The Studio Museum in Harlem Fall Gala 2011

Last night was The Studio Museum in Harlem Fall Gala 2011 at Cipriani Wall Street. It was awesome.
Always the best dressed party of the season, this year was no exception.
Thelma Golden looked sensational in a dress designed by her very talented husband Duro Olowu who accompanied her to the event. As always the 3 gala co-Chairs, Kathryn Chenault, Joyce K. Haupt and Carol Sutton Lewis were stunning and the gala vice chairs Jacqueline L. Bradley, Amelia Ogunlesi and Teri Trotter were radiant.
Raymond McGuire was in full form and complimented the room and all the beautiful women joking that there was a guy in a neck brace still recovering from last year's head turning crowd.
The event raised over $1.600.000



To view all the photos please click on this link The Studio Museum of Harlem Gala

The Big Write Sanctuary for Families Event at Ellen Weldon Design

Last night wasThe Big Write Sanctuary for Families Event at Ellen Weldon Design. For a small donation Ellen and her fabulous team designed and made personal stationary. Guests choose their envelopes, fonts and color and Ellen hand wrote in her beautiful style the guests names. I also had some cards made for friends for holiday gifts. What a great way to help raise money for this fantastic organization. To learn more about the organisation you can visit


Sanctuary for Families

La Grenouille NYC

It has been a very busy couple of days with hardly any time to stop and think. Last night after photographing a family portrait I headed over to photograph a private dinner at La Grenouille.
Fall is in the air and I could not wait to see the private dinning room and the flowers. Charles, who took over the restaurant in 1975 from his father has carried on the family tradition of doing the flowers himself each day. They always reflects both his whimsey and the season.
I ran up the stairs and the first thing I saw was the wooden bowl with pumpkin and squash in it.
The tables were beautiful. There were lots of roses and orange ball like flowers. I asked their name and they are called Japanese lanterns.
The dinner was classic and elegant. There was a tiny taste of pea soup followed by Lobster and Tarragon Ravioli. Next came Roasted Lamb Chops with Rosemary and tiny vegetables.
To finish the dinner off there was a fabulous Ice cream treat. There was a gasp in the room when the waiters came in carrying La Bombe Glacee. After showing it off the Maitre'D flambéed the Macerated Fruits with Kirsch and poured it over the Milk Chocolate and Caramel Ice Cream.
No one left a morsel of food on their plates and every one left feeling happily restored.
Here is the link to the website for more info La Grenouille

The Hispanic Society of America Fall Gala 2011

Last night was the Hispanic Society of America Fall Gala 2011 held at 583 Park Avenue.
The 2 beautiful honorees were Liliana Godia and Soumaya Slim de Romero.
It was a fabulous group of people, beautifully dressed and wonderful dancers
I try not to have favorite people to photograph but sometime I just can not help it. There was a woman siting in the corner who was so captivating in her elegant gown. On the dance floor it was Marlene Hess and Jim Zirin who first danced with friends and then span around together. These 2 leave a trail of happy faces where ever they go.
Oscar de la Renta was there with his wife Annette. They seem to be at every party I go to. Yes their social calendar must be very busy at this time of the year.





To view all the photos please click on this link The Hispanic Society of America Gala Photos

Carnegie Hall Fall Gala 2011

Last night was the Carnegie Hall Fall Gala 2011. It was the 120 Anniversary of the hall and to celebrate they chose to celebrate Tchaikovsky who was the conductor on the official opening night of Carnegie Hall in New York in May 1891. Yo-Yo Ma and Valery Gergiev with his orchestra performed an all-Russian program.
During the dinner at The Waldof Astoria Clive Gillinson read a letter sent from Putin . It was a reminder that music transcends all borders.
The room looked amazing. The very talented David Stark had worked with Joan Weill and had used candles and votives to fill the space.

To view all the photos please click on this link The Carnegie Hall Fall Gala Photos

The Black Alumni of Pratt "Celebration of the Creative Spirit" benefit Gala 2011

Last Night was the Black Alumni of Pratt "Celebration of the Creative Spirit" Benefit Fall Gall at the Pierre Hotel. Also known as BAP they honored Jeff Koon, George Lois, John Parham and his wife Maruchi Santana and David Adjaye.
Thomas Schutte the President of Pratt was there as was the new President of The Black Alumni Gerri Brown. The Hon. David Dinkins was there and as always everyone was thrilled to see him.
Denise Wiggins who is the new Events Manager did a great job.


To view all the photos please click on this link The BAP Fall Gala

The New Yorkers for Children Fall Gala

I love New Yorkers for Children Fall gala. It is a very special group of people dedicated towards making life better for kids in foster care and extending the support beyond age 18 when with help and encouragement they are able to go to university.
The Gala at Cipriani was fantastic. Another amazing design by David Stark.
To view all the photos please click on this link The NYFC Fall Gala

The Metropolitan Opera Fall Gala

Last night was The Metropolitan Opera Fall Gala in NYC. What an amazing event. The opera was broadcast live in Lincoln Center Plaza and the place was buzzing both inside and out. After the most amazing performance by Anna Netrebko and the rest of the fantastic cast the guests headed to the tent where David Stark had worked his magic. The space glowed. The dinner started around 10 and the next time I looked at the time it was well after 1am. Mercedes Bass looked stunning as did Mrs Ziff. Also Peter Gelb's beautiful wife Keri-Lynn Wilson was there. She looked stunning in a dress designed by Zac Posen

To view all the photos please click on this link The Metropolitan Opera Fall Gala

New York City Ballet Fall Gala

Last Thursday night was the New York City Ballet gala and the premiere of the collaboration between Peter Martins and Sir Paul McCartney who wrote the music. Keeping it all in the family Stella designed the costumes.
I have never seen so many women in Blue all in the same place at once. They were inspired by the theme of the Ballet called Ocean's Kingdom.
The stars came out to support Sir Paul and in the crowd were Bon Jovi, Angelica Huston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Seinfeld, to name just a few.
After the ballet the guest headed to the tent where they were served a vegan dinner that not only tasted good, was good for the planet.




To view all the photos please click on this link The New York City Fall Gala

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gala

I had a wonderful time on Saturday Night covering the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gala in the windy city.
It was raining when I arrived but by 5 pm the weather was looking better so luckily everyone arrived without getting soaked.
After the concert the guests went the the Hilton where they had dinner following by dancing. The room looked great. It was my first time there and I loved all the chandeliers.

To view all the photos please click on this link Chicago Symphony Gala