Images of The Season

Each year, on the most solemn day of the Christian calendar, thousands of the faithful gather in New York City for a profound and moving Easter Sunday procession. Pilgrims from all over the world converge along the broad avenue in front of the Cathedral of St. Patrick. Many carry ancient symbols of their faith and dress in traditional religious vestments. Many even go so far as to carve religious symbols into their flesh.

This year I was privileged to be permitted to photograph a portion of the great event. This was a particularly rare opportunity since, due to the participant’s fundamentalist beliefs in the biblical admonishment against the creation of graven images, very few photographs of this event exist. In the past, photographers who tried to take photos of the rituals did so only at great personal (and professional) risk. In fact, to date, the only photographs extant were shot from a 12th floor window ledge by my cousin Milton “The Shark” Lipshitz who disguised himself as flower pot and did not move for 3 weeks. Unfortunately, he neglected to secure his flowerpot disguise to something solid and during a storm, he was blown off the ledge and landed someplace in New Jersey. He was not found until 2 years later. His wife, Boom-Boom, hadn’t noticed he was gone, but fortunately his film was still in the camera. Unfortunately, Milton while a terrific Pinochle player had virtually no idea of how to use a camera and most of the shots were of his left foot.

But as Father Flotsky often said from the pulpit of The Church Of Our Lady Of Perpetual Confusion back in the Old Neighborhood (referring of course to Isaiah 26:19):



“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.”


(I always thought he was making reference to the coming Zombie Apocalypse, but maybe that’s just me. Then again…….)

And may these images of this season .......er.......whatever.