Walking Philadelphia

Freelance journalist Natalie Pompilio lives in an alley off an alley in South Philadelphia. A former staff writer with The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Philadelphia Daily News, she is a frequent contributor to The Star-Ledger (Newark), The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and regional magazines. She and her sister also collaborated on This Used to Be Philadelphia (Reedy Press, 2021). Her other books include More Philadelphia Murals and the Stories They Tell (with Jane Golden and Robin Rice, Temple University Press, 2006) and Philadelphia A to Z (with photographer Jennifer Zdon, self-published, 2009).

Natalie’ s idea of a perfect night is sitting on her roof deck on a warm night with her husband, Jordan Barnett, and watching the chimney swifts do their nightly dance.

Tricia Pompilio is a Philadelphia-based portrait and family photographer. Her favorite subjects are dancers and families, especially her husband, Vince Savarese, and their three daughters, Fiona, Luna, and Poppy. In 2019, Philadelphia Family magazine named her the city’ s best portrait photographer. When she’ s not behind the camera, she’ s probably rereading Harry Potter while listening to Rob Thomas while her cats, Albus and Clara, sleep at her feet.