Arthur Jaffe

Dr. Arthur Jaffe,
b. 1921.
Book Collector, Philanthropist, World War II Hero.

Photographed at the Arthur & Mata Jaffe Book Collection,
Wimberly Library, Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, Florida
November 4, 2011

Ellen Wallenstein  ©2011
"Respecting My Elders"
an ongoing project

Santa Fe Prize nomination

Found out last week I was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize in Photography, for my "Opus for Anne" work. A Big Honor! 
I don't know who nominated me but am happy and grateful for the recognition. Thank you!

http://www.visitcenter.org/competitions/overview/santa_fe_prize_2011

(Who knew when I signed up to be a Hospice Volunteer ten years ago how important that work would be, and how much good karma I would earn.)

Dalai, Smoke & Moi 

from "Opus for Anne: A Still Life" 

© Ellen Wallenstein 2006

the other side of the lens

2 portraits of me, by my husband.
i will turn 59 next month. hard to believe & harder to look at.

hope i will live long enough and then some,
to include myself in my project. (only) 21 more years to go.

Video

Making a video for "Respecting My Elders".

I've been working with my husband the past two weekends trying 

to make a short video "sell" of the project  I will be proposing to UnitedStatesArtists.org, to create a website  and a printed catalogue 

of portraits from this series I've been working on for the last few years. 

I've been working on and off; I had/have a very busy teaching schedule (and I was picked for Grand Jury duty for two weeks this past August, which put a crimp in my free time this summer). So I've slowed down a bit on the shooting part while I regroup and organize the future of this endeavor.

I'm the one being filmed; I'm neither photogenic nor a good actress, but I'm trying. We're up to Take 22......hoping to finish it by the end of the month, to post on their website. Making a video is a different animal than a still. 

I hate being on the other side of the lens. It's giving me some extra sympathy and understanding for my subjects. Especially the people who have politely refused my request to photograph them.

unitedstatesartists.org

I am happy to report I have been accepted into unitedstatesartists.org,
a national organization that supports artists and helps fund-raise for projects. I am in some very good company!

http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/community
http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/user/ellenwallenstein

You will be seeing updates about my photography project
"Respecting My Elders"very soon, - stay posted!

Bel Kaufman, writer, b. 1911.

A warm wonderful and with-it lady who is 100 years old/young. She lives on upper Park Avenue in a light-filled modern apartment, with her husband (a younger man of 94). She has every honor a writer can have and then some, and a bookcase filled with every book by Nabokov, in every language.

photos © ellen wallenstein 2011

herbert j. wallenstein (1917-1996)

today would be my father's 94th birthday. happy birthday, daddy.

last pages from "book of my ancestors" 1985

i miss him a lot, if not daily; from time to time; often. i wish i could give him a hug, show him my pictures, read him my writing, ask for advice.

last time i saw him was about a week ago: he appeared in my dream holding his hands out and shrugging his shoulders, as he did in life.
i wish i knew the question he wasn't answering.