Stories & Series

Some of my favorite stories and photographic series

Le Grand Continental

Chasing after a wild dance performance by a citizen ensemble at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art…

Walk AROUND Philadelphia

The beginning of an epic pilgrimage around the city’s perimeter. Here’s the story of our first day on the walk…

An invitation to Interfaith work

“Religion” & “Faith” are complex topics, and it’s often hard to have productive conversations with people whose beliefs differ from our own. Here are some folks who’ve figured it out.

Shale Gas Outrage

That’s Dana Dolney. Those breasts of hers are fake. I first met Dana in the airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, back in 2002, long before her battle with breast cancer. I was thrilled to see her back in good health, joining the throng of citizens in the streets of Philadelphia for last week’s Shale Gas Outrage,…

How Philly Moves

Philadelphians who love to dance – a few images from the series.

If you cook it, they will come…

Here’s one of my recipes for community building… It’s not top secret; please go right ahead and replicate or adapt it for your own neighborhood. I guarantee nourishing results.

We made it! The February 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia is complete…

I set out on February 7th for my 6th annual (and 7th total) pilgrimage around the city’s edge. One week later, after ~110 miles through snow and ice, detours and discoveries, setbacks and surprises, challenges and connections, I found my way back to the beginning, yet again amazed by the wonder of this city, and…

Airport & Southwest: Recap of final weekend of Fall 2021 walk

Segment 9:Around the airport (Hog Island Road) It’s the final weekend of this fall’s Walk Around Philadelphia and we’re headed into the home stretch, circumnavigating the airport today and then following the creek back up to 61st & Baltimore where I started a few weeks ago. (If you’ve missed the earlier blog posts, you might…

Trees

Studies in movement & nature

My first Truth Tour – Everyone Is Photogenic

One more trip down memory lane for JJ Tiziou Photography’s 10yr anniversary… That last post told you about how an invitation to document the creation of an LPFM radio station for a farmworker community in Florida first plugged me into the community media movement; this post is about how I got involved with the Coalition…

Shale Gas Outrage 2012

My friends at Protecting Our Waters continue to organize against fracking, because we all live downstream…

Fear not the rain…

We’ve had a lot of storms and rain lately, and Philadelphians are probably relieved to see sunshine on the forecast. While I like the sun, I’m always a little bit surprised to see how upset people can be by rain. I was recently shooting in Manayunk, where we had a storm roll through our outdoor…

Feb 2021 Walk Around Philadelphia: Day 3

Pine Rd, the Northeast / Poquessing Creek / Knights Rd… This might be the longest and most ambitious segment of the six-day itinerary, at least for those of us coming from W. Philly / Center City. I was up by 4:15 in order to leave enough time to get ready and make it to the…

Halfway there! Recap of 2nd weekend of Fall 2021 walk.

The 8th Walk Around Philadelphia is halfway complete! This fall’s 10×10 edition of the perimeter walk is divided into ten segments that are roughly ~10 miles each. With five of them done, there’s still five more opportunities to register via FringeArts join a group walk in this exploration of the city’s margins. Sept 25/26/27 take…

This Town Is A Mystery…

One of my favorite moments at this year’s Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe was getting to share in Headlong Dance Theater‘s dress rehearsals for “This Town Is A Mystery”… Such a beautiful set of pieces that I wanted to share a bit of it with you:

A prison visit… [sort of]

Here’s a story about trying to support a friend who was incarcerated. The system seems pretty broken; I’m grateful to those who are working to fix it…

Invisible River – preview!

An amazing shoot on the Schuylkill river in preparation for choreographer Alie Vidich’s ‘Invisible River’ performance…

What We Made Possible Together This Year

Year-End Reflections from Walk Around Philadelphia & my other community practices There is so much bad news out there. And things are so hard on so many fronts: polarization, alienation, loneliness – nevermind technological disruptions and economic struggles. And yet, this year, I kept seeing something else. So here’s the good news: This year I…

Yoga project reportback

A beautiful and group of diverse Philadelphians who practice yoga gather to discuss & share their practices…