Steve Maller Photography

I was delighted to attend and photograph Andrew’s bar mitzvah yesterday. He is a delightful, studious and fun-loving kid. Yesterday was a wonderful testimony to the power of tradition, faith and community. Mazel tov to Andrew and his family!

This week your peripatetic (definition: walking about; itinerant; nomadic) blogging shutterbug is back in the place of his birth: Chicago, Illinois. I am here to photograph the goings-on at a huge water convention called WEFTEC. Water is, of course, a hugely important part of our world, and has, in recent years, become a real political hot potato. So it’s interesting learning more about the technological processes required to process the waste water that we produce in increasingly frightening quantities.

Here are a few photographic highlights…

Sometimes working out of town is a complete drag. The hassles of modern air travel, missing my family, the long hours, and the uncertain surroundings. But then sometimes I just hit a home run. I’m shooting a corporate event in Orange County, CA, and my client generously put me in one of the same rooms they’re giving their clients. And let me tell you, this does not suck.

This is the view from my private patio.

My dog, Walter, on my back porch. Poor thing…he’s a little nervous when I point the camera at him.

Linor celebrated her bat mitzvah in rather uncommon style today. Not only did her family have the ceremony at a country club (maybe to avoid the restrictions in a synagogue), but Linor herself led the entire service. Not just select parts, but the whole thing. It was really a “tour de force”. And instead of the modern tradition of doing a candle-lighting ceremony, Linor’s family and friends each set free a beautiful white dove, symbolizing the hope for peace. Mazal tov to Linor and her family…it was a thrilling day!

It was an amazing week of education, entertainment and camaraderie. Here’s a slideshow recap of my week!

I have just finished the busiest month (September) of my career, and I’m still working seven days a week! I can’t believe my good fortune that I get to wake up nearly every day, grab a camera or a computer and do this work. It’s truly a blessing.

Anyway, as for an update, the biggest event recently was Advertising Week in New York City (my favorite place away-from-home in the world). It was five days and almost eighty different events. I had two awesome assistants (thank you Lea and Sam!) and the regular crew of superheroes who put this thing on. I am still not quite dug out from under the over five thousand photographs I brought back with me, but here are a couple of me for your enjoyment. The first one is the Serta Sleep Sheep, one of the advertising “icons” who wandered about entertaining people. The second one is Ziggy Marley, who needs no introduction.