The End of Center St

Today was the Oneonta school budget vote. A YES vote would have kept our neighborhood Center Street school open for another year. An unofficial tally is in: 726 Yes votes and 1,901 No votes.

My photojournalism students from Hartwick College have been photographing at Center St for the last 3 weeks. A few of their photos are below. They will present a full slideshow of their work to the entire Center St school on May 24 at Sing and Celebrate.

Third grade students in Joseph Collier’s class at Center Street School in Oneonta, NY, decorated their windows with an S.O.S (Save Our School) message. An Oneonta School District budget vote on May 15 will determine whether Center Street will remain open next year. Photo by Michaela Shipman.

A student locks his bike to the bike rack outside Center Street Elementary School before the school's Ice cream Social on May 4th, 2012. The majority, roughly 80%, of Center Street's students and parents walk to the school, according school principal Coleen Lewis. Photo by Alex Cookhouse.

Kindergarteners Gwyn Van Cott (left) and Miya Philpot at Center Street School in Oneonta, NY, work together on a class assignment in the classroom’s play area on April 29, 2012. Photograph by Devon Gonzalez.

Third grade student Robert Murray looks at a “Save Our School” sign in the cafeteria of Center Street School during a school open house on May 3, 2012. On May 15, a budget vote will determine the fate of the school. Photo by Michaela Shipman.

Two classes of fourth graders leave Center Street School on May 3, 2012, for a class field trip. The students walked around central Oneonta, learning about the different architecture of buildings in the neighborhood. As Center Street School awaits a May 15 budget vote that will determine its fate, daily life for the students continues as normal. Photo by Michelle O'Dell

Nature photo workshop

There is room for about 2 more people in my next Nature Photography workshop, this Sat. May 5 from 2 to 5 pm in Cooperstown. We'll play with ways to find the beauty all around us.

Details and sign-up here:
http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/conted/noncredit/coursedescriptions2012.asp

NPPA award!

Viktor Gaidak shows his scar.

I just learned today that I've won a National Press Photographer Association's Best of Photojournalism award! OK. To be accurate, DOUBLEtruck magazine and their editors won the award for their good work photo editing my recent Chernobyl article.

See the winning essay here.

DOUBLEtruck is a great little quarterly photojournalism magazine affiliated with my agency Zuma Press. Looks like we beat out Sports Illustrated and the Seattle Times in this category. Fitting that this should come on Chernobyl's anniversary.

thinking of Chernobyl

The city of Slavutych, Ukraine, celebrates its annual Day of the City with a parade and a concert on the central square. Slavutych is the city built after the 1986 Chernobyl accident to house relocated workers from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Slavutych was the last city built by the Soviet Union.

Today is the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. 26 years. It's been a generation now. I've been thinking all day about all my friends in Slavutych and Ivankiv and Sukachi and everywhere in the Chernobyl-affected zones.

Будьте щасливі! Будьте здорові! Я скучаю по тебе.

Woodstock exhibit

Last year, I participated in the MARK artist development program run by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Now we're having an exhibit with all the amazing artists who work in many different fields.

The exhibit opens tomorrow, March 31, at 4 pm, at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, in Woodstock, NY. Show runs through April 29. More details here.

The poster, a Venn diagram showing English, Greek and Russian alphabets, suggests that even when we speak different artistic languages, we can still find commonalities. The curator, Mark Kanter, (plus gallery staff and volunteers) did an amazing job hanging the show so that you discover parallels between the artworks.

oodles of Nudel for the Boston Globe

I was happy to shoot my first assignment for the Boston Globe this month. I spent an evening at the little Nudel restaurant in Lenox, Mass, run by the amazing chef Bjorn Somlo. Second best burrito I've ever had. The story runs in today's paper.

At Nudel restaurant in Lenox, MA, customers can watch chef Bjorn Somlo and cook Andrew Trudeau work in the tiny open galley kitchen. Nudel takes its inspiration from the bounty provided by the local farms in the Berkshires.

“In the summer we buy from local farmers,” says Somlo. “Of course our beets will be better, three hours after harvesting, than someone else’s that have changed temperature three times. I don’t say we’re a farm-to-table [restaurant] because right now we would only be serving mud! But when we can’t buy locally, we buy ethically and sustainably sourced.”

And delicious, I should add.

Thanks, Orion

Orion is an excellent magazine, with great photos and fascinating articles. If you're not familiar with it, stop reading my drivel and go check out their website now.

So I was flattered that the magazine gave a shout out to my Chernobyl website this week during the Fukushima 1-year anniversary. Thanks!

Snow falling on beeches

Finally some snow! I escaped my laptop for a few hours this morning to go photograph the fresh snow coating every little branch up at SUNY-Oneonta's College Camp. This particular tree entranced me. I kept coming back to it.

3 new exhibits: Brattleboro, Cherry Valley + Woodstock

I am delighted to announce 3 new photography exhibits coming up:

In Vermont:

• My After Chernobyl exhibit opens in Brattleboro, VT at the Vermont Center for Photography. Opening: Fri. Feb. 3, 5:30 pm, with a short talk by me at 6.
• “Art, Social Action, and Spirituality” lecture + discussion, Sun. Feb. 5, 11 am at the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community Center.
• Photojournalism workshop focusing on nuclear power: Sat. Feb. 25, 10-4, at the In-sight Photo Project in Brattleboro, VT. (Register here.)
• Public forum discussing how Vermont Yankee has affected Brattleboro for better and worse. Not a debate but a chance for people on both sides of the issue to hear each other. Sun. Feb. 26, 2 pm at VCP.

In New York:

• Show of Face exhibit, Cherry Branch Gallery, Cherry Valley, NY. Opening: Sat., Feb. 4, 5 pm. Hours: Wed-Sun, 12-5 pm.
  Some of my Chernobyl portraits will be included in this exhibit.
• NYFA exhibit, Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY. Opening: March 31, 4 pm, through April 29.
  

the Moment is here!

Today is the release date for The Moment, a new book of stories about moments that changed our lives.

I am happy to be one of the 125 "artists famous & obscure" to be featured in the book. (Yep, I'm here to represent the obscure).

I have a photo and essay about the moment I fell in love with my baby son Jacob, who is now 5 and very proud to be featured.

Check it out:
Editor Larry Smith is discussing the book today on NPR's Talk of the Nation.
Fellow contributor Shalom Auslander's piece was in the NY Times Magazine on Dec. 18 – in the Lives column.

Our first reading from the book will be next Mon. Jan. 9, 7 pm, at McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St. in NYC. Details here. Hope to see you there!

our flood book is now out!

Flood cleanup in the Oakdale section of Johnson City, NY, near Harry L Drive, after the Susquehanna River overflowed the city during Tropical Storm Lee on Sept. 7-8.

Our Flood 2011 book has now officially been released. I understand it is selling quickly. You can order a copy here.

Peace Corps calendar

One of my photos from Chernobyl is featured in the new 2012 Peace Corps international calendar. You can order a copy here and help support some great programs.

When the Soviet government constructed Novo Ladizhichi in 1987 for Chernobyl evacuees, they built a public sauna but no church. Now the new church has been under construction for over a decade, as villagers have had trouble raising enough money to continue.

Essex Farm

Last summer I spent a few lovely days at Essex Farm in way-up-north New York, shooting an alumni magazine story. The farm, a "full-diet CSA" (meat, dairy, vegetables, even maple syrup) runs on horse and solar power and was the subject of Kristin Kimball's great book The Dirty Life.

Anyway, the magazine story is now out, finally. Check it out here.

Flood 2011 book coming soon

I spent a lot of time this fall photographing the floods and aftermath in upstate New York, in the Catskills and along the Susquehanna River valley.

Now my photos will be in this new book, Flood 2011, coming out next month from the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin and Pediment Publishing. The book features my photos and photos by Casey Staff, Rebecca Catlett and others.

See more details and order the book here.

SUNY exhibit opening 11/3

A set of my After Chernobyl photos are in this exhibit opening tomorrow at SUNY Oneonta's Martin-Mullen Gallery. The opening reception is November 3 from 5 to 7.