A couple of Fridays ago on Sept 19th I went to my last NY Yankee home game at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles that night 3-2. It is always a great game when the O’s get beat. But it was a bittersweet game for me. I love Yankee Stadium. I’ve been to dozen’s of games there, opening days, play offs, World Series and many regular season games. I’ve sat in the best and the worst seats there. Once I was so far up and so far back in right field that I was ABOVE the top of the foul pole and couldn’t see Kirby Puckett playing right field ( yes that kinda dates that game doesn’t it!), another time we were in box seats one box off the field right next to the Yankee on deck circle. Oddly enough, the four of us who went to that game, John, Sue, Ron and I, are the same foursome who went to the game on the 19th. I’ve taken the subway there, driven there myself, and been driven there in limo’s. It never mattered how I got there, it was always magical to see the stadium or the big bat or Stan’s. Speaking of Stan’s, I was worried about them with the new stadium, but they are so close and the train will still stop right in front of the bar so they should be fine. Stan’s. Best Yankee bar in the world. Right under the train, open only on home game’s, always over crowded and slightly over priced. But it is a great place to grab a pre game beer with 100’s of other Yankee fans. Don’t wear your Red Sox or O’s jersey in there, you might not get out with it!

The new stadium will be a beautiful place I’m sure. From the looks of it, it is well on it’s way to being the best stadium in the league next year when it opens. But as Bob Marley sang “cause none of them can stop the time”. Things change, still, the new stadium will always be known as the new stadium to most everyone I know and millions of others. But I will be a bit nostalgic for the old one. It is one of those places that has always been there. Never changed. Same seats. Same sections. I always knew what to expect and where to go. I could tell if a seat was good just by looking at the section number. I’m hoping to score some tix to opening day at the new stadium, so if you got any, let me know.

Here are some pix from my last Yankee game of the season.

This is Stan’s. note the train coming in just to the right of the sign.

Stan’s goes way back.

Always crowded on game day.

Ron with a round!

John, Sue and me.

Walking thru the construction you can see both stadiums.

Beer here!

Next stop Yankee Stadium.

Our last real stadium dogs.

Go Yankees!

Yankees win! Yankees win! Of course Rivera gets the save, 37 for the year, and the last out at the Stadium.

Last time in these seats. They should go up for sale sometime soon.

Many of you know that my family takes a beach vacation every year to the same beach, Holden Beach, NC. We might get a different house, but they are all in the same area. It is a good time of relaxing, swimming, Scrabble, fishing, kayaking, cocktails, full on family dinners, etc. Friends are welcome and many have stopped by for a day visit to the whole week. We have been doing this for 11 years. So about 10 years ago I started taking portraits of everyone in the family. These have been both very relaxed to very structured, some years I did it half heartedly and other I was really into it. The results have always been a collaboration between myself and whoever was in front of the camera. Our moods come thru in the photos. My dad is never really comfortable in front of the camera but poses every year. Sometimes I was just going thru the motions, not really engaging or being a part of the photo. I usually shoot these pix on film and grab some snapshots with the digi for the last 4-5 years. I use my Rollie mostly, but did it in 4×5 one year and with the polaroid 110b that I had converted to pack film. When I shot with the Polaroid, I used type 655 film which is a black and white positive/negative film, it creates a regular polaroid and also a b/w negative that has an excellent tonal range and great detail. But, alas, Polaroid last year decided to stop production of that film and the type55 ( the 4×5 version). A very bad decision , at least to me and the 100’s of other photog’s who love this film. I did manage to stock pile about 15 packs of it. 

One year after taking what I felt were a group of pretty nice portraits I made a 9 photo grid of them. This grid was/has been in my portfolio for a while. This year, I decided to revisit that grid and take a look at what my family looks like 10 years later. Folks have aged, some have grown up and others have been added. I find it interesting to look at the two grids and think about my photographic vision and style. It looks pretty close to being the same, but then I was also trying to shoot in a similar style. The first grid looks a little dark to me, I like the side lighting I was using, but I think today I am more into a flattering open light, a lighter look. This can be seen in the post processing. The new grid feels lighter.

So , here they are

1998

2008

MY sister has been after me all summer to get some new photos of the girls. It has been hard to schedule the time and then it took a while to get the photos finished, but, finally we got it all together and here are the nieces, Jamie and Abi!

This is the first post on the newly designed PTP Blog! How does it look?

So, for Labor day weekend I headed out of sticky, humid, hot Augusta and decided to head out to sticky, humid, hot Charleston, SC. My friend Lesley met me there and we had a great time. Stayed at an old inn that was right in the heart of the tourist, downtown area, right across the street from the Market. Charleston is a city that is rich in history. It was once the furthest southern British outpost of the British Colonies. The city had a wall built around it and a moat to protect it from pirates, indians and other aggressions. It is also a city of 180 churches. They are everywhere and date back to almost the first settlement. There also over 200 bars, so I guess it all balances out. We took our walking tour and saw so many great things. We also took a carriage tour and saw parts of the city that we wouldn’t have gotten too. We had two awesome meals, one dinner at a restaurant called Anson’s. I had grilled peaches with TN ham and shaved parmesan and for dinner was roasted duck. The other great meal was at Jestine’s. We almost walked by Jestine’s but decided to stand in the very short line. Turns out we caught it at an odd lull as the line is usually 5-10 people deep. This restaurant was really really good. Check out the pix below. 

All in all it was a good weekend, but the weather was so hot and humid that it ruined any outside activities. I was dripping in sweat with in 10 minutes or walking. Even the breeze along the waterfront was damp! I would go back for another visit, there was so much to do and see that we didn’t get to, like the SC Aquarium and ghost tours and pirate tours and house tours, eco tours, water tours, etc, etc, etc.

This has got to be one of the most photographed houses in Charleston. It is on the waterfront across from he Battery Park. This shot was taken right after dusk.

This guy was found in a courtyard I wandered into.

I think this boat was one of the evening water cruises.

This is a quick shot of the Peninsula Grill dining room at the Planter’s Inn. We stopped in and had a slice of their world famous coconut cake. It is that good. Really.

The horse’s name is Bob. He pulls 3-4 tours a day 2-3 days a week. The view of the horse’s ass. Excellent.

Home and Garden.

Jestine’s.

Corn Fritters.

Corn bread with REAL warm honey butter. So good.

You can only guess at how good this fried chicken was.

The weather is tough on the walls and paint.

More home and garden. This was a walkway between homes leading to what I am sure is a great paradise.

A night shot of an alley.