News & Stories

RED HOOK FEST launches the summer season

The Red Hook Fest, a waterfront favorite featuring Valentino Park and local talent, returns Friday, June 4, 2021, with 3 nights of live performances, family-friendly activities, vital resources, and much-needed celebration.

Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction with the Chapel at Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT.

Jupiter and Saturn rule the sky

Sky lovers, rejoice! This holiday season, the heavens have bestowed an extraordinary gift: the two largest planets in our solar system – Jupiter and Saturn – have come within kissing distance for the first time since the Middle Ages, forming what looks like a bright, double star. This rare and […]

40 Years of Love: The Empire Strikes Back

It is my favorite Star Wars movie and what a gift we got for the 40th Anniversary. Containing never-before-seen on-set footage and outtakes from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the rare behind-the-scenes moments captured by the film’s documentary crew are an amazing look back for those of us who loved this movie.

A Hole in the Sky in South America

2020’s only Total Solar Eclipse left its Hole in the Sky above the Southern Hemisphere on December 15, 2020. The total solar eclipse, which lasted just over two minutes, was visible from the northern Patagonia region of Argentina and from Araucania in Chile. A partial solar eclipse was visible in […]

ANC leader Nelson Mandela (R) meets with New York Mayor David Dinkins 14 July 1992 at Gracie Mansion in New York City. AFP photo/Mark D Phillips

David Dinkins Tribute

The first time I met David Dinkins, he was the mayor of New York City and I was a 30-year-old photographer sent by the Associated Press to photograph some forgotten event in City Hall in 1989. I looked for the image, but it is long lost. But that first meeting stayed with me for the last 30 years. His charm and warmth toward me was a nice feeling.

EPA begins dredging the Gowanus Canal in November 2020 by the Carroll Street Bridge. ©Mark D Phillips

Oil, Tar and more comes to the Surface

For the second time in 25 years, dredging is underway on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. Maybe this time it will work. Last time, it was a New York City project, it wasn’t the Environmental Protection Agency doing it under a Superfund cleanup. Of course there was a ceremony for the beginning […]