I feel very privileged to have so many wonderful artist friends.  They continue to amaze me.  From visual arts, to music to poems and literature…. these are the people that continue to inspire and motivate me.

That said, I graduated from Tyler School of Art with a great artist and friend, Mike Munter.  Among other talents, he is a print maker and designer.  You can check out lots of samples of his work on his website::  IARTMIKEMUNTER.COM.  Mike is being interviewed for a magazine and needed some portraits to go along with it.  Since I recently photographed his brother, Jason, (see blog HERE) in return for some art work, this was just another great barter session.  I have a beautiful poster he made of a girl blowing what looks like bubbles… but then turns into jelly fish.  I love it.  Now, I just need some great framer friends to custom frame it for me.  : )

So…. I had been anxious for the opportunity to photograph at the Higher Grounds Cafe in Northern Liberties (the one that I mentioned in the blog just before this one:  here).  We met there and then wandered aimlessly around Northern Liberties.  It was a beautiful day outside (so rare these days!) and we took advantage of that.

Wow, this short blog post sure has a lot of web links……..  Anyway, here are some pics!

Mike sitting in “the grand chair”:

shot through one of the chairs….

Another great thing about coffee shops….. if you forget a book or magazine there are always board games or…. Simpsons trivia……  It turns out that I am not nearly as good as I thought I was.  I am sticking with Seinfeld trivia next time……  I am the master of that domain.

yes, this is one of the locations of my wedding photos….. okay, another link…. see them HERE.

So…. I love coffee shops.  I mean, who doesn’t?  Living in the city, there are so many unique ones to choose from.  As an admitted thrift store junky…. the old furniture and eclectic feel of many cafes very much appeal to me.  In my opinion, things that are old and worn in are more comfortable than something brand new.  This is partly because your body molds to the countless other body impressions that have slowly indented themselves into the cushions.  Furniture like this…. it just seems like it has some stories to tell.  And, that, I suppose, gets my interest.

A coffee shop that I particularly enjoy is  The Higher Grounds Cafe in Northern Liberties.  The whole vibe there is great.  It normally isn’t too crowded, there is always beautiful artwork on the walls and they boast quite a wide variety of fine teas….. the way to my heart!

In preparation for a portrait session, I took a few photos of some of this chair that I really love.  I guess it seems silly to post a whole blog about a chair….. but, come on, don’t you just love this chair?  It has a such a grand but worn look to it and it almost appears as if it is smirking…. with the one side down and the other up….

There was definitely a time in my life that I was more or less unafraid of most situations and locations.  I learned today that I am over that!

Since it was such a beautiful day outside, we decided to go for a long neighborhood walk.  I recently learned of a particular location along “the docks”.  This is referring to some of the  very old  and now unused boat docks and ports in Philly.  Particularly there is a location in Port Richmond that I have been wanting to check out.  Knowing that it is trespassing, expansive and in the middle of nowhere (for the city), I decided Carl should come along with me.

It was definitely a bit creepy back there…. but at the same time really beautiful… in that urban style that I love.  What was creepy was that we were so far detached from the public and  that this most definitely was a place where reclusive people that are much tougher than I am probably hang out.  Oh, and with the buzz of the highway in the background and residential homes about a mile away…. our screams would be completely pointless.  Ha!

ANYWAY, we actually were comfy for a bit and were able to take in the scenery.  That is until we noticed some not so pleasant looking people lingering behind the walls.  When they started walking towards us we quickly decided to leave.   I don’t plan to go back there anytime soon… but I am glad that we did.  We weren’t there for long, so I didn’t get too many great photos but for what its worth, here you go….

This was partly through our walk back…. It gives an idea of how far detached we were from any main streets…

My main intention was to get to the very end of this long dock and take some photos.  From that point (I hear) you get a clear view of the city skyline.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the end…  bummer!!

Walking around we felt very welcome…. there was even a nice welcoming sign telling us to die in hell.  lovely. 

Once away from the dock, we continued our walk behind some of the now vacant buildings along Richmond Avenue…

A great location for riding ATVs…

Shew…. back to the comforts of home….

I was delighted again this morning to see my photos in The Spirit Community Newspaper.    Unfortunately, it is another snow portrait…. but still!  Hopefully, come spring I can get some colorful and warm photographs in there.  The Spirit had contacted me in regards to using the photograph but I was happily surprised to see it on the front page.  Fun stuff!

the actual photo, since it is difficult to see:

So, my recent blog post The Other 4% of Philly , was picked up by Spirit Community Newspapers.  My blog post was featured as well as a few of my photographs.  You can view it HERE.  More photographs were used in the actual article.

I was excited to see this and hope that Mayor Nutter and other city officials read our local newspapers and react to community needs.  As I look out the window and watch the snowflakes fall, I expect we will find out soon.  I would love to think that a story like this could make a difference.   Time will tell.  Stay warm, everyone!!