Barry Spector

This was taken by our waiter this afternoon while celebrating the pre-holiday with, from right, Elliott, Nina and Shelley (I'm at far left) at Lafayette restaurant. We are looking back at year of hard work and well-earned time to unwind, while looking forward to Shelley's birthday which falls between Christmas and New Years. The day frequently flies by unnoticed, Shelley says, except this year, thanks to Facebook, the firestorm of birthday well-wishers spread as fast as a fire in July. She went from explaining it wasn't her birthday to "liking" all the happy birthday posts. The photo of us sitting cheek-to-cheek at this extended-play lunch freezes in time the high spirits of the moment, of which there were many more just before and after. And curiously, we all look like the younger versions of ourselves.

Nina d'Alessandro

I took this photo in Florence, Italy, in October. The view is of the Basilica of Santo Spirito, on the Oltrarno. I'm teaching here this year. I looked up from reading my students' essays at my desk one late afternoon, and the sky at sunset was doing something breathtaking. I caught the way I feel living here surrounded by all this beauty: a sense of grace, good fortune, and luminous joy that's just a little tinged with sadness, knowing that, as Robert Frost wrote, "nothing gold can stay", that I won't live here forever, and that I'll be going back to New York City, a grayer, bluer place where the light is increasingly blocked by constant high rise construction, and a sense of history is lost or denied. In the dark bottom section of this picture, the rooftops and windows that spill out between my apartment and my favorite church, designed by Brunelleschi nearly six hundred years ago, are all there. I worked hard for this shot, and I have been working to learn my iPhone 4s, the way the lens curves, the pecularities of the light meter . . . I find myself using the smartphone camera wherever I go now, feeling blessed and feeling joy every single day. I think we are meant to live like this . . .

Sheldon Serkin

I took this photo in NYC on the Lower East Side during the 24 Hour Project, in which over 65 mobile street photographers worldwide documented their cities for 24 hours straight, from midnight to midnight on March 23rd. As a participant, I was required to post an image via social media every hour. This was my submission for 3:00 AM.

cynthia pyle

taken in in my bedroom of my favorite muse, Alvin. He is the most relaxed cat, ever! Alvin would look like this at a Led Zeppelin concert!

R.

At San Juan's city-wide mural-painting festival.

R.

My friend Harriet unearths a cast of her own hand.

Casimir Yanish

New York City December dawn, overlooking Central Park.

Miriam

I messed up the first time I tried to load this pic so I'm doing it again. This is my quiet street in Woodside, Qns from my living room one night at sunset. Across the street from me are some of the Sunnyside Gardens landmarked houses. My fire escape looks partly scary, partly comforting.

Mendie Cohn

I took the picture of the cow at a farm upstate New York. I like cows, and I particularly liked the expression on this cows face.

Mendie Cohn

I took the photo of the cow at a farm upstate New York. I like cows a lot, and I liked the expression on this cow’s face.

The lake with the overhanging tree is in a park in Vienna, Austria. I took it because I thought that it was a beautiful and peaceful place. I like that the photo looks like a painting.

Mick Laskin

Last spring I had a meeting in Midtown and walking toward Grand Central Station from 5th Ave. I just had to try to get this shot because it includes a great view of my favorite building in NYC - The Chrysler building.

Leila

Thanksgiving afternoon. Our friend Terrance had filled the apartment with flowers and the sun was going down. I love the venetian blinds and wood paneling. Always will.

LG

Ndlela Nkobi

Actor Bill Sage holding a prop form the film We Are What We Are after a screening this fall.

kathy reuter

On my way home from work passing the boatyard, Christmas on the Hudson appeared!

'kola

I was walking through the Grand Central Station as usual when I noticed the new anti-smoking posters, which were trying too hard to be cute. It seemed as if everyone was rushing past and ignoring them. So i decided to take one pic as one of the passer-bys rushed past ... made for a very "suspect" photo. The randomness but yet perfect timing of the photo appeals to me and is what photography is about to me.

Kathy Reuter

Walking out of work on Christmas Eve I spied this evidence of the spirit of the season and it made me smile.

Ndlela Nkobi

This was the sight I was greeted by after I completed the Tour de Staten Is. this year. Muscle-suit Man was very generous about posing for the photos.

'kola

This photo was taken in a motor park in Lagos (Nigeria) ... I was in the park waiting for a hired taxi to get filled before starting a 4 hr journey. It was 5 am and all the serial street entrepreneurs were out ... I was amazed with how business-ready and fashionable everyone at the park was at 5 am ... buyers and sellers ... while I felt like I was being punished! It was a beauty to behold ...

Charles Sock

In March I was coming back from my tax preparer and I sort of stalked this umbrella through Madison Square. Maybe I was bold because I learned I was in the black and didn't owe any tax. I was happy with how it looked so black & white, and red.

Paul Schulman

These are my great nephew Sam and my great niece Maggie sitting on the lawn
at a summer house in Conn. this past summer ('13). I like this because 1) they are beautiful kids and this catches them very candidly and even beatifically and 2) I took the picture from a porch through screening and it created an ethereal looking picture that I had no idea would come out. And those hydrangea look great too.