{"id":28375,"date":"2012-12-07T06:30:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T14:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/?p=28375"},"modified":"2012-12-06T21:20:32","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T05:20:32","slug":"they-really-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/they-really-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"They Really Serve Another Very Important Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Growing up, my family had an almost quarterly family party. It would go from home to home amongst the family, usually focusing around birthdays. My one aunt, a marvelous baker made fabulous cakes. My dad would bar-b-que amazing meat. We\u2019d swim in the pool, play volleyball and badminton and then when it got dark, the slide projector would come out, the 5×5 screen set up and everyone would grab a piece of floor. Then for the next couple of hours we\u2019d look at photos of parties past and laugh until our sides hurt. When all over, we\u2019d hug, dry our eyes, pack the cars and set the date and location for the next get together.<\/p>\n

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In between those parties on many a weekend eve, in our home the projector would be out and we would relive family vacations, holidays and occasions. With little goading, my dad who carried his Argus with him all during WWII & Korea, would pull out those old slides and tell his stories. For over twenty years, even after I started to contribute to the nighttime show, that\u2019s how photography in our home was always treasured. It was all about memories, stories and then more memories. It is still that way to this day for Sharon & I especially now as we get a little older and the photo serves to fill in some of those details that some of our newer adventures have covered up. And I think that\u2019s really the treasure of photography, memories!<\/p>\n

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Yes, the pursuit of photography for the technical, the art, the advertising and the ego are all very valid reasons to jump through all the hoops we go through as photographers. But if you\u2019re anything like me, those photographs which are the most treasured are those that are not only good photographs, but ones that have memories which are the sweetest, best and more treasured. Perhaps that\u2019s why when the photograph doesn\u2019t turn out as good as we hoped we are disappointed. It might tarnish the memory?<\/p>\n

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And we can easily swap the word memory with history to give some of our images the more importance. All you have to do is watch a Ken Burns special and you realize just how important photographs are to our history and our memory of history. But there is one big difference between the photograph that is history and the other memory, and that\u2019s the emotional attachment we have to the photograph that forever records a memory, a moment in time.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d literally just gotten off the boat on our B&H \/ Lexar \/ Circle Line \/ Moose NYC cruise when Howard said, \u201cI\u2019ve got dinner reservations, need to get to the cars.\u201d It had been a long, great day. I was tired, grimy and wanted to get back and put my feet up and look at my images, those basic photographer things. But Howard is such a great guy and we so enjoy spending time with him, it was a no-brainer just to go along and besides, he was like a kid on Christmas morning so we knew he had something up his sleeve. Next thing I knew, I was wearing a suit jacket from the River Caf\u00e9 loan closet and sitting at the most magnificent table with the most magnificent view of Lower Manhattan you can imagine!<\/p>\n

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Normally, you have to make a reservation months in advance but Howard worked his magic so we had a great table this evening. Located at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge Tower, the River Caf\u00e9 was built in a floating barge. The first time we felt the movement of the barge, we had no clue what it was because we didn\u2019t know we were on a barge. Me being me, I asked our waitress (we already had a thing going) who chuckled and told me we were on a barge. Every boat that went by, you could feel the swell rock us. It was cool!<\/p>\n

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Click Here To see bigger pano <\/a><\/strong><\/center>
\nWe were there with our good friend including Jeff Cable who, like I, had come to the table with our cameras and knowing it would be a long time until we would be back here again, shot like silly tourists. And having fun, I would hit the shutter release on the D4 and just let it rip. I love folk\u2019s expression when they hear that. Jay Maisel is a wise man and his advice to always have your camera with you is very sound. I sure was this night!<\/p>\n

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Four nights later, Super Storm Sandy came through and as we all know with devastating destruction, changing the lives of many. One of the casualties of Sandy is the River Caf\u00e9. Howard just passed along the word to us that it will be no more. Not only is an unique piece of NYC history gone, but all those who made it so special are now no longer a working family bringing so much delight to so many others.<\/p>\n

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That evening lives on though, in our minds, our hearts and thank goodness, our photographs. The memories of the friendship, the laughs, the food, the atmosphere and of course the magnificent view can be relived in those images. Yes, I used a D4 and raised the ISO with the 24f1.4 to make the images. Those technical aspects of the photography helped preserve the memories, but only more cleanly, more succinct. But it wasn\u2019t needed because the heart would have filled in any missed detail, brighten any darkness. And that is because photography is all about the recording of memories, which are an emotional response to our daily lives. And perhaps that\u2019s why I shoot do damn much, I am so fortunate to have so many good memories. And as we all know, memories are not perfect which is why stressing over the perfect photograph isn\u2019t important to making it great. Howard & River Cafe and its staff, thanks ever so much for the memories! Photographs, they really serve another very important purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, my family had an almost quarterly family party. It would go from home to home amongst the family, usually focusing around birthdays. My one aunt, a marvelous baker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-28375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whats-new"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=100&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"

They Really Serve Another Very Important Purpose<\/a><\/blockquote>