Maegan Hoover
I have been shooting for Connecticut College for a very long time. I get interesting assignments that go beyond the usual college events and when they asked me to shoot a group of alums who play on a Boston area rugby team, it sounded like fun. It was a lovely fall Saturday and a great match. Here is Maegan Hoover on a great run.
Swimmer
On Saturday, I shot swimming for my friend Thom Kendall who was out of town on another job. I grew up as a swimmer, so being back in a pool is usually a lot of fun for me. Just the smell of chlorine and the humidity brings back memories. Shooting it can be a challenge. How many shots of athletes breathing out of the side of their mouths can one take? So I usually try to look around for different angles. The UMASS pool has a nice balcony just above the starting blocks and I thought it would be nice for the backstrokers. It worked.
Peter and Cris
A pretty good indication of my state of mind is how often I post on this site. Fewer posts = “karma congestion” (phrase © Alex Ross). So, there hasn’t been much action here lately. But the Autumn has gotten really intense. After a long dry Summer and an uninspiring start, the colors have become wild. / Cris and I drove to Union last weekend for a visit with the boy. A lovely drive, and a happy visit. We are so proud of him.
Vinny Vella
One of the coolest aspects of Albanese’s is that it is as much a community center as a butcher shop. A young guy from down the street came in to eat his lunch, others would chat with Moe for a few minutes then leave, and others like Vinny Vello here would hang around and give Moe the business. Vinny is an actor (really!) and the unofficial Mayor of Elizabeth Street. He has a new movie coming out with Christopher Walken called “The Irishman”. Google him and check out his credits.
Albanese Meats & Poultry
This block of Elizabeth Street runs just south of Houston, and I know it really well because my good friend Herman Boykin started living there in 1979. Before I moved to the City in 1986 and while I was living there I would spend a lot of time in the neighborhood. There were many more shops like Albanese’s back then, but the area is really different now.
Moe
I took the train into New York City on Tuesday and met Craig Williams at City Hall Park. He took me over to One Liberty Plaza to meet some of the September 11 Memorial folks and have a peek at the WTC site. We then went over to Engine Company 6 which is just an amazing place. / The main purpose of the trip was to photograph the Albanese Meats & Poultry shop on Elizabeth Street. The history is a bit too involved to get into, but Moe has been cutting meat here for a very long time. He worked with his mom, Mary for almost 50 years until she died in 2002 at the age of 97. He is an amazingly nice guy. I’ll post more soon.
Willard Cemetery
Every time I go to Willard, NY to do some work relating to the Psych Center, I go to the cemetery and walk around. The setting is really beautiful; a huge rolling field with a view of Seneca Lake. It is also a very moving place. For reasons I have never completely understood (or agreed with), the only names on headstones are in the veteran’s section. All other graves are marked with a number. I spent all day Friday photographing the wonderful people who worked at Willard before it was closed, and then Brad Edmondson and I walked across the road to have a look. I was struck by the fact that it was late Friday afternoon on the 10th of September, the last day of Rosh Hashanah.
Nuns
On Wednesday I was driving to the Ithaca area to begin a few days of shooting former employees of the Willard Psychiatric Center. I had to stop for a piss and as I was coming back to my car I saw the nun on the right putting something into the back seat of her car. The wind was really howling, and her habit was all over the place. She and her companion were more than happy to be photographed, even as they were unsure as to why I would want to take their picture.
Peter
Autumn is always a transitional time for me. It is mostly my favorite part of the year, but it always brings up some mixed emotions. I have felt kind of wacked lately, but am starting to leave the transitional phase and get comfortable again. I am always a bit weird before Peter goes back to school, but once he gets settled I start to relax. Cris and I dropped him off on Sunday.
Tom
One thing I really like about living near a small town is getting to know the people that you see on a regular basis. Ren’s Mobil is in the center of Amherst and Tom has been pumping gas there for a long time. When I first met him he was a student at UMASS; now in addition to working at Ren’s, he plays bass in the band Outer Stylie (Psychedelic/Rock/Soul). It is always great to see him, talk about music, and get some gas. He is consistently cheerful and totally cool.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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