Little Boots in April's BlackBook

Here is a shot I recently did of one of the UK's new rising pop stars, Victoria Hesketh aka Little Boots, for this month's BlackBook magazine. We had to shoot in the back of a new BMW and the creative director wanted a party feel. Trouble was the shoot was at noon outside the magazine's office on 19th street. I decided to light it all from inside the car with portable packs and take her for a ride, leaving the entourage behind. We went through the tunnel on Park Avenue and I had my shot. Her music is really quite good and people are calling her the new Kylie Minogue. Listen to her tunes on her myspace page.

Me © Platon

I just updated my facebook picture with a polaroid I found from last year at this time. Pre blown-out knee. Maybe just a bit happier than I am this year...where's the violin, right? Shot by the man, Platon. A nice pairing to the earlier posting of kingly me. :o)

Times Square Steps

I sit in Santa Fe this morning awaiting a workshop next week and was going through some recent personal pics and found some stuff from the new red stepped TKTS store in Times Square that are cool. I really do love this architectural structure/folly. It gives you such a great place to just chill and take in the great people watching and all the signage. It is made up of 27 steps and rises 16 feet high, housing the store underneath. Great interesting example of form following function. Perkins Eastman designed it based on a competition-winning concept by architects John Choi and Tai Ropiha. It opened in October and really has transformed the space. It will also be interesting to see how this is affected by Bloomberg's plan to turn this part of Broadway pedestrian-only in May. Times Square will basically become an urban park. Cool.

Living Legends of Law

Last month, I did a job for the ABA Journal, photographing lawyers for the March cover story "7 Over 70". The feature was about some of the nations top trial lawyers who are all over 70 and still practicing today. I shot Bernie Nussbaum in NY, Joe Jamail and Richard 'Racehorse' Haynes in Houston, Bobby Lee Cook in Summerville, GA and Jim Neal in Nashville. Some interesting facts about them: Bernie was Clinton's White House Counsel from '92-'93; Joe won the largest settlement ever awarded in the world (10.5 billion against Texaco); Bobby Lee Cook was the inspiration for the television series "Matlock"; Jim represented Elvis' doctor after his death and Jon Landis after the "Twilight Zone" helicopter deaths; and Racehorse has kept all of his 40 capitol punishment clients from dying. The articles are great and their stories fascinating. Check them out at the ABA Journal.

Nandi, Gay America - CO

Emanuele Ancorini

Here's some shots that I did last week of the multi-talented model, actor, producer and amazing figure skater, Emanuele Ancorini. We met years ago when I cast him in one of the Red Cross ads I shot that were all over city phone booths and airports. He was the guy that "didn't dress like you but would save your life in a heartbeat". When I came back from NC a couple of weeks ago I was greeted by two huge backlit posters from the campaign that are still running at Laguardia and figured it was trying to tell me something. Still makes me so happy to see those pictures in public making a difference. For these shots, I wanted to see what we could come up on the fly at his pad. We tried some stuff inside but that pink staircase in the hall was just calling out to me from the moment I got there and ultimately is where we ended up. He was such a pleasure to shoot and get to spend some time with. His girlfriend was in and out during the session and she is also an actress and model. When my leg heals, I think I'll plan a shoot with the two of them. You can also see a snapshot of him on the blog by his Vespa and Red Cross phone booth ad in the archives from April 08, titled "Red Cross Redux".

NY, LA & Paris Classic Architecture

Some random architectural shots from three of my favorite cities, New York, Los Angeles and Paris. The first shot is of the exterior of the balconies on the residential building at 200 Central Park South in New York. It was designed by Wechsler & Schimenti and built in 1963. The building's design was described by Robert Stern as "a kind of aggressive, self-referential Modernism that had hitherto been largely absent from Manhattan." In my opinion, a great way for Seventh Avenue to meet Central Park. I love it. The second image looks out over Los Angeles from the Griffith Park Observatory on Mount Hollywood in the Cahuenga Hills. The building was finished in the mid thirties and houses a planetarium, exhibit space, a huge telescope and offers some of the best views of the city. Definitely check it out if you visit. And finally, the third shot is an interior view from one of the many salons in the Lourve. The museum is a city unto itself and when I lived in Paris, I would often visit. It is truly incredible and one could easily spend an entire vacation taking in not only the art, but the architecture of the buildings themselves, which I always preferred anyway.

Anthony Ruivivar

I have really enjoyed how the photo editors over at Retna have found such great new images in my archive of work to syndicate. This shot of actor Anthony Ruivivar surfaced with a recent submission and I'm liking it. Anthony is most known for his role as Carlos Nieto on all six seasons of NBC's "Third Watch", which also starred his wife Yvonne Jung during the last two. I photographed them both a few years ago at The Village restaurant, on West 10th St in the city. A great looking guy for sure.

HIV Prevention Campaign

I had drinks last night with an old friend, who was the creative director behind a bunch of ads I did, including this campaign for NYC's Department of Health. The shot of the guys on the street with the umbrella was all over the city on subways and phone booths. Even after eight years, I still think these are such great images. Ironically, I believe that only one of these guys was actually gay. Go figure. Seems there's 'gay for pay' even in advertising...

Santa Fe is Calling...

In about a month, I'll be heading out to Santa Fe for my annual pilgrimage, a photo workshop and hopefully a few days of skiing. I really miss it out there, having called it home for about five years before I moved to NY in '96. I am so excited. Green chile breakfast burritos and margaritas are some of my favorite things... Here's a shot of Rulan, a local model and dancer, that puts me in the mood. It was taken a couple of years ago along the Rio Grande in Los Luceros, an old historic homestead, just north of Española between Santa Fe and Taos. Beautiful.

Moonscape 39

Been traveling, which is the cause for the break from posts, but having an amazing time meeting and photographing a bunch of lawyers for the ABA Journal, a new client that I'm loving, down in Houston, Nashville and Summerville, Georgia. These guys are living legends and the best litigators of our time, all of whom are around eighty and still working. I really took great interest in their lives, reading about their careers beforehand which served me well on the shoots. I'll post some shots when I'm able. In the meantime, here's another new moonscape that I made by dancing with a telephone pole between me and the ball in the sky.

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