One Year Anniversary & Website Revival for 25Lessons.com

New Photo for 25Lessons.com
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

In celebration of the one year anniversary of the book and website launch for 25 Lessons I’ve Learned (about photography), we’ve redesigned the website, www.25Lessons.com.

Please take a look!

Lorenzo

25 LESSONS I'VE LEARNED(about photography)
In his best-selling book, Lorenzo describes how the deceptively simple rules of photography can also be applied to the art of living. Inspirational and poetic, this book will not only spark readers’ creative energies, but also reawaken your passion for life.

In 2005, as a husband, father, and corporate employee — Lorenzo's life revolved around home, work, and his daily commute from the suburbs to the city.

Then, one day, he found himself staying at the Little Church in midtown Manhattan in the wake of a marital separation. Living in virtual isolation for three months, he had a rare chance to re-examine his life. Quite unexpectedly, he found himself wandering around the city to take photographs, a passion he had let slide in the years of pursuing a career and starting a family. During his nightly sojourns through the streets of New York City, he was reminded of some important life lessons—lessons too easily forgotten in the blur of everyday existence.


PRAISE FOR LORENZO AND 25 LESSONS
“In many of my conversations on great photographers, I frequently mention Lorenzo’s work. His sequential photographs…are nothing less that a visual urban poem. It has been my pleasure to watch Lorenzo’s rapid growth as a leading photographer of our time.” Jim Van Meter, Rochester, NY, USA

“Lorenzo is a master. His body of work is some of the very best online and may very well be some of the best being done in the medium today. His street work follows in the tradition of Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Larry Friedlander. Lorenzo’s 25 Lessons are…as seminal as Ansel’s dissertation on the zone system. I found them to be reenergizing, perceptive and extremely useful. I have been touched by his story, his writings and by his work. I can’t imagine anyone not being so.” Barry Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, USA

“Lorenzo…has a passion for life, photography and writing. He is a linguistic genius, a storyteller through words and pictures. He captures with his camera the world as he sees it, its feelings, love, beauty and all it has to offer...” Brenda George, Adelaide, Australia


ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER, AUTHOR & JOURNALIST

Lorenzo is a foremost expert and author on street photography, and an award-winning street photographer himself.

As the Photography Examiner for New York for the www.examiner.com, Lorenzo chronicles what’s up, what’s new and what’s notable in the world of photography in New York City.

In 2008, he was chosen to be the HP Be Brilliant Featured Artist and he became the best-selling author of 25 Lessons I’ve Learned (about photography).

Since taking up digital photography in 2005, his photography has been featured in fotoMAGAZIN, Germany's premier photo magazine, and his photos have been cited, posted and published by over 330 other blogs, websites, and print publications.

Today, Lorenzo has over 30,000 photographs published on flickr.com—one of the world's most popular photography websites—where his photos have been seen over 5.5 million times and where he ranks as one of the site's most popular photographers. He has been called an "Internet photography sensation" by Time Out New York and is considered a "Flickr star" by Rob Walker, Consumed columnist, for New York Times Magazine.

Interview with Sally Golan of Celebrity Wire

Interview with Paul Giguere

Interview with Bill Hector Weye and Sandra Pipczynski.

Interview with Sally Golan of Celebrity Wire

Interview with Sally Golan of Celebrity Wire
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

Check out my interview with Sally Golan of Celebrity Wire

The Prince and an ATM at the Sunshine Hotel

The Prince, an ATM at the Sunshine Hotel in the Bowery: The Number of Homeless Veterans Plunges at City Shelters
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

Last month I read a disturbing article in one of the major psychiatry journals that summarized the findings of a study which interviewed a couple of thousand people who were chronically homeless (over six months) in New York City.

I was shocked to learn that of the subjects that were successfully interviewed something like 25% were veterans with the average age being over 70.

A report released in 2007 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), stated that veterans are twice as likely as other Americans to be chronically homeless.

And according to a recent statement by Robert V. Hess, New York City’s commissioner of homeless services, in June of this year, there are roughly 150,000 homeless veterans in the United States on any given day.

Although slightly lower, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs likewise estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless every night, which is significantly lower than what they reported in 2005 when they estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.

The VA sums up the situation as follows: “The nation's homeless veterans are mostly males (four percent are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45 percent suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. 47 percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67 percent served our country for at least three years and 33 percent were stationed in a war zone.”

Needless to say, homelessness amongst veterans is a significant concern.

There seemingly is hope however; as Mr. Hess also recently announced that the New York City Department of Homeless Services reduced the number of veterans living in city shelters by 60 percent from December 2006 to May 2009. He claims that this was a result of the task force that was created in December of 2006 to begin moving homeless veterans into permanent housing.

Mr. Hess tempered his remarks by adding, “But I realize that what works in New York City will not work everywhere. There cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach.”

That said, the outlook still looks fairly positive, considering that 20 years ago the VA estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000, which means that the number has almost been cut in half in the last two decades.