Sisters playing on the stoop, summer breeze in the air... today will be a great day. Daddy's girls!
brand new
My newest little niece is here! As soon as I got the news I swerved off to the nearest Babies R Us to buy a tiny eyelet white dress. The impulse to do that is STRONG and unwavering.
And then the perfect little face.
Us aunties grudgingly shared holding-the-baby duties, with the new mama as referee.
Simone, 10 hours old
pajama party
Rain, rain go away! Actually, you can stay. There's a pajama party in the house! LET'S STAY IN BED!
Pajama Party in Manhattan, 2014
(No lamps, picture frames or selves were harmed in the making of this blogpost... YOU'RE IT!)
Freeze!
Don't forget me!
Here's the Varsity PJ party player with the Referee...
Planning strategy...
Get a bit BRAIZEN
Truth: It's been 2+ years since I decided to re-brand my photography business, and I've sighed a hundred grateful sighs since. I hired Ashley Jankowski of BRAIZEN, and am still patting myself on the back for making such a smart move. It may have taken me forever to write this post, but that doesn't lessen the intensity of my stoked-ness one BIT.
When we finished working together, not only were the results effective immediately for me in terms of new clients and enthusiasm from repeat clients, but the new logo, business cards and packaging were things I actually skip towards in the afternoons as I assemble people's orders, rather than that final step feeling like a chore. God, that feels good!
Truth: The identity feels like me. And (ha!) it took me a while to find me. When we began, Ashley waded through all my self-image confusion and design-love ADD (I hate you, Pinterest! I LOVE you, Pinterest!) and used her super-honed instinct to guide me to what she knew I already wanted. I was a total pain in her ass, and she let me do it. Then she handed over the most spot-on suite of identity ridiculousness I ever could have hoped for.
I've used these graceful lines every day since, with a big fat smile. I've been meaning to write a little love note to her for years now, and I'm loving ending this week having blown her this internet-kiss! Thank you so much Ashley and my gratitude to the whole Braizen team.
p.s. A big shout-out to Henry & Co. who made by business cards! Over at Henry & Co. they're sweet as pie and SUCH professionals. Every person I hand a biz card to asks where I got them...
hello, future helpers!
Dear new baby sisters,
It's only a matter of time before you will copy everything I do, so I'm going to start being a role model now. Would you like to hear a story?
Reading Curious George, NYC
Reading Curious George, NYC
You guys are so cute... but sometimes you cry a lot. I'll just take a nap in the other room.
Big sisters need "me" time.
I'm so glad you've arrived. I have so much to tell you and show you...
Love,
#1 Big Sister
Barbados
New York, what gives? One day, 61 degrees and balmy, the next 18 degrees plus wind chill. It's time to take matters into my own hands. Here's a long-overdue post from my recent winter-escape to Barbados... may these photos and memories coax the sun goddesses and breeze-bringing spirits out of hiding and back to New York, New York... Please. (Please!)
Barbados
My lovely sea swim partner, we had a moment, we communed...
Sunning
In Barbados, when we weren't on or looking for the main highway, called the ABC, (which, hilariously, was almost entirely unmarked, by letters, signs or otherwise) we were lying on our empty beach, kayaking, grilling fresh meals at home, exploring the local beer with our neighbors or swimming with the sea turtles, our sea-based neighbors.
A group of five friends, spending time meeting new friends. And all to celebrate the one and only Sarah's birthday! Sarah my love, may we all have many more times around the sun, and may most of yours be by my side.
The view from the house
NYC, February 2014
M&M: Engaged!
A stroll through New York, NY... to celebrate beautiful and soon-to-be-official love!
Washington Square Park, New York City
Nora
Brooklyn, NY 2014
Never underestimate the beauty of a window-lit room. Even in winter, wait--actually... ESPECIALLY in winter. The muted overcast sun in a New York winter actually bounces around the walls of a room in a unique and beautifully crisp way, highlighting the soft, sweet face of the little one you're giggling with.
Shooting indoors can often be a challenge. It's a challenge I absolutely adore! With a willing subject and an open mind (and a large-ish window!) it's actually a total joy. While I often shoot with flash as well, my heart holds a special place for the purity of window light.
And how about the enthusiasm from 3-month-old Nora? Can you handle this face! I'm not sure I can. Re-boot!
love-love,
Ana
Changing for my close-up!
Vivienne
I happily braved the polar-apocalypse in New York City today (6 inches of snow, 13 degrees, wind going sideways!) to visit a glorious day-lit penthouse, the home of five-week-old Vivienne! She's truly a chipmunk-cheeked delight.
It's days like today I am grateful for my job as a borough-roving baby-lover... it takes more than a winter storm to keep me from a new human that wants their photo taken...
Big brother Bob was adjusting well, with the assistance of delicious organic treats. It's the effort that counts, Bob. Don't look at me like that. There's nothing in my pocket.
With the storm in full swing, Viv's mom and I were in no hurry to wrap up the shoot. We gabbed and exclaimed as the snow outside the forty-ninth floor actually snowed UPWARDS. (why didn't I take a video! I was too stunned...)
All three of us, Viv included, enjoyed a snowy afternoon wrap-party beverage as the sun retreated into the stormy white sky.
Goodnight, Viv!
Daydreaming of Cambodia: Asia, Part 1
The view towards Old Town, Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 2013
Of all the places I go when my mind drifts, when it puts itself on 'sleep', when I'm just numb and dumb and moving slow, or in fact checked out completely, with a tingling bum from too many photoshop hours in this chair, I go, I go, I happily go, to the far off places I've been.
In the spring of 2013, I went on a trip to Southeast Asia for six weeks. I went alone. I went to meet and shoot and wander, and to be both completely off the grid and completely on, as I ignored every single email but posted hundreds of photos on Instagram, photos that just flowed out directly from a moment I'd just had, alone but never alone. Solo on the wandering path I'd created for myself. Buoyed by the heart-ing of the images from friends back home. Surprised at myself as I strode confidently into each new day of unknowns.
Everything was new, and I was humbled. Alone but not alone, I was electrified by the indelible faces I was meeting. Western faces and Eastern faces, and everything in between. Faces that surprised and astonished and tickled me, ones that hugged me and scared me and made me cry, ones that had the same mission as I as a wanderer, and ones that had lives so different I was rendered speechless.
Banteay Samre temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 2013
I wasn't supposed to be there, I knew, not really. I "shouldn't" have gone at all. My heart was still broken from a break-up a few months back, a five year chapter that snapped closed with a whooshing devastation, knocking the wind out of me for six whole months. My gut ached with loss and loneliness, as my best friends floated down aisles and into delivery rooms.
Though I felt I should have rebounded more quickly, my sadness made me listless in business. As any business owner knows, dropping the ball for a day can be terrible, but watching the ball slowly roll away from you, week after week, without making the slightest effort to chase it leads to epic loss. My photography business was hanging by a teardrop. My contracted deadlines, my financial obligations and my guilty conscience for even considering such a long time away all narrowed their eyes into a slit, in unison, in warning. "You can't afford it, and you don't deserve it."
Well.
I've seen that movie, so to speak, and it sucked. I'm no longer gullible enough to believe the curious put-downs my brain generates when it's searching for an answer.
I just go out looking.
For the answer.
Because to know what's behind the curtain of my need to wander, is an answer I deserve.
Siem Reap, Cambodia with Beyond Unique Escapes
I calmly considered all the obvious logic that might have prevented me from buying the one-way ticket, but something kept pushing me towards this adventure. I knew if I wanted to get my business back on track, I needed to spend some serious time alone with my thoughts.
Though it would be far from my first solo trip to a far-flung place, it was different than the others. I was listening closely, for once, to the echoes of history, as well as to the people I met. Less of the hair-tossing yoga girl I was in India at 25 (though I love her, too) and more the family-lore-loving listener, aiming to just connect with other humans. Alone but not alone.
Part of me leaving like this, with so much in flux, felt bratty. It was indignant and solipsistic. It was saying, "Of all the things I want in life but that are out of my reach, (aisles, delivery rooms, firework-crusted career success, endless world travel) world travel is the one that I can grasp for myself. Right now."
But questionable motives aside, I also knew that travel heals you, in its own way. To be lost and dirty, to be hungry and queasy and to be language-dumb, means to soon after be cared for, welcomed in, shared with, fed til you're stuffed to the gills and your eyes are crinkly from laughter.
Spicy Papaya Salad at the Golden Butterfly Villa, Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 2013
To hear secrets, to rock baby sisters, and to make papaya salad. To shuffle awkwardly to new music, feet still thumping with new rhythms long after you've lowered your lids. To bear witness to the lives and stories and tragedies of others, unsure of how you could have possibly continued existing, across the world at home, and still be breathing, had you not followed your fate here to this place.
Ultimately, the ground sang. The faces roared. The shape of those moments will be detailed in future posts, and I can't wait to set them free with words, they shouldn't live only in my head.
The whole country of Cambodia imprinted me with hope and renewal, a country that has been through so much, but who in 2013 had so much pride on their faces and love on their lips.
And then.
I returned home. My bills and my mistakes were all still there, and (surprise!) they were compounded into even more nightmarishly twisted versions of the messes that I left. My trip didn't "solve" anything, not that I thought it would. I patched and apologized and saved money, I was honest and earnest and direct with clients. I wasn't afraid to ask for help from my friends, my family and my community. I am still in business, thriving even, and I am smiling.
And what fun, I think now, to finally be writing about this trip, nine full months after returning. What a thrill to have finally given myself permission to let these memories blossom. Much more to come soon from this trip! This is absolutely only the beginning.
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
NOTE: All photos here were taken with my beloved Fuji X-E1, which proved itself brilliantly as the off-duty photographer's right-hand man. I was too busy soul-healing and temple-traversing and existing outside of my norm to be using the camera I use for work (I didn't even bring it). This is the camera I reach for when I set out to just... be.
30 Faces from 2013
I really had a beautiful year. From my street in hometown Brooklyn to a sidestreet in Hoi An, Vietnam, I made friends and made pictures all over the earth.
Yesterday I put 100 names in a fedora (not just any old hat!) and chose 30 names at random for this post, a post of 30 Faces From 2013, a snapshot of 30 of my adventures from this year. All of which brought a smile to my face and an appreciative warmth to my day.
Thank you to ALL the faces that have crossed my path this year!
With gratitude,
Ana
All images shot by Ana Schechter in 2013 and used with permission.
“No, no! Adventures first, explanations take such dreadful time...”
Truckee
Checked out in the mind, tucked in by the fire... The cabin days in Truckee were the best blend of relaxation and... sleeping? Those two things are different, right?
Truckee, CA 2013
Being chased by a killer remote-control helicopter while trying to cook a five-star Christmas meal...
“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
Truckee Jax Diner
The food at the Jax on the Tracks Diner is absolutely divine, and with service that is unbelievably fast and friendly considering how busy they are.
And the vintage snowshoes on Linda's wall make me yearn to try snowshoe-ing! Look, Kaufmann Mercantile has these swanky versions available... would I dare?
I'm sure my mom would document that train wreck, (I mean, totally competent adventure!)
New kid on the block
There are many ways to teach responsibility... chores, allowances, learning to save your money and learning to follow through on what you say you're going to do. In my day (so very very loooong ago...) I got to write out my mother's checks for her to sign, making me feel very moneybags-cool, and very in control. With one wave of a very powerful blue-inked piece of paper, people give you things!
Manhattan, November 2013
Now that checks are basically obsolete, I'd imagine that learning how to be responsible is more focused on learning to be a kind and helpful member of the community. Perhaps that starts with... learning to take care of something! Like, perhaps... a puppy! This family has never embraced a challenge so heartily.
Follow mom Carol Adams and her eponymous kids' clothing store TorlyKid on Instagram at @torlykid, and follow their new puppy Graham by searching hashtag #grahamcam!
<3
Ana
Tribeca, New York City
Tribeca, New York City
12-week old Graham
Friendsgiving
It's helpful to figure out what you're thankful for. To have an excuse to take stock of your lot, to sit back and consider carefully what you have around you that is awesome. It's helpful for perspective, to feel less blegh-y about the things you might otherwise complain about, and it's helpful to be appreciative of the smaller (more concentrated?) great things in your world that you might often ignore.
Helpful because a little meditation on your good fortune can make your smile softer, and more permanent. It can make you stand taller when you stand up for what you believe in.
Gathering Ingredients for Stuffing
For me, besides making and enjoying food (which I love-love!) the whole entire meaty-whole pervasive amazingness of my life is the people I love dearly. They are numerous and they are wild and they fill my home and fill my life with such an intense warm glow that it more than overflows my cup of wants. I had a lot of these faces around me last week for our Friendsgiving in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and I couldn't be more thankful if I tried. Bottoms up, family!
Love,
Ana (aka Schecky)
VIDEO: The toast just before the feast!
Feature on Elizabeth Street
I shared some fun tips this week on Elizabeth Street on how to get your own brag-worthy photos of your family.
What are some of the biggest mistakes parents make when photographing their kids?
Parents often don’t remember to look for good lighting. Most people’s on-camera flash is going to look icky. Don’t train your kid to “say cheese!” I know this habit is hard to break, but it results in a forced, sarcastic smile, especially when the kids are not in the mood and even when they are, it isn’t natural and is never the photo you’re looking for. The key is to always have the camera with you, and to always casually be snapping a photo here or there, then hopefully the kids won’t stop what they’re doing to grin like a hungry wolf whenever they see the lens. AND, they’ll stop noticing as you slyly sit on the sidelines and hopefully you’ll capture that huge natural grin your kid sports only when they think no one is looking.
- Click the photo below to read the FULL article!
Manhattan, 2013
Cristina + Mike: Engaged!
It's always the night before something big that I can't seem to fall asleep.
It's always a big shoot, a trip or something unusually exciting. I toss and turn, wish I'd taken a ZZZQuil, and generally lie there creating an endless to-do list that I then have to email to myself, pat-pat-patting my hand over the edge of the bed in the dark for my phone, for fear of forgetting it all... which is all terribly silly because you can only forget things if you ACTUALLY FALL ASLEEP.
I digress.
Brooklyn Bridge, November 2013
Last night I didn't sleep a wink. Last night before bed, I finished editing the engagement session for a very special couple, and I couldn't wait, literally, to wake up to reveal it to them. The to-do list I emailed myself in the dark from my phone last night at 1:41am read:
-Pharmacy
-Call Dentist
-REVEAL CRISTINA AND MIKE! FIRST THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<3
Ana
let loose
...sometimes an unconventional portrait is the most apropos...
(look, ma! one-handed cartwheel...)
p.s. Not as gracefully as this little lady, but I THINK I can still do a one-handed cartwheel... next time I see a big expanse of grass, I'm going to try!
New York, NY, 2012
Fall at Age 2
In Central Park, there is so much to see. Together last weekend, 2-year old Layla and I visited Alice in Wonderland, made fallen-leaf angels, and marveled at the remote control sailboats that shimmered happily across the pond. There is almost nothing that didn't make her giggle! (And seriously, that hot-pink puffer vest? Covet.)
I've been L's friend since she was six months old. She is always one of the sweetest sessions of the year! My job SO does not suck.
<3
Ana
Central Park, October 2013
a baby shower for a bestie
(also featured on Pinhole Press here!)
Last month I threw my best friend a baby shower. It was pretty epic!
The best part of the preparations for me was the book I made with Pinhole Press, a landscape panoramic gray-fabric book with extra thick pages called, "Sweet Words for Little Boys" with a subtitle, and "And those who love them", and it was extra special because each one of the guests had submitted their own baby photo along with a quote or words of advice for the little man and his parents-to-be! The waterworks were on as she read each page, beginning with a baby photo of her mom and aunt with advice from her aunt, as her mom is not longer with us.
I co-hosted with two other friends, a friend to help me with the decor, Ashley Norton, who works as a crafting editor at Martha Stewart Living, and a photo shoot producer friend, Erin O'Reilly, to help source and execute the day. Together we agreed on a nautical theme since the Kozlowskis are expecting a boy, and their home decor aesthetic is very chic and simple in light, airy tones.
We began with a Paperless Post invite with little boats on them, and Ashley followed that up with garlands of folded boats out of hand-painted paper, bouquets of handmade paper flowers in blue tones with menswear hints, and an ocean-themed photo booth with waves and hand-held hand-painted props in cute Octopus, Jellyfish, Seahorse and shark shapes.
Guests could take home their Instax polaroid favor in a hand painted linen bag that Ashley painted to match the hand-painted muslin tablecloth, and the Photo Booth was a hit! We all spammed our Instagram feeds with a load of funny photos from the booth. (My feed is @anaphotonyc!)
the longest day
It's the longest day of the year today!
Where did the 8:45pm sunset find you? I decided to lay on my back in the grass on the Great Lawn in Central Park, watching the big orange ball fall lower and lower in the sky.
"Summer afternoon--summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. -Henry James
Central Park, 2013