Photography, Travel, Brooklyn and the World

Eric Gales Black Mountain Blues Festival ©Mark D Phillips

Celebration of Resiliency: Black Mountain Blues

The Black Mountain Blues Festival brought together the best of blues on the first anniversary of Hurricane Helene, which devastated the area. Tourism needs to return and this was a grand first step. The lineup was first class with great indoor and outdoor venues, the downtown showing no sign of the devastation that took place 365 days ago

Jay Cochrane salutes his audience during The Great China Skywalk over the Yangtze River in Qutang Gorge, China, on October 28, 1995. The skywalk was and is the greatest ever made spanning half a mile between the canyon walls and 1,350 feet above the river. Photo by Mark D Phillips

30 Years: Great China Skywalk by Jay Cochrane

Jay Cochrane, The Prince of the Air, stepped into history 30 years ago on October 28, 1995, with The Great China Skywalk in Qutang Gorge over the Yangtze River, setting the record for combined distance and height. We will be posting daily about what it was like building the walk wire and being part of the Fengjie community.

Mark D Phillips on NEPM Connecting Point

September 11, 24 years later

For 24 years I’ve been that guy who took that picture on 9/11. I go to parties and that’s how people introduce me. It makes you question if that email you received that said “you were put on the planet to take this picture” was true.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa and The End of Apartheid

It was THE Election of 1994. Mandela was running for President of South Africa. Mark D Phillips and Andrea Peyser, a married columnist and photographer for The New York Post, traveled to South Africa to witness the true end of apartheid. For the first time in their lives, people born with black skin – the majority in this proud and beautiful nation – would be casting their votes.

Space Shuttle Discovery at Sunset by Mark D Phillips

The Surly Bonds of Earth

Humans in space. Most can name the first astronaut or the first man on the moon. For me, eight other names were burned into my memory because of one of my photographs, Challengers’ destruction. Last week, I travelled to Washington, D.C., to visit the Challenger Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and to view the Space Shuttle Discovery in her new life as a museum exhibit. This is my tribute to Challenger and Discovery.

Japanese American families at the Pomona Assembly Center in 1942.

Temporary Detention | Forced Assembly

Sharon Yamato and Stan Honda continue their collaboration which we first featured in Moving Walls: Remembering an American Tragedy in 2018 with the launch of www.forcedassemblycenters.com, a multimedia website that provides a focused look at the little-documented temporary so-called WWII “Assembly/Reception Centers.”

Liam Moya races the Slalom A/B on March 21 -- 2025 A Racer’s Edge Masters National Championships

An Individual Sport

Alpine racing…… It’s a great sport that pits the athlete against a mountain and their own confidence in their own abilities. Toss in spring skiing conditions and you get an amazing opportunity to capture an individual testing their own limitations.