Took Jeanne and Scott's golf cart down to the water after dinner on Saturday night to this old mansion's remains and tried to do some of my moonscapes, taking advantage of the full moon rising over the bay at that sweet magic hour. Here's the two I like best shot under a live oak dripping with Spanish moss and a couple of boats passing by.
I wanted to share some of the beauty of the Georgia coast and the peaceful little area of Sunbury where I find myself this weekend. My step sister Jeanne and her husband Scott live here, spending a lot of time fishing, crabbing, shrimping and sharing the bounty of the sea with the local manatees and dolphins. Amazing to say the least. We took their golf cart to a neighbor's house last night for a crab feast and traveled down the oldest road in Georgia to get there. Here's a shot of the moss covered trees along that road and the delicious crabs we ate before they were cooked. Good eatin' ya'll.
On July 15th, I had the privilege of photographing Chris Fry, in Mission, Kansas on July 15th for my project. He was a very nice guy, whom I had found online and asked about whether he might have interest in being a part of the book. Happily, he agreed and we set up a shoot when I was passing through town. Here's what he wrote me about himself.
I survived another leg of the Gay America project and now clock in at 37 states complete. I flew home from Atlanta, where I return Sept 4th to continue shooting. I still have GA, FL and AL to do before bringing the car back to NY. The six shoots I did since Santa Fe were in Carlsbad NM, San Angelo, Pflugerville and Conroe TX, Loranger LA and Jackson MS. Amazing men, stories and photos. Can't wait to share. In the meantime, here is a shot of the grasslands in the eastern part of the scenic wonder we call Wyoming.
On the latest road trip for my project, I had shoots in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming and Colorado. Spent some time up in a Buddhist retreat, a college town, a rural farmhouse, and lots of cool places in between. Some things that caught my eye were the farmland in western Wisconsin, a stand-alone gas pump south of Fargo (no store or attendant in sight) and a sunflower field in SD. I arrived in Santa Fe a few days ago to recharge my batteries, so to speak, and am heading off tomorrow morning for the final leg of this road trip back to NY through TX and then east.
As I prepare for the next trip for my project, I wanted to post a little something about the last journey, which started and ended in Milwaukee, but brought me to Des Moines IA, Omaha NE, Kansas City MO, Wichita KS, Tulsa OK, Little Rock AR, Jackson TN and finally Farmersville IL. One spot that really left me breathless was along a drive in Eastern Kansas through these amazingly large rounded grass covered hills known as the Flint Hills or Bluestem Pastures. As the sun was setting and the views from the highway amazing, I stopped quickly to try and capture the American heartland at its best, cows grazing and all. The resulting image is just OK, but you get the idea. I also turned around and took a shot of a truck whizzing by me on the highway, with the moon in the distance. Sweet. Interesting side note, Elton John apparently has purchased a lot of land in this area, at least according to the woman at the Kansas Welcome Center.
I have had this on my site for a while and saw that Dom is turning 75 today and wanted to send him birthday wishes. Happy birthday Dom! He was so funny on the Dinner for Five set in Los Angeles where I shot this before they started taping the show. He really wanted for me to try and get a shot of him with lots of smoke surrounding him and he tried his hardest, but it just didn't work out very well with my small lighting set up. So I asked him be all serious with his cigarette and ended up loving those shots best. He then sat down to dinner with host Jon Favreau, Richard Lewis, John Herzfeld, a director, and Peter Falk and they taped for a few hours, telling great stories from the industry, me lurking behind the cameras with my sound-proofed blimp taking stills for promotions. Memorable experiences to say the least.
I headed out on another road trip for my project after checking in on VT last week and started by crossing into NY just under the Canadian Border. Then I drove through The Adirondack Park to my Uncle Gary's house in Verona Beach on Oneida Lake which took more than six hours. It amazes me how large NY is. I snapped this shot crossing a small bridge somewhere near Lake Placid in some pretty spectacular countryside. After spending the night at his lake cottage, I headed off to shoots in Buffalo, Detroit, Columbus, Indianapolis and Chicago before taking a break and flying back to NY from Milwaukee, which is where I will resume the project later this week.
I swung by the VT house last week and wanted to show how the upstairs rooms turned out, places I love to spend time in when I'm there. In the kitchen, we put in a new fridge that finally opens all the way and is flush with the cabinets, which makes such a huge difference. The one that came with the house not only didn't work, but was standard sized and stuck out 6 more inches beyond the cabinets and was unable to open all the way, rendering it rather inefficient for its 35 year life. The new one's a Liebherr from Germany, a cheaper alternative to a Sub-Zeron, and such a cooler fridge, if you ask me. We also mirrored the backsplash which opens up the space even more and adds to the whole 70's vibe. My grandmother made the Rya shag rug on the floor, while the dining room table, wall hangings and the deer head were finds at my favorite Long Island thrift sale. It all came together quite nicely. I love it.
I had the honor of photographing George Carlin a few years ago in Los Angeles. He was not the happiest guy when he realized that he had to sit down for portraits with me, but he did his best and even allowed me to get in super tight on the last shot. Here it is, that last frame, from the twenty images I took that evening. Rest in peace George, you'll be missed.
I started a new project in February finding and photographing inspirational OUT Gay American Men from every state with great stories or wisdom to share. It has been a truly amazing experience so far and I hope to finish by the end of this year and turn it into a book. I have done 17 states and embark tomorrow morning for my longest road trip to date, hoping to accomplish at least a dozen states before returning home. I will probably post a new portfolio of the men on my site next month. Here are a few snaps from my last road trip...my cousin Justin's son Jack in WV, the Giant Peachoid water tower in SC and some shots from my Aunt Debbie's farm in Kentucky.
I went back last week to reshoot the Tiger Woods billboard and now I can say for sure that it was for a new Tiger Gatorade. Better branding for him than the drink I think. Here's what I ended up with. Love the collection of people and the chip eating gal up front.
Last week as I biked downtown from the apartment to run some errands, something I do weather permitting, it's a nice ten mile loop, I spotted this new ad up on 50th st around Times Square and stopped to shoot. I am not sure that I nailed it and may go back next week. These two I like best for some reason, without people. And they are kind of nice with this color treatment. The ad was for some green sport drink, which is what runs down his head looking like sweat. But does it? I can't even tell you what the name of the drink is. Noticeable advertising, but not effective it seems.
Dancing with the moon a bit after a couple beers resulted in these cool images taken from the Mastic Beach Section One Beach looking over Narrows Bay on Monday night. The moonscapes evolve.
I shot at the Tribeca Film Festival on saturday for Retna, my celebrity syndicator, doing promotional portraits, a service they offer to the casts of films on the festival circuits. I hope it was the first day of many. I had a great time, did it without an assistant and on a tight budget, which proves that you don't need a lot of fuss to take nice portraits. The actors are from a film called The 27 Club, starring Joe Anderson. There are also shots of James Marsh and Philippe Petit, the director and star of Man on Wire. Philippe is the acrobat that illegally walked the high wire between the Twin Towers in the 70's. He's in the second photo, just after Joe. These are some pretty lucious portraits, if I do so say myself.
This is Jay Peak's incredible mountain top on Monday, photographed from the top of the triple chair. It sits about three miles from our VT pad and six miles from Canada, as far as the crow flies. If you have never skied here before, you are missing out on some of the East Coast's best, not to mention 419 crazy inches of snow this season. The 65 passenger tram house is perched up on top, which you have to take to access the steep wooded face seen above. If that is a little much for you, there is the Vermonter trail, which is on the left and offers some great views looking west towards Big Jay and the valley below. I have still to ski the face, but am setting my sights on next year...
Went up to VT this last weekend for, as it turned out, some great spring skiing up at Jay and outdoor fun around the house in 70 degree sunshine. Now that my Kachina is no longer around, I have started taking the cats on little hikes, climbing rocks, trees and jumping over streams, all close to home. It cracks me up to have them follow me through the woods. Here's a shot of each of them in action and then a group photo of all three before we headed home.
Looking at those recent drawings and their monster like features made me remember this shot of a rather creepy little stuffed animal that was a prop on my Comedy Central Stella shoot. I shot it close up at the art director's request. I remember her saying that a puppet maker from Sesame Street had made it. Funny. I also am posting a tearsheet that ran in Penthouse with an image from that set up.
This guy will forever be the lovable Jack Berger from Sex and the City to me. He was also great in Office Space, a trippy Canadian flick. Check it out if you can. This is from LA a few years ago, on set from a Dinner for Five taping, another of the still many portraits that keep on resurfacing from that great job. I like how tight it is, his intense slightly off expression and the little bit of motion there is. Nice.
In a recent exercise at Platon's workshop, we had to draw a person in one minute without taking the pen off the paper, nor your eye off the person, all the while never looking down. This resulted in some pretty interesting sketches completely throwing off the left and right brain that would normally be very challenging to do. Here is one of my favorites from the day of a classmate named Leigh Ann. A great way to train the eye to the truly important features of a person.
I bought this painting after my Grandmother died along with another one from a street artist named Alan Streets, really that's his last name, a well know British artist working in NYC. It hangs in the hallway outside the bedroom and I look at it every day. I love it. It is not properly framed, instead simply hung on the wall as it was when I bought it. This guy's work rocks and so does his story. Like any good artist he is a bit crazy.
Some shots that I tried of my NYC Red Cross phone booth ads and their original models, Stelianie and Emanuele nearby. I never really did anything with them. Kinda too set up, but an interesting take on the adscape idea.
A new lunar moonscape from Saturday morning at dawn down at the beach in front of the house.
