This is the third collaboration with actor William Speziale. The two previous collaborations (“Man with a Book” and “Archer”) took place in February of 2021. And the next collaboration will involve swords and long exposure on the camera. Thanks again to Will for contributing on this new fun and colorful adventure. May 10, 2023. Beacon, NY.

A photo session with Dr. Shapley, who back in the days used to be a dancer! The setting is a historical brick factory located at Denis Point, in Beacon. I walk under these exposed beams daily, as part of my leisure walk along the trails. For a time I’ve been thinking of doing something in this setting, and the idea of having a dancer floating up in the air on this beautiful scenery kept crawling on me. I knew of a dancer in my neighborhood, and through a common friend I reached out to him. But he turned down the idea; after all he is now a doctor and not a dancer. Few days later we met on the site and shot (and jumped!). I really want to thank Lee Shapley for collaborating on this little project! I also want to thank his wife and son Janine Twining and Jack Twining for their help! The behind the scenes photos were taken by Jenine. Thanks!

Photo session with visual artist Athena Parella. Beacon, NY, March 21st, 2021.

Photo session November 28th, 2020. Beacon, NY.

Photo session Saturday, August 27, 2021. I wanted to do a very simple set up for this session, and I knew in advance that this would be B&W photos, with a graphic quality. I basically wanted to focus most of the attention on Issa, so I limited the props to these two elements: a black ball and a scrap piece of wood that I found by the river, and I painted black.

The idea for this album came to me while I was working on a TV production and a foam scrap scenery was about to be thrown away. There were the negative pieces from architectural elements that were used on the set. As soon as I saw the scrap pieces I knew I wanted to use them and how I wanted to light them (light coming from behind in order to enhance their tri-dimensionality). So I took the home (a total of thirty pieces) and set them up in my living room. My goal was to get as many different looks as possible out of these same elements by doing color variations and disposition of these elements. I also wanted to have different models and vary the look of the set according to the models. And for the last session I had the pleasure to have a couple, two Beacon based artists Ori Alon and Rachel Ray. We spent over two hours on this session. Here is a link to both Ori and Rachel art sites: http://www.supportivebureaucracy.org https://www.facebook.com/RachelRay78 I hope you enjoy the album! Big thanks to all the models!

Photo session with Ryan Sullivan, owner of “Sullivan & Main” hair salon in Beacon, NY. Thanks to Natasha Scully and Yan Wang for their invaluable help on this session. The session took place in our small living room space, and I made use of a rear withe screen and a scenic element on the foreground. Link to "Sullivan & Main" Instagram page below.

Photo session with actor (and bow and arrow practitioner) William Speziale. February 28th, 2021.

Photo session with our friend Marc S. April 2021.

“Knock out!”, from a photo session on June 11, 2022 with Stella Rose @officially.stellarose. Thanks to HUDSY tv’s (@hudsytv) Content Creator and videographer Natasha Scully for introducing me to Stella. Natasha worked on one of HUDSY’s documentary series about Stella (link below). I highly recommend you watch this documentary! On my first conversations with Stella (late May 2022) we agreed on developing some ideas for a photo session. We kept exchanging text messages over the following days and three weeks later we were doing this first session. Stella got some inspiration from one of my photo albums on my website but added that she could picture herself with red boxing gloves, thinking of that iconic photograph of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. To this I added that I could picture her on this empty barn space punching this boxing bag. We got the props (gloves and punching bag) and agreed on a date. I used three lenses on these photos: a fish eye, a 24 mm and a 75-200 mm. One key light and two rim lights. “A Bit About Stella Rose (from Stella’s online portfolio): “More Than a Professional Model. Stella Rose is defying the odds when it comes to breaking down walls regarding beauty and limitation. From surviving a rare syndrome from birth causing her amputation to finding and accepting her trans identity, Stella Rose is a natural-born fighter with a story to tell. She strives to inspire others by being her most authentic self and redefining what it means to be beautiful by showing being different is a gift. She finds that the best way to reach out and touch people is by being in front of a camera modeling/acting and creating art showing that nobody is stopped by their appearance or limitations”. Here is a link to Stella Rose Portfolio:

Photo session with graphic artist Elisa "E" Lopez. April 2022. The name of this album comes from Elisa's Instagram account @shyangrydorkycool

A little photo session with my daughter in our living room. February 2021.

A photo session with photographer, philosopher and hiker Yan Wang and the young visual artist Mengde Shi. Thank you so much to photographer/videographer Natasha Scully for her help on this project! Beacon, NY, May 2021.

Photo session with Linda Speziale. Beacon, NY. April 2021. When Linda Speziale told me that she would be happy to stand in front of the camera for a photo session, I was thrilled. But I knew I needed to find (or create) a context for her. I envisioned quite quickly the ambient and lighting I would like to photograph her on: a room full of objects, like an attic filled with old items or an antique store with low ambient light and some brighter spots. But we didn't have access to either spaces, so we decided to create something on this line. Looking at some old carved figures I have in my house I envisioned a large scale chessboard with these figures acting as chess pieces. It was then that I decided to build the large table with a chessboard top, and age it to make it look like an antique and be in tune with the old carved figures. I envisioned Linda outfitted in a somewhat luxurious style in contrast with the context she would be in: an old barn with an old and odd chess board set. This session was very much inspired by the fabulous “The Queen Gambit” TV series. I met Linda five years ago when I did a set design for "HSM Pinafore" for the Depot Theater in Garrison. Linda was the music director for the play. And then we worked together again on "The Music Man". This time we got together for another art experience, which I would call "Appendix to The Queen Gambit". I want to thank Natasha Scully and William Speziale for their help.

A photo session with actor William Speziale. Beacon, February 15th, 2021.

December of 2020. Beacon, NY.

With no one to stand in front of the camera, the only option left is to press the shutter and run. Three speed lights on stroboscopic mode with green, blue and red color gels.

I'm not a big fan of spending hours in Adobe Photoshop tweaking photos. I’m interested in doing as much as possible in camera and doing any photo editing in Adobe Lightroom. These are composite images that require a good amount of editing in Photoshop. Most of these six photos are made off of three shots combined into one. I enjoy walking in the local trails around the town I live in (Beacon, NY) and I envisioned this idea of looking out of the window from the woods and into the woods. I did a quick edit just to sketch my idea. January of 2022.

Playing with ripped off cardboard, smoke and some leisure time.

These images emerged one of those days in which you are looking for something to shoot but you don’t know what and how. Then you start playing with light trailing by having a constant light with a color gel and a couple of strobes (no gels on these) and you set your camera to a two second exposure. Then you start jumping in front of the camera to see what you get, and you like it, but it feels like you need a prop. Then you go down to the basement and grab an ax!

February 27th, 2021.