I first met Joanna and Mark of The Other Fifth (BID) during the early days of the pandemic when Brooklyn and NYC was the epicenter. Joanna contacted me and inquired if I could photograph the two of them on their "front stoop:" Fifth Avenue. Of course! I remember that day well: barely any cars on the road, and I didn't have any store-bought masks yet (the one I wore that day was my grandmother's silk mask with pony-tail holders as ear straps). 

One year later, I photographed and interviewed Mark and Joanna again. For their first interview, check out The Front Steps Project BOOK by Shrutti Garg and myself! 

Thanks to all of my "One Year Later" families who contributed to The Other Fifth, to directly help local businesses! Make a day of it and visit FIFTH AVENUE OPEN STREETS - now open SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS! Lots of beautiful shops, live music, great restaurants and open space to bike, walk, run and play!

Here are Mark and Joanna's interview from April 2021:
How has the role of The Other Fifth changed since last year? 
We've always tried to put our merchants first and that's where you caught us last year when you took our photo; visiting whomever was open to check on them and help in any way we could. As the year wore on, we spent every day helping businesses navigate the rapid changes we were experiencing (literally night and day) and offered help to anyone who asked, including businesses in Manhattan. Our jobs obviously became more physical when we started open streets. We each spent over 300 hours working at open streets in 2020, moving barricades, blocking cars and in some cases, getting into dangerous situations with angry motorists who didn't like the street closed. We definitely have more danger in our lives than we did a year ago. 

What big lessons have you learned since March 2020? 
One thing that we clearly saw is that many small business owners are not fully versed on the huge number of rules and regulations that the city and state have in place and the city and state have done very little to help them understand these rules. It seems like it's easier to just inspect and fine businesses, instead.  We've also seen a lot of businesses get surprised by the terms of their leases. We definitely learned that there needs to be more education, openness and transparency to help small businesses thrive in 2021 and beyond. Of course also learned that closing 5th to traffic generates community health and happiness and a lot of money for our businesses. 

What are your hopes for The Other Fifth in the next 12 months? 
We want to see our commercial district and the small businesses throughout Park Slope grow and thrive. Actually, we want to see businesses throughout the City recover and thrive! We want to see empty spaces fill and our open streets full of locals, as well as visitors from throughout the city and country. We would love to make 5th Avenue's Open Streets a tourist destination and we will be working to make it a great place to visit. 

***
Here's a link to the official page for The Other Fifth.

A couple months back, my friends Mark and Joanna from the 5th Avenue BID in Brooklyn sent me a link to the Dumbo BID's website (thank you!). The Dumbo BID was collecting photos for an homage to parenting in NYC during the pandemic called At-Home Heroes. Don't have to tell me twice. I was in!!

Daily from May 9 through June 20 (Mother's Day through Father's Day), the Dumbo BID will project pandemic parenting photos from neighborhoods all throughout NYC. The catch for families who have young kids is that this starts right at sunset... and every day, the sun sets later!

My husband Eric and I decided to scout it out without the kids one weekend in May. I had my last photo session that evening in Dumbo (hey, MacArthurs!) and Eric met me afterwards. We got takeout for dinner #1 from our favorite vegan spot, Vodega (140 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn) (highly recommend the Cuban with a side of Potato Smashies). We enjoyed that dinner at a bistro table in the Pearl Street Triangle as the sun set and our photos started showing up!

We had dinner #2 at Love & Dough Pizza with a great video of the show. Vegan pizza for the win!

Next, we had to bring the kids! We picked a day where the kids didn't have school in the morning, and lucky for that, NYC kids have a couple of days off in June. We made a whole evening of it after school one day: Pebble Beach, Jane's Carousel, dinner outside from Vodega for the adults and from Time Out NY Market for the kids. By the time we went to the Pearl Street Triangle for the At-Home Heroes show, it was late and the kids were done (the sun set at 8:30 that night, I believe). When they saw themselves 18 feet tall on the side of the Manhattan Bridge, they ran around in wide, crazy circles yelling, "I'M FAMOUS!" That fast-paced action photo is in the little slide show below.

If you want to see this evening show before it closes, head over there before Father's Day, June 20, 2021. Show starts at sundown and ends at 10p nightly. On Father's Day the show will feature photos only with dads in them (so if you want to see the full thing, head over before June 19). Thanks to the Dumbo BID team for sharing our pandemic photos with the public! You did a great job putting this together!

Happy Juneteenth! 

With undying love for quirky pandemic parenting photos,
​Adina

I am always checking the weather. As a photographer, the weather can make or break a scheduled photo session. I don't need full sunlight but I definitely don't want heavy wind mixed with heavy rain. On my way to meet the O'Donnells in Dumbo for their Unposed Documentary Session, I felt some raindrops. I still got on the train because the forecast was looking alright. 

I walked until I got to our meeting spot a bit early, grateful I brought a light jacket with me; it was cold! ...and windy! The sky getting darker by the minute. I was nervous!

The O'Donnells arrived in the best spirits despite the drastic change in weather. We decided to go play in the playground because let's face it, kids can do that in most any weather.

Before we knew it the sun was out, and it was time to toss stones into the East River. 
The kids ran across the small, rounded stones searching for the best ones, and we all laughed as we tried to hold our balance. Us grown-ups felt a bit like kids again. This small pebbled beach area can be magical.

The family picked up meals at Luke's Lobster and ate it in a windy spot overlooking the Manhattan skyline, including the Statue of Liberty. 

Brooklyn will miss you! Colorado is lucky to have you all.
--
Reader, are you moving?

We're sad to see you leave, but if you have to go, let's record some memories in the most 'New York City' places your family can think of. Send me a message here.

all my best,
​Adina

📸The Front Steps Project Brooklyn reboot: One Year Later!

Here’s the Ubilla family and what they had to say one year later:
*side note: this was written in March ‘21, when many weren’t vaccinated yet:

"Our family grew by one member and we bought our first home (3 blocks away from where we were last year)! But we miss our families. None of our family and friends have met Clark.

A big lesson we’ve learned over the past year is that it’s ok to be less than 100% sometimes.
Learning to balance two kids and a career during a pandemic with no family nearby has been difficult, but I’m trying to learn to be kind to myself when I fall short of pre-pandemic goals.

I’m hoping for vaccines! I want a date with my husband. I want a glass of wine with a girlfriend. I want our kids to hug their grandparents.

It’s really the small things that I miss. That feeling of being connected that I used to take for granted."

PICTURED:
The Ubillas in 5/2021, 11/2020, and 4/2020.

This time around we’re raising money for @theother5th BID. We love them because they are the support system for so many local businesses. Thanks, Joanna, Mark and the whole team! Thanks to the Ubillas for donating! 
​
To learn more about The Front Steps Project and/or order your copy of The Front Steps Project book by Shrutti Garg and Adina Lerner, go here!

📸The Front Steps Project Brooklyn reboot: One Year Later!

Here’s the Maison-Maisanos family and what they had to say one year later:

Q: Has your life changed in the past 12 months?
A: "Yes and no! On the outside, not really.. we're all still in the same literal space that we were a year ago.. Both of us were fortunate enough to keep our jobs and continue working remotely from home, so when you have a side-by-side of then and now, you can easily say, "Still at our home desks, clicking the keys." But so much has happened over the past year, from shouting out the windows at 7pm in support of essential workers in April, to shouting "Black Lives Matter" from the windows to the people marching down 5th Ave in the summer, to shouting out the windows when Biden won in November (I guess it's been a lot of cathartic screaming?)... it feels like a completely different vibe overall."

Q: What big lessons have you learned?
A: "How lucky we are as a family to be stuck inside together for a year and come out closer than ever, with more love and respect and admiration for one another.
Also that self-care is a myth, that mutual aid and community-building are the way of the future for a more just and sustainable world."

Q: What are your hopes for the next 12 months?
A: "That kids are able to safely return to school, the we continue as a community to rally in support of an anti-racist and equitable society, and that we keep the kindness that brought everyone together this year."

PICTURED:
The Maison-Maisanos in May 2020 and 2021. Notice the coffee shop next door. Last year it was closed. This year, opened and thriving.
​
This time around we’re raising money for @theother5th BID. We love them because they are the support system for so many local businesses. Thanks, Joanna, Mark and the whole team! Thanks to the Maison-Maisanos for donating! 

Still didn't buy your copy of The Front Steps Book by Shrutti Garg and Adina Lerner? You can do that here.

📸The Front Steps Project Brooklyn reboot: One Year Later!

Here’s the Eisenstat family and what they had to say one year later:

“A lot has changed since we last saw you, some not so much. Harry is back at school, instead of remote school. Rosie joined our family in late October. And we are slowly and carefully seeing family - wahooo! Vaccinations!

Big lessons I’ve learned on a personal level, the confirmation that my life partner is a wonderful human. Pregnant in a pandemic with a very active 2.5 year old attempting to participate in remote school, while two parents with demanding jobs worked from home in a 1 bedroom apartment is not easy (as many people can attest). We managed like many others - simultaneously exhausted and at times stressed - but Jared’s support, love, patience, sense of humor, and resilience were apparent every step of the way. Looking back this year was not easy on anyone, but I think we are emerging as a family closer than I could have ever imagined.
Hope for the next 12 months:
Connectivity. Healing. Equality. Understanding.”

Pictured:
The Eisenstats this year with newest family member, Rosie, and last year as a family of 3!

This time around we’re raising money for @theother5th BID. We love them because they are the support system for so many local businesses. Thanks, Joanna, Mark and the whole team!

A COMMUNITY-SOURCED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT IN DUMBO, BROOKLYN
PROJECTED ONTO THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE
MAY 8 THROUGH JUNE 20
NIGHTLY | DUSK - 10PM
​150+ PHOTOGRAPHS FEATURING NEW YORKERS IN CAREGIVING-ACTION FROM 40 NEIGHBORHOODS ACROSS ALL FIVE BOROUGHS!

See you there!!

To book an unposed Documentary Session to showcase your pandemic (and beyond) parenting action, send me a message here!

When I know your kid loves dinosaurs as much as I do (I mean...as much as one of my kids does...), we're going to have a lot of talk about. From which dino TV shows are the best (Dino Dana all the way) to which is our favorite dinosaur (or flying winged reptile -- mine is Quetzalcoatlus -- it flew and was as big as a school bus!). 
This mom and dad from Brazil and upstate NY, respectively, were lucky enough to meet and create a life for themselves that ended up getting them to Brooklyn after meeting in another state! 
I wish them well on their journey as their family blooms. Some of the Cherry Blossoms were also in bloom and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens were just magical. We had a wonderful time walking around the gardens together and capturing beautiful memories!

xx,
​Adina

Ania and I had such a fun time together for her lifestyle headshots session!  We met up in beautiful Cobble Hill Park and made our way around the neighborhood from there.  We even got to share coffee + tea outside The Chocolate Room on Court Street!

Have you been to Cobble Hill Park? It's a small park with a tiny playground area but one of the prettiest I've seen around here!  To me, the block next to it (Verandah Place) looks like a movie set!  Swoon!

 And tied with hanging out with Ania for an afternoon?  Getting to meet her tiny puppy, Cookie!

Get in touch to talk about your new lifestyle headshots today!

xx,
​Adina