A soggy night didn’t  keep friends and neighbors from the Be Your Own Valentine event at Mary Warren’s shop, Fou Le Chakra. Photographer Hugh Crawford set up a small photo studio in the front of the store with his nifty strobe light and the old gray backdrop that he’s been using for years; it’s practically his signature.

Party guests enjoyed sparkling wine, assorted hor doeuvres and sweets
while taking  turns getting their picture taken with or without kids,
with or without significant others.

For some it was like going to the dentist – "Oh, is it my turn?" For others it was pure bliss: "I’m ready for my close up, Mr. C."

A former house photographer at Fiorucci and the nightclub, Xenon, Crawford has plenty of experience taking portraits at special events. After a ten year stint in the computer biz, he’s returned to photography full time concentrating on editorial and fine art portraiture, Times Square street photography and a series of pictures called Earth. Water. Fire. Air. His photographs of Park Slope appear daily on Only the Blog knows Brooklyn (see No Words_Daily Pix).   

Crawford managed to keep his cool as a band of wild children, fueled by chocolate chip cookies and too little supper, ran in and out of the pictures unable to resist the cool photo studio in their midst. My daughter was disappointed that her photographer-dad wouldn’t let her help as much as she wanted to.

Selected photographs from the V-day event will be exhibited at Fou Le Chakra in the weeks to come. It is located on Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets.