my nephew, learning to walk

This little dude really makes my day. Learning to walk is just days away! 

Wheee!

hang on, buddy. I got ya.

class act

How's this for an elegant, totally New York City wedding? Hope you're well heeled today. If so, read on... Congratulations Cristina and Mike!

Always a fun time at the beautiful Pratt House. Makeup by The House of Makeup!

St. Catherine of Siena

Central Park

Married!


july 4th

I spent July 4th in Cape Cod! A house full of friends.

Woods Hole, MA

It was like summer camp for adults. Every day we flip-flopped down to the sandy shore to sunbathe (with 50 SPF, you see, we are 1% more responsible now that we're 30-something...) and to swim out to the floating dock. Our 7-year-old co-camper would call out crazy words, instructing us on exactly what to say in the air as we jumped off. "HAIRBRUSH!$^#*!!!"

And, there was lobster. My brain categorizes lobster under (!!!!!!!)

It was vacationus maximus. And it's on repeat, in my mind, during work this week.

they make a cool sound, too


daddy's girls

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...

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


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!

Changing for my close-up!

Vivienne

anaphoto.co-IMG_9367-Edit.jpg

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.”
— Ernest Hemingway


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...”
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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

Truckee, CA 2013

Being chased by a killer remote-control helicopter while trying to cook a five-star Christmas meal...

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.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Truckee Jax Diner

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

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

Manhattan, 2013

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