Category: Documentary Photography

B. Docktor Photography at 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, NY

Closing Party: February 25, 2018 at 5pm

It’ll be the last day of the exhibit, and I’m going to project photos from my recent trip to Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
You’re invited to come see the work, meet new friends, and enjoy some refreshments.

Sunflowers and Morning Mist

This show features landscapes and animals of my beautiful area Columbia and Dutchess County, NY. Also showing the start of a new project about places and people in the Hudson area that most people don’t get to see.

The idea for this project came to me as I was driving past the old powerhouse of Universal Atlas Cement just south of Hudson on Rt. 9. I’ve passed that place hundreds of times, but never got a good look at it because of No Trespassing signs. So I started calling around to try to get access to places I’d never seen or photographed. I also wanted to use the project as a way to feel closer to Hudson, and to meet and document people and places I’m curious about. We all know Hudson has lots of great architecture, antiques, art and food. But my aim is to find what most of us don’t see, and to feel more deeply connected to the vibrancy, creativity, and diversity that makes this place alluring. I hope to expand the reach of this project into the wider Hudson Valley. If you know of, or own an interesting place that you’d like to have me photograph, please get in touch: bd@bdocktor.com

Universal Atlas Cement, Powerhouse. Rt. 9 south of Hudson

Chef/Owner Dave Chicane, Hudson Food Studio at 610 Warren Street.

One of my personal heroes, civic activist and art dealer, Peter Jung.

Hudson Valley fine art photographer B. Docktor specializes in creating images of nature and the landscape that are stunningly beautiful, and peaceful. These images have a soothing and healing quality that make them perfectly suited for art for healthcare environments: hospitals, medical offices, spas, rehab facilities, and homes and offices. For commissions or custom-designed installations, please call B at 518-329-6239. http://www.bdocktorphotography.com/

B. Docktor, Carl Grauer at 510 Warren Street Gallery May 6, 2017

New Show at 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, NY

Opening reception this Saturday, May 6, from 3-6.

This month, I’ll be showing images of dogs and dancers–in motion!

All my life, I have been captivated by great dancers, athletes, bodies in motion, watching muscles moving, and great photographs of sports and performance. When I was in high school, I put up dark corkboard on the wall next to my bed, and covered it with my favorite images from Sports Illustrated. I have had the good fortune to photograph Parsons Dance a few times at The Joyce Theatre in NY, and this image of Eric Bourne, Steve Vaughn, and Miguel Quinones has given me lots of pleasure over the years.

Parsons Dancers by B. Docktor

In Motion! I just love the challenge of capturing the elusive and most interesting moment.

Jumping Weimaraners by B. Docktor

Jumping Weimaraners by B. Docktor

CARL GRAUER

Carl Grauer hanging his 2-hour portrait series at 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, NY

Carl Grauer hanging his 2-hour portrait series at 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, NY. Photo by B. Docktor

Our featured artist this month is portrait artist, Carl Grauer. He has filled his space with his 2-hour portraits, and it looks amazing! At the opening, Carl will be doing a portrait in our window space. It will be a fun afternoon–hope you can come!
Gallery Hours: Fridays and Saturdays 12-6, Sundays 12-5

510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson, New York

NEW DOGGY VIDEO

Because I love capturing “the essential moment,” dog photography is one of my favorite kinds of work. Movement, expression, humor, love–dogs have it all. Here’s a link to a new short video piece with some of my beloved characters.

14x20 Milo Privitera-24-Edit

Milo the Portuguese Water Dog by B. Docktor

AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHY

Below are two photos that won awards from the New York Press Association, published by The Columbia Paper in 2016. Note the theme? I love to capture movement!

Hudson River Air Dogs by B. Docktor

Jeffrey Leonard and his dog Mainer. Photo by B. Docktor

1607_Ancram Pool_017

 

Award-winning photographer B. Docktor photographs people, pets, family portraits and more, in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, NY, and NJ. To capture the love, the action, the beauty and spirit of the people and animals and events that matter to you, call B. Docktor at 518-329-6239.

Fort Lee house for rent, with privacy and great view

Secluded, one-of-a-kind jewel hidden in Fort Lee cliffs.

You will be amazed that a property like this still exists in Fort Lee.

In 1957 my father, artist Irv Docktor, found an amazing property in Fort Lee–totally private in the woods, with a great view of the Hudson River. We lived in the woods, yet got to see the sun rise over the New York skyline everyday. 

My mom has been living there until a few weeks ago, when she moved to Five Star independent living in Teaneck, NJ. My brothers and I have been working to get the house ready to rent, and it looks amazing!

Click the photos below to see the listing in NJMLS with agent Ila Kasofsky, 201-585-7659.

Pal TerrIf you want to see the photos individually, click here.

From the listing: Totally secluded private oasis, with spectacular full Hudson River view. Views from living room, master bedroom, huge bluestone patio, and wrap-around third level deck. Spectacular and expansive artist’s loft with sliding glass doors facing east to the Hudson and south to the downtown NYC view, with cathedral ceiling and skylights, hardwood floor, bathroom, darkroom or storage room, and access to the deck. Great for artist, musician, writer, photographer, or any creative person with love of natural surroundings. Endless possibilities. Entry level living room with large windows to the Hudson view and surrounding woods, two bedrooms, full bathroom and kitchenette. Lower level features kitchen/dining/entertaining area, windows with views, powder room, washer/dryer, and private entry. One mile south of the George Washington Bridge, walk to the bridge for bus to NYC, or shuttle to the Edgewater Ferry into NYC, or take the bus (a 2 block walk to the bus stop) to the Port Authority Bus Station at 42nd Street, via the Lincoln Tunnel. The town of Fort Lee has numerous Pan-Asian and classic Continental restaurants. All 3 NYC airports are accessible, LaGuardia is closest, but Newark is the easiest commute. Public library, recreation center, senior center, indoor and outdoor tennis, baseball fields and great public education within walking distance.

From my brother Paul, who has worked tirelessly to save and categorize my father’s work: This home will inspire your creativity. There are no neighbors, just a haven for deer, wild turkeys, and birds of all kinds. There is even a waterfall that you can hear.

The upstairs studio encompasses the entire square footage of the other floors is large enough to convert to an extra bedroom, entertainment area and creative area.

Another amazing aspect to this property is that there’s room to park 4 vehicles here, and no parking fees.

There are creative opportunities galore. As our father did, one could have art classes on the patio, deck, or the grounds. The upstairs space could be used for yoga and dance as well.

Sunrises and sunsets will thrill you with a 180 degree panorama from the George Washington Bridge to the New World Trade Center. 

house & dad for Standard-4

The house is private, at the end of the road

 

house and car 1957

This is how it looked in the late ’50s.

1512_Palisade Terrace interiors_107

This is the view you get when you walk into the house.

1512_Palisade Terrace interiors_091-Edit

This is the top floor. My father built it to be his art studio. Spectacular views east and south, with a deck that wraps around 3 sides.

 

Incredible privacy with a wonderful large patio and upper deck.

Incredible privacy with a wonderful large patio and upper deck.

 

1404_NYC Skyline views_033-Edit

The view looking south.

 

 

Ancram Area Farmscapes by B. Docktor at Ancram Town Hall 2/22/15

Ancram Farming: Past, Present, & Future

Sunday February 22 at 2pm ~ Ancram Town Hall ~ 1416 Cty Rt. 7, Ancram

The perfect antidote to cabin fever! Please come join us to see the new exhibit about farming in Ancram created by Lynne Perrella and Jane Shannon, along with three presentations. Historian Jim Mackin will present “Ancram: The Two Sides of Farming History.”  Also speaking: Jim Miller, whose family has been working the land since 1770 at Millerhurst Farm in Ancram. Photographer B. Docktor will be presenting an  animated slideshow called “Ancram Area Farmscapes.” 

Ancram Area Farmscapes

The beauty of our landscape is what drew me and so many other artists to this area. This animated video is literally years in the making–I’ve been photographing the beauty of the land and animals here for a long time. Several years ago I was asked to document the farms for Ancram’s Farmland Protection Plan. That got me on a roll and since then I’ve photographed at these farms which are all represented in the slideshow: Thompson-Finch Farm, Herondale Farm, Millerhurst Farm, Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, Coach Farm, Cricket Hill, Hillover Hillsteins, Chaseholm Farm Creamery, Pleasant View, Mill Farm, Shagbark  Farm, The Horse Institute, Tollgate, Fox Hill, Hillrock Estate Distillery, Dashing Star Farm, Western Riding Stables, Black Sheep Hill, Golden Alpacas, Copper Star Alpaca Farm, and Buckwheat Bridges Angora Goats.

The animated slideshow with music is a media form that I have been working in since 2008 when I created one to show the work and life of my father, the artist Irv Docktor. The digital world makes it possible to merge the images and music in a way that feels more like watching a film than looking at individual images–I just love it! It’s a great way to tell the story of a person’s artwork, a life story in pictures, or in this case, a love affair with a place. The transitions from one image to another yields some extraordinary effects with my photos of sunflowers that have been cultivated at nearby Coach Farm. 

I’d be honored to have you come see!

Hudson Valley fine art photographer B. Docktor specializes in creating images of nature,landscape, and animals that are stunningly beautiful, peaceful, sometimes humorous. Images to tell the story of your farm or business. Or as artwork for your walls–these images have a peaceful and healing quality that make them especially suited for healthcare art in hospitals and medical offices. Please call me at 518-329-6239 to discuss a custom installation for your home or workplace.

Ancram Home Grown / Farming: Past, Present & Future

SAVE THE DATE!   SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015 at 2 PM

The Grand Opening of the NEW Historic Exhibit at Ancram Town Hall

“ANCRAM Home Grown / Farming: Past, Present & Future”

Ancram Farm Photographs 
We have the perfect antidote to cabin fever
Come to a fun party at
Ancram Town Hall, and view our new exhibit, about the past,
present and future of farming in Ancram.    
 
We’ve invited three presenters who will entertain and inform you.
 
*Jim Mackin is a historian who designs and conducts tours for the NY Historical Society and is the founder of WeekDay Walks where each week he leads offbeat walking tours to less-explored historic areas of New York City.  Jim will present
“Ancram: The Two Sides of Farming History”.  History comes alive, when Jim is “in the house”; and his presentations are always engaging, fun, and full of surprises.  His fascination for history is infectious, and he has an entertainer’s flair for
great story-telling.   
 
*B. Docktor came to Ancram as a weekender in 1988 and moved here to stay in 1993.  She is a photographer, massage therapist and has renovated two of Ancram’s vintage houses.  She will present a photographic slide show video with music.  B’s photos capture the people, places, animals and crops of our rural community; and remind us why we love this place.  Come and enjoy her one-of-a-kind visual tribute to Ancramfarming. 
 
*Jim Miller, lifelong Ancram resident and farmer, current town Councilman and Deputy Ancram Supervisor, will tell us everything-and-more about the evolution of Ancram farming.  The extensive archives of Millerhurst Farm date back to 1770 and will be the centerpiece of our new exhibit on Ancram farming.    
 
COME for the presentations, and STAY for the refreshments. 
 
Sunday, February 22, at 2 PM.
Ancram Town HallCounty Route 7, AncramNY

Remembering Irv Docktor and the Fort Lee Home

The article below was written by Joanne Palmer and appeared in The Jewish Standard April 4, 2014.  Paintings and vintage photos by Irv Docktor. Photography by B. Docktor

The Little House in The Big Woods
Artist’s Family Remembers Growing Up in Fort Lee

The three children grew up in the middle of the woods. There were acres of land all around the house; waterfalls tumbled from the rocky hills and splashed down in their rush toward the mighty color-shifting river far below. There were trees to climb, trails to blaze, rocks to scale. For half of the year, glorious canopies of trees shaded their view; when the leaves fell, the children could see the river, and the ships that steamed silently upriver to unload and then headed back south again, out to sea. It was a perfect pastoral scene, the backdrop for a bucolic 19th-century childhood.

The house photographed by Irv in 1957

The house photographed by Irv in 1957

Then pull the camera back a bit. You’ll see that the river is the Hudson, the time the second half of the 20th century, and the town is Fort Lee. The house, built in the 1920s, still stands — still hidden, still improbable, still offering views of jaw-dropping beauty. The children’s mother, formally Mildred Docktor but more often Mitzie, 93, lives there still. Her husband, the Docktor family patriarch, Irving (and it was still a time and a place and a family where it was both fair and accurate to call him that), who died in 2008, was a painter and illustrator who created, among many other works, the iconic cover art for the paperback versions of “The Brothers Karamazov” and “War and Peace.” The family did not come to that extraordinary place accidentally. Both Mitzie Himmelstein, as she was then, and Irv Docktor, who was born in 1918, grew up in Philadelphia. Her family owned a restaurant in Center City, five blocks from Independence Hall, logically enough called Himmelstein’s. “There were three Jewish restaurants on the block,” she said. “The one across the street claimed to be kosher. We never made any claims. But we served Jewish food — meatballs, kishkes, brains, and gefilte fish on Fridays.” The restaurant seated 150 people on its ground floor, and reserved the second floor, the banquet hall, for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other parties. The family lived on the third floor. Her father, Sam, also ran the restaurant at the Cosmopolitan Club in Atlantic City, and she occasionally would work there. A large sugar bowl, substantial, old, heavily engraved, reminds her of it. “The restaurant was on the ground floor, but the kitchen was in the basement,” she remembered ruefully. “There was a dumbwaiter, but still…” Irv’s family owned a pet shop a few blocks away from Himmelstein’s. That venture grew out of his own entrepreneurial father’s work selling animal food. “He used to go around with a wheelbarrow to deliver it,” Mitzie said. “Finally, he opened the store.” Irv and Mitzie did not know each other, although they lived close to each other. He went to Central High School, an academic boys’ school; she went to its mirror, the Philadelphia High School for Girls. He went on to the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, and she went to the Philadelphia College of Optometry, where she was one of only a handful of women. Irv Docktor went off to war — he was in the Philippines, doing aerial photography — when his father died. His mother, Bertha, continued to run the store, and she regularly stopped off at Himmelstein’s for supper. Mitzie, meanwhile, had become an optometrist, and she managed an optometry store. The mothers got together, and soon Irv was writing to Mitzie regularly. (But not until he had requested and she had sent him a photograph of herself, and he decided that she was up to his standards, she recalled.) Finally he came home, the two met, there was a long, romantic trolley ride — and a few months later they were married. Mitzie does not know if Irv was the same kind of unstoppable artist during his childhood that he was throughout their life together, but both she and her children knew him as someone who drew as naturally and constantly as he breathed — someone whose pens and crayons and brushes seemed as integral a part of his fingers as skin and nail and bone; someone who saw no opportunity as too insignificant or sight too minor to be worth capturing. He drew everything. All the time.

Dad & Mom 12.1.07_-55

Mitzie and Irv in December 2007

That is a roundabout way of saying that the pet food packaging in his family store did not escape his attention. He redesigned it. In that expansive postwar world, pet ownership was growing, and so too did the store. Soon, the family moved into the wholesale pet business. Irv, Mitzie, and their oldest child, Mark, had been comfortably ensconced in the family’s above-the-restaurant Philadelphia home, but they went off to New York to grow their business. The Docktors found themselves in Flushing, just a few doors down from his younger brother, with a pet store in Hempstead and another in Levittown, both on Long Island. As is often the case, though, there were family problems. The brother basically absconded. “We were left with certain bills and responsibilities that we shared with him, but he wasn’t there,” Mitzie said delicately. “We had a problem. I was worried about losing my house.” As the pet business went south, Irv relied more on his art. He freelanced, showing his art to publishers, getting commissions, producing book covers. He got work through Grosset and Dunlop, and then from Harper’s — from a vanished world of once-independent publishers — but he did not take a full-time job. “He never liked having anyone over him,” Mitzie said. Cover art for War and PeaceHis book-cover work, done mainly in the 1950s and ’60s, included genre fiction — thrillers by Patricia Highsmith, mysteries by Christiana Brand and John Dickson Carr, science fiction by Robert A. Heinlein and James Blish, children’s books by Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West — as well as American classics by Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Erskine Caldwell. His covers have the period’s characteristic dark look, with faces and figures that demand that you, the viewer, compose your own stories about them even before you read theirs. Much of his work, starting then and continuing for the rest of his life, is both psychologically and visually complex. Irv began to teach art at night at the Newark School of Fine Arts. He loved the work, but it was a nasty trip from Flushing. So, in the mid-’50s, he began searching for a house that met his specifications. “It had to have a water view,” Mitzie said. “We looked in Glen Cove,” on Long Island Sound, “and in Yonkers,” on the Hudson in Westchester; they looked at just about everywhere in between, too. Nothing was right — “and then he found this house,” Mitzie said. The only problem was that there already were people living there, and they had not been thinking of moving. But Irv was a charismatic man, and he wanted the house. So he introduced himself, charmed, schmoozed, and waited. Soon, it turned out that its owners were nearing retirement age, the husband hunted and fished, and Florida beckoned. Not long after that, they were on their way south, and the Docktors — Irv, Mitzie, Mark, then 10, Paul, 7, and Barbara, 3 — moved to New Jersey.

Paul posed for the illustrations for Brave Jimmy Stone

Photo of Paul and illustration for Brave Jimmy Stone

Soon after the family moved to Fort Lee, Mitzie became certified as a teacher; she taught middle-schoolers math in Fair Lawn for 29 years. (She earned $4,300 in 1962, her first year as a teacher, she said; she was very proud of it, and continues to be proud of the pension her teaching earned her.)

mark,bimo photo

Mark and friend posed for illustrations for the book, Bimo

photo of Mark and friend posing for illustration for the book Bimo


Irv continued to make both more and less commercial pieces. He did the artwork for “The Illustrated Book of American Folklore,” using his children and their dog as models. (Mark takes great pleasure now in leafing through the book, showing his face and body morphed into a surprising range of legendary American heroes and ragamuffins.) He designed a book cover for Bergdorf Goodman with a drawing that perfectly encapsulated understated New York postwar glamor. He worked on his Heritage series, which showcased legendary Eastern European heroes, without as much emphasis on ragamuffins. His continuous fascination with faces, and whatever it is that lies behind them, always is evident.
He also taught high school students. For 15 years, he taught at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan — “his only real full-time job,” his widow said — getting to school at least an hour before it opened and staying after it closed, working with the students whose energy and love revitalized him. Many of them figure in his work from that period. In 1980, the Docktors added a studio to the house. Now it has three levels. The bottom-most is at street grade, with what anyone else would think is a spectacular view.

house & dad for Standard-14

The second has a deck that provides an even better, wider, clearer view of river and sky. “Our father would have an art class here on the patio,” Mark said. “When he would have a nude model, when we were young kids, my brother and I would play stickball, and then sneak back through the woods where we could see the class…” The third level, though, is the astonishment. From up there, the view is unbeatable; close enough to be able to understand the vastness of the ships and the river itself, far enough away to overlook miles of it. And the light pours into it through windows and skylights as if it were a tangible substance, like gold. There are lovely old wooden cabinets along some of the walls. Each cabinet drawer holds troves of sketches and prints and pastels and paintings and playbills. Playbills?

Playbill, Sleeping Beauty

Playbill, Sleeping Beauty

Irv and Mitzie loved the opera; they went to listen to music almost every week. At each performance, Irv would draw on his playbill, using one of the many pens he always had in his breast pocket. “Wherever we were, at the opera, at a concert, at the theater, at the ballet, he would be busy sketching,” Mitzie said. “At the ballet, I’d poke him,” she added. “I told him that he really should have been paying attention and watching.” Some of the drawers hold a small representation of the thousands of those playbills. Others hold still-undiscovered treasures. Mark, the oldest of the three Docktor children, is a dentist. (Reader, now is the time for the obligatory Dr. Docktor jokes. In fact, even more hilarity might ensue when you learn that Paul Docktor is an orthopedic surgeon. Another Dr. Docktor. Out of your system? Good. Let’s move on.) Mark remembers his childhood and adolescence in Fort Lee with great nostalgia. By the time he started high school, he began to contribute to the family’s budget. “I had just about every job you could think of, and I knew everyone,” he said. One summer he worked for the town, renewing the yellow marks on curbs. He also delivered pizza and worked at the local root beer stand, and then at the pet shop. Mark put himself through college and dental school by working at a pet store in the Willowbrook Mall — family connections can be helpful, he said. It was a different time, he added, and regulations were very different. Pet stores in malls sold animals that no one now would think of seeing locally outside a zoo. “I sold anteaters and chimps and a white-cheeked gibbon that I used to bring home at night,” Mark said. “Its name was Jasper — Jasper and I really clicked. “Remember that a gibbon is an ape, not a monkey,” he added; in evolutionary terms, it is closer to us. “On Sundays, when the store wasn’t crowded, I’d spin Jasper around,” holding him by the arms and whirling, as a parent might do with a small child. “Sometimes a kid would walk by with an ice cream cone, and Jasper would” — he made a noise, and mimed the cone being gone and the child’s astonishment. “Once I got to the front desk at the clinic at NYU,” where he was in dental school, “and the front desk said ‘You need to call the store in Willowbrook Mall.’ I did, and they said ‘You need to get here right away. Jasper got free, and he is swinging from the chandelier in Marcus Jewelers.’ “So I ran to the mall from the clinic, and I got him down.” What happened to Jasper? “Eventually someone bought him.” Another time, he said, he went to a store in the Bronx, called Bronsons, that “imported exotic wildlife. “They let me go out there and pick things up. I picked up a chimpanzee, and he was banging the cage in the car, so I let him out. He sat on my lap, but then he grabbed the directional signal and bent it. “So I said, ‘Bad boy!’ and put him back in the cage, and then luckily I was able to bend the directional signal back.” Perhaps because the house in which he grew up set the bar very high, the house in which Mark and Maggie Docktor now live, and where their three daughters grew up, is unusual, too. Its core was built in 1804; the Docktors are just the seventh owners, and he has collected a copy of most of the deeds that transferred the house from one family to the next, along with maps that show Tenafly’s changes over the last two centuries. The house is full of his father’s art — hanging on the walls, piled in folders, put neatly away in drawers. Irv and Mitzie’s Docktor’s daughter, who now is called B. and lives in Ancram in upstate New York, is a professional photographer; like her father, in much of her work she concentrates on faces, finding truth and beauty in the absolute individuality of each of her subjects.

_DSC6508-Edit

Pencil sketch of B and her dog Rudy

Growing up in that Fort Lee house was “phenomenal,” B. said. “We had so much privacy and freedom. To both be in the woods and have that view of the city — it was the house that everybody wanted to be in.

“It was a magical place.” Fort Lee has undergone a “huge transformation — and not one I’m happy with,” she added. “It kind of breaks my heart. Really, they paved Paradise, and put in a parking lot.” Although much of the magic was inherent in the house, another part came from her family. Everyone loves her mother, she said; as for her father, “he was a creative force. His output was phenomenal. He was just so stimulated by everything visual. He couldn’t ever get enough of looking at things. “He was insatiable visually.” Although she chose a different medium than her father did, she thinks it is no accident that she followed him into the visual arts. “When we would go places, the thing to do with my father was go to museums,” she said. “He could never get enough. “He would stand in front of something for a really long time, and he would have you look at it, and really explore it.” He taught her how to really look, how to go down through layer after layer to see the underlying structure, and not to forget the surface either. “I remember a lot of time his saying, ‘Do you see this? Or this? Or this?’ A lot of the time I couldn’t see it at first, but then I could see it, and then I’d see more and more.” He taught her to appreciate shapes, too. “A lot of his work has complex, interwoven figures,” she said. “You’re not exactly sure where one starts and the other leaves off.” Like her father’s, many of B.’s images are of faces. (Some of them are posted on her website, http://www.bdocktorphotography.com.) She has taken many pictures of farm animals, and they are entrancing. They seem to know things. (It’s odd, she mused, that the most popular of her photos are her farm animals. Those are the images that people are most likely to buy and hang on their walls. They will buy photos of their own dogs, not of anyone else’s, she said, but they are entirely comfortable with random farm animals.) “My imagery is very simple and graphic compared to his, but I learned about composition from him,” B. said. There is something about the way I see and compose an image that is a direct result of my father’s influence on me.” And she still is diving through the layers of the visible, to keep on learning.

Heritage

Heritage

“I have one piece of his where I can still see more and more,” she said. “Every time I look at it, I see more.”

Photograph Judith Hill performing at Helsinki Hudson

I’m so lucky–I got to photograph Judith Hill performing at Helsinki Hudson last weekend. She was my favorite singer on The Voice last year, and she blew me away with her great voice, her piano playing, and her fantastic arrangements. She had been singing backup with Michael Jackson, and was to be his duet partner on his This Is It tour.

Judith grew up in a musical family; her mom is a pianist from Tokyo, and her dad, an African American bass player in a funk band.

On The Voice and at Helsinki Hudson, Judith did a fantastic version of  “Feelin’ Good,” which is best known by Nina Simone. Michael Bublé  also covered it. I have loved this song since I first heard it in 1964. It was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint–The Smell of the Crowd. Judith could go from jazz to rock with such ease, and dare I say it: I prefer her version to MJ’s of “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Love it so much I use it when I teach Zumba!

As I’ve been hunting and pecking around the internet for info on Judith, I came across the video of The Voice “knockout round” duet between Judith & Karina Iglesias. This is some powerhouse singing–check it out here. Love the intensity of this performance!

It was so great to see and hear her live, right in my own backyard, at Helsinki Hudson–such a great, intimate venue. Of course I enjoyed getting a chance to photograph her too! More here:

judith hill at helsinki hudson

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Photographer B. Docktor specializes in capturing the spirit, action, and energy of performances. 518-329-6239.

Preserving The Essence of Something Happening Now

B. Docktor dog photography-20

 

 

 

A Need To Make Photographs

 

B. Docktor dog photographer-6Why do I feel a need to make photographs? I always have. And it’s hard to put it into words. It feels so important to me . . . to preserve the essence of something happening now in a way that thrills, to spark our memories later, to show future generations who we are, what and who we love. This week, a tragic fire struck a family that I know from having photographed their dog Santiago (above), for The Unexpected Pit Bull 2014 Calendar. The fire took the lives of six of their precious dogs. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
B. Docktor dog photographer-5
Kara & Erich train dogs, perform with the dogs, and foster dogs in need. Kara’s sister set up a YouCaring page to help raise money to get them back on their feet. http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/help-kara-and-erich-get-back-on-their-feet/111258 
 
She wrote:
“Kara and Erich are, to say the least, animal lovers. I have never met two people so dedicated to helping out the furry friends of the world. They teach classes, they put on shows, they honestly LOVE what they do. With that, they also foster dogs in need. Quite often, they end up not only being foster “parents” but adoptive parents. Last night their family went from 2 people and 16 dogs to 2 people and hopefully 10 dogs.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Erich & Santiago

 
B. Docktor dog photographer-4
 
B. Docktor dog photographer-3
 
B. Docktor dog photographer-9
 
B. Docktor dog photographer-10
 
B. Docktor dog photographer-12The day before Thanksgiving, I went down to Millbrook to help look for their dog Betty who had been missing since the fire– 2 nights and a day. Thank goodness she showed around 1pm, right at the house. You can see more from this session by clicking any photo, or the link below http://www.bdocktorphotography.com/Client-Access/Animal-Portraits/Santiago
My heart goes out to Erich & Kara–such a devastating loss.

Your comments are welcome.

Award-winning pet photographer B. Docktor photographs pets in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, NY, and NJ. Call me to capture the love, the action, the beauty and humor of your pets and animals: There is a need to make photographs. 518-329-6239.

Open Farm Days in Chatham

This weekend September 28 & 29, 2013 from 10-4 is a wonderful time for an outing to Open Farm Days in Chatham, NY. I will be selling prints and cards of farm animals at Spruce Ridge Farm, where I photographed their beautiful alpacas this year. Spruce Ridge is at 434 Route 13 at Highland Road. Jeff Lick & Steve McCarthy raise alpacas, pigs, chickens and cattle and it’s a beautiful place. They will have lots going on: in addition to the great array of animals, they’ll have vendors, demonstrations of spinning, weaving and knitting, and you can have lunch there.

There are nine farms on the tour which is hosted by The Chatham Agricultural Partnership. I wish I could be in two places at once and drive around to visit all the farms. Chatham is a gorgeous area, and the leaves are starting to turn. I highly recommend getting out there, and I hope you’ll come visit me at Spruce Ridge! Here are a few of the images I made of these gorgeous alpacas. I have cards of these to sell and I can print these at any size. I made three of them at 20×30 and they look fabulous hanging next to each other–I can attest that they make great company in my home.

Do you have something or someone you’d love to have photographed in a way that thrills you? That’s what I love to do!

To see more, click any image.

1304_Spruce Ridge Farm_177

1304_Spruce Ridge Farm_079-2

 

 

1304 Spruce Rudge Farm 123-1

1304_Spruce Ridge Farm_102

1304_Spruce Ridge Farm_129

The pet photographer, B. Docktor photographs pets, farms and lots more in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, NY, and NJ. Call me to capture the love, the action, the beauty and humor of your pets and animals: 518-329-6239.

Landscape and animal photography celebrating Ancram, NY

Sunday July 21, 2013 from noon to 3pm, the Town of Ancram is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Town Hall with a dedication of our Historic Vestibule Project.

This project is the brainchild of Ancram artist Lynne Perrella who wanted to pull together a beautiful way of presenting Ancram history and culture using photography, words, and great design.

(Click any photo to see more of my Ancram landscape and animal photographs)

Herondale Cows (by B. Docktor) and vintage photo of Pat Hoysradt (photographer unknown). This is one of the panels in the Ancram Vestibule project.

Herondale Cows (by B. Docktor) and vintage photo of Pat Hoysradt (photographer unknown). This is one of the panels in the Ancram Vestibule project.

Lynne enlisted me to contribute photography of how Ancram looks now, and to edit, restore, and help fabricate a photo “frieze” that wraps around the space of the vestibule. She also got Ancram artist and craftsman Perry Rollins to re-do what was a very drab and unused space into a beautiful space that will have ongoing interest and value. In addition to designing the space and shepherding it into fruition, Lynne will be curating a show of Ancram history that will change four times a year. Many of you know Lynne as the creative force behind Ancram Angels holiday parties–she has led a team that has charmingly transformed Town Hall year after year. I am particularly happy to see her doing a project that Ancram folks will enjoy for more than one night a year! The first show, opening at the dedication ceremony will be on one-room school houses. 

(Click any photo to see more of my Ancram landscape and animal photographs)

Ancram landscape: After a storm, from Roche Drive
Ancram landscape: After a storm, from Roche Drive

 

Potluck Lunch, new art, new space to celebrate our history. I hope you will come out and see what we have been up to! It’s been a very interesting and fun collaboration. We started by getting together with Ancram historians Clara Van Tassel and Robin Massa to select the photographs that would represent “vintage” Ancram. Then we culled through favorite images I’ve made over the years, showing Ancram’s landscape, animals, and yes–even a few people. Lynne chose the sequencing of images while I was busy restoring the old images. I take a lot of pride in the before and after differences in these photos. If you have old images you’d like to restore, I can do this for you. (I’d rather be photographing, but I do take on a limited amount of restoration work–particularly if it is part of a larger project that includes current photography as well.)

(Click any photo to see more of my Ancram landscape and animal photographs)

Ancram landscape: Sunflowers on Rt. 7. (No, they're not there yet this year).

Ancram landscape: Sunflowers on Rt. 7. (No, they’re not there yet this year).

To help celebrate Ancram and this wonderful project, I am offering a special Ancram gallery with some of my favorite images of  landscape and animal photography on sale through the month of June. Click here to view this gallery where you can see the images available as 20×30″ canvas prints, ready–to-hang for only $500 tax and shipping included.

Ancram animals: Herondale Farm Whispering Sheep

Ancram animals: Herondale Farm Whispering Sheep 

Hudson Valley fine art photographer B. Docktor specializes in creating images of nature and the landscape that are stunningly beautiful, and peaceful. These images have a soothing and healing quality that make them perfectly suited for your home or office, and art for healthcare environments: hospitals, medical offices, spas, rehab facilities. Please call me at 518-329-6239 to discuss a custom installation. View portfolio: http://www.bdocktorphotography.com/Nature/Nature-Photography-Fine-Art/