Variety

Today was a busy day. Phone calls, emails and editing were only the beginning. As the heavy rain poured over New York City, the emails really started rolling in for my assignment from the Christian Science Monitor. When working for newspapers, and any event really, things change last minute frequently. I was asked to photograph Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, during the March for Peace in Harlem today. The heavy rains forced them to cancel the march and only hold the rally they had planned on earlier in the day. I booked it into the city and made it just in time to photograph Canada before the big rally began with thousands of members of the Harlem community and elsewhere.

On my way out of the building, I was catching my breath from the rush of driving and grabbing Canada in time to get the portrait I needed. It was very humid and I felt a bit cooler as I walked out onto the street. I headed toward my car and between an industrial garbage bin and the brick wall of the Armory building, I spotted this chair. I'm not sure why it grabbed my attention, but it seemed out of place and I was also drawn to the yellow contrast with the red.


This image is abstract and solitary, and as I said earlier, I'm drawn to the yellow seat contrasting with the red brick wall. Where this photo belongs and what it says, I'm not sure. But today it was something that I enjoyed photographing.



When I returned home to my building in Astoria, Peter Delgado was at the door to greet me, with a smile as usual. He saw my camera hanging on my shoulder and immediately told me he was ready for his portrait. I laughed at first, checked my mail, but on my way back to the elevators decided it might be a good challenge and a deserving subject to photograph. I didn't initially see anything that visual at the desk, after all, I walk by it every day. But I think I captured Delgado's personality here and I also like the lines of the architecture behind him, making a strong composition out of a simple environment.

These two images don't work together necessarily, but I found it interesting to pair them together for one day's work. Often as a journalist I have covered a wide variety of topics in one day, particularly in one year. It's this variety that has always made me happy and excited to go to work every day. You just never know what you're going to see.