Author Archives: Amy

About Amy

Amy Milstein was born and raised on a farm in Indiana, but after 20+ years considers herself a full-fledged New Yorker. She is married with two kids, who do not go to school but are instead life learners. This means they learn by living in the world (real life ) instead of hearing about it and simulating it in a classroom. With her family, Amy loves to travel, read, watch movies, write, sew, knit - the list is endless.

Catching the moment

For Christmas I got the National Geographic Masters of Photography Course.  So far I’ve watched sections on Adventure and People in their Environments.   The through line for all the lessons so far, irrespective of the overall subject matter, is … Continue reading

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Being social, in my ideal world

Years ago, my friend Anna and I fantasized about starting a modern day literary salon.  We envisioned renting a space in the then still somewhat dingy meat market and decorating it with comfortable chairs, sofas and tables.  Lighting would be … Continue reading

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Christmas in New York

The Christmas season in New York is nothing if not spectacular.  Go big or go home seems to be the predominant theme in decorating, particularly on 5th and 6th Avenues from midtown to Central Park South.   Cartier gift-wraps its … Continue reading

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The season begins

Here in NYC, although stores start putting up Christmas decorations right after Halloween, the real sign that Christmas is near is the arrival of the “tree people” as we so affectionately call them. All over the city, the wooden frames … Continue reading

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On the street in snow

This was a day of all weather.  It went from a fairly warm 50 degrees in the early hours to wet snow and, rain and then wet snow with temps in the mid thirties . Not the ideal weather for … Continue reading

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Classic East Village

20 years ago Joshua and I lived in the East Village, a few blocks from where today’s photo was taken.  Mosaics like the one in the photo can be found all over the East Village (except near Astor Place, where … Continue reading

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Before and after

Recently I’ve been learning how to use Photoshop again, after years of working only in iPhoto to make basic adjustments.  I’m not a big fan of wildly altered photos, unless they are so stylized that it’s obvious and not just … Continue reading

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Ducks on display

I don’t know why ducks are so much fun to photograph.  They’re just ducks, after all – never one of my favorite animals.  But everything about them works in photos; the colors, their behavior and often the surroundings they are … Continue reading

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Back to photos

I’ve decided that I’m going to start posting my photos of the day here again, because honestly sometimes Facebook just doesn’t cut it.   It doesn’t matter how many hours you spend on a particular photo, it won’t get as … Continue reading

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It’s an obsession

Yesterday on Facebook I wrote that you know photography has become an obsession when you have a nightmare in which a friend survives a fall from the Empire State Building, but the upsetting part is that your camera malfunctioned and … Continue reading

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