five pictures

23 Apr

The “Aunt Jemima” table at the Four Seasons Restaurant’s “Open Kitchen” event, a gala benefit for the Cancer Research Institute with a star studded list of attendees including Mayor Bloomberg, and Governor Pataki. The theme of the event was “honoring famous women.”. © natalie keyssar for The Wall Street Journal, April 2013.

25 Jan

Onlookers photograph the scene of a fire on Bedford Ave in Williasmsburg, Brooklyn, from inside a restaurant across the street. January 22, 2013. natalie keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

22 Jan

The Manhattan Amateur Classic ballroom dancing competition. NYC, January 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal.

16 Jan

Alix, May 2012. Miss you, summer. ©natalie keyssar

16 Dec

© natalie keyssar for The Wall Street Journal 2012. Sandy Hook, CT.
A photographer who’s work I like a lot knelt down next to me to shoot the growing memorial sign post. “Such a cluttered background over there,” he said, pointing left to the road, lined with parked cars and guarded by 2 state troopers and a row of orange cones. “Over there not so bad,” he gestured right to a thicket of winter-bare trees in a ditch, separated from camera crews, photographers, reporters and police by a narrow grassy bank and stretch of police tape.
Every ten minutes or so, a person who wasnt press would crest the perfect suburban hill top, next to a pretty old cemetery. They seemed unfazed by the herd of journalists, tangled wires, and the hyper shutter clicks. They carried their offerings around the mass of us, beyond the yellow tape, to place clear plastic-wrapped bouquets, stuffed animals or balloons at the base of the sign. They would rearrange, adjust, touch a teddy bear or a rose. One woman asked the press for a light for her candle. Most made their addition, touched their companions and turned their backs, heads bowed. Some collapsed in tears, some opened their bodies, like in theater class, (never your back to the audience), to the hungry cameras, and we readily responded.
Children were clutched desperately by parents as they walked around the dazed, sunny town. Teenagers explored in small packs, tearful and curious. Christmas decorations, sale signs, school zone signs, all took on a cruel joke quality. I scanned the horizon for something to help me understand what happened there, but my eyes found camera bags, colleagues, and a traffic jam of rental cars.
A camera man accidentally kneed me in the head as I shot a picture. He told me to move out of his way. I had no sharp words. I felt, but did not execute, a shrug in my shoulders. I looked up at him silently, then returned to shooting, motionless.

A photographer who’s work I like a lot knelt down next to me to shoot the growing memorial sign post. “Such a cluttered background over there,” he said, pointing left to the road, lined with parked cars and guarded by 2 state troopers and a row of orange cones. “Over there not so bad,” he gestured right to a thicket of winter-bare trees in a ditch, separated from camera crews, photographers, reporters and police by a narrow grassy bank and stretch of police tape.

Every ten minutes or so, a person who wasnt press would crest the perfect suburban hill top, next to a pretty old cemetery. They seemed unfazed by the herd of journalists, tangled wires, and the hyper shutter clicks. They carried their offerings around the mass of us, beyond the yellow tape, to place clear plastic-wrapped bouquets, stuffed animals or balloons at the base of the sign. They would rearrange, adjust, touch a teddy bear or a rose. One woman asked the press for a light for her candle. Most made their addition, touched their companions and turned their backs, heads bowed. Some collapsed in tears, some opened their bodies, like in theater class, (never your back to the audience), to the hungry cameras, and we readily responded.

Children were clutched desperately by parents as they walked around the dazed, sunny town. Teenagers explored in small packs, tearful and curious. Christmas decorations, sale signs, school zone signs, all took on a cruel joke quality. I scanned the horizon for something to help me understand what happened there, but my eyes found camera bags, colleagues, and a traffic jam of rental cars.

A camera man accidentally kneed me in the head as I shot a picture. He told me to move out of his way. I had no sharp words. I felt, but did not execute, a shrug in my shoulders. I looked up at him silently, then returned to shooting, motionless.

14 Dec

New FEMA temporary housing units are parked in the Batman section of the parking lot at Six Flags, New Jersey, awaiting placement. © natalie keyssar for the wall street journal, december 2012.

13 Dec

© natalie keyssar for YouTube Presents, December 2012
So last night I got to photograph Macklemore’s performance for YouTube Presents. (Disclaimer: this is going to get cheesy and idealistic, I can’t help myself.) His music has been in my headphones since my best friend Alix showed me his Ellen Performance a couple weeks ago.
I’ve been wishing for years that someone would do what he’s doing; use rap to make activism cool again. Not just as an afterthought, but as a clear, loud message that’s an integral part of the music, without compromise for sales. For years the left has lacked a voice which has the charisma and the courage to combine commercial appeal and a message about civil rights, and he’s doing it, really well. This is not to downplay all the amazing artists that paved the way for him, but seeing him achieve this kind of pop success while speaking honestly about race and gay rights put a smile on my face. While I was shooting in middle of crowd last night I realized that all around me, the kids in the crowd were singing along to Same Love with him at the top of their lungs. I got all kinds of soft and choked up for a second. I’m rooting for this guy. The story he’s telling is one I know intimately and I think most of the people I’ve grown up with feel the same way.

So last night I got to photograph Macklemore’s performance for YouTube Presents. (Disclaimer: this is going to get cheesy and idealistic, I can’t help myself.) His music has been in my headphones since my best friend Alix showed me his Ellen Performance a couple weeks ago.

I’ve been wishing for years that someone would do what he’s doing; use rap to make activism cool again. Not just as an afterthought, but as a clear, loud message that’s an integral part of the music, without compromise for sales. For years the left has lacked a voice which has the charisma and the courage to combine commercial appeal and a message about civil rights, and he’s doing it, really well. This is not to downplay all the amazing artists that paved the way for him, but seeing him achieve this kind of pop success while speaking honestly about race and gay rights put a smile on my face. While I was shooting in middle of crowd last night I realized that all around me, the kids in the crowd were singing along to Same Love with him at the top of their lungs. I got all kinds of soft and choked up for a second. I’m rooting for this guy. The story he’s telling is one I know intimately and I think most of the people I’ve grown up with feel the same way.

13 Dec

© natalie keyssar 2012 Youtube Presents Macklemore

2 Dec

after sandy

2 Dec

Jackie’s 5th Amendment Bar, Park Slope, has filed a petition to secede from Park Slope.

2 Dec

©natalie keyssar for the wall street journal

I got to shoot Britta Riley, who designed these amazing Windowfarms on display at the Museum of Natural History, this week. The windowfarms are hydroponic contraptions which allow you to grow produce indoors. The christmas looking lights are actually grow-lights, the plants only consume certain colored light (who knew?). Speaking of Christmas, dear internet santa, I want a windowfarm. You can get your very own starter kit for about 100 bucks at http://www.windowfarms.com/.

22 Oct

Fans in line for a Heart performance at YouTube Presents. Manhattan, NY. © Natalie Keyssar, October 2012.

28 Sep

16 Sep

Jamaica Queens, NY. September 12, 2012. © natalie keyssar

While I was shooting through the back window of a friendly young woman’s bedroom, to gain an advantage over the lengths of police tape draped painfully far from the crime scene, she smiled nervously. She offered to move a chair out of the way, as though apologetic that the furnishings of her home might inconvenience me. Me, a stranger who she’d allowed into the the depths of her home in order to help me do my job, without question or suspicion.
“We all knew it was something, because we’ve called the cops in this neighborhood a lot of times, and they never come.” She said, as we watched dozens and dozens of law enforcement personel swarm all over the street outside the window. The scanners said an off duty police officer had been stabbed during a home invasion. Rumors flew that one suspect was captured and one was still on the loose. The neighbors watched in a haze of hot air and nervous energy.
I left for another shoot, in Manhattan, which seemed really far away. Later facts emerged. Surveillance video revealed no intruders. Witnesses saw nothing. The knife wound in the police officer appeared to be self inflicted, his motivations were not immediately clear.

While I was shooting through the back window of a friendly young woman’s bedroom, to gain an advantage over the lengths of police tape draped painfully far from the crime scene, she smiled nervously. She offered to move a chair out of the way, as though apologetic that the furnishings of her home might inconvenience me. Me, a stranger who she’d allowed into the the depths of her home in order to help me do my job, without question or suspicion.

“We all knew it was something, because we’ve called the cops in this neighborhood a lot of times, and they never come.” She said, as we watched dozens and dozens of law enforcement personel swarm all over the street outside the window. The scanners said an off duty police officer had been stabbed during a home invasion. Rumors flew that one suspect was captured and one was still on the loose. The neighbors watched in a haze of hot air and nervous energy.

I left for another shoot, in Manhattan, which seemed really far away. Later facts emerged. Surveillance video revealed no intruders. Witnesses saw nothing. The knife wound in the police officer appeared to be self inflicted, his motivations were not immediately clear.

10 Sep

Some of my work on a White Power militia was published in Salon today with a really great article from the Southern Poverty Law Center by Ryan Lenz. You can check it out at http://www.salon.com/2012/09/10/neo_nazis_lethal_border_patrol/