Some friends have been encouraging me to post some older portraits that are not yet on my website.  A couple of years ago I was invited by Golf Pro Ken Raynor to photograph the George H.W. Bush Cape Arundel Celebrity Golf Classic at Cape Arundel Golf Course in Kennebunkport, Maine.  The Classic benefits Gary’s House of Mercy Hospital.  The celebrities golfing at the tournament were former NHL defenseman Eric Weinrich and 5 time Olympic Gold Medalist Bonnie Blair. I talked with both Bonnie and Eric and they both agreed to let me do a portrait of them to use for a future photography exhibit.  Eric is now Assistant Coach of the Portland Pirates AHL team and shown here is Ken Raynor giving a tour to Bonnie Blair.

To view a slideshow of the images, click on the blue text that says: “View with PicLens”

Please note, these are low resolution images for quick uploading and viewing.  All images from my website are available as high resolution downloads, prints or enlargements, etc.

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This is the saddest post I’ve ever made to my blog.  A friend, Phil Sturges, from Kennebunk, ME recently passed away after a battle with cancer.  I only knew Phil for a short time but one of the special characteristics about Phil was that he would treat new acquaintances like old friends–I instantly felt welcome to his world.  Phil was always a gentlemen and went through life with such class.  Even during his illness, he showed such courage by maintaining a daily online diary through CaringBridge to keep family and friends updated.  Shown here are a few images I took during a perfect day sailing on John Getchell’s the Bon Marche last Labor Day.  Although I’m sad that we’ve all had to lose Phil, I will always remember this day and what a wonderful example Phil set for us all.  As you can see by the photos, Phil was truly in his element.  That smile you see, he had the entire day–he was happy for hours.  Also shown are: the Gingerbread Man a.k.a John Getchell–one of Phil’s closest friends; Jeffrey Martin-Zdunczyk an attorney from Kennebunk and Lisa Hagerman from Cambridge.  And if you look closely to the reflection in Phil’s glasses in the black & white image, you can also see Wendy Martin-Zdunczyk.

To view a slideshow of the images, click on the blue text that says: “View with PicLens”

Please note, these are low resolution images for quick uploading and viewing.  All images from my website are available as high resolution downloads, prints or enlargements, etc. by clicking here.

 I’m always on the look out for interesting people — you know when you meet them, they just have a charisma about them.  And I always know it when I’m in the presence of someone who has “It”.  Today I met Charlie Rose and he definitely has “It”.  As you can tell from the photo, he has a beaming smile and was wearing flourescent orange and green shirt and headband, army green shorts, and army green Croc sandals.  Charlie definitely has a presence.

Charlie is Venezuelan but has lived in the States for years having first moved to NYC and now he’s been in Miami for 7 years.  He briefly told me his history and he’s done almost everything to make a living: cleaning kitchens, cleaning boats, selling bottled water on the beach and now making jewelry.  And his energy?  Wow.  Non stop.  He’s one of those people who is perpetually happy and upbeat–I mean he radiates optimism.  So, I asked him how he stays so happy all the time.  He says, “Look man.  I got problems too.  You think I don’t have problems?  I have bills, I have to pay but I come out here, and the sun is shining.  I mean, look at my office.  And I love making jewelry and I get to make people happy.  I’m an entertainer and I get to entertain all day long.  And the money from the jewelry allows me to do other things. I’m a musician and I have to pay for studio time.  I sell jewelry, I bring it right to the studio man to pay him.  Because that is where my real passion is.” He plays flute, percussion and many different types of music from classical to merengue.

This attitude is keeping him healthy because he’s 50 years old but he appears to be in his late 30′s.  He went on to tell me about his jewelry partner Fatima Jackson and I watch Charlie do his thing with the jewelry and people eat it up.  I mean all different types from young girls from Ohio to tough street kids from Miami—he’s selling to them all.  He’s an absolute natural salesman.  But it’s not fake–all genuine because he really loves what he does, he made it, he sells it.  If you’re interested in Charlie, check out his Facebook page.

This is part of an on-going project I do when I see interesting people I like to photograph them and then write up the experience.  It’s a perfect complement to my regular portraiture work.

 Something was telling me to take a break from working on the computer, grab my camera and take a spin on my beach cruiser bike around South Beach.  WOW!  Something was right.  Just about 7 blocks from my apartment I see a street blocked off (on 13th just off Washington Ave) with a film crew so I ride down there and who’s standing right in front of me talking to one of the security guards?……Gabrielle Anwar who plays Fiona Glenanne on Burn Notice.  I can see why in  1993, People magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

Here’s the best part: I’m now on a first name basis with her  Seriously, I ask her if I can take a photo and she says sure.  So I take my camera out of my bag and she says, “Wow, that’s quite a camera.”  Yeah, I know what you all are thinking….but that’s what she said.  And I came back with the lamest response, “Oh, well…..I’m a portrait photographer and this is what I use on shoots.”  She seemed like she wanted to talk so I introduced myself, “By the way, I’m Liam.”  And she shook my hand and said, “I’m Gabrielle.”  I told her I’m a big fan and that I had seen every episode (I live in Miami Beach—it’s true.  I’ve seen every one!).

So, I got a couple of good shots and then an assistant gave me “that” look and said they had to be going.  Sure enough, the assistant came back and told the security guys, no more photos because they’re behind schedule.  So, I guess I got the last one of the day!

My favorite photo I took yesterday.  This is Laura Reynolds’ fist, Executive Director of Tropical Audubon Society, Inc.

Yesterday I attended a meaningful and moving event in South Beach: Hands Across the Sand which is a grassroots effort started in Florida by Dave Rauschkolb that has become an overnight, international success . Yesterday, in approximately 43 countries concerned citizens gathered on beaches all over the world to make a statement against off-shore drilling and the turnout was tremendous. You could feel the energy in everyone. They were so excited that the line of people holding hands reached over 10 blocks and they estimated over 1,000 in attendance just in South Beach.

Mike Gibaldi, Chairman of the Miami Chapter of Surfrider and lead organizer of Miami Beach’s Hands Across the Sand

Miami Beach resident Priscila Lopes doing her part

Laura Reynolds , Executive Director of Tropical Audubon Society, Inc.

Debbie Matthews and Jonathan Ullman volunteering today with the Miami Group of Sierra Club

And even babies attended this great event: Sara Cino and baby Layla.

Dario Gonzalez with Emerge Miami & Open Streets Project.

I ran into Kathryn Moore, Executive Director of the South Florida Bike Coalition who helped organize a group of bikers to attend the event.  Some of the riders shown here are the self-proclaimed “Miami Urban Rough Riders”, left-t0-right: Ulises Manzano, Juan C. Gallo, Carlos Rebenga and Barbara Manzano.

Joaquin Rodriguez and Jessica Bernabei volunteering for the Miami Group of the Sierra Club

One of the key groups organizing the event was the Surfrider Foundation.

Activisit Dara Schoenwald a volunteer with ECOMB (Environmental Coalition of Miami & the Beaches)

Dave Doebler, Miami Beach resident and with “Organizing for America”

And what event would be complete without candidates running for office?  There were a few yesterday including Glenn Burkett who is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.

I was back in Maine for a quick visit over Memorial Day weekend after attending my 20th college reunion in New Haven.  I absolutely love going to the parade in Kennebunkport’s Dock Square complete with the fire trucks, marching band, Boy Scouts and President George H.W. Bush making a speech.  I got four good shots of him and Barbara and these were with my “travel” camera.

Whim ‘n Rhythm perfom at Woolsey Hall

Last weekend I traveled from Miami Beach up to New Haven for my Yale College Class of 1990 20th reunion.  Wow–time has flown.  But it was great to see so many people.  The head of reunions said we had 450 classmates show up out of a class of 1,300 students–not bad.  I only took a few photos over the weekend because I spent the entire time talking and by Sunday my voice was hoarse.

1990 Whiffenpoofs performing at our reunion

 Whim ‘n Rhythm performing at our reunion

I stayed right in the dorm (Silliman College) on campus!

I just remembered I had taken some images with my iphone (the resolution is pretty weak!).  Before everyone had arrived at the reunion on Friday, I wandered around campus and visited a few of my favorite “haunts” and here they are:

Calhoun College’s common room piano.  I have many fond memories of my suite-mate, Harrison Pollak playing amazing music on this piano.

For lunch on Friday, I had my favorite Greek salad at Yorkside Restaurant on York Street.  This is the same great salad that I’ve been having since 1982 when my brother first matriculated at Yale!

I also visited The Selin Courtyard inside Sterling Memorial Library.  I remember the first time my brother showed me this wonderful place to read.

And of course for dessert, I had to go to Ashley’s Ice Cream on York Street!

Yesterday I attended the Wynwood Graffiti by Bike Tour through Miami and was amazed at how much really great public art is taking place in downtown Miami. The event was a collaboration of a few groups and individuals, specifically Emerge Miami (an activist network group) and Miami Open Streets (a bicycle advocacy group) and Meetup Critical Mass.

And the tour was led by the extremely knowledgeable event creators, Olga Cano and Dario Gonzalez. Dario and Olga took turns guiding our group (110 people showed up for this on a hot and humid Saturday morning) as we proceeded to bike 9 miles through the streets of Miami. They had previously chosen some of the best graffiti art and created a route and map and as we biked the route Dario and Olga would describe some of the work and the artists.

I’ve included 45 images but this is just a tiny sampling of what is downtown–I doubt I photographed even 1% of what we saw. And if you are wondering about the legality of the art, it was explained that all the art we were viewing was legal and the building owners had “donated” the space for the artists to do their work. I was very impressed with the organization of the public art and the bike tour itself. I learned more about the public art scene in Miami in 4 hours than I had in the last 6 weeks.

One of the highlights of the tour was a planned stop to meet and listen to graffiti artist DEXOS a.k.a Alexis Samaniego while he worked on his current commission, a great rendition of Jim Morrison.

Just a sampling of the artwork that we viewed yesterday was created by: Phetus, Tristan Eaton, SEVER,  El Mac, Retna, SAND, Aiko, BOOKS, Barry McGee.

We concluded the bike tour at one of the most popular public art spaces in Miami, the Wynwood Walls which is a collaboration by Goldman Properties and Deitch Projects. If you want to choose just one public art wall to view graffiti art, this is the one. I was pleased to see some great work by Shepard Fairey (I had seen his excellent exhibit this past summer at the ICA in Boston).  Beautiful work and well maintained.  And a final mention to Primary Flight , an organization that has served as the main outdoor art curator for Wynwood since 2007.

I highly recommend checking out the Miami public art scene!

(These are all low-resolution images for quick uploading and viewing)

Today I went to Jackie Gleason’s Mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery with my friend Ashley.  Ash told me he had been wanting to visit Jackie‘s grave since moving here 13 years ago but Jackie is buried way out near the everglades on the west side of Miami and Ashley doesn’t drive.  So I offered to drive and I’m glad I did because I have fond memories of my Dad watching Jackie on TV when I was a kid and laughing late at night.  I wasn’t expecting much because of how far out the cemetery is but was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful, quiet, walled and well landscaped area.  Also surprising was how classy Jackie’s mausoleum is–all marble, tastefully done and rather simple.  The only wording anywhere on the entire mausoleum besides his name and dates was the following favorite saying on the front and back steps: “AND AWAY WE GO”  Definitely worth a little side-trip if you are a Gleason fan.  And I was surprised at how few people actually visit his grave–the secretary at the cemetery office said he gets visitors only about once a month.  So, he’s probably lonely–go visit him.