Letters to My Sons | April

Dearest sons,

This boyhood phase is moving so quickly. Right before my eyes the two of you are morphing into junior men; and because it's happening so fast, I make it a point to take the occasional, more formal portrait of each of you. If nothing else, just to see how much your features change in a couple months time and in what ways your essence remains the same. The light that fills your bedroom in the morning is so beautiful, so that's where I'll place you, in a little black chair near the window usually with the promise of a sweet-tasting treat. 

Cash, I just don't know what to say. Sometimes when you are chatting my ear off with questions about grownup life, ocean life, space life and these days, even questions about God and the afterlife, I just stop and stare into your brown eyes, so curious and innocent. Daddy and I have nicknamed you "Cash, the kid who wants to know everything about everything" (from the Sid the Science Kid cartoon) because of your boundless quest for knowledge, especially when it comes to sharks. You are still really really into sharks and couldn't wait for our trip to the Dominican Republic so you could search for the Caribbean Reef Shark. "Du-nunt...Du-nunt..." (the JAWS sound effect) has become your daily chant. And after that we are pretty certain you'll begin the countdown to Discovery Channel's Shark Week in July. 

This past month you started taking swim lessons and joined Harlem's Little League tee ball, playing shortstop (#7 just like Jeter) for the Harlem Bulldogs. Our weekends have been getting busier as we move into spring, and I can't wait to see what new things you discover along your insatiable pursuit of life.      

Grey Grey, you've also got a passion for baseball. Even more so watching your brother at his practices and games. "Ball" is one of your newest words which is no surprise. Another one is "Ewwwwww" which I gather you learned during your diaper changes. You finally started calling me "Mommy" instead of "Daddy" and have begun making counting sounds; not the numbers exactly, but the inflections -- and damn cute I might add. The sweetest hugs in the family continue to come from you. Dawdling across the room with outstretched arms, you just wrap yourself around one of us and then go back and repeat it a dozen more times. You love to do things over and over and when it comes to those hugs and sweet little kisses, I never get tired of them. Those meltdowns and tantrums of yours, well... those I could do without. :)

But I couldn't do without either of you. That is for sure. I love you both so much. We've been waiting such a long time for the weather to warm up and now that it has, all I have to say is, hold on boys, cause we're about to have an awesome and amazing spring! 

Love,

Mom

  

Photo 52: Pespectives | Fresh

We are reigniting the shooting portion of our yearly project with a fresh start: P52.3: Perspectives. Each week, we will post a mosaic and an adjective - individual voices, unified around a common theme. Simple, streamlined and back to basics - our audience of ourselves is off to reclaim the joy behind the camera. We hope you enjoy this next step in our journey.

This week our adjective is Fresh. The photo below was taken this past Saturday at my son's very first Little League tee ball game. At the age of four he's a fresh faced recruit to the world of team sports. Although his Daddy has been playing with him since he was in diapers, working on his catching and hitting skills, when it comes to hitting the ball in front of a crowd of people and running the bases -- well, that's a whole different ballgame.  Being the youngest on the team, a pep talk from his coach gives just the right boost.  

Click HERE to visit our collective site, Who We Become, and see more FRESH images from this week.

Pep Talk

The Color Collaborative: Green {Week 1}

 

"Black and white photography can show how something is; color adds how it is, imbued with temperatures and humidities of experience." - Peter Schjeldahl
 

As photographers we are not only captivated by light but also by color and how it can be used to enhance the emotion of our images. With that in mind, I am embarking on a monthly project called The Color Collaborative, with a group of talented and diverse women photographers. Together we will support each other, allowing for creative risk and interpretation, as we find and capture a new color every month.  

Our first month is GREEN and below is my debut series. Even in the harshest of NYC winters, beneath it all was something bright and beautiful. 

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of CC's images for this introductory week, starting with the talented Erin Konrath.  

“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.”

— Pedro Calderon de la Barca [Spanish poet and playwright, 1600-1681]”

Elevated Dreams

These last weeks of winter, shooting for myself has mostly been about capturing our travels on the subway. Sometimes I'm inspired by the bright morning light that comes through the doors as they open, or the way it hits the floor just before the turnstiles at certain stations. But in this case it was my son looking out the window of the 1 train while it was elevated near 125th street. I look forward to that stop because there are always fantastic shadows, leading lines and cityscapes to capture; but the moment is brief and you've got to be quick with the shutter before the train goes back underground. 

Elevated Dreams

Letters To My Sons | March

Dear boys,

The day this photo was taken was one that I shouldn't soon forget. But just in case I do, and just in case you guys might never know how hard it was for your mother, I'm going to write about it now. As native New Yorkers you will grow up faster than most kids. That's just the way it is. For one thing Cash, we got rid of your stroller right after your second birthday. I'll admit, the motivation was purely selfish since I just couldn't lift and carry that stroller (with you in it!) up and down the flights of subway stairs anymore. I was done. But then along came Grey. New baby means new stroller means two more years of back breaking work. However, Grey you are about to turn two years old and we are again gearing up to ditch the stroller....after we get in a little more practice.

There is no elevator at our subway stop, nor is there one at 86th street where we get off for Cash's preschool. So unless graced by the kindest of a stranger, I must carry Grey in said stroller, often times with laundry and groceries hanging off the sides, up and down four flights of stairs twice a day. When you were just a couple of weeks old Cash, Aunt Gail and I fumbled through the unfamiliar process together. Since then, I have been doing it on my own for a solid four years, remarkably only throwing my back out once. But don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. If anything I might be bragging a little because I want you guys to know what a badass your mother was. That's the pedigree of NYC mothers - hardcore to a fault, self-reliant and willing to put up with the most challenging travels and travails in order to live and raise our children in this city. Outsiders scoff at us, finding it utterly crazy, but we merely consider ourselves members of a resilient brood who can make it through anything in this great metropolis. It's like a rite of passage - these years of schlepping our little urbanites - that we can forevermore relate to with one another, especially days such as this. 

Well Grey, the beginning of our no-stroller commute went quite well; it was the return home that was a whole different story. You were cranky and wanted to be carried and when I refused, you threw yourself onto the grimy sidewalk, burying your head in your hands. Cash and I waited for your tantrum to pass, but yours tend to stick around awhile. So I picked up all 30 pounds of you and carried you to the subway, biceps screaming. Once inside the subway station your mood improved and you started to run around with your brother, who is by now a novice subway rider. But you have yet to learn platform safety so I had no other choice but to pick you back up. I tucked you, wailing and flailing, under my armpit like an oversized football, and walked with Cash into the crowded subway car. After directing him to the only available seat, I leaned against the subway doors and closed my eyes. Sometimes that's all you can do as a mom. Just tune out. I rolled my shoulders back and used every bit of my strength to hold you the four long stops until 125th street when people got off and seats freed up.    

Once seated next to your brother, you stopped crying and that's when I took out my camera. I wanted to capture snippets of the aftermath and the sheer craziness of it all.

Cause it is crazy. Raising young boys in New York City is a wild ride sort of like the MTA. We don't always run smoothly and may have some delays here and there, but we always manage to get where we're going. We just find a way, simple as that.

Boys, undoubtedly there will be many times in your life when you feel like throwing yourself onto the grimy sidewalk, kicking and screaming. But hopefully you grow into resilient, courageous, patient, thoughtful and tenacious men...

...always willing to lend a hand to a mother with a stroller.

Love,

Mom

New Yorkers in training

"X Factor"

Sometimes what we personally want out of our photography cannot be satisfied by shooting for a particular audience. Many times it is simply a personal aesthetic. I must admit that ever since I got an iPhone nearly five years ago, I have loved taking photos with my "pocket" camera. It's fast, easy and very self-satisfying. I capture moments that I would miss if I had to race and find my big camera or lug it around with all the other crap I schlep on a daily basis. I'll cop to having far too many editing apps on my phone and of course the pixel quality is nowhere near the same as my Canon; but for my personal pleasure and a daily need for a creative "fix", I love taking photos with my smartphone. Plus I can easily share favorites, like the image below of my oldest son taken this past week, with family and friends on social media. Crouched in the corner forming the perfect human "X", I quickly snapped his pose before he was off to the next thing.

                

[Below is a gallery of some of my favorite photos taken with my iPhone. Click on any image to enlarge]

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram: Roemer

The Chocolate Cure

When it's February and below zero in New York City, make chocolate!

Boyhood

Occasionally, during a rare moment of stillness and absent of goofy faces, my son will let me take his portrait. Since boyhood is so fleeting, I try and do a window lit session from time to time, primarily for his yearly print album. Seeing how his features change over time and how his personality comes through in each image is such a joy - and hopefully will be his too one day as he looks back on these years. Of course, I also send copies to send to his grandmas, who are always happy to receive a recent photo of their grandson.

[Click images to view full scale]

 

Letters To My Sons | February

Darling Cash,

This past Saturday we went on another one of our dates. Over the past couple of years these dates have been made special in that it's just the two of us trekking around New York City with abandon, and this time was no different. We went to Times Square, stopping first by the flagship Toys-R-Us on 44th Street before going to see a Barcelonian dance show at the New Victory Theatre. Since we ride the local "C" train to school every day, whenever we go to Times Square you love the thrill of taking the express "A" train just for the chance to go faster than the "C".  

It was snowing on this day, which is not all that surprising given the weather we've had this month. But it was a very light snow, just enough for it to be magical. We walked along 42nd street, squinting snowflakes from our eyes as we looked up at the neon lights all around. "New Yorkers as tourists" we like to say.    

Before going to the theatre, we took a few photos in the middle of Broadway. I think it was Minnie and Mickey Mouse who tried to bumrush our photo until we shooed them away. "Why, no photo?"  "Um..., 'cause we live here!," we said, before running off into the Toys-R-Us store. You've never been impressed by the cartoon characters of Times Square who pose with tourists and then hustle tips from them afterwards. Not even during your Elmo phase. A true New Yorker.   

Cash, I cherish these "dates" with you because I know that one day soon you'll be a teenager and spending a Saturday afternoon with your mother won't be so exciting.  For now though, I can't get enough of your sweet affections.  Many mornings you crawl in next to me in bed, before your little brother wakes up, for some "cozy marozy" (our special name for cuddles) and say, "Mommy, can we snuggle for a little bit before you make me breakfast?"  Of course I oblige. I mean, how could I not?  You're such a loving little boy, that every day I feel as if I'm storing inside my soul all the kind things you say, just in case -- well, just in case there comes a time you don't say them anymore. Like when you tell me, "Mommy I missed you while I was in school," or, "You're the best, prettiest mommy in the world."  And when I make a mistake how you say, "Don't worry Mommy, it's okay, it was just an accident."  But the most recent example of that love was the cookie you had saved for me from your lunch bag of mini Oreos. You love cookies - and I mean LOVE cookies!! So for you to put one aside, fighting the urge to eat it...and then, be so excited to give it to me, was unbelievably touching. Your "I love you's", hugs and kisses are the brightest part of my days, and often times I'll drop whatever I'm doing to hold your face in my hands 'cause I know this time is fleeting. But I have it now. And I want to hold onto it.

Heading home from Times Square we made one last stop at our favorite pizza place to get a "bomb pizza" (your word for really really good pizza) to share with Daddy and Grey. A perfect finish to another fabulous date.

My son, I love you so very much. I pray you never stop showing your kindness to others. And most of all, that you never ever stop loving as sweetly as you do now.   

Always & Forever,

Mom

Denim & Gold

This week I just wanted to take a photo of the boys, in their matching denim and gold sneakers, from what I consider to be an interesting perspective. Perhaps one day the boys will smile as they look back at this snapshot from their childhood.  

Denim & Gold