Clarisel's Photo Place: Spring in NYC

@ the Conservatory garden

For more of my photos of my visit to the garden, go to www.flickr.com/photos/clarisel. Click on the NYC '09 photo set.

The Conservatory is one of my favorite places in the city.

'Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad'

I am among this year's winners of the Comite Noviembre 'Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad' award. Thanks for the honor. Here's an excerpt of a letter I received: On behalf of Comité Noviembre, CN, I am delighted to inform you that you have been selected to receive our 2009 CN “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad” Award. Through this award, CN recognizes outstanding individuals who are the unsung heroes of our community.These awards honor Puerto Ricans whose pride in their heritage and strength of character have empowered themselves and inspired others to make a significant impact on our community. You were chosen by members of CN by nominations that were submitted by the community. -- Teresa Santiago, Comite Noviembre Comite Noviembre kicks off this year's Puerto Rican Heritage Month celebrations in New York City this Thursday with the awards reception at El Museo del Barrio. Puerto Rican Heritage Month is in November. Other winners are: Nydia Edgecombe, Director, Alumni Relations, Eugenio María de Hostos Community College, Ibrahim González, host of WBAI -99.5, Melinda González, folk lyric historian and Bombera for Bomba Yo!, Rev. Carmen Hernandez,Pastor & Founder, Stratford Community Services, Elisha M. Miranda, Co-Founder, Chica Luna & CEO, Sister Outsider Entertainment Gilda Rivera Pantojas, Director, Danza Fiesta,Rafael Rivera-Viruet, President, Terramax Entertainment, Trinity A. Rivera, volunteer, National Puerto Rican Day Parade and, Rosa A. Rosario Valentin, community and cultural activist. -- Clarisel

About me

A photoblogger, I document images of everyday life and share them with a larger, worldwide online audience. My goal is to use my photography to empower, inform and celebrate life. I carry my camera with me everyday and shoot regularly. I take photos as an extension of what my eyes and mind sees. I enjoy landscapes, urban, street photography, black and white, nature, photojournalism, architecture, animal portraits...I enjoy to tell stories.

Documenting everyday life through photography makes me see everyday things that I may have otherwise taken for granted.

In 2002, I began shooting photos in Puerto Rico, where I used to live and work. I fell in love with its architecture, palm trees, beaches and people, and I fell in love with the art of photography. Puerto Rico inspired me to share my photography with the world. I took photos as part of Puerto Rico Sun, a cultural arts project that I started as an e-magazine to empower and inform boricuas.

I returned home to New York City in 2005. Today I am editor and publisher of Puerto Rico Sun Communications, a community-minded independent multimedia social entrepreneurship aimed at informing, empowering and building community. Shooting photos to document the Puerto Rican experience is part of my mission.

Visit my site at www.clarisel.com.

Clarisel Gonzalez