s famed Broad Street. Seeing the words “Boner Forever” tattooed on the side of a 14 story building will do that to teenagers. And their father. Not so much his wife.
The once majestic Art Deco movie theater was built in 1926 but has stood vacant for more than 40 years. It was originally the home of the National Bank of North Philadelphia and later took the name of Charles Beury, the bank’s first president and former president of Temple University. My oldest daughter attends the university’s Boyer School of Music, giving us opportunities to travel down Broad Street to watch her perform. And while the Viagra mural still makes me chuckle, I’ve since learned that Boner and Forever are actually two graffiti artists who collaborated on the prominent tag.
Broad Street cuts through roughly 13 miles of the City of Brotherly Love. It was one of the earliest planned streets in the United States, designed by Thomas Holme for William Penn in 1687, and remains one of the country’s busiest and longest urban boulevards.
It’s a street paved in history. It intersects with Clearfield Street on the exact location of the 40th Parallel. It’s shared corner with West Glenwood Avenue is the former personal gym of Joe Frazier. Just up the street from my daughter’s dorm is the 50,000 square foot Uptown Theater. Built in 1929 and opened on the eve of the Great Depression, the theater played an integral role in rhythm and blues, soul and gospel music. Names like Sam Stiefel, Georgie Woods and Sid Booker produced weeks long shows on Broad Street. Daryl hall, a Temple student like my daughter, got his start at the Uptown.
Broad Street was also the flashpoint for the Philadelphia race riots in 1964, one of the first in the civil rights era.
Traveling up and down Broad Street is a reminder of the history that traveled one of America’s most storied streets.
I shot these images with my Olympus E-PL1 street camera while stopped at traffic lights heading north on Broad Street.
The tech industry is built as much on speaking submissions as it is on code. Getting a talk accepted at OSCON or Gluecon or Monktoberfest is, for many, a sign of career success. Yet, there are only so many conferences, only so many speaking slots…with so many smart people pitching to educate and entertain their peers. What happens to all of those talks that get denied one of the limited and coveted spots on the agenda?
We all know what happens to them. Most die alongside the speaker’s confidence. Some get resubmitted to other conferences. This is an industry of really — REALLY — smart people. Why should their talks be limited to a few conference stages (many of which are pre-peppered with sponsor talks)? Technology gives us easy tools and platforms to record, publish and host every talk, whether captured on stage or on a webcam in someone’s home office.
Imagine a library of talks hosted on a site like TFiR, talks of insight and informational value that otherwise would never have seen the light of day. Talented speakers who could now have an audience.
There are pieces to this I’m probably missing. So sound off in the comments or carry the discussion over to Twitter (#morepodiums).
I worked at some of the world’s top PR agencies when my career was getting started. One of those agencies was a place called The Rowland Company. It was part of the vast Saatchi and Saatchi advertising empire. My office, and I still pinch myself when I think about it, was on the top floor of a building on 52nd Street in New York City. Sitting at my desk, I looked straight down Broadway onto the Times Square Jumbotron. My boss was in the office next to me. His name was Tony Cooper.
Tony died of complications from AIDS in 1997.
Before entering the world of PR, Tony had a successful career as a stage and production manager at Ford Theater in Washington, DC, and with the New York City Opera. His partner, James, was Roberta Flack’s personal assistant. Late one morning Tony popped his head into my office to tell me he was meeting James for lunch and wanted to know if I wanted to join them. We walked a few blocks uptown to meet James at Roberta’s apartment in The Dakota. Julian Lennon passed me as we waited for the elevator.
I vividly remember the day Tony interviewed me. We had finished the formal interview when he asked me to close his office door. Sitting behind his desk and looking like Tom Selleck’s stunt double, he said he had to ask a personal question. He explained that he had HIV and wanted to be sure I was okay working with him. It was a moment of brutal honesty, trust and openness. We worked closely together for a couple of years, preparing large corporations to manage communications in the event of a crisis.
I think of Tony each year when our middle and high school musical theater troupes preview their upcoming season of shows at the annual Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Concert. This year, I had the opportunity to capture Broadway veterans Jenny Lee Stern (Rocky, A Christmas Story, Forbidden Broadway) and Justin Guarini (Wicked, American Idol, Transit) as they hosted the event.
You can see the full gallery here.
London was calling this weekend as teachers from the Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania took the stage at Holicong Middle School for their 15th annual VH1 Save the Music Concert. This year’s sold out concert featured a mix of songs from artists hailing from jolly old England.
The district-wide program is the brainchild of band teacher Joel Chodoroff and choir teacher Jim Glaser, who quickly roped in assistant choir director Ian Sanchez and orchestra directors Jennifer DiVasto and Jennifer Repper to turn the idea to reality. Over the past decade and a half, the program has raised $162,656. All of the proceeds are donated to VH1’s Save the Music Foundation which builds and restores music programs in other districts across the nation.
As little as $50 gives one child access to a musical instrument for a year.
The Central Bucks School District educators have performed more than 750 songs since the program started in 2004, with more than 300 of the district’s students involved each year.
My daughters have had the privilege of studying under these tremendously talented and generous teachers. For the past couple of years, I’ve had the privilege of shooting the performance from the pit, backstage and high above from the catwalk. You can see highlights from this year’s show below (view the full gallery here). The teachers are rock stars in every sense of the word.
Yet, there was one image I captured backstage that said more about their commitment and dedication than any perfectly pitched note in front of an auditorium of screaming fans could ever say. This is that image.
I was walking backstage during one of the songs when I saw a teacher hunched over a stack of papers. He was using his cellphone as a flashlight to see the words on the pages. I assumed he was rehearsing lyrics for his next song. I was wrong. Not only was it the opening night of the concert, but it was the end of the marking period. He was grading student essays. Backstage. Mid-set. On a weekend.
That single frame captured so much of what I’ve seen over the years of the dedication and commitment the teachers in this district give to their students. Through programs like the VH1 Save the Music Concert, they extend that dedication to students they’ve never met to ensure they have the opportunity to experience the power of music.
Sometimes the most powerful performance is the one the audience can’t see.
I had every intention of heading out at 11pm to shoot the much anticipated Super Blood Wold Moon total lunar eclipse. Until Mother Nature decided to drop the mercury into the negative digits and crank the blower on the winds. Instead, I soothed my jones to capture the event earlier in the evening as the moon rose above a backroad field in Solebury, Pa.
Life’s been busy. Earlier this week I remembered I hadn’t yet posted a list of my favorite images I created in 2018. It was a fun year for me behind the lens. I created portraits on two continents, used my Canon to capture the sensory overload of Bangkok, got drenched in a downpour shooting out of an open sunroof as pro cyclists raced around my hometown. I got up early to catch early morning light and rushed out the door at dinner to catch the sunset. I got up close and personal with one of my favorite bands. And I used my photos to shine a national media spotlight on the awesome that is my hometown.
Let’s jump right in.
I set a goal to focus on my portrait work in 2018. I’m glad I did. It gave me the privilege of shooting stylized headshots with the Cloud Foundry Foundation community in Boston and Basel. I helped build the portfolios for aspiring models like Joe Gratz. I got creative with Broadway actress Jenny Lee Stern before and after her pregnancy. I spent a half day building a library of images for a local photographer I admire, Robyn Graham. And I spent an afternoon 68 floors above the WTC Memorial creating executive portraits with the stylish Laura Merling.
I gave landscapes a bit of a break this year. When I did venture out to shoot, I chose to do so with purpose. I’m lucky to live in an area of the country where magical sunsets and sunrises are plenty. It’s a place where taking even a few steps off the beaten path can transport you to another world. And where simply standing on the side of the road during morning rush hour can yield an autumn scene that would make a French Impressionist drool.
2018 was bittersweet for my wanderlust. Anthony Bourdain’s death was a gut punch. Beneath the noodles and beer, he showed us that cultural differences are not to be feared, but embraced. He broke the barriers of geography and language to show the binding forces that makes us all human. When I travel, for work or personal, I try to travel like Bourdain would. I make a conscious effort to get off the beaten path and experience a city’s culture. I try to be a traveler instead of a tourist.
Such was my mindset when I flew the family to Thailand for two weeks to explore the city of Bangkok and the islands of Phuket and when I absorbed the calm meanderings of locals while sipping beer on a sunny day along the banks of the Rhine in Switzerland.
I ran varsity cross country in college. Over the past six years, though, my sport of choice became cycling. I got involved with a popular professional race that rolls through my town each September. It gave me access to some of the biggest names in the sport and a front row seat to the high speed action shooting out of the pace car sunroof or off the back of a motorcycle (where I motored and clicked alongside former Tour de France champion Floyd Landis). It also allowed me to get creative at our town’s annual Goldsprints competition, where three time Olympian Bobby Lea took down local pros in head to head competition while downing a pint.
Concert photography is a special discipline. I enjoy it, but there are people like Bob Linneman who are absolute pros. Luckily, Bob was in the pit when I first shot The Cadillac Three and was generous with his advice. It was good to see him at the Theater of Living Arts pit in Philadelphia when TC3 rolled back into town this year.
In an ideal world protest marches wouldn’t be necessary. However, 2018 saw the need for several. Doylestown’s concerned citizens rose up and I had the duty to capture their messages and strength. One of my images from a protest in the wake of yet another mass murder in our country’s schools was included in a New York Times roundup of marches from around the nation.
I also captured Doylestown’s iconic County Theater for a feature on America’s most charming theater marquees in Atlas Obscura.
As the year raced to a close, residents decorated their homes and businesses festooned their storefronts with twinkling lights. Discover Doylestown tapped several local photographers to participate in a friendly competition to capture the holiday scenes. My image of the Patricia Hutton Gallery took the top spot in the commercial category.
The absolute favorite shots I captured in 2018? Without question, the two that close out this post. Images captured by an insanely proud father to two beautiful, talented and fearless daughters.
I’ve had a pretty good run these last 50 years. I had a great childhood enabled by loving, hard working parents. I created a lifetime of memories with my brother, cousins and friends. I immortalized myself Al Bundy style in high school soccer. I got into college. And graduated. I built a successful career doing something I’m really good at. I traveled the world. I spent a few hours with Chris Farley on the set of SNL. I met a girl. I got married. I became a father. Twice. I rode a seesaw in a Mexican bullring. I saw my oldest child go off to college. I created my own business. I helped other people less fortunate. I lived. A lot.
On March 4, 2019, I begin my next 50 year run. For some, it’s a time of crisis. A wake up call to things not experienced. Me? 50 is a time to re-rev the engine. An opportunity to reflect on all I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to see, hear and do. A chance to take some time before those candles light in March to recalibrate where I want to go and what I want to do based on what I’ve learned to make these next 50 trips around the sun even more exciting and fulfilling than the first 50.
Understand the privilege of being in a position to choose what and who I work with. Be discerning in choosing clients who see the world through a wide angle lens and work on projects that advance society for the many instead of the few.
No red convertible sports car, but an opportunity to shift gears and watch the tachometer flirt with the dial’s red zone. A shift informed by studying my past and observing the present. Because one of the things I’ve come to realize is that, as a society, we have a bad habit of locking people into impenetrable career membranes that too often squelch what makes a person whole. So over the past year, I’ve taken time to explore the intersection of what I’m good at, what people need and what stokes my creative flame. I studied the state of the PR industry, spoke with startup founders and VCs about what they really need from their PR partners, and refined my photographic eye. What I found was:
I’ve been a valuable communication coach to nearly 20 startup founders and their exec teams. I’ve served as the acting director of PR for startups who otherwise couldn’t afford someone with my experience. I’ve discovered I have an eye for capturing people’s personality and using those images to help organizations tell their stories. I’ve found I really like to give back to the communities I’m part of. What stops people from building services around the spectrum of things they do best, the things they love to do, especially when they can combine them to bring value to others? Why do we let a self imposed career force field trap us us from living our complete lives? Why be one thing?
A coach who is always pumping you up is not a coach – improvement takes work and honest feedback. Hold us to high standards! You’ve made RackN (and me, personally) better.
So that’s what I did. I took my reflections, industry knowledge and passions and built services and projects around them. Some of them are straightforward. A few are ambitious with the potential to have a significantly positive impact on the technology industry and those around it.
Services
Projects (in development; seeking underwriters)
The start of a new year is an opportunity to refocus on what matters. A chance to reset. To create a clean slate. To create a springboard for the next year…or 50.
There are moments as a photographer when you know at the first click of the shutter magic is about to happen. Moments when all guards are let down and a subject’s true self jumps through the glass of your lens and right into the camera itself. I had one of those moments during a recent two day corporate portrait shoot for the Cloud Foundry Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, when Chisara Nwabara stepped in front of my camera.
And that photographic lightning struck again when David Bluestone graced the set.
And again and again over the course of my time shooting with the awesome Cloud Foundry community in Basel.
Mike Maney 