#best lifestyle photographers New York

[darcey-stone]

Preserving Precious Moments: Newborn Lifestyle Photography Near You

There is almost nothing in the world that you can probably compare to the euphoria of becoming a parent. It is a life-changing experience filled with magical moments of love, joy and pride. Everything about a newborn is special – the tiny fingers and toes, the smiles that make you go ‘awww’ and the cute poses as it sleeps. Don’t you wish you could forever cherish these delightful moments?

Thanks to the art of photography, you can now freeze these precious moments and relive them for years. All you have to do is hire a talented lifestyle photographer in CT to capture your journey of parenthood. In today’s blog, we will explore the significance of choosing professional photographers to capture photos of your newborn.

Capturing your unique parenthood moments

Your newborn will grow incredibly fast, making you wish you had photographed its first few months when everything seemed so new and special. By getting in touch with a lifestyle photographer in NYC, you can ensure that your initial moments as a parent are forever preserved. These photographers possess the skill and expertise to create visually appealing images that capture the essence of parenthood with all its emotions and expressions.

Expertise in handling newborns

Unlike photographers specializing in fields such as creative product photography, the best lifestyle photographers in New York understand the challenges involved in capturing photographs of newborns. They are skilled in capturing intimate moments between parents and the newborn without excessive intrusion or sounds that may disturb the moment.

With years of experience in managing newborns, photographers near me create safe and comfortable settings for the baby so that it remains calm and contented throughout the session. They take care not to use harsh lighting or hard surfaces that may hurt the baby. Best of all, they bring in am element of creativity that amazingly captures the purity and innocence of new life.

Helping strengthen family bonding

Gone are the days when newborn photography was solely about photographing newborns and their parents. These days, skilled professionals from lifestyle photography studios near ne make it a point to bring in the entire family – including siblings and pets – into the pictures. This trend goes a long way in fortifying the connection that exists within the family. Throughout life, these photographs will remind everyone of the love and support they share.

Final word

The entry of a newborn completely transforms your world and your perspectives about life, love and relationships in general. Every moment spent with your baby is precious and unforgettable. While most of these moments may slip away with the passage of timer, photography allows you to freeze some of these special moments for eternity.

Equipped with the best lifestyle newborn photography techniques in NYC, newborn photographers are experts in crafting adorable images that marvelously capture the spirit of parenthood. These photographs become priceless as you regale your future generations with stories of your children. So embrace this blessing called photography and call in the most talented photographer in CTto transform your parenthood experiences into stunning images.

[nyphotony]

headshot

[farfallasims]

Isla Gonzales🗽

From growing up in SoHo to now living in the Financial District, Isla is no newbie to the city lifestyle. She lives for the chaotic beauty that is Manhattan, New York, and finds it to be addictive, even in the most peculiar of predicaments.

Now at 22, Isla is an accomplished concert photographer & part-time university student getting her degree in Digital Audiences at NYU. While completing her degree, Isla is living with her best friends, Reeves & Gage in Cloud Nine, a luxury apartment building near Wall Street.

[actuallyastingray]

Spiderman/DC crossovers

So i’ve noticed that whenever someone writes a crossover between Spiderman and DC in general, I notice that he’s always dropped in Gotham City. Granted, I can understand why. Batman and Spidey have similar origin stories. They both have the combination of brains, brawn, and technological edge that keeps them alive against criminals. Bruce already has 12+ kids, so he has experience taking in and housing other vigilantes. With the release of the MCU Spidey and Tony being his mentor/father figure, it’s not hard to realize that Bruce Wayne is the Tony Stark of DC and people want this to echo. That said, I like variety and I started thinking about what would happen if Spidey ended up in a different DC city. This is my personal take on what would occur. 

These would basically start with Peter getting zapped into another universe out of nowhere and has to make do. Also, I am not sticking with one specific incarnation of any characters (sorry MCU fanbase) but instead trying to create a character amalgam based on various depictions across comics, movies, and games. In other words, I am taking certain liberties with characters/locations, but considering this is all a total AU, I feel like I am entitled to do so.

Metropolis:

Spidey would likely start living in the Suicide Slums seeing as he can’t afford his own apartment yet. He’s grown up in New York (and SS is based of East Side NY) so having to deal with this lifestyle isn’t too hard for him.

He would make friends with his landlady, Natasha Irons, and her uncle pretty quick

Peter would try to apply at the Daily Planet for photography, using a resume that isn’t totally inaccurate but he’s hoping nobody goes looking to see if the Daily Bugle exists in this world

Perry wouldn’t hire him as a photographer, he’s got Jimmy already. He would more likely hire Peter as the on-site IT repairman and maintenance guy to keep the computers running and up to date. Pete is thrilled by this

Needless to say, despite losing his intended job, he still makes friends with Jimmy. Lois takes a bit of warming up, but she comes around eventually

Lois knows Peter is homeless (Ace reporter on the case) and she starts finding ways to help him out, like dragging him out to lunch with her and Jimmy or bringing him things from home. Peter promptly annoys her to death by insisting he’s alright and doesn’t need help.

Metropolis is a lot different from New York. Peter is pretty stunned the first time he debuts and gets praised and cheered on instead of scorned as a menace. It’s a bittersweet feeling that he had to get blasted into another universe in order to be appreciated

Most of the criminals are used to going up against Superman, so they have some serious power behind their punches. Spidey is very unused to not having to pull his own punches (cause Spiderman canonically has to hold back in order to not take someone's head off)

Inversely, there are a lot of superheroes as well. Supes and the Kryptofam aside, Metropolis has plenty of non-Kryptonian superheroes (Steel, Black Lightning, Booster Gold) so Spidey would definitely run into them and start making friends. I mean he’s already got the Metropolis red and blue down

Spidey would unintentionally start saving Lois, Jimmy, and Perry from danger just like Superman did during his early years. Clark is lowkey salty that Lois is teasing him about “switching out for a younger model”. 

Lex Luthor is also pretty steamed that he has to deal with ANOTHER superhero getting in his way. He would be privately impressed that Spiderman can handle most situations with brains over brawn as opposed to Superman, but a hero is a hero.

Jimmy is the first to find out Peter’s identity, mostly because he doesn’t have the “awkward reporter” identity on lock the dame way Clark does. 

Jimmy insists on being Spidey’s wingman, because hey he’s already Superman’s best buddy, why stop at one?

Lois is the second person to find out (mostly because she can always tell when Jimmy is lying to her). She is a little mad that someone else beat her to the finale, but she would by now have warmed up to the skinny IT nerd.

Clark is the last person to find out. He and Spiderman would meet somewhere on the rooftops and have a heart to heart. Peter feels safe venting to Supes about being from a different universe, and how he has been struggling to survive in a strange universe and being a good hero at the same time.

At this point, I feel the story would move out of a Metropolis/Superman crossover and into a full Justice League one because Supes is going to do his best to help Spidey get home. Thus, he needs to get the JL involved

Star City

I don’t know much about Star City’s layout, but I assume it is built like most cities in Northern California. Peter would likely find a low-income apartment and get a decent paying job to make ends meet.

At some point, he meets Roy Harper who just got back from rehab and finds that his old apartment is being rented out by a skinny little twerp who reminds him of Nightwing

For the record, as much as I liked New52 Roy with the Outlaws, I also enjoyed pre-52 Roy being a successful father and leader of the Outsiders. My take would be Roy just returning from a forced stint in rehab while Ollie and Dinah watch Lian. He didn’t exactly part with them on good terms and is afraid of what they and Lian with think of him.

Roy and Peter end up living together after Roy finds out Peter can barely keep up with rent and uses his detective job to help make ends meet. Peter realizes this was how Aunt May used to feel when he was the one paying the bills at home.

Commence hijinks of Roy and Peter trying to pull off dual identity jobs while not telling each other

Roy and Peter both know things aren’t copasetic with each other. Roy is still struggling with his history as a drug addict and is still avoiding Ollie, while Pete is starting to feel homesick and worry about the people he left behind. (Don’t worry, they end up talking and making each other feel better)

Roy’s friends and family keep showing up and making it hard to keep a secret identity: Jason pops up with beer from time to time, Nightwing shows up in full costume not knowing Roy is not living alone, Artemis is pissed when she thinks Roy abandoned Lian and picked up another kid (yeah I put Artemis in the DCU, sue me if I like her), and Dinah just coming over to talk and finding out she has two angsty boys that need help instead of just one

Star City has fewer criminals and more assassins than other cities. I would reason Peter isn’t prepared to deal with Merlyn or Slade and takes a bad hit

Roy throws apprehension to the wind and books it to Queen Mansion in order to save his friends life. This results in a whirlwind of everybody freaking out when Roy shows up with a bloody, dying teenager pleading with Ollie for help (Ollie, I should mention, was not aware Roy was back until this point)

Dinah is the only one who stays calm enough to help Peter while Roy, Ollie, Mia, and Artemis all have a family feud moment.

The end result would be Roy getting back together with his family, taking back custody of Lian, gaining temporary guardianship of Peter, and getting back in touch with the superhero community. 

As before, I’m sure Ollie would drop it to the JL that Peter is from another dimension and he needs some help, but brags that if they can’t get him home, he’s one-upping Batman on the adoption chart

Central City

Yes, I know Keystone also exists. But considering the two are in different states and Spidey doesn’t have superspeed, so I’m restricting it to Central.

He manages to get a well-off apartment, unfortunately it’s right across the street from the Keystone Saloon. He manages to lies about his age in order to get work as a cleaner/barkeep. (For the record, I can totally see Peter’s chemistry skills coming in handy here with drink mixing. Keep in mind that Flash, who is a chemist by trade, once worked as the barkeep too)

The Flash Rogues are pretty pissed that the owner hired a kid to work the counter, but after getting some (not at all believed) reassurance from Peter that he’s just small for his age, they decide to keep an eye on him while there

Meanwhile, outside the bar, the Rogues are a bit surprised/annoyed that a non-speed related newbie is foiling their heists. That lasts all of five seconds when they realize Spiderman is another minor.

Spidey, who is used to crazed egomaniacal maniacs swearing to kill him ten different ways, is very put off with the Rogues acting like overbearing uncles to him (”I know it’s finals week kid, WTF are you doing out this late” “Kid fix your damn costume and patch yourself up before you do this again, you're gonna get hurt” “Kid do you even eat?”)

They warm up to each other, especially when Spidey offhandedly mentions he’s not used to people being so nice to him (cue Captain Cold to assume child abuse)

The Flash family proceed to make Spidey’s head spin. Barry, Jay, and sometimes Wally stand still long enough to have casual conversation, but Iris, Jay, and Bart are a different story. 

Barry starts to suspect Spiderman is hiding something. He doesn’t follow him home out of respect, but after talking with Cold during a heist, he starts to subscribe to the “child abuse” theory

The fact that Peter is more or less living bare minimum with fewer calories to fuel his healing factor doesn’t help. Those bruises after a fight aren’t healing as fast. It also doesn’t help that he’s showing up to work with half healed injuries.

The ruse is up when Trickster barges into Peter’s apartment one night in order to settle the debate and finds him still in costume patching up after a fight with a non-Rogue villain. 

The Rogues proceed to haul Peter over to Keystone and dump him on Barry Allen (” Here, take this. He’s not allowed back out until he’s been fed, healed up, and fixed his suit. Don’t make us come back here Flash”)

Barry and Iris get the full story from Peter while they patch him up. Peter is pretty surprised that dimensional travel isn’t the weirdest thing Flash has ever done (the guy has created parallel universes for crying out loud)

Peter is very self-conscious about eating enough to maintain his healing factor and metabolism, until he realizes he’s among people who deal with the same problems in day-to-day life outside the house. It’s a touching moment

Once again, queue Justice League to swoop in and take over.

Yes I know not everybody is used to the Flash Rogues being so close with Flash, but I grew up with this particular variant of the characters and I like that it’s a change in dynamic between heroes and criminals

Coast City

Again, I’m not super familiar with Coast City other than it is DC’s take on Californian cities.

Peter takes a job as a delivery driver to make ends meet. One of the people he delivers to more than most is Hal Jordan (because I assume Hal is just like any other mid 30′s bachelor and prefers to order take out instead of cook for himself)

Hal is extremely put off by the pizza delivery boy who looks like he could be a clone or long lost son

By comparison, he is only mildly annoyed by the arrival of a new vigilante in Coast City. (As far as I know, Coast City doesn’t really have any hometown villains. The majority of the bad guys who attack are aliens who are after Jordan for being a member of the GL corps) Hal never really had time to go out patrolling like Spiderman does, so he doesn’t care at first

Ultimately, due to teasing from the other Lanterns and Carol about “staking his turf and laying down the law with the newbie” Hal goes out as GL to talk with Spidey. Halfway through their “conversation”, one of Hal’s enemies shows up to try and settle the score

Spidey and GL team up, but Spidey isn’t exactly prepared to deal with the things a power ring can do. His costume gets shredded and immediately gets ousted as the pizza guy less than a week after dropping in Coast City

Hal is having a crisis over this. (What if this kid is his long lost son after all? I’m not enough of a bastard to just leave this kid to struggle with homelessness knowing I could help him. Dammit Batman, you are a terrible influence!)

Hal makes Peter quit the pizza gig because, “kid you are way too young to be working anyway and CPS will eat me alive if they find out I was okay with this” 

Hal, predictably, is zero percent ready to be taking care of a fidgety superteen. Like this guy's level of parental incompetence would terrify Batman. Here he is having spontaneously taken in a kid off the streets when he can’t even feed himself.

Carol hears about this and puts him through the wringer about “How to Parent” Queue Hal doing the most ridiculous things from buying cheesy Parenting For Dummies books to attending seminars for single moms

Long story short, he gets his act together over this because if Peter is in fact a lost family relative, he wants to make an impression/make up for lost time (Peter meanwhile, is oblivious to this thought process and doesn’t think he and Hal look that much alike. They do XD)

Hal and Peter having a bonding moment over at Ferris Air, with Hal taking Peter flying in one of his jets. Hal is shocked that Peter is so familiar with and enthused by the inner workings and considers pestering Carol about getting Peter a position as a mechanic. Carol says not until he graduates.

Word gets out about Spidey and Hal slowly, mostly because Hal is the only hero in Coast City and manages to keep his secrets under wraps. Batman mostly figures out the truth due to Hal’s change in character (Sorry Bats, can’t be on for monitor duty tonight, I gotta get home and cook for my ki - I mean, for Carol. Cause she’s the one who over at my place. Totally. No one else)

Flash and Green Arrow show up in Coast City to throw Hal a “Welcome to Parenthood” party. Hal is not amused, but Carol very much is.

Peter finally breaks to Hal, and then the JL about being from another universe. Hal is pretty crushed about Peter not being a blood relative due to entertaining the fantasy for so long. 

The League starts trying to find ways to send Peter back. Meanwhile, he starts parading Spiderman around during League meetings going on about how he proved them wrong and being a successful parent. It especially annoys Batman. (”What’s the matter Bats? Mad that you aren’t one of a kind anymore?”)

Fawcett City

For starters, I’m really not sure which variation of the Marvel Family to use: the New52 or Pre-52 versions. It makes it kinda hard to nail down plot elements since I go back and forth. 

I like the idea of Peter and Billy being homeless together and helping each other out, Peter being an older brother which is something he has no experience with.

That said, I’m not super familiar with how DC handled Billy later in the timeline other then he started growing up, joined the radio station as the host, and met Mary. Might not be the best storyline to use seeing as it seems a bit spotty

I like the idea of the New52 Marvel Family finding Peter out in the cold and inviting him in. Peter is thrust into the role of the awkward older brother with six small children looking up to him

Of course, when they transform in front of him, they aren’t so small anymore.

Despite having a caring family, food, and support, Peter is afraid of telling everyone who he is. The fear of overstaying his welcome keeps him up at night.

Not to mention, the Marvel’s have the crime fighting down cold, meaning there isn’t really a home for Spiderman either.

I think a moment where Peter privately confesses who he is/where he comes from to Billy would set up the story. Now Billy realizes his new big brother is going through the same problems he went through with trying to fit in. 

As Captain Marvel, he tries to find the Marvel (haha) universe via the Rock of Eternity, but gets no results. Now Billy is afraid of telling Peter the bad news because he’s pretty sure Peter is depressed and doesn’t want something to happen.

Billy starts subtly asking Cyborg at the watchtower about research into alternate universes because maybe science can succeed where magic failed

The opportunity for Spidey to shine comes when Dr. Sivana starts up a machine that drains magic and makes the Marvel’s powerless. Queue someone with no magic powers but a lot of technical know-how to swoop in and show what he can do.

I feel something that could potentially happen is the machine backfiring and giving Peter some magical abilities as a result (I mean, the Marvel’s are basically the sources of Earth’s magic from what I can remember. Anything can happen)

From here, not really sure what could happen. I suppose Peter having to accept that he can’t go home, but is happy he can stay with the Vasquez family and still continue being a hero to his adopted siblings in and out of costume. Alternatively, the magic blast could shoot him back to the Marvelverse, with Peter being upset that he never got to say goodbye. (Spoiler: Captain Marvel now knows where the Marvelverse is and comes for a visit)

[momentspassd]

❝ the people you love become ghosts inside of you ❞

Age: 37

Gender identification: Cis male, he/him

Residential area: Forest Lake

Occupation: Novelist

Two positive traits: Charismatic, adventurous, & imaginative

Two negative traits: Cynical, foolhardy, & aloof

Length of time in Blue Harbor: A few months

Faceclaim: Casey Deidrick

faded jeans and a leather messenger bag hanging from his shoulder, living on coffee and daydreams, a fondness for snapping photos on his iphone, books scattered everywhere around the house, a phone permanently on vibrate, and a beard that hides the weariness his eyes cannot

illness tw, death tw, cancer tw, cancer treatment tw

Born and raised in New York, Samuel Harrison grew up in an environment that cultivated and promoted creativity— it was all surrounding. Artists of varying mediums seemed to snatch his attention wherever he went. If and when he was asked in his youth what he wanted to be when he grew into adulthood, the answers that sprang forth were photographer, filmmaker, and painter among others. Samuel’s mother was so pleased by his propensity toward the arts that from childhood he’d become her date to new curators at museums and galleries and they would talk into the late hours of the night about what they had experienced. Sometimes doing further research kept Samuel awake long past bedtime and exhausted when the next school day would come around. Eventually his father intervened and laid out some rules on Samuel’s outings with his mother, with him overhearing accusations that his mother was forcing him into her passions rather than giving him room to find his own.

This only made way for Samuel’s father to push him into sports. In junior high school and high school he dabbled in just about every sport— his father was desperate to find something that stuck. They weren’t a wealthy family, the Harrisons, and with university tuition looming in the near future Samuel’s father was looking for what would help and not bankrupt the family. Especially since there were two younger siblings to think about following Samuel. His grades were outstanding yet not a promise for an academic scholarship. A football championship and All-State titles were what brought in the full ride to Yale University. There, Samuel had his goals set on a Masters of Fine Arts in photography, thinking his future would be traveling around the world with a lens in front of him. 

As much as he loved the arts and longed to be involved in that community, Samuel stumbled into writing by way of a couple of journalism and creative writing classes. What compelled him to pursue a degree and future career in writing was his lack of confidence in his abilities. By university age Samuel had felt he knew his way around the world of art, it wasn’t a challenge for him— the football field and crafting a great story was. Eventually he graduated with honors, carrying two Masters and ready to take on the world. A move back to his home state of New York, this time in the city, set him on track for getting work at just about any publication. There was a charm and intelligence about Samuel that schmoozed people, but as hard as he tried, a career in journalism didn’t quite work out.

Only a year free from university Samuel had published his first book. It wasn’t a novel, although he was working hard on the development of his first, but a collection of essays. The subject matter, the style, and craft of language earned Samuel lots of praise. By the time his first novel was released the following year his reputation had given him an easy ride to the best seller’s list with the New York Times. Looking back years later, Samuel would readily admit that the first two novels in his detective series weren’t that great. He’d garnered a following and some fame in the book community along with positive reviews from critics. As things were going well; Samuel was able to afford a good lifestyle and support his family, champion his younger siblings as they embarked on their adult lives, and he found himself in a relationship with an artist that he wanted to fully commit to. 

The relationship and the depth of love he’d fallen into for her had felt much different— better, stronger, more secure— than any relationship he’d had before. They moved in together and Samuel considered that this might be it, that his coupling with her could lead to marriage and children. A family. The steady rise, not one without trials and complications, couldn’t last forever it seemed. The dark material in his novels ate away at him at times, at least when he was pushing at the keys of his laptop. And then one day his father called him and said he needed to come home. Samuel’s mother had fallen ill, into a coma with a doctor’s prognosis of a 45% survival rate. It wasn’t what sent him running without a word from the life he had built up— there was a darkness creeping up on him, the high possibility of losing his mother, and then a phone call that sent a chill down his spine. The words “we need to talk” echoing in his head.

A lover from the past, a relationship that ended nearly a year before Samuel got involved with his then girlfriend, had tracked him down and given him the news that she’d had his child. He was in the city, in the backseat of a taxi when he’d answered the call and on his way to the hospital where his mother was lying hooked up to machines that she couldn’t breathe without. A panicked moment from the heart sent Samuel to the airport instead, putting off a phone call to his girlfriend and to his family. At first the intention was to call when he arrived in California, but then he had gotten swept away with meeting his son and finding out how it was possible. The main question: why now? Why after five years was he only finding out? Time slipped away, then it turned out that his ex and alleged mother of his child was sick. She had treatments to go through and wanted to make sure that her son was looked after and cared for.

Time kept slipping away, and then it had been too much distance and absence. Too much silence. Samuel had lost his mother while he was west taking care of a child and a dying woman, leaving guilt to eat away at him for not being home. For not having been by his mother’s side. For not having said goodbye. While he kept feeling as though he was losing everything around him, Samuel tossed himself into another novel. It put him back on top and returned him to audiences that hadn’t heard anything from him in a couple of years. Some of his stories were being optioned and purchased for film and television. None of it filled the void that had begun opening up inside of him. It was in the will of his ex that he found that he was not actually the father of the boy he’d spent four years fathering while she’d fought through chemo treatments. There was a letter of apology but with her saying she did what she had to do. She wanted to make sure her child was cared for when she knew she’d be gone.

The boy’s family was in Illinois and they were fighting for Ben’s custody, so Samuel moved them east to Blue Harbor so Ben could be with his family. He wasn’t fighting what they wanted but when the boy had asked him to stay, wanting him close because he was all the love and care he’d known outside of his mother, Samuel couldn’t say no and unpacked his bags and boxes with the plan to stay as long as Ben needed him there.

potential connections:

agent — perhaps one of the people he owes quite a lot to when it comes to his career and success in the book business. not only did his agent get him a great book deal but they always look after sam and his best interest. even when his life took turns and he wasn't churning out novels at a regular interval.

publisher — could be fun to play around with someone that maybe is in his corner and understands the ups and downs of life but also pressures him a bit because the business is just that, a business, and they want to make a return and money on their investments so they bug sam about his next book and whatnot.

the ex almost fiancé — before sam's life took a wild turn to the left and went completely upside down on him, he and her were together long term. we're talking living together and in a good, stable relationship with him ready to pop the question sometime soon. then he just disappeared before the future they had going really ever got to happen. this would require some dedicated plotting and i do have lots of headcanons about this one! lots of good drama and angst here.

also down for the usuals! neighbors, new york friends, uni friends, parent friends, anyone involved in the publication industry, one night stands, flings, bad dates, etc.

[lucienballard]

Jane Birkin, actor and singer, dies aged 76

Best known for the sexually explicit 1969 hit Je t’aime … moi non plus, she found fame in her adopted France

The British-born actor and singer Jane Birkin has been found dead at her home in Paris, the French culture ministry said on Sunday.

Birken, 76, was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her lover, the late French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit Je t’aime … moi non plus.

Birkin found fame in her adopted France, catapulted into the public eye by her turbulent relationship with Gainsbourg. Her heavily accented French became her personal style signifier.

She crossed the channel in 1968 at the age of 22 to star in a film alongside Gainsbourg, who was 18 years her senior. It was the start of a 13-year relationship that made them France’s most famous couple, in the spotlight as much for their bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle as for their work.

The doe-eyed Birkin, with her soft voice and androgynous silhouette, quickly became a sex symbol, recording the steamy Je t’aime … moi non plus with a growling Gainsbourg. Banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican, the song was a worldwide success.

“He and I became the most famous of couples in that strange way because of Je t’aime and because we stuck together for 13 years and he went on being my friend until the day he died. Who could ask for more?” Birkin told CNN in 2006.

“So Paris became my home. I’ve been adopted here. They like my accent,” she said.

Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946 to an actor mother and naval officer father. At 17, she married the James Bond composer John Barry, with whom she had a daughter, Kate, but the marriage lasted only three years.

She made waves in her film debut in 1966 with a full frontal nude scene in the swinging sixties classic Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.

After meeting Gainsbourg, 18 years her senior, in Paris on the set of a romantic comedy – he was her co-star – she moved to France permanently. Their musical and romantic relationship was tempestuous. During one of their raging rows, Birkin launched herself into the River Seine after throwing a custard pie in Gainsbourg’s face.

They had a daughter, Charlotte, who became a hugely successful actor and singer.

Birkin finally walked out on France’s favourite bad boy in 1980 and went on to to blaze her own trail. In cinema, she branched out from more ditsy roles to arthouse productions, gaining three nominations at the Césars – France’s Oscars – starting with La Pirate in 1985.

In her about 70 films she has been directed by France’s leading directors, including Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, James Ivory and Agnès Varda.

A chronic alcoholic, Gainsbourg died of a heart attack in 1991 aged 62. A few years earlier, he was in the audience to hear Birkin perform her first solo concert at the age of 40 at the Bataclan theatre in Paris.

In 1998 came her first record without Gainsbourg, Á la Légère. But she repeatedly returned to his repertoire, singing his hits around the world accompanied by a full orchestra, including in 2020 in New York where she performed with Iggy Pop.

The English rose of French chanson became something of a national treasure, who preserved the accent that made the French swoon throughout her life and an endearing air of fragility.

Her life was marked by tragedy, with her eldest daughter Kate Barry, a photographer, apparently committing suicide in 2013. She had leukaemia in the late 1990s and in 2021 suffered a minor stroke.

With her flared jeans, mini-dresses and messy bangs, Birkin was the ultimate It girl in the 1970s. In 1984, Hermès named one of its handbags after her. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for her services to acting and British-French cultural relations.

Besides Charlotte and Kate, she had another daughter, the singer Lou Doillon, from her 13-year relationship with the French director Jacques Doillon.

RIP Jane

[baileybaez]

❝ people will try to obliterate you ❞

Age: 35

Gender identification: Cis woman, she/her

Residential area: Beach Front

Occupation: former model, current influencer & yoga instructor

Two positive traits: Resilient & engaging

Two negative traits: Impulsive & stubborn

Length of time in Briar Ridge: 3 years-ish

Faceclaim: Nathalie Emmanuel

80’s and 90’s music playing in the background, fashion magazines scattered about, a jaw sculpted by the gods, countertops covered in fruits and vegetables, a hair tie around a delicate wrist, a history of survival shining from dark eyes, and a shoe collection that could rival a warehouse

abuse tw, stalking tw, drug and alcohol abuse tw

The path to Briar Ridge was a bumpy road and one made mostly by choice.

Born into a conservative and traditional yet very loving family, Bailey was raised in New York City. The Upper East Side of Manhattan to be more specific. They owned the building.

Her parents were strict and informed her and her siblings early on that they would have to forge their own path in life. Things weren’t just going to be handed to them. Of course, there was a promised inheritance but it would only come when deserved. As Bailey and her siblings got older it was realized through obtaining a university degree or displaying discipline and sound decisions toward building a steady life. 

Around age 13 Bailey showed the first signs of veering from parental expectations through truancy. Rather than dutifully go to her classes or stay within the walls of her private education she would explore a vast city. Usually that meant she was at the shops given that at the time her obsession was fashion and her aspirations were to be a model.

At age 14 she got her first tattoo and made her mother cry. That was the day her parents realized Bailey would be a lost cause. Bailey had never really been one to conform and generally always marched to the beat of her own drum. Those were traits her parents equally admired and feared in their young daughter. Thankfully, Bailey had the ability to make something of those attributes and landed a few modeling gigs after being scouted by an agent while trying on heels in Bloomingdale’s.

Despite not being old enough to legally drive Bailey found herself desirable to an all consuming industry.

All the wrong influences surrounded her. Managers and agents who were supposed to be looking out for the teenager's best interests, at least that’s what they had promised the Baez family, they only enabled and essentially became ‘yes men’. Not necessarily to be detrimental to Bailey growing into a stable adult life but because of the inability to turn away all the good fortune and opportunities that came their way.

Bailey was a star on the rise. With a killer jaw line and an uninhibited personality she was loved by photographers and designers alike. From ages as young as 14 and 15 she was seen in the glossy pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s Bazaar apart of fashion campaigns for top brands and designers.

What that instant success and thrust into the machine of the fashion industry meant was the accessibility to things a child should never be exposed to. Not only by the time Bailey was a legal adult had she been scarred by the treatments of immoral types she also had tried a variety of drugs and drink. When she was hot and in-demand Bailey's handlers did whatever it took to keep her going.

Eventually she burnt out and her body crashed from the non-stop lifestyle she’d been leading for half a decade. At 25, she may have made her own wealth but it had come with exhaustion and some dependency on substances of the most unhealthy kind.

She’d been around the world and had some incredible experiences but what Bailey had missed out on was being a kid, a teenager like her friends in a city like New York.

There were some realizations and epiphanies that came from a hospital bed with her family at her side and agent pushed to a corner when she was being treated for exhaustion. In no way could she continue to live like this.

Life wasn’t meant to be one non-stop party. No person was meant to work without break for years. So, it wasn’t until she was an adult that Bailey listened to her parents and let them be the guidance she needed. She went into therapy and began a spiritual journey that awakened her to a much healthier lifestyle.

Activities like yoga and pilates along with vitamins and clean eating became the way of life instead of things that were never meant to be put into her body.

By the age of 30 Bailey had all but given up on her lustrous career in modeling and fashion and became a practitioner of mind, body, and soul. Instead of being another student in another class she’d become an instructor and trainer in the art of meditation, yoga and pilates.

Unfortunately the noise of New York City was still all too loud and temptations were difficult to turn away when she had a weakness to her and they were so easily offered up to her. Despite the challenge that wasn’t what moved Bailey to a small town in the south, somewhere near the beautiful beaches of the southern east coast— it was obsession.

A photographer that had been abusive toward her in her youth and yet someone she’d been forced to work with countless times claimed to love Bailey like no one else ever had or ever could. The former model had become a target of harassment and threats which escalated into dealing with a full-on stalker that the police couldn’t do too much to protect her against.

Given the way she’d turned her life around and had eventually become someone her parents could be proud of Bailey had received her inheritance, and that coupled with the money she’d made in the modeling industry she knew she'd be able to buy a studio in Briar Ridge, South Carolina and put the mess behind her.

potential connections:

yoga clients — she's working on or hoping to open up her own studio in briar ridge. valentina flores is just kind of getting in the way of that.

new yorkers — anyone that lived there for a time or visited a lot there's potential for them to have met, hung out, become friends, whatever works!

world travelers — she'd been all over thanks to her former modeling career.

neighbors — anyone in beach front holla!

fwb/hookups/dating — casual stuff. good/bad dates. some fun little flings. she'd be non-committal thanks to her stalker trauma.

i'll come up with more, these are just some starting points!

[morosoro]

Well, Sense and Sensibility won my poll a handful of weeks ago, but as I only got around to finishing Song Of Achilles last week, I only began reading S&S today….

Unfortunately, as much as I want to enjoy it, as thoroughly as I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, reading just the first few chapters earlier gave me a headache. It’s much too wordy for my little ADHD Zoomer brain to fully digest and comprehend right now, and as I want to fully enjoy the books I read, I have decided to put it back on the shelf for now, and revisit it at a later date, when I feel more up to the challenge of understanding the older language used.

Now, I could just choose the next highest book voted for in the poll, but where’s the fun in that? Instead I have shrunk the contestant size, chosen the top 5 books I am most considering, and only leaving the poll active for only 24 hours!

To make things more fair and to allow anyone who might not know my choices well to vote too, I will include a very quick summary of the blurbs on the back for context!

FEED: Main character, Titus, and his friends live on the Moon in a futuristic environment. They are used to a constant stream of online activity sent directly into their brains, called their ‘feed’, until a hacker causes them to malfunction and they are left with nothing but their own thoughts for what is presumably the first time ever.

Like A Love Story: Setting is 1989, New York City. Main character is a teenage boy named Reza. Reza is a gay, closeted, Iranian immigrant who is afraid for people to find out he’s gay as all he knows about the ‘lifestyle’ are the media’s images of men dying from AIDS. A girl he dates, Judy, has an uncle with AIDS who devotes his time to activism with ACT UP. Judy is also best friends with the only out-and-proud guy at their school, Art, who is rebelling against his conservative family by photographing and documenting the AIDS crisis.

Fairy Tale: Main character Charlie is seventeen and meets an old recluse, Mr.Bowditch, who he starts doing jobs for. When the old man dies, he leaves a cassette tape for Charlie, telling the story of the secret he’s been keeping all his life; he has a portal to another world in his shed, and Charlie just inherited it.

Companion Piece: A woman receives an unexpected call from a former classmate/college friend asking for help deciphering a puzzling interaction. Everything is somehow linked to the life of a young blacksmith hounded from her trade and branded a vagrant nearly 500 years ago.

1984: Set in Oceania, a society is being tyrannized. In the furtherance of eradicating all expressions of individuality, people’s lives are constantly monitored via telescreens, helicopter patrols, window-spying and the Thought Police. Main Character Winston Smith sits in the one corner of his apartment that is hidden to write a diary, despite the threat of severe punishment.

[sharriscn]

❝ The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive. ❞

Age: 42

Gender identification: Cis male, he/him

Residential area: Masonboro

Occupation: Novelist

Two positive traits: Charismatic & imaginative

Two negative traits: Cynical & aloof

Length of time in Wilmington: A few months

Faceclaim: Michiel Huisman

faded jeans and a leather messenger bag hanging from his shoulder, living on coffee and daydreams, a fondness for snapping photos on his iphone, books scattered everywhere around the house, a phone permanently on vibrate, and a beard that hides the weariness his eyes cannot

Trigger warnings: illness, death, cancer, cancer treatment

Born and raised in New York, Samuel Harrison grew up in an environment that cultivated and promoted creativity— it was all surrounding. Artists of varying mediums seemed to snatch his attention wherever he went. If and when he was asked in his youth what he wanted to be when he grew into adulthood, the answers that sprang forth were photographer, filmmaker, and painter among others. Samuel’s mother was so pleased by his propensity toward the arts that from childhood he’d become her date to new curators at museums and galleries and they would talk into the late hours of the night about what they had experienced. Sometimes doing further research kept Samuel awake long past bedtime and exhausted when the next school day would come around. Eventually his father intervened and laid out some rules on Samuel’s outings with his mother, with him overhearing accusations that his mother was forcing him into her passions rather than giving him room to find his own.

This only made way for Samuel’s father to push him into sports. In junior high school and high school he dabbled in just about every sport— his father was desperate to find something that stuck. They weren’t a wealthy family, the Harrisons, and with university tuition looming in the near future Samuel’s father was looking for what would help and not bankrupt the family. Especially since there were two younger siblings to think about following Samuel. His grades were outstanding yet not a promise for an academic scholarship. A football championship and All-State titles were what brought in the full ride to Yale University. There, Samuel had his goals set on a Masters of Fine Arts in photography, thinking his future would be traveling around the world with a lens in front of him. 

As much as he loved the arts and longed to be involved in that community, Samuel stumbled into writing by way of a couple of journalism and creative writing classes. What compelled him to pursue a degree and future career in writing was his lack of confidence in his abilities. By university age Samuel had felt he knew his way around the world of art, it wasn’t a challenge for him— the football field and crafting a great story was. Eventually he graduated with honors, carrying two Masters and ready to take on the world. A move back to his home state of New York, this time in the city, set him on track for getting work at just about any publication. There was a charm and intelligence about Samuel that schmoozed people, but as hard as he tried, a career in journalism didn’t quite work out.

Only a year free from university Samuel had published his first book. It wasn’t a novel, although he was working hard on the development of his first, but a collection of essays. The subject matter, the style, and craft of language earned Samuel lots of praise. By the time his first novel was released the following year his reputation had given him an easy ride to the best seller’s list with the New York Times. Looking back years later, Samuel would readily admit that the first two novels in his detective series weren’t that great. He’d garnered a following and some fame in the book community along with positive reviews from critics. As things were going well; Samuel was able to afford a good lifestyle and support his family, champion his younger siblings as they embarked on their adult lives, and he found himself in a relationship with an artist that he wanted to fully commit to. 

The relationship and the depth of love he’d fallen into for her had felt much different— better, stronger, more secure— than any relationship he’d had before. They moved in together and Samuel considered that this might be it, that his coupling with her could lead to marriage and children. A family. The steady rise, not one without trials and complications, couldn’t last forever it seemed. The dark material in his novels ate away at him at times, at least when he was pushing at the keys of his laptop. And then one day his father called him and said he needed to come home. Samuel’s mother had fallen ill, into a coma with a doctor’s prognosis of a 45% survival rate. It wasn’t what sent him running without a word from the life he had built up— there was a darkness creeping up on him, the high possibility of losing his mother, and then a phone call that sent a chill down his spine. The words “we need to talk” echoing in his head.

A lover from the past, a relationship that ended nearly a year before Samuel got involved with his then girlfriend, had tracked him down and given him the news that she’d had his child. He was in the city, in the backseat of a taxi when he’d answered the call and on his way to the hospital where his mother was lying hooked up to machines that she couldn’t breathe without. A panicked moment from the heart sent Samuel to the airport instead, putting off a phone call to his girlfriend and to his family. At first the intention was to call when he arrived in California, but then he had gotten swept away with meeting his son and finding out how it was possible. The main question: why now? Why after five years was he only finding out? Time slipped away, then it turned out that his ex and alleged mother of his child was sick. She had treatments to go through and wanted to make sure that her son was looked after and cared for.

Time kept slipping away, and then it had been too much distance and absence. Too much silence. Samuel had lost his mother while he was west taking care of a child and a dying woman, leaving guilt to eat away at him for not being home. For not having been by his mother’s side. For not having said goodbye. While he kept feeling as though he was losing everything around him, Samuel tossed himself into another novel. It put him back on top and returned him to audiences that hadn’t heard anything from him in a couple of years. Some of his stories were being optioned and purchased for film and television. None of it filled the void that had begun opening up inside of him. It was in the will of his ex that he found that he was not actually the father of the boy he’d spent four years fathering while she’d fought through chemo treatments. There was a letter of apology but with her saying she did what she had to do. She wanted to make sure her child was cared for when she knew she’d be gone.

The boy’s family was in North Carolina and they were fighting for Ben’s custody, so Samuel moved them east to Wilmington so Ben could be with his family. He wasn’t fighting what they wanted but when the boy had asked him to stay, wanting him close because he was all the love and care he’d known outside of his mother, Samuel couldn’t say no and unpacked his bags and boxes with the plan to stay as long as Ben needed him there.

[hcnayun]

❝ this is how we become magic, we walk through fire and become more holy ❞

Age: 31

Gender identification: Cis female, she/her

Residential area: Downtown

Occupation: owner of Humming Bee & former model

Two positive traits: Resilient & engaging

Two negative traits: Impulsive & stubborn

Length of time in Providence Peak: 6 years-ish

Faceclaim: Im Jin-ah

80’s and 90’s music playing in the background, fashion magazines scattered about, a jaw sculpted by the gods, countertops covered in fruits and vegetables, a hair tie around a delicate wrist, a history of survival shining from dark eyes, and a shoe collection that could rival a warehouse

trigger warnings: abuse, stalking, drug and alcohol abuse

The path to Providence Peak was a bumpy road and one made mostly by choice. Hana Yun was born in South Korea into a conservative and traditional yet very loving family and was raised in New York City. The Upper East Side of Manhattan to be more specific. There here days were lived out in a penthouse suite of a five star hotel her parents owned. One of many around the world. That kind of wealth and opulence didn’t give Hana much of an advantage or spoil her. No, her parents were strict and informed her and her siblings early on that they would have to forge their own path in life. Things weren’t just going to be handed to them. Of course, there was a promised inheritance but it would only come when deserved. As Hana and her siblings got older it was realized through obtaining a university degree or displaying discipline and sound decisions toward building a steady life. 

Around age 13 Hana showed the first signs of veering from parental expectations through truancy. Rather than dutifully go to her classes or stay within the walls of her private education she would explore a vast city. Usually that meant she was at the shops given that at the time her obsession was fashion and her aspirations were to be a model. At age 14 she got her first tattoo and made her mother cry. That was the day her parents realized Hana would be a lost cause. Hana had never really been one to conform and generally always marched to the beat of her own drum. Those were traits her parents equally admired and feared in their young daughter. Thankfully, Hana had the ability to make something of those attributes and landed a few modeling gigs after being scouted by an agent while trying on heels in Bloomingdale’s. Not only did she have height, the Korean-American had a ballerina type lithe figure. Despite not being old enough to legally drive Hana found herself desirable to an all consuming industry.

All the wrong influences surrounded her. Managers and agents who were supposed to be looking out for the teenagers best interests, at least that’s what they had promised the Yuns, they only enabled and essentially became ‘yes men’. Not necessarily to be detrimental to Hana’s growing into a stable adult life but because of the inability to turn away all the good fortune and opportunities that came their way. Hana was a star on the rise. With a killer jaw line and an uninhibited personality she was loved by photographers and designers alike. From ages as young as 14 and 15 she was seen in the glossy pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s Bazaar apart of fashion campaigns for top brands and designers. What that instant success and thrust into the machine of the fashion industry meant was the accessibility to things a child should never be exposed to. Not only by the time Hana was a legal adult had she been scarred by the treatments of immoral types she also had tried a variety of drugs and drink. When she was hot and in-demand Hana’s handlers did whatever it took to keep her going.

Eventually she burnt out and her body crashed from the non-stop lifestyle she’d been leading for half a decade. At 20, she may have made her own wealth but it had come with exhaustion and some dependency on substances of the most unhealthy kind. She’d been around the world and had some incredible experiences but what Hana had missed out on was being a kid, a teenager like her friends in a city like New York. There were some realizations and epiphanies that came from a hospital bed with her family at her side and agent pushed to a corner when she was being treated for exhaustion. In no way could she continue to live like this. Life wasn’t meant to be one non-stop party. No person was meant to work without break for years. So, it wasn’t until she was an adult that Hana listened to her parents and let them be the guidance she needed. She went into therapy and began a spiritual journey that awakened her to a much healthier lifestyle. Activities like yoga and pilates along with vitamins and clean eating became the way of life instead of things that were never meant to be put into her body.

By the age of 25 Hana had all but given up on her lustrous career in modeling and fashion and became a practitioner of mind, body, and soul. Instead of being another student in another class she’d become an instructor and trainer in the art of meditation, yoga and pilates. Unfortunately the noise of New York City was still all too loud and temptations were difficult to turn away when she had a weakness to her and they were so easily offered up to her. Despite the challenge that wasn’t what moved Hana to a city in the midwest, somewhere near the Rockies Mountains— it was obsession. A photographer that had been abusive toward her in her youth and yet someone she’d been forced to work with countless times claimed to love Hana like no one else every had or ever could. The former model had become a target of harassment and threats which escalated into dealing with a full-on stalker that the police couldn’t do too much to protect her against.

Given the way she’d turned her life around and had eventually become someone her parents could be proud of Hana had received her inheritance, and that coupled with the money she’d made in the modeling industry she was able to buy a studio in Providence Peak, Colorado and put the mess behind her.

[fashionbooksmilano]

The Artistry of Flowers

Floral Design by La Musa Of Las Flores

María Gabriela Salazar, Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Rizzoli, New York 2013, 224 pages, ISBN  978-0-8478-9908-1

euro 51,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Bring beauty in the form of nature into your home and your lifestyle, no matter where you live, through artful floral arrangements, as well as indoor and outdoor flowering plants. The Artistry of Flowers encourages everyone to live with florals and to appreciate their beauty as we appreciate art. Celebrated floral designer Gabriela Salazar teaches us how to look at flowers and understand their characteristics from an artist’s perspective. By exploring different shapes, colors, and textures, she shows us how to understand flowers and their living, transitory nature. Drawing on her painting background, Salazar looks at floral arrangements as compositions. She highlights which type of blooms are best for different designs and shares building blocks for floral designs ranging from simple and sculptural to complex and colorful, including arrangements for any mood and different decor. Salazar inspires us to explore our creativity, empowering us to design our own arrangements. Combining philosophical and practical tips, such as appreciating how flowers change over time and working with fragility The Artistry of Flowers is a treatise on flower appreciation. The stunning photography by Ngoc Minh Ngo (known for Rizzoli books such as In Bloom and Eden Revisited) complements Salazar’s enthusiastic instruction.

30/03/23

orders to:     booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

ordini a:        booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

twitter:         @fashionbooksmi

instagram:   fashionbooksmilano, designbooksmilano tumblr:          fashionbooksmilano, designbooksmilano

[nyphotony]

welcome

Thanks for clicking! To Contact Rich: nyphotony@gmail.com 646-275-4750 instagram.com/thenyphotony Galleries: Headshots Product Photos Fitness Photos Lifestyle Photos Event Photography Videos  

[1001framesofmind]

ménage à trois

What the hell is going on, here? Let me explain…

In the cab, the pretty young lady is Melody and the man on the right is her father, John. That old geezer in the middle is Melody's husband, Boris (a cynic retired physics professor). Melody's father has just arrived in New York to make up with his ex-wife (Marietta) whom he abandoned a year earlier to have an adulterous affair with her best friend. But his daughter and wife have substantially changed in New York and they are not the people he used to live with; especially, God-fearing conformist Marietta has taken on a new personality as a talented photographer, cohabiting with two male lovers. The way she tries to make it clear for her ex-husband using the French term ménage à trois is of particular interest.

Whatever Works is Woody Allen's eulogy to satisfying lifestyles and sexual orientations which are suppressed mainly due to outdated mindsets.

🎞film: Whatever Works (2009) 🎬director: Woody Allen 🟣🟣🟣🟣⚪️

[cinema-tv-etc]

What The Gilded Age Gets Right About Infamous Architect Stanford White

In reality, White lived a scandalous life that ended in murder. On the new HBO series, he fares better—so far.

By Nancy Bilyeau Feb 1, 2022

Up until the very minute he was shot on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden, Stanford White might have considered June 25th, 1906, to be a good day.

White, 52, the defining architect of the Gilded Age, the man who helped design Madison Square Garden itself, was sitting at one of the best tables that the rooftop theatre afforded, listening to the song “I Could Love a Million Girls,” when millionaire playboy Harry K. Thaw walked up to White’s table.

Minutes later, as White lay bleeding on the floor, Thaw announced, “I killed him because he ruined my wife.”

📷 Harry K. Thaw photographed in 1906 eating breakfast—catered by Delmonico’s, of course—in a New York City jail cell after killing the architect Stanford White.BettmannGetty Images

The murder trial of Thaw, husband to gorgeous young showgirl Evelyn Nesbit, was the first to take on the description “Trial of the Century.” The courtroom revelations of White’s brutal seduction of Nesbit when she was 16 shocked and horrified America. In a country still abiding by Victorian standards, debauchery was supposed to be carefully hidden. Laying bare the lifestyle of White—by no means alone in his womanizing, heavy drinking, and overspending—helped usher in the twilight of the Gilded Age.

One of the ironies of Stanford White is that the man whose life was raked over in an ugly and sordid trial had devoted decades to celebrating what was most beautiful in architecture and art—and to celebrating New York City, the city he adored. The Washington Square Arch, the Metropolitan Club at East 60th Street, the Judson Memorial Church at 55 Washington Square, the Villard Houses at 455 Madison Avenue, the Players at 16 Gramercy Park South, and the Bowery Savings Bank are just some of his achievements.

As the series The Gilded Age, now streaming on HBO, makes clear, in the 1880s, Stanford White—who’s played on the series by John Sanders, and is summoned to supply his architectural magic for established society and gatecrashers alike—was the man to call in when someone with a fortune wanted to build a deeply impressive home. He was hired by Astors, Vanderbilts, and J.P. Morgan. He was also hired by those people with “new money.” White moved between the two groups with ease.

📷 Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski in The Gilded Age, the new HBO series that features real-life (and scandal-plagued) architect Stanford White as a character.Alison Cohen Rosa/HBO

Debra Schmidt Bach, curator of decorative arts and special exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, tells Town & Country, “The artistry, size, ornament and structures of [White’s] buildings embody the energy and optimism that many felt the Gilded Age held for the United States.” In other words, he was the perfect man for his era.

White himself did not spring from “old New York” or from new money either. His father, Richard Grant White, “was a cranky bohemian who fancied himself an English gentleman yet was blackballed from the Century Club and was chronically broke and in debt, who had studied to be a doctor and also passed the bar but was, in practice, a music critic, a Shakespearean scholar, a linguist, a lecturer, a cultural gadfly, a sonneteer and an employee of the Custom House,” wrote Suzannah Lessard, the great-granddaughter of Stanford White in her bestseller The Architect of Desire.

Stanford attended public schools, a fact he denied later, saying he had been privately tutored. White in fact had no formal architectural training, which was not that unusual for the 19th century. He worked as an apprentice to Henry Hobson Richardson, and toured Europe, before joined two young architects, Charles Follen McKim and William Rutherford Mead, to form the firm McKim, Mead and White. He also married Bessie Smith from a prominent Long Island family.

📷 Stanford White designed any number of New York City landmarks, including the Washington Square Arch (pictured), the Metropolitan Club, the Bowery Savings Bank, and the Judson Memorial Church.Alexi RosenfeldGetty Images

“White's most significant contribution to New York City and American architecture was vision,” says Bach. “White was well versed in European classical art and architecture of the period and saw the possibilities that Beaux Arts forms and vocabulary symbolized for the United States during a period of massive economic expansion.” McKim, Mead & White designed hundreds of civic, commercial and resort and club buildings, public art structures, and elaborate private homes.

“Well versed in art, antiques and architecture, White designed buildings that were not simply dressy evocations of Gilded Age wealth, but also reflections of the seismic industrial changes that occurred following the Civil War and the possibilities that new building, transportation, and communication technologies held for a country also in the midst of huge demographic growth,” says Bach.

White was indefatigable, socializing whenever possible not just because he richly enjoyed the city’s entertainments, but he made contacts for McKim, Mead & White. Lessard said that at the firm, White was “tolerated because of his charm—powerful when he turned it on—and his overflowing giftedness. He was the baby of the office, a big, inspired toddler, indulged, angelic, oblivious, tyrannical.”

📷 Madison Square Garden Theater, where Thaw shot White in 1906.BettmannGetty Images

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His creations can be found outside New York City. He designed Rosecliff and several other houses in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Frederick Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York. The firm’s Boston buildings included the Algonquin Club, the Boston Public Library, Harvard Stadium, and the Symphony Hall. His work on the University of Virginia is considered one of his few misfires.

White’s dissipated dark side was no secret to his friends. He was a predatory seducer of teenage girls, seeking out actresses or dancers who were from impoverished families. Evelyn Nesbit fit the profile perfectly. After befriending her and her mother as a supposed benefactor, White paid for the mother to visit relatives out of town and then insisted Evelyn, 16, drink a great deal of champagne, which may have been drugged as well. She passed out to find herself naked in bed next to a naked Stanford White.

The details of Nesbit’s trauma were coaxed from her at court to help build a defense for her mentally unstable husband. But other shocks were revealed. White would have been dead within the year if not murdered. He suffered from Bright’s disease, his liver was in terrible shape, and he had incipient tuberculosis. Not only was his health nearly destroyed by his way of life, but he was close to broke. Yawning underneath the Gilded Age veneer was a canyon of debts.

Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, who was seduced by Stanford White as a teenager and whose husband subsequently murdered the architect, leading to the first-ever "trial of the century."GraphicaArtisGetty Images

“He was known to believe that he should live as well or better than his wealthiest clients,” says Bach. “His charming personality and reputation for lavish living brought him wide public visibility, including among Americans who otherwise may not have known about his architecture or heard much about his exploits.”

White’s rise and fall are echoed in the tragedies of certain public figures in the 21st century. As Bach says, “His extravagant lifestyle, and lack of discretion or concern for those who were impacted by his actions, despite producing outstanding work, has much in common with some of the high profile, publicity-seeking business and artistic innovators who exploit media attention today.”

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a38834397/the-gilded-age-stanford-white-true-story/

[bestaerialphotosny]

Aerial Real Estate Photography in New York

Elevate your property listings with Best Aerial Photos LLC, your go-to provider for aerial real estate photography in New York. Our stunning aerial photos not only capture the beauty of your property but also showcase the surrounding neighborhood, helping potential buyers envision their new lifestyle. With our expert team of aerial photographers in NYC, we create high-resolution images that highlight your property’s unique features, making it stand out in a crowded market. Listings with professional aerial photos generate more interest and can lead to quicker sales. Don’t let your property blend into the background—let us help it shine! Ready to elevate your marketing strategy? Contact us today to schedule your aerial photo shoot and watch your listings soar!

[dougholtphotographyus]

Photography reps nyc

Doug Holt Photography offers top-tier photography representation in NYC, connecting brands and clients with exceptional talent for high-quality visual storytelling. As a leading name among photography reps in NYC, Doug Holt Photography specializes in curating professional photographers skilled in fashion, lifestyle, commercial, and editorial work.