five pictures

Same/Together/Alone

Le Diner en Blanc, an invite only pop up picnic where everyone wears all white. Lincoln Center, NYC. August, 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

NYC City Parks Foundation’s Track and Field Championship, Randall’s Island. August, 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal. 

The Temper Trap, for YouTube Presents. NYC, August 2012. © natalie keyssar

Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin of Mister Saturday Night at their Mister Sunday party in Gowanus, BK. July 2012. © Natalie Keyssar

Kauai, June 2012. © Natalie Keyssar

Asia hunting dragonflies, Queens, NY. July, 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

Residents of East Flatbush, Brooklyn showed photographs of Shantel Davis, 23, to the media, after she was shot and killed by NYPD on June 14th, 2012. The victim, who police said was fleeing arrest in a stolen vehicle,  was not armed at the time of the shooting. Witnesses at the scene immediately afterwards said they heard her begging for her life before she was shot. 

Baron Ambrosia, Bronx, NY. June 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

Liza Minnelli poses for a portrait outside an NYC hotel, May 2012. © Natalie Keyssar

Bird watching, Central Park, May 2012. © Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

Justin Bieber leaves an appearance with Jimmy Fallon on YouTube Presents. June 2012, New York. © Natalie Keyssar

Biebs said, during the interview with Fallon, that his musical role model was Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. I wondered if he thinks about what became of him.

He was, unsurprisingly, an impossibly pretty human in person. Flawless. Maybe bored. There was a little girl there that the folks at YouTube made special allowances for her to attend the show because she had cancer and her greatest wish was to meet the star. She grinned ear to ear during her brief interaction with him, 30 seconds during which Bieber visibly softened and seemed completely focused on his young fan despite the whirr of publicists, managers, and media surrounding them. She smiled so brightly it was easy to forget she was sick. 

I remembered my magazine cut outs of Leonardo Dicaprio circa Romeo and Juliet, and wondered if there was such a thing as a love more pure and uncomplicated than that of a girl who doesn’t know the world yet and a boy that doesn’t really live in it. 

Street/Stage, Mayday 2012 NYC. © natalie keyssar

I keep hearing these sarcastic, derisive comments about Occupy. Sometimes its from conservatives, moderates, moms and dads, but mostly, it’s from my smart, cool, beautiful, apathetic friends. Somewhere along the line giving a shit became too much work for our busy cosmopolitan schedules, or too cliche for our carefully crafted personas. Its certainly hard to photograph. The discordant moments are overwhelming. There are so many pictures that there are no pictures. Young and old, college to union to black block, gnarled to polished, in constant movement with a  flood of symbols and colors, and occasional shouting. 

I keep hearing that their message isnt clear, or they dont know what they want, or they’re disorganized. On the ground that’s just not true. It’s thousands of people coming together in the streets to say that things are getting easier for the wealthy and harder for the poor, and that this is happening because the legal and political climate is controlled by money. It’s very simple, and yesterday was beautiful. 

birthdayboy/newpaltz/april 2012/©natalie keyssar

underfall/new paltz/april 2012/©natalie keyssar

tailgate/new paltz/april 2012/©natalie keyssar