New York Renaissance Faire

Well, I found myself upstate at the Renaissance Faire this weekend. My first time.

As far as I could tell, it has nothing to do with the Renaissance. I'd say Medieval Faire would be more accurate.

Still, I had a fun time. Lots of great faces and wonderful portrait opportunities. Most of my portraits are of vendors in the shops. Couldn't really get close enough to the actors to take some formal shots, but caught them as they were playing their roles around the Faire.

Plus I had cheescake on a stick. Everything is better on a stick! Maybe next time I can try the steak on a stake!

9/11 lights

One of the greatest challenges any photographer faces is an iconic subject. Every year on 9/11 the city puts up the 9/11 lights. For me, it's a lovely tribute. A memorial that only exists for a few hours a year. A poignant reminder of the day when the towers fell. 

Of course this tribute draws a lot of photographers. This year I went down to the new Pier 1 park in Brooklyn Heights to get some new vantage points. It wasn't a very original idea as I walked into the park to see dozens of photographers lined along the edge of the park with their tripods set up, shooting away.

Now when I'm confronted with a pack of photographers all shooting the exact same thing, I generally run in the opposite direction, and that's exactly what I did. I wandered into the park and along the waterfront to get my views. As far as I could tell, I was the only photographer there, although I'm betting some folks wandered along the same way either before or after me. Still I think I got some interesting shots this year. Let me know what you think. 

Frank and Frantz's wedding

Hello,

I had the great privilege of photographing the wedding of Frank and Frantz on the Yacht Romantica. It was a lovely ceremony and a wild party on the harbor. A more wonderful couple I could not have imagined. Check out the attached slideshow and be sure to visit stevenrosenphotography.com to see more samples of my work.

Tango Dancers, Mermaids, and Leathermen, Oh My!

Never let it be said that I don't lead an interesting life. Over the past weekend, I spent Friday at Dances of Vice Tango Diablo party doing portraits of tango dancers, and folks who just like to dress like tango dancers. Saturday was spent in Coney Island frolicking with the mermaids at the annual Mermaid parade, and Sunday was spent at the Folsom Street East Festival, taking portraits of men in leather, rubber, and latex with the sound of the willing and eager being beaten and whipped ringing in the background.

Only in New York, and that's why I love it here.

Here are a few of my favorites from this crazy, slightly schizo, weekend. If you'd like to delve deeper, feel free to visit my Flickr page. Be forewarned, some of the Flickr images from the Folsom street festival might be disturbing to sensitive viewers. Hell, they're a little disturbing to me and I took them.

Here, however are my favorite g-rated shots.

Night of a Thousand Gowns

I had the great honor of once again being the portrait photographer at Night of a Thousand Gowns, which is a wonderful charity event put on by the Imperial Court of New York. The Imperial Court is a drag organization that's been around for many year and does great things for the community. Not to mention making the world a more fabulous and beautiful place.

Here a few of my favorite images from that night. These boys sure do make for some glamorous girls.

Partytime

Hello dear readers. I've just updated my party slideshow and felt the need to share.

Postcards from the Edge 2010

I was the photographer for this year's Postcards from the Edge event put on by Visual AIDS. A wonderful organization putting on a great event filled with great art and artists.

Check out the slideshow, and if you were there and want to see the online gallery, click here.