"New York City Nights - Book 1"

NOTE: THIS BOOK IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE - I AM SEEKING A NEW PUBLISHER AND WILL UPDATE MY WEBSITE WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE

Excited to announce publication of my first book, "New York City Nights - Book 1". It is an 8.5" x 11" hard-cover book containing more than 70 of my favorite photos on 120 pages. The book is divided into four sections: "Manhattan Skyline," "Lunar City," "Bridges of NYC" and "Stormy Weather." Most importantly, it's full color bleed with most of the photos presented in two page spreads (see photos below).

New York City Nights - Book 1

On "Being Bigger Than I Think I Am"

But the book is about more than just my NYC pictures. In the Introduction, I reveal that when I first started working as a photographer full time in 2009, I was riddled with fear and self-doubt. I had degrees in economics, law and business, but absolutely no formal training in art or photography. This conspired to rob me of my self-confidence and thus it was a very long time before I could show my work publicly. At one point I realized the problem was not "out there"; rather it was inside my own mind.  It was my own negative thoughts and beliefs about myself that were holding me back. So with the help of some trusted friends, I began to work on seeing myself differently. And as I saw myself differently, slowly new actions followed. I started to post my photos on Social Media and submit my work to contests and exhibitions. I even started doing cold calling for my headshot and commercial photography businesses. The fact that I was always expecting rejection and disappointment made these things were very difficult. But I kept at it and slowly things started to change. I still remember how utterly shocked I was when I won my first award in a little art exhibition on Long Island. I was certain they had made a mistake and the ribbon was supposed to go to someone else. The more I stuck with, the more things happened. First one award, then two, then five and so on. But there was also lots of stuff that didn't happen - some major failures, rejections and disappointments. These were (and still are at times) very hard to deal with. However, I see now what defines my career is not how I handle the successes; but rather, how I handle the disappointments. I'm beginning to see that everyone has to deal with setbacks - often, the most successful people seem to have had the biggest challenges in life. What differentiates them is they don't quit in the face of those challenges. I've heard more than one very successful person say the reason they've succeeded is not because they are so talented - it's because they never gave up. So that's the message I hope to share in publishing this book. That in order to get where we want to be in life, many of us have to be "bigger than we think we are". We have to overcome those negative voices that say we're not good enough, and then muster the courage to move forward even when it seems like things aren't working out. My goal is to inspire myself and others to pursue our dreams even when faced with failure or disappointment. That means being courageous and taking action every day towards our vision, and equally important, forgiving ourselves on the days we don't. There is no guarantee of success in life. But there is one guarantee of failure - and that's if we give up.

IMG_2136e Book m1 Book m3 Book m4a Book m5 Book m9 Book m10 Book m11 Book m13 Book m14