Giovanni Falco, a barber at Astor Place Hairstylist in New York City, gives Antonio Mongiovi, a real estate agent, a short cut.

I shot a barber who cuts bald men’s hair at Astor Place near New York University for this story on Columbia News Service.

Mine are the Mohawk and Mirror images. Main image by Diego Robles.

The first two weeks of January, I was at the New York Times Institute in Tucson with some excellent journalists from around the country. I got to shoot a lot with one of the Times editors and compete with other skilled photographers.

Here is an audio slideshow fellow student Sal Rodriguez produced of my photos.

From journalism.columbia.edu

I’ll be in Tucson with the New York Times Institute the first two weeks of January.  Here’s the story my school ran.

In one day, Panaderia Caotzingo bakery produces 270 pieces of pan de muerto, Spanish for "bread of the dead."

Nushin Rashidian and I recently spent an evening at a Mexican bakery in Queens preparing for The Day of the Dead. Check out our story at nyfoodchain.com.

Aztec Press Oct. 29, 2009. Main photo by Daniel Woolfolk

In late 2008, while tagging along with Deanna Dent in Mexico, I took some photos at Casa de Elizabeth Orphanage. The Aztec Press recently wrote a story about it. You can read the article by Jose Rodriguez here.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is back to work at his Manhattan office near Times Square after undergoing a quadruple bypass surgery in June. (Photo: Daniel Woolfolk)

My friend Joel Meares and I interviewed former Mayor Ed Koch in his Manhattan office for a story on eating on the campaign trail for nyfoodchain.com. The Huffington Post picked it up as did the Columbia Journalist. It’s got another portrait.

Climbing gear as it lay. Mt. Lemmon, Ariz. April 2009.

Photos and Writing by Daniel Woolfolk

Some people aren’t satisfied with just any sport. Many Tucsonans challenge themselves by climbing a cliff, grabbing onto morsels of rock, bit by bit, dozens of feet off the ground.

“It’s a great city for climbers,” said Stefanie Cafferel, 24, a Pima Community College student and a staff member at Rocks and Ropes climbing
gym.

When she’s not working , Cafferel is either honing on her skills in the gym or climbing outdoors, in and around Tucson.

“You’re right on the hub,” she said, explaining that Tucson is close to great climbing areas such as Cochise Stronghold near Tombstone, Hueco Tanks east of El Paso, California and Colorado. “Plus, you have Mount Lemmon in your backyard.”

Mount Lemmon offers different types of climbing, from roped climbing to bouldering, which doesn’t require ropes because the climber is typically less than 15 feet from the ground and is protected by mats and, usually, by others spotting from below.

Climbers enjoy a wide range of climbs from the base to the top of Mount Lemmon.

“You can boulder in the hot sun and drive half an hour and be in pine trees,” said Patrick Rees, 21, a University of Arizona fisheries management junior.

Tucsonans don’t need to go as far as Mount Lemmon to get a climb in. Many people even climb during their lunch hours at Rocks and Ropes, which is located downtown. It has 55 35-foot high ropes set up in addition to a freestanding boulder and a bouldering area that don’t require ropes

For roped climbing, a partner is needed to belay, serving as an anchor and pulling slack from the rope as the climber ascends. The ropes at the gym are set up in such a way that a large difference in weight between partners is not an issue.

“An 80-pound kid can belay his dad, no problem,” said Rocks and Ropes Manager Jon Mavko, 25.

Fear of heights is something that 38-year-old gym owner Jason Mullins and staff deal with regularly.

“You don’t have to go to the top,” Mullins said.

Mullins sees that happen in the kids’ program and said he provides gym-goers with a non-intimidating environment. One day a fledgling climber may go up part way to gain confidence. By the end of the week, the new climber is

Published: April 21, 2009. Aztec Press, Tucson.

ringing the cowbell at the top of the route.

One kid climber went from climbing at Rocks and Ropes to becoming a world-class climber.

Eric Scully, 25, got his start climbing at the rock gym on his 10th birthday. As a 13-year-old, he became the youngest American to ascend a rock with the rating of 5.14, the highest rating given to climbs at the time.

After a bout with cancer, Scully became the first American to climb that rating after surviving cancer, according to Scully’s biography on rocksandropes.com. He has been a sponsored athlete and competed in the United States and abroad.

These days, aside from being a business major at UA, Scully coaches the youth team at Rocks and Ropes. He is there many days a week, motivating kids in the sport he loves so much.

“It’s just a great way to give back to the community that gave me so much,” he said. “They get training from a pro athlete who’s competed all over the world.”

Scully said he hasn’t competed much in the past year but has plans to in the future.  He is especially interested in the world cup circuit.

Rocks and Ropes is open seven days a week. First-time goers ages 12 and older can climb, get an initial lesson and rent equipment for $30. Day passes cost $12, and memberships are available. Students are charged a discounted rate.

Make sure to bring a friend so that you can use each other in the belay instruction.

FYI
Rocks and Ropes climbing gym
Location: 330 S. Toole Ave.
Phone: 882-5924
Web site: www.rocksandropes.com

A man mocks members of the Neturei Karta outside of the United Nation General Assembly meeting in New York City. Sept. 24 2009.

While reporting for a story, I got to shoot anti-Ahmajinedad protests.  The Neturei Karta had a demonstration that really brought out a lot of anger in people.  This guy had a creative way of expressing it.

Here’s a shot from  an animal blessing at St. Martins Episcopal Church in Central Harlem on Sunday, Sept. 27.

By Daniel Woolfolk

Victor Lopez, a Pima Community College business major, does not plan on traveling to Mexico for spring break.

“A lot of it has to do with the news,” said the 21-year-old, taking a break from playing video games at the Desert Vista Campus student government office.

The U.S. State Department renewed a travel alert Feb. 20, warning Americans about an increase in violence along the Mexican border. It mentions Nogales as a city experiencing drug-cartel violence, including “public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues.”

Unlike earlier versions, the latest advisory does not mention Highway 15, which begins in Nogales, Sonora, just south of Interstate 19. The highway leads to Hermosillo, passes Culiacan and ends in Mexico City.

Sonora has increased highway patrol vigilance and expanded its tourism police force, according to Epifanio Salido Pavlovich, director of the Sonora Tourism Office.

Lopez used to travel Highway 15 about 60 miles to Magdalena, Sonora, to visit relatives.

While returning from his last trip, Lopez was pulled over by armed military officers in an all-terrain vehicle. The officers warned him about dangers in the region. Lopez has not been to Mexico since but said the violence is not the only reason.

“There hasn’t been a necessity to go,” he said, adding that he would consider going to Rocky Point because he hasn’t heard anything bad about that popular coastal tourist destination.

Nobody else in the Desert Vista student government room had plans for traveling to Mexico for spring break.

“I’m white. I don’t go into Mexico,” said Brittnee Clapper, eliciting groans and gasps from the half-dozen other students in the room, some white, some Hispanic and one black.

The 18-year-old sports broadcasting major and student government member explained her answer. Her father, a civilian working for the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Fort Huachuca, doesn’t want her to go.

“He said I shouldn’t go, because it’s bad,” Clapper said.

The native of Washington D.C. moved to Tucson in the fall and has never been to Mexico but said she would like to visit Cancun.

“I would fly there,” she said. “I would not drive.”

Clapper is not the only area resident who has been warned against going into Mexico.

In an online message, University of Arizona Dean of Students Carol Thompson “strongly advises” UA students to avoid travel to Mexico during spring break. Fort Huachuca has restricted troop travel to Mexico, and warned military families and civilians employees.

Despite the warnings, Pete Ashcraft, 40, a captain with the Nogales, Ariz., fire department, travels to northern and coastal Sonora regularly in older-model vehicles. Many of his trips are to visit relatives.

Ashcraft, who has blond hair and blue eyes, was born to a Mexican mother of Irish origin. His father is an American from Salt Lake City. He said he doesn’t feel threatened in Mexico.

“I just know where to go and where not to go,” he said. For example, he avoids a neighborhood called Buenos Aires in the eastern hills of Nogales, Sonora, because it is notorious for gangs.

While driving across the border in rural hills just south of Sasabe, Ariz., Ashcraft did see an unusual scene. A man was slumped over a steering wheel, apparently dead. Another man standing by the car, dressed in civilian clothes, waved Ashcraft along. He neither stopped nor reported the incident.

This spring break, Ashcraft’s 20-year-old daughter plans to visit Rocky Point with many of her friends.

His advice to her: “Watch what you drink and who you accept drinks from.”

Ashcraft also had advice for anyone visiting Mexico.

“Just use common sense, like you would anywhere else,” he said. “There are parts of Tucson that I’m just as leery going into as parts of Mexico.”

If you decide to visit Mexico, follow this tips compiled from interviews and personal experience:

• Bring documents required for crossing the border back into the United States. If you don’t have a passport, you can use your driver’s license and a copy of your birth certificate but both documents must be together. There are other options listed on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Web site, cbp.gov.
• Do not take guns or ammunition into Mexico. They are illegal in Mexico. Both U.S. and Mexican authorities are cracking down heavily, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
• Watch what you drink and who you accept drinks from.
• Don’t get into a stranger’s car. Refuse politely and firmly.
• Stay with your group and stay in tourist areas, which usually have special tourist police.
• Take a reliable car but avoid flashy vehicles, especially SUVs and pickup trucks.
• If someone is overly nice and pushing you to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing, politely and firmly refuse any offers. They will usually move along.