With the amazing storm that rolled through on Friday evening, came the most unbelievable rainbow I think I've ever seen. Beautiful moment at magic hour that was priceless as my friend Lara said. Great to see such spontaneous momentary beauty in nature. And to be there with a camera. :o)
Today marks the 47th birthday of Gina Gershon and I wanted to post some shots I had taken of her. Love her roles in almost everything she's done, but she'll always be Crystal Conners from Showgirls to me. Happy birthday gorgeous.
Last Thursday I took a walk around the Pool in Central Park near the apartment for the first time in months. My recovering knee and the fact that I don't have a dog anymore are to blame. I really miss the early morning and evening walks that used to be a daily part of my life. But I am reluctant to get another dog until my life and work sort themselves out a bit. Anyway, here is a shot from the magical bridge at the end of the lake that spills over a waterfall before making it's way through the Loch and into the Harlem Meer. So beautiful.
A quick snapshot from my bedroom window today during a beautiful thunderstorm that drenched the city. Love the fire escapes and 104th St. Community Garden that I look out onto here on the upper west side. The smell from the rain and quality of light was excellent. Bottle it up.
Another nice walk with the cats around the property and onto the Alpine Haven trail a bit. They stick so close to me, like they know there are things that want to eat them in the forest, it's funny. Let's hope the beasts keep away.
Here's a shot of Laura Dern that I recently came across from a few years ago. It was an honor to not only meet her, but to get to photograph her. She seemed like such a great person and had very cool energy. I have loved her offbeat roles and acting since seeing her in Blue Velvet in 1986. She comes from acting royalty with Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd as parents and is now married to musician Ben Harper. No doubt their kids will be wicked talented and their own legacy will live on. Despite this shot being so close and revealing, I think we can see how honest and beautifully real she is. Not to mention that it looks like she hasn't had any work done, a rarity in Hollywood these days. Here's to you Laura and all of your success. I hope to see more of you on the big screen soon.
These are the tearsheets from the March cover story of the ABA Journal. They asked us to go in tight and to light dramatically, which was great. I traveled alone, found an assistant to help out in each place and set up a seamless in their offices. I really enjoyed this job and hope to do more for them. I love the design, text, layouts and shots they chose for these guys. Bobby Lee Cook, the last guy here, is my favorite. He was the lawyer that inspired the TV character "Matlock". Such a wonderful face. It belongs on money...
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)
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
