Boycott Stella D'oro

Today I rallied against the Stella D'oro Biscuit Factory in support of the 135 workers on strike. The workers have been on strike since August 13, 2008. The company, Brynwood Partners, is refusing to negotiate and demanding the workers come back to work with no contract!

This is capitalism at it's finest. Here are the issues that the workers are striking against:

Wage reductions of up to 25%
Rediculous health insurance premiums
Elimination of holidays, vacations, sick pay & current pensionElimination of extra pay for working Saturdays

After Gathering at 238th & Broadway outside of the Stella D'oro Factory we marched down Broadway, chanting and shouting in unity. At 225th we stopped and several supporters and strikers spoke out about the situation. I can't help but feel proud about yelling and shaking my fists in the face of wrong-doing. I hope to see a victory for the strikers soon. Until then, you can do your part to help by boycotting all Stella D'oro products found at your local grocery stores.

More info about the Strike can be found here: http://www.stelladorostrike2008.com/

Global

I took these photos last weekend in Baltimore, at the Rosewood Psychiatric Center. (1 sec @ f/8 for the image at left and 2 sec @ f/7.1 for the one below; both shot with a 24mm lens)

I named these images "global I" and "global II". The coloration and condition of this room reminds me of a globe that I had as a kid; it's paper covering, tattered and faded; resembling the land and sea tones in these images. When I entered this room I sensed an intimate familiarity. I could not put my finger on exactly why I was feeling so comfortable; I just leaned back against a wall, sunk down to the floor and released the shutter a few times.

Portraiture

Yesterday in Baltimore, Seinberg and I decided to break out his strobe and set up for some portrait work. It was so much fun. I've never been comfortable taking photos of people but, have always been interested in it and yesterday I was able to toss my fears aside because it was a friend I was shooting. It was so much fun; I see myself doing a lot more portrait work in the future.

Here are a few other out-takes:
one | two | three

Nikon D700

Here's the first image I'll post on the web, taken with my new Nikon D700. My wirey friend here lives in the Rosewood Psychiatric Center in Owings Mills, MD.

I hopped on a bus, Friday after work and cruised down to Baltimore to embark on another photo venture with my dear friend Mr.Seinberg. We spent last night catching up on life over a couple ales and the installation of a new 320GB hard drive in my lap top. (and toying with our new machines - Mr. S got himself the new Canon 5D Mark II)

This morning we were up and at em' and inside the Rosewood facility shooting away. This is the first time I've had my new Nikon at an abandoned site and I could not get over the improvements the camera has as compared to my previous machine (Nikon D80). The light sensitivity of this new camera is unbelievable! I was shooting at ISO settings around 3200 - 6400 with no problems! Although the picture posted above was shot on tripod at ISO 100.

Here is the original file (~5MB in size)

Inwood at night

A few 30 second exposures at f/22 from my bedroom window:

Saturday Snow

The xmas tree came down today and was dragged over to the park and mulched. We hit up the farmer's market for some delicious apples, but that was about the extent of our activities today.

Snowy here today, at phattire headquarters.my wife and I are holed up with a good movie and La Fin du Monde.

Funky Drummer

I've been meaning to post this image for a while now. I took this at Grand Cental on December 5th with my Canon G9 while waiting for a train. One of the things I love about living in the city is the street & train performers. This guy was playing a happy tune which stuck in my head for a few stops. Here's a short video clip of him playing:

drummer clip (55.1 MB)

photo: 1/8 sec. @ f/4.8, ISO 200

Back to work

Tomorrow I'll be up at 5:30am and back to work. NYCT needs subway cars and it's my job to help supply them. Although I've really enjoyed being on vacation for the last two weeks, I do look forward to seeing the production line moving along and resolving field issues.

Our original plans to go to Chicago, never panned out due to snow storms and cancelled flights so we spent Xmas at home in NY. Manhattan's a beautiful place to spend the holidays. I was busy with the camera and took it just about everywhere I went and began a new project which I hope to publish to my site by the end of February.

Prospero ano,
Mike