Man on Wire

I took some pictures for my syndicator, Retna, during last years Tribeca Film Festival and shot the star and director of Man on Wire, the story of Philippe Petit's notorious tight rope walk between the Twin Towers in the 70's. I finally watched it last weekend up in VT with my partner and was blown away. A fantastic movie. Go rent it! It has the greatest pace to it and feels more like a thriller than a documentary. It is also such a celebration of the buildings and made me realize how much of a void our city still has without them. I had posted some of these shots before, but felt that since the movie was just nominated for the best documentary Oscar yesterday they deserved some more air time. Congratulations to both Philippe and James Marsh, the very talented director. I have a feeling that it will win.

Henry, Scott & Cameron, Gay America - MN

Stephen, Gay American - FL

New Mastic Beach Moonscapes

Here are some new moonscapes from Friday evening, which provided many new images for the series. I am really loving the painterly quality they have as well as the subtle earth toned colors. Always amazes at the forms I end up seeing within these abstract images. I do think that they would make a beautiful show. A portfolio of the collection is @ scottpasfield.com.

Rich, Model & Actor

Some shots from Thursday of Rich, a model and actor that I have been wanting to photograph since I met him a year ago at a friend's Christmas party, where he was the bartender. Seeing him again this year working the same gig, we decided to try and make it happen sooner than later and I went over to his pad to take some shots of him before he shaved off his beard. I went in tight and decided to show off his amazing face. I think I may start to shoot other male models in a similar fashion, at home, comfortable in their environment. Maybe a new project in the making...

Ted, Gay American - ME

Carrie Fisher

I have been lucky enough to photograph Carrie Fisher a couple of times through the years and she has to be one of my all time favorites. I mean Princess Leia for crying out loud. She has the sickest sense of humor and is one of the most down to earth celebrities I have met in the industry. Her battle with bipolar depression and the way she handles it is inspirational. Lord knows that I deal with my fair share of depression and I find her humor and honesty on the subject refreshing. She was just on the Bonnie Hunt show yesterday and it reminded me of our shoots. I love this photo of her and think it is so sincere and sexual at the same time, dare I say, even a little Mrs. Robinsonesque. It was even a Sunday afternoon too...I'm not joking. Hopefully she won't hate it if her people ever stumble across it. I know that she has a soft spot in her heart for gay guys and often puts up artists in her guest house out in LA so I've daydreamed that I could become her in-house photographer, documenting her fabulous life and interesting friends. Dream on Scott... As her ex-husband Paul Simon wrote and seems rather fitting, "Here's to you Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know, woah woah woah."

Marisa Tomei

With Marisa Tomei again in the headlines for her role in The Wrestler, I decided to post some shots I took of her on set a few years ago. She was very sweet as I remember and certainly stunning, as seen here. My friend Craig also has a huge crush on her and wanted to see the pictures I had taken. Here you go dude. Anyway, after doing a little research on IMDB, I thought I'd include a few interesting facts about her. She was born in Brooklyn in 1964 to an English teacher mother and a lawyer father. She has one brother, Adam, also an actor. She dropped out of college for a co-starring role on As the World Turns and soon after that she was cast as Lisa Bonet's college roommate on A Different World. From one world to another... or was that another soap? My attempt at a little humor, ha! Her big break came in 1992 when she starred alongside Jo Pesci in My Cousin Vinny which earned her her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress and subsequent win. Nine years later, she was nominated again for her role in In The Bedroom and I wouldn't be surprised if she did it again this year. Congrats Marisa!

Robert & Gia's Wedding

Last weekend my partner's nephew Robert married his beautiful girlfriend Gia on a very atmospheric misty evening along the Hudson River about a half an hour north of Manhattan. They had a very simple ceremony and a small party at Harvest on Hudson, a fantastic Italian restaurant. Interestingly, Gia's maid of honor was her twin sister Dana and Robert's best men, Joey and Michael, are also identical twins. Good looking crew. Thanks to them all for including us and making it so special.

Where's the Snow, Jay Peak?

My partner and I came up to VT last night and were bummed to see that so much snow has melted with this warm weather and rain that hit the east coast over the weekend. I was hoping somehow that it wouldn't affect the conditions that much, but looks like the mountain is in terrible shape and is even showing a lot of dirt. Here are some shots from a couple of weeks ago when I was up last and had a few great days on the slopes. Hoping that some snow comes our way tonight...

Brandon, Gay American

Sebastian Bach

Here's Sebastian Bach of Skid Row fame in a huge newly renovated warehouse building along the East River in Brooklyn south of the Brooklyn Bridge with some great views of downtown from earlier this year. He really has had an amazing career, spanning music, Broadway and TV. We connected nicely having had both just turned forty a few weeks earlier and had some nice conversations about reaching that milestone. A very nice down to earth guy. He recently appeared on and won the second season of Country Gold, a celebrity reality show on CMT.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Season's Greeting and best wishes for the New Year! Here's a shot from a few years ago underneath the arch that anchors Fifth Avenue and invites visitors into Washington Square Park. Half of the park is under renovation at the moment and from what I can see, looks like it will be beautiful. I especially like the idea of not having to look at those globe shaped 70's street lighting anymore. There were so many protests and concerns about the redesign and I hope that after all is said and done, it will not only be a success, but will also be embraced by the community like it always has. My only fear is with the central fountain that is being reduced in size and moved to line up on axis with the arch and Fifth Avenue. Seems silly for NYU to be so concerned with it since their own Kimmel Center that was constructed on the south side of the park has done much more damage to that axis than anything else and moving the fountain will not make much difference imho.

Mike, Gay American

Stella

So as many of you probably are aware of, Facebook is a great way to socialize online and network with old friends, classmates, and business colleagues. I've been trying to build up my friend list with cool creative people and having fun seeing glimpses into their lives. It's fascinating I think. And has proven already to be good for business as I'm doing a shoot on Tuesday which is happening all because of Facebook. Anyway, I befriended David Wain, Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black on the site whom I had shot for Comedy Central's ad campaign for their short lived show. They still tour and have each done their own thing to great success. David just directed Role Models which I can't wait to see. These guys humor you either love or hate and fortunately for me it's love. I'll post the DVD cover soon too, which has them riding a triple bicycle against clouds...now done. The campaign was fun, 7 sets built in studio, great art directing and cool funny guys in suits. I'd like to do more stuff like this.

Best of Both Worlds

Here are some shots from the two beautiful places where I spend most of my time when not in the city. The VT mountaintop shot looks southeast down the back side of Jay Peak and takes in the view of Big Jay and Stowe way off in the distance. Our house sits just to the right of the low lying cloud and mountain to the right, Big Jay, about three miles from the ski area entrance. I took this last Saturday during a great day of skiing and boy, it was cold, about 5˚F. The sunrise shot I woke up to in Mastic Beach the morning I left for VT a week earlier and looks out over Narrows Bay to Fire Island from across the street to our beach place on Long Island. Lucky man indeed.

Senator Fran Drescher?

So the star of The Nanny, Fran Drescher, who turned 51 this year, threw her hat into the ring for the NY Senate seat that will soon be vacated by Hillary Clinton. She faces some pretty tough competition however from Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, both campaigning for the position. "I feel like I could be a good senator - I'm every woman and the consummate New Yorker. I’m an authentic and honest person and I think Capitol Hill needs more of that. While I realize I don't have a very good relationship with the governor and other contenders have his ear, all he can do is say no.” She does have excellent points and would bring some great aggressive authentic New York energy to the Senate, something that Kennedy has been criticized as lacking. All I know is that she loved the camera and was great fun to photograph when I took this shot of her on a back lot in Los Angeles. You go Nanny Fine!

William, Gay American

Vermont House and Skiing

I post today from the snowy confines of our place up in Northern VT where I came to ski and escape the cold gray cement confines of the city six hours to the south. A shot that I took last night of the house shortly after surviving the long drive up and not hitting any deer or sliding off the road. It really does look like a spaceship that just landed, especially with all the lighting and the steam rising on the left side from the boiler vent. I so love this place and feel blessed that we are able to enjoy it.

Bob, Gay American

David Byrne, Renaissance Man

Here's a couple of shots that I just love from a shoot a few years ago of one of musician David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame. I just heard some tracks from his new album with Brian Eno and he continues to amaze me. He is also a great artist and photographer that I often see peddling around the streets of New York City on his bicycle. I believe that he was educucated as an architect, something we both have in common. When we did this quick shoot in a dark wine cellar of a midtown restaurant, my focus light somehow blew out and I was left with almost no light in which to focus. A bit flustered and starstruck, he reassured me that with my current f-stop and shutter speed, all would be fine and in focus. Of course he was right. Love this guy. He is currently on a worldwide tour with Eno. To find out more, check out his site at davidbyrne.com.

Larry and Jim, Gay Americans

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some shots from the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Nags Head where Nick and I joined some family for Thanksgiving this year. We all rented a house for the week to enjoy the holiday from neutral ground. We explored the area yesterday and took in some sights including Jockey's Ridge State Park, the largest sand dunes on the east coast. Very cool. I hope that everyone is enjoying a great holiday this year.

Sebastian Junger

I saw on my facebook page this morning that my friend Reid Callanan, the director of the Santa Fe Photo Workshops, is organizing a fundraising event with Reza and Sebastian Junger on December 4th in Santa Fe to benefit Photo Teens, a really great cause. Information for the event is located on the workshops site, linked here. It all reminded me that I had photographed Sebastian a while back for Manhattan File, which was such a great magazine, soon after his book A Perfect Storm had been made into a movie. We shot this at the bar in his restaurant, The Half King, on West 23rd Street, near Tenth Avenue in Chelsea, NYC, which is still such a great place to eat and hang out if you're ever in the neighborhood.

John, Gay American