Dancing With the Stars Season 16 at Good Morning America

Last night I was planning on watching the finale of this season of Dancing With The Stars but ended up on a conference call all night with my editor and publisher working on my upcoming book (Bruce Springsteen: In Focus-Photographs 1980-2012). I wanted to watch it because I was invited to shoot the winners and finalists this morning on Good Morning America-a place where I love to shoot. I love the people there and it's such a warm "homey" atmosphere. Each season, the cast of DWTS seems just like that-a family that is home. Winners Kellie Pickler and her dance pro Derek Hough arrived first, and Derek was shooting the crowd with his IPhone. I never tire of shooting him. I love watching him dance, and he and Kellie were just amazing to watch. Zendaya Coleman and Val Chmerkovsky...hard to believe she is ONLY 16!

Busy, busy, busy

Most of the time when I blog, I pretty much just put up images with a caption. I am so busy that I prefer to let the images do the talking. The magic of the internet really became apparent to me this week.My book, "Bruce Springsteen: In Focus-Photographs 1980-2012" will hit the book stores on September 21 and next week, I am involved in the Book Expo at the Javits Center. My publisher wants to have a full copy (an uncorrected proof, but still the entire book) of it present at the expo. Thru the magic of the internet and conference calling, I was able to be on the phone with my publisher, designer and publicist all day, and the 4 of us reside in 4 different states, from NYC to Los Angeles. A few pages were removed at the last minute so it opened up a few more pages to ad in some photos that I really wanted to appear in there. As I was helping in the edit and drinking coffee and eating herring, I kept thinking to my mom, who passed away 2 months ago and I know she would have loved the book...and the coffee and herring. The following day I was hired to shoot a 90th birthday party and I was pretty excited. Turns out, the woman got sick but everyone forgot to tell me and I found out upon arriving at the location. So, I wandered around and saw some sights worth shooting-it is one of the MANY things I love about being photographer-seeing the world differently than most. Whether it is a man showing young children how to blow huge balloons, the "birdman" who can be seen daily in Washington Square Park feeding the pigeons and squirrels, a woman with curlers in her hair or the beautiful Flatiron building, there is never a dull moment in my photographic life. It was a joy to get the assignment to shoot 98 Degrees. It is hard to call them a "Boy Band" as they are all men. I remember shooting them backstage at Jones Beach in 1999 when their album went platinum and thought they were so nice. 14 years later-they haven't changed-they are still 4 very down to earth, wonderful men. I can never get bored shooting them, or looking at them (and I know there are many who feel the same way :) I WANT MY MTV! Great time shooting and listening to 4 of the 4 original VJ's from MTV-when MTV played music! Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn and Alan Hunter-it was so much fun hearing your stories. Original VJ JJ Jackson passed away several years ago Hollywood visits NYC-and my street. Love walking out of my apartment and seeing Ben Stiller shooting "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

My first Mother's Day without my Mom

my beloved Mother and best friend passed away 2 months ago and not a minute has gone by where she hasn't been in my thoughts. I was so blessed to have this wonderful woman as my mother, mentor, friend, my harshest critic and biggest supporter. With her beautiful smile and always the right thing to say, she lit up my world every day. I miss you dearly, Mom, and my love is forever.

Closing Day 2013 Tribeca Film Festival

Photographed a few legends today-Clint Eastwood, Jerry Lewis, Robert DeNiro and a very sweet Christina Ricci who knows how to pose on the red carpet. I wish everyone posed and carried themselves the way this young woman does. Others walking the red carpet today for the last day of the Tibeca Film Festival were a few Smurfs from the new smurf movie (I have to admit they were a little creepy), Richard Belzer and his dog BeBe (French for Baby), Dean Winters, Grace Hightower

Little Steven Brings Rock and Roll into the Classroom

Most photographers I know, when receiving a call for a shoot, the first thing they want to know is what is the shoot? My first questions are location, and time. For the most part, I don't care what I am shooting-I LOVE what I do and don't care what I am shooting-it's all good to me and always has been. I guess you can say I am the 1%-I REALLY love what I do, even after 29 years professionally in the business. It's still a hobby that I make a living at. But, there are those days when I get to my shoot and it is just joy. This assignment was one of those days-3 hours with Little Steven Van Zandt-guitarist with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and an amazing solo performer and all around amazing man who really gives back. This assignment was for the Rock and Roll Foundation-and it is a program to keep music in the classrooms. When I walked in, I see a name tag with Robert Santelli. I was THRILLED. I told my contact how excited I was-that I knew Bob from decades ago when he was a writer at the NJ Shore where I lived and my images accompanied his words MANY times in newspapers, books and magazines. He also went grad school and got his Master's Degree along side my mother.When I mentioned this to my contact, she told me he just went to the green room and when he saw me, asked her "was that Debra Rothenberg???" I went upstairs and we caught up, making the day just even more magical.

BB King at BB King's

A GREAT night with a great legend Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. King was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname 'The King of Blues'. He is also known for performing tirelessly throughout his musical career appearing at 250-300 concerts per year until his seventies. In 1956 it was noted that he appeared at 342 shows, and still at the age of 87 King appears at 100 shows a year. Over the years, King has developed one of the world's most identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarists' vocabulary. His economy and phrasing has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton, and George Harrison to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. King has mixed blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. In King's words, "When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille."

"The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream" comes to Broadway

The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream After 40 years apart, the original Rascals have reunited, and on the wonderful Broadway stage at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City. The man responsible for putting together this wonderful show is none other than Steven Van Zandt, also a big fan and is the co-director and co-producer. While the band is performing their hits, such as “Good Lovin’” “Lonely Too Long,” “It’s a Beautiful Morning,” “How Can I Be Sure” and “Groovin’,” old video footage is shown on a large screen behind them. My feet were tapping and my head was bobbing the entire time-something that makes it challenging while shooting images at the same time but it surely means I am having a great time when I do this. It will be difficult for anyone to remain seated while they perform their catchy songs. Growing up in New Jersey in a family that loved music and the arts, this was one of the first bands I remember my brothers playing on their stereos and at the time, I didn’t even know that this band was from just a few miles down the road from where I lived. The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream is on Broadway for only 15 performances-get your tickets now to witness not only a great part of musical history, but a great show.

Janet D. Rothenberg-February 17, 1932-March 7, 2013 12:20am FOREVER IN MY HEART

Janet D. Rothenberg-February 17, 1932-March 7, 2013 THURSDAY MARCH 7, 2013 12:20am My world is very dark. My best friend and my mother passed away at 12:20am while I was holding her hands and stroking her face. She had this FUCKING disease called Alzheimers that robbed her of so many years. I am lucky that she was my mom and my best friend-there was nothing I couldn’t talk to her about-and we used to talk on the phone everyday. When I decided I wanted to move to NYC in early 1999, quitting a staff job that I had for 12 years, everyone thought I was making a mistake, except her. My life changed because of that move-my photo career took off and like my mom who married her best friend and they were together for almost 65 years (married almost 62), I too married my best friend. My world was a better place for having her as my mom and friend. I don’t know if I will ever be able to smile or laugh again, but I do know she is now at peace. I LOVE YOU MOM, FOREVER ROTHENBERG - Janet, of Fort Lee, and formerly of Fair Lawn, NJ, and Philadelphia died on March 7, 2013 at the age of 81. She loved the songs of Jacques Brel, the plays of Eugene O'Neill, the singing of Frank Sinatra, the food of Il Cantinori, the capitals of Europe, and the politics of Franklin Roosevelt. But most of all, she loved her husband Marvin J. Rothenberg, whom she met when they were teenage summer camp counselors; the four children they raised together in Fair Lawn; their six grandchildren; and a social circle as big and open as her heart. Jeanette Dorothy Fives was born February 17, 1932 in northeast Philadelphia, the first child of Manuel Fives and the former Frieda Portnoy, who fled the pogroms and raised their four children surrounded by many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins. In an early display of restless independence, while still a schoolgirl Jeanette changed her name to the more modern Janet. Jan was inquisitive: Unable to attend university after graduating from Olney High School, she started William Paterson College when her children ranged from eight to 14, graduated in four years, and began a career as a high school English teacher immediately thereafter. She was brave, enduring the catcalls of neighbors to march against the Vietnam War long before it had become a broadly unpopular endeavor. She was compassionate, organizing a physical rehabilitation program for the impaired son of another member of the B'nai Israel synagogue's Sisterhood. She was ambitious, earning a master's degree from New York University at age 60 and starting a second career in arts education, managing the Doing Art Together program at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, then a third career as producer of the off-off-Broadway musical "Kurt Weill on Broadway." As Jan joins the Fair Lawn friends and Philadelphia family who passed before her, she leaves behind her beloved Marv, her best friend for 64 years; her children and their spouses, Debra Rothenberg and Philip Carvalho, Stuart and Talya Rothenberg, Craig and Diane Rothenberg, and Randall Rothenberg and Susan Roy; grandchildren Elana, Dania, Jake and Matty Rothenberg and Dylan and Lauren Rothenberg; brothers Marvin Fives and David Fives and sister Ilene Kaplan and their families; and many cousins. Jan lived the American Dream: Born poor in the Depression, she grew to enjoy a culturally, intellectually, and emotionally rich life, whose enthusiasms she shared willingly. Although she can no longer sing along to the Milkman's Matinee or drive her offspring to fencing matches, lacrosse games, and drama rehearsals, she lives on in her grandchildren, who inherited her good humor and kind heart. Memorial donations, if desired, can be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Ave., 7th Fl., New York, NY 10001; The Jewish Home at Rockleigh, 10 Link Drive, Rockleigh, New Jersey, 07647; or the Kaplen Adult Reach Center, Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Ave., Tenafly, NJ 07670. My best friend has always been my mom. How many people can honestly say that? There hasn’t been anything I haven’t been able to talk to her about. I am so lucky to have known her, and had her as my mother and my best friend. She taught me strength, independence, never to give up, to be compassionate and passionate. you know what I am talking about. Some of the best comments I have heard from friends throughout my life have been “I love your mom. She makes me feel important, and I don’t feel important.” “Coming over to your house in high school-your mom always made me feel like an adult-she never spoke to me as if I was a dumb 16 year old kid” “I always loved coming to your house-I lost my mom when I was young and she treated me like I was her 5th child.” We could talk for hours, about anything and everything. She was my harshest critic, and my biggest fan. Her motto of “never give up, never quit” became my motto, and is the reason I am where I am today. Family. She LOVED family. It was the most important thing to her. ..and her friends were her extended family. I always called them “The Big Chill Grown Up” because they were such a tight knit group. The GREATEST love story ever. They met in the late 1940's, when she was 16, and he was 18. It was love at first sight for him-and can you blame him? She was beautiful. At first she didn't like him, but that didn't stop him from chasing and courting her, until one day, she fell in love with him. He gave her his class ring, and then an engagement ring. They married young-she was 20, and he was 22. 4 years later, they had their first child, a son, followed by 2 more sons and then a daughter-me. She never went to college and when she made up her mind to go, as an adult and a mother of 4, it was important that her youngest (me) not come home to an empty home after school so she waited until I was late in my Junior high school years and involved in sports to keep me busy after school. She got her Bachelors, went on to teach high school English and then went on to her Master's from the Gallatin school at NYU-with a curriculum she designed herself. Both loved to travel, and went all over the world. My dad always took photos, thousands upon thousands of images using his favorite slide film-Kodachrome. If you wonder where my love of making photographs comes from, it is from my dad, as well as my mom who was a lover of the arts-ALL arts. I never had a celebrity or sports figure as a hero. I never believed in that nor needed that, because my true heroes have ALWAYS been my parents. The love they have shown my brothers and myself and their grandkids, their friends, and all of my friends throughout the years is what a hero is. TRUE LOVE.

My first book to be published this fall: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN; IN FOCUS-Photographs 1980-2012"

I am very excited to announce the upcoming release of my first book, "Bruce Springsteen: In Focus-Photographs 1980-2012" which will hit the bookstores this fall. It is already up on the amazon.comsite: http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Springsteen-Focus-1980-2012-Rothenberg/dp/1938501519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360119456&sr=8-1&keywords=debra+l+rothenberg