Party Faves, is a collection of provocative photographs from Bar & Bat Mitzvah celebrations. This Jewish rite of passage often culminates in an elaborate celebration richly entwined with vignettes about, family, sexuality, privilege and identity: all of which are the subjects of my photographs. I began this project after many years of professionally photographing Bnei Mitzvahs. While working at these spirited festivities I reconnected to the memories of my own youth. Inspired by these recollections I found a new vision for my work. I realized that I could edit the pictures in a way that would reflect this vision, and that my perspective, different from that of my clients’ would make a compelling and personal series of photographs. I remember as a teen-ager, being filled with self-doubt, especially at parties where I watched with envy, the girls who appeared confident and “cool”. Today this memory has become one of the lenses that I find myself photographing through. Memory, unlike the indelible mark of a photograph, is fluid and changes with time and perspective. In my project, Party Faves, I attempt to attach my memories to present day moments in order to share both a personal and general experience of growing up.

ENJOY THE RIDE Several Parkways grace the landscape of Westchester County. I have driven on them countless times and only recently thought to stop and take a picture. These roads were originally built to be the route from the city to the parks. (Hence the name Parkway) Today commuters travel to work from the suburbs to the city, rarely taking the time to appreciate the beauty of the ride. I started photographing the parkways and have fallen in love with the journey of light, seasons, wild life, entangled vines and the history they tell. The Bronx River Parkway was the first to be built, Construction began in 1913, and it opened to both automobiles and horse and buggies in 1922. The Bronx River Parkway, with its stone bridges, and elegant curves, was not only an engineering masterpiece but also a nod to the novel idea of driving for pleasure.

These photographs were taken in the beginning of the pandemic. They are about the gravitas in the air, as I quarantined with my immediate family. For four months we stayed isolated from the world and yet through a shared dread we felt intensely united to every human. There were delicious moments of togetherness; cooking, eating, knitting, talking and living with my husband and adult children. There were opportunities for repairing past hurts and nurturing mature relationships. But there was anxiety, sadness, loss and guilt. We stayed together, until the middle of July. Even though it felt as if time was standing still, I knew it was not, and I had to let my daughters navigate through their own light and shadows, to return to a world I had no compass for.