Today, once again I enjoyed the great energy and community vibe of the fabulous Port Jefferson Village.

I am looking forward to the Dickens Festival next weekend and to more Holiday fun on Long Island!

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!

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Marching through the streets of the little village of Port Jefferson in the midst of all that crowd enthusiasm was refreshing and energizing.

American people are warm at heart and do have a contagious zest for life.

This parade reminded me of the Infiorata (Flowers Celebration) in Montefalco, an Italian village where I lived a few years ago and found the same kind of open joy of belonging.

Take a look at my 2016 Infiorata album too.

I am grateful to just witness life as is, everywhere. The blessings overflow.

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Fast forward about 10 years, I came across the very educational book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, a book for people who want to reignite the flame of creativity and get in touch with their more creative selves.

Exactly the book I needed when I was feeling stuck and had no interest in things that used to excite me. I was like a baby who would not eat his favorite food. I was not being creative anymore.

Julia Camron recommends the “Morning pages” technique, where first thing in the morning you start writing whatever comes to mind, at least 3 pages. Every day, 3 pages, even if you repeat the same thing, just with the purpose of letting go of censorship, of loosening up some squeaky wheels and allowing the intuitive self to step forward in a safe space.

I did the morning pages for a while and I return to this exercise periodically, but the biggest gift for me, was retuning to the “picture a day” technique.

This is similar to “Morning Pages” only it can be done at any time during the day, every day, for as long as needed.

In my case, I would not mind doing it for the rest of my life.

The benefits of “A picture a day” for me:

• Creates a habit of taking pictures every day.
• Helps have the gear ready to go at any time.
• Provides a visual journal for myself and documents my life (and my son’s life) in pictures.
• Keeps the creative juices flowing.
• Gives me an opportunity to look back and better understand my life, in an archived structure.
• I do something that I love and gives me joy.

After doing it in 2011, in 2020 I started again the “Picture a day”, in October. I will keep going and loving it more and more. It’s one of those little things that is self-gratifying and also builds up to a bigger creative journey.

Here are a few random pictures from the "Picture A Day" project, one for each month since I started (October 2020 to May 2021).

1Oct 4 2020

4Jan 4.2021 5Feb 8.2021 6Mar 12.2021

7Apr. 18.2021 2Nov 29.2020 3Dec 22.2020 8May 15.2021

These people have become a tourist attraction. I dedicated hours to meeting them and interviewing them from a documentarist perspective, aiming to create a collective portrait of the group character. I got to interview and photograph 26 of them.

My project was shot and documented but shortly after that, life and my own story took the front stage of my interest. The project got stuck in a box for years.

In 2021, now, I am peeking with wonder in the corners of my photographic archive and I am still fascinated by the “street artist”. Now,  the photographs have become living memories and flashback opportunities. I haven't been traveling in a while and rediscovering my pictures brings back to life those magical moments I lived in Florence.

In the next few days, I want to edit and put together the photographic project I intended 7 years ago.

Here is a little sample.

Anonim - 18 ans dans la rue Baglioni Germano - 32 ans dans la rue Bubacar Camara - 14 ans dans la rue Elena di Accinni - 15 ans dans la rue Galleria Uffizi - atelier apert des 20 piteurs Gieto Prelculai - 20 ans dans la rue Losi Fatmir - 16 ans dans la rue Marcello Trocco - 32 ans dans la rue Marco Ramazzotti - 26 ans dans la rue Mojgan Bagheri - 1 an dans la rue Pzza Duomo - session de caricature_ Rita Tatini - 18 ans dans la rue Russo Mario - 10 ans dans la rue Sandra Bencista - 13 ans dans la rue Vladimir Gjoni - 2 mois dans la rue

Traditional Romanian costume is one of the trademarks of Romanian culture.

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