2011 Year in Pictures

On this last day of 2011, looking back on some of the highlights of the past year: a few milestone birthdays; family time in Wichita, Gig Harbor and New York; and some work travel to Jacksonville, Minneapolis, Ottawa and Madrid. There was a lovely long weekend in Germany. I had visitors from Mexico, Peru and Portugal. I was lucky enough to capture a couple of historic moments - the celebration at Stonewall on the night the marriage equality bill passed in New York, and the first day of same-sex marriage in the city. I never did make it down to Occupy Wall Street - my biggest regret of the year. Overall I took fewer photos this year than last year. The last half of the year in particular was very busy with other work. I also met a very special person who I became happy to let occupy more of my time. As usual you will notice the passing of the seasons in my favorite part of Central Park, the flower garden near the Hudson River and those weekends in the Catskills. Finally this year in pictures is dedicated to Brad Bates who left us all too soon on December 18, 2011.

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Very disappointed to say there will be no Year in Review video slide show this year. Just too much going on at the moment to do it justice. I had intentions to create it and had even lined up a lot of material, but just couldn't find the right music to make it happen. It's a shame because I had such a good time reviewing so many memories from 2010 that I want to share with you.
There was a lot of family time with Aunt Betty's memorial and the trip with cousins to the wine country, my Dad's retirement, a nice weekend in Colorado with the parents and the annual Thanksgiving gathering in Gig Harbor.
The only trip out of the country this year was to Bermuda as part of the Pride of the Ocean filmmaker cruise that was an incredible experience - thanks to Chris and John. Prior to that trip I had the pleasure of recording Courtney's wedding in North Carolina - thanks to the McEwans. There was a beautiful week in Keystone - thanks to Barbara and Kay. And a road trip to DC this month rounded out the travel this year, beyond the usual jaunts upstate.
I was happy to welcome visitors from California, Peru, Canada and Switzerland and share a few of my favorite New York things with them: PS1, Summer Streets, and Governor's Island.
If I didn't see you in 2010 I hope to catch you in 2011. Best wishes for all the New Year may bring you!

2009 Year in Review

2009, what a ride - in more ways than one. At the start of the year I paid a visit to Jer in Lima to celebrate his birthday and shoot a short documentary I hope to be posting soon. Production also continued full steam with my good friends at St. Vincent - when you see an exam room it's for them. And I was happy to do another segment for In the Life over the summer.

Once again the changing seasons were documented in Central Park, along the Hudson River bike path and upstate in the Catskills. There is the usual slew of brunches and gatherings with the usual lovely crowd and a few new additions. I was happy to welcome my mom to NYC, and visitors from California, Texas, Peru, and Italy. Besides a trip to the Jersey Shore, there was a very special week on Fire Island, and a nice holiday with my brother's family in Gig Harbor. When you see ruins they could be in Turkey, Portugal or England. If I saw you this year, you will probably see yourself, but don't blink, over 25,000 photos were edited to under 5,000 and crammed into 20 minutes of video.

Reading the video summary from last year I noted the impact of the economic downturn on friends and family and hoped for a better 2009. As we all know that didn't happen. In May I also became one of thousands of Americans laid off due to the recession. Though I was lucky to have freelance projects to fall back on and a good group of people to network and find support. Now I remain open to new opportunities and possibilities for freelance projects or a full time position.

In this spirit, simply wishing for a better 2010 is not enough. Rather, it's necessary to learn from experiences both good and bad to be able to navigate this new environment. Just looking at my own country I see it's not enough to elect someone who stands for change, you still have to fight for progress, for health care, for nutrition, for jobs, for the environment. So I hope that in 2010 you find the energy and will to stay engaged and make change any way you can in your world.

This video is dedicated to my dear Aunt Betty who passed the day after Christmas.

2008

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From http://ridavio.com/ Finally! The year in pictures for 2008 is finished. Did you make the cut? You'll have to watch to find out. Similar to last year, the passing of the seasons is defined by trips upstate to the Catskills and bike rides through Central Park and down the Hudson River. There was more filmracing and I was lucky to see my family several times: Mom's spring visit, 4th of July with both parents hosted by Barbara in Ocean Grove, the Davis family reunion in KC, the Chavarria family reunion in Saltillo and my brother's big birthday in Gig Harbor. While there was little international travel this year, a spring project took me to the far reaches of New York including little Russia in Brighton Beach, little India in Jackson Heights, Chinatown in Flushing and more. My work for the Center still figures prominently, after four years working under contract I was officially hired this year. The Center celebrated it's 25th anniversary and the highlight of that was marching at the front of the Pride parade. When you see beach it's probably Fire Island (if it's not the Jersey Shore) - I made it out three times this year. I finally made it to PS1 for the first time and the car free Saturdays on Park Avenue in August were lovely. You see lots of old friends and a few new ones and a couple of long lost ones. But the fondest goodbye was Florent, a restaurant that closed this year, and not after countless Saturday brunches. The trip upstate that is not in New York is New Hampshire on Labor Day thanks to Chris. And then there were the elections, the hard fought struggle, the unbelievable elation and the bittersweet aftermath with the outcome of Prop 8. Thanks to Basil, David and Andrea for their music suggestions and contributions. Once again I'm including Santa Baby as sung by Eartha in honor of her recent passing. Over 12,300 photos taken this year were edited to around 1,800, of which probably around 1,500 made the cut. It didn't help that I resolved to post a photo a day to my blog on my birthday this year. As this year draws to a close my thoughts go out to those who have experienced the downside of the current economic situation first hand. Let's hope for a better 2009 with more enlightened leadership and some real gains in equal rights for all of us.

2007

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The year in video recap is finally done and what an interesting year it was. More travel this last year than anticipated including Mexico-Caribean, LA, Miami, DC, Niagara, Germany, Romania, Brazil, Modesto, and Seattle. There were visits from Mom, Dad, and so many others - especially for that milestone birthday celebration. If I saw you this year you are probably in this movie - don't blink or you'll miss yourself. There were plenty of other birthday celebrations as well - including a Bollywood theme party (and yes, it seems the umbrellas came out at all of them along with that damn song). There were two filmracing adventures (outtakes featured here). There were all those splendid summer days on the river and the pier and all the evenings at the Eagle. You can track the seasonal progress through the year through the varying lengths of my hair (the winter growth - the summer shave), and the changing of the seasons in Central Park and the Catskills. All the best for 2008!

2006 Year in Highlights

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Warm holiday wishes from a balmy NYC. 2006 was a good year, some of the recap will be familiar to those of you who have followed the blog, or were at the holiday party. We start out and end on the top floor of a tenement on West 105th Street and Columbus Avenue. I rung in 2006 with a small impromptu party here and ended it with a nice holiday party a week ago. You can follow the seasons when you see the park, Central Park, that is. Most of the park photos are from my neighborhood - the Great Hill at 106th street and the pond at 103rd street. There were three trips to LA. So when you see palm trees you know I'm there (except the last palm trees - that will be Miami). The other beach you'll see is Ocean Grove/Asbury Park (no palm trees). Other highlights included are the Busch premiere party, Pride, 4th of July, Halloween and a trip to Gig Harbor. We sent Stephen off to Miami (again) and Scott off to LA (again). And then we welcomed Stephen back (Second Time Around Party). Drew, Marit, Troy and Nuno visited from LA, Norway, Michigan and Portugal respectively. Sadly, Lupe passed suddenly on December 1st - my mother's best friend. And there are cameos from Kitty Carlyle Hart, Judy Gold, Shakira, Celia Cruz, Amy Sedaris, Shrek, Madona, and the Queen of England as portrayed by Helen Mirren. Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!