I visited the city of San Diego this week as part of my pay-the-bills, use-that-college-education day job. These are a few of the images I created walking to and from meetings. Each of the images was captured with the new iPhone 11.
Author: Mike
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Made You Think: What I’m Reading This Week
Seven Thoughts on Bruce Springsteen for His 70th Birthday: Springsteen and the E Street Band always play “Born to Run” with the house lights all the way up, an aesthetic decision that feels right even if it’s hard to articulate why.
How I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman: “Where are our helmets?” my daughter Harper asked. We were standing outside a cycle shop in the Dutch city of Delft, along with Harper’s older sister, Lyra, and my wife, Alia. “We didn’t buy any,” I replied.
To decarbonize we must decomputerize: why we need a Luddite revolution: Our built environment is becoming one big computer. “Smartness” is coming to saturate our stores, workplaces, homes, cities. As we go about our daily lives, data is made, stored, analyzed and used to make algorithmic inferences about us that in turn structure our experience of the world.
A Year in Paris That Transformed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: As a college student, Jacqueline Bouvier spent her junior year in Paris, and the city became one of the greatest influences in her life. In August 1949, a 20-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier arrived in France and began a year that would change her life.
Last place Luigi, the Giro’s greatest loser: The story of Luigi Malabrocca, the man who captured the hearts of the tifosi on his annual mission to finish bottom of the pile at the Giro d’Italia.
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Pop-Up Workshops at The Michener Museum
Last year I taught The Michener Museum’s first photography workshop for kids. It was part of a pilot project for their summer session. It apparently went well because they asked me to come back and expand on it this summer.
I’ll be conducting four pop-up workshops at the museum. The first is focused on portraits, followed by sessions on abstract photography, still life and wrapping up with my favorite topic: storytelling.
If you have a child who is interested in photography or know someone who does, these should be fun. Registration details are below.
Portait workshop registration
Abstract workshop registration
Still life workshop registration
Storytelling workshop registration -
La comunità è tutto
Growing up in a small northwestern New Jersey town, I learned early on about what it means to be part of a community — from zone defense parenting to knowing there was always an open door if you needed help, from post game passing the hat for ice cream at Herbie’s to firemen’s festivals straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Thinking of those around you was a natural part of my childhood.
When we moved to Doylestown, Pa., about 15 years ago, we found ourselves part of a similar community. One of the bricks in its foundation is the human tour de force, Kimberly Cambra. Kimberly is the spark and fire behind an organization called the CB Cares Educational Foundation. She and her team have an inimitable way of rallying their fellow community members to support the foundation’s mission of delivering programs and grants to promote resilient and responsible youth.
For the past four years, I’ve volunteered at the foundation’s annual Celebrity Chef & Waiter Gala, channeling my inner Mark Seliger to bring a little portrait magic to the festivities. Two of my favorite chefs, Elaine and Jeff Cohen, always come dressed in their finest themed garb. This year’s theme was Italy. Joining them in my gallery for the first time was Aldo Nerone Bove, Altomonte’s wine educator, who sported a killer Ventresca jacket that matched the vino in his glass.
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Throwback to Cannes
Woke up to see that an old – I mean, OLD – iPhone image I shot and licensed under Creative Commons chosen to help illustrate an article about Huawei on MSN. I shot the image from Mel Gibson’s apartment in Cannes during the 3GSM conference. The company I was working for at the time rented it out for press meetings.
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Why I’m Voting for Jordan Yeager for Judge
A campaign to ensure justice for all.
Tomorrow, residents of Bucks County head to the polls to vote in the Pennsylvania primaries. One of the most important races on the ballot is for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. I encourage you to cast your vote for Jordan Yeager for this vital judicial role.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of helping Jordan’s campaign as a communication strategist and photographer. I know Jordan to be thoughtful, compassionate, fair and, above all, human. He was raised in Bucks County and used his personal experience growing up to dedicate his career pursuing justice for all.
Jordan is a tireless advocate for the environment and the powerless. He has broad litigation experience across the many types of cases that come before the Court of Common Pleas. His work has earned him the distinction as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer and an entry in the history books when he won the first case in history to have a state law declared unconstitutional because it violated the environmental rights of Pennsylvania residents.
Jordan has been overwhelmingly endorsed by a who’s who of organizations and politicos — including the Conservation Voters of PA, which, for the first time in its 10 year history, has backed a candidate for the Court of Common Pleas. I join them with my full and unequivocal support for Jordan Yeager. I encourage you to give Jordan your support, too.
Judicial candidates are cross-filed, so they will appear on both sides of the ballot:
DEMOCRATS, push 11A
REPUBLICANS, push 7BEvery vote is crucial tomorrow. Cast yours for Jordan Yeager to ensure a future of justice for all.
Originally published at http://maneydigital.com on May 20, 2019.
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The Mayor of Meatpacking
As children, our parents and teachers drilled it into our heads that we should never talk to strangers. I’m sure they meant well.
Luckily, that sage advice of my elders faded away as I got older. Today, camera in hand, I’ll talk to just about anyone. Because everyone’s got a story to tell. Everyone has something in their life that makes them different. That one thing nobody has the nerve to ask them about that makes them interesting.
So it went a couple of years ago when Jenn and I were in New York City with our good friends for a weekend of fun. While exploring The Whitney Museum of American Art, I noticed a man sitting on a bench against the wall while everyone walked by the large scale stained glass installation in front of him. I took a seat next to him.
“It’s an interesting piece of work,” I said. “Are you the artist?”
“Flattered, but no. You don’t recognize me?”
I took a longer look at him, wracking my brain to see if he was a movie star I should have known at first sight. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“I’m the Mayor of the Meatpacking District.”
Which, sadly, still meant nothing to my IMDB-searched memory. But damn if I wasn’t going to spend some time talking to someone with a title like that. Jenn and my friends continued on. I stayed seated next to him as he regaled me with pieces of the story of his life.
His given name is Roberto Monticello. He’s lived in the Meatpacking District for a quarter of a century and New York City for 40 years. A Cuban immigrant, Monticello has lived a life that could be measured well beyond the years he has lived. He has directed more than 50 plays and 28 films, including a documentary exposing the human trafficking of hundreds of children annually from Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia to the greater New York City area. He spoke about the larger meaning of his work and how he used it to help others.
I was fascinated by Roberto. When I returned from the weekend, I did some digging and discovered I had only scratched the surface of the life this remarkable man has lived:
Swimming for his freedom in Guantanamo Bay at 17
Meet The Mayor Of Meatpacking, by Rachelle Hruska · September 25, 2009
Journeying to Ethiopia three times during the famine, once as a refugee camp director
Surviving beatings in South America while traveling in pursuit of Nazi war criminals
Living with Peruvian Indians in the Andes
Recording human rights abuses in Afghanistan during the Russian presence
Accompanying the U.N. at Hotel Rwanda
Suffering 3 gun shot wounds, one in Guatemala, where he was investigating the killings of Native Indians; another, taking medicine to his home country of Cuba, and the third in Darfur (on his 4th trip there), where he was on a mission for the Red Cross
Bringing boatloads of medication twice a year back to his home country, Cuba, and working to end the U.S. Embargo and Travel Ban there
Winning the Film Humanitarian Award from the Queens Film Festival for his work in Darfur, Cuba, Serbia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka
Recipient of the UNICEF Relief Dag Hammarshjold MedalI stole a few more minutes from my friends and thanked Roberto for telling me his story. I asked him if I could make a portrait of him and he thankfully obliged. I knelt down, framed his red hat against the wall, and pressed the camera shutter twice, honored to have the opportunity to further the mayor’s story.
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Hiking for Mental Health
I had a blast shooting with the inspiring and fun loving Dev Everett the other day near a small airfield overlooking the Delaware River. The airfield sits high above the Delaware River a few miles north of where George Washington and his troops set out on their historic march to Trenton.
Dev thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last summer, roughly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. This spring, she’ll tackle its west coast counterpart, the Pacific Crest Trail, adding another 2,560 miles to her hiking boots. This hike is as much about her soul as it is, well, her soles. Dev has teamed up with HIKE for Mental Health to raise funds and reduce the stigma associated with mental health.
Over the past few years, I have struggled with managing my anxiety and depression but I have always found nature to be a source of comfort.
As Dev points out, one in four families are affected by mental health. It’s something we as a society don’t like to talk about, despite the fact our brains are the very core of our being. That stigma is changing though, because of the honesty and efforts of brave people like Dev and Christian Reilly.
You can donate to Dev’s effort here. I also highly encourage you to follow her on Instagram as she makes the journey up America’s Pacific Coast.
Mike Maney 