Set of Tom Murrin's "The Talking Show", directed by Lucy Sexton, running from February 18th to March 7th in P.S. 122.

Pretty awesome name for the group of benefactors of Performance Space 122, a non-profit arts center in the East Village in NYC serving the dance and performance community.

Performance Space 122 (formerly a public school), by the way, is where MGM filmed the original "Fame" in 1979. Very cool for anyone who a) loves performance art b) loves New York c) loves creating.

Photo: "Friends with Benefits" reserved couch seat at P.S. 122.

Image from the audition for 101 Dalmatians, which will be playing at the WaMu Theater from 4/7/2010 to 4/18/2010.

Yep, you heard right. Dog auditions.

Held in the Park Avenue Armory, the Y3 show was probably one of the coolest shows all week. Give me fashion. Give me history. Give me music. Give me lasers.

Yes, that's right, lasers.

While I was too mesmerized to take what I would consider a good photo of the lasers, let me give you kids a bit of info.

First of all, you have to understand the space. I mean, it's an armory for goodness sake. Built between 1877 and 1881 by architect Charles Clinton, the 55,000 square feet you see was used as a drill hall for the 7th New York Militia Regiment. While it's one of the only places left in New York where you can find such vast, unobstructed space, the Armory in its entirety spans a city block - between 66th and 67th and between Park Ave. and Lexington Ave.

Secondly, with the beginning of each look segment, the runway of light was encased in three lasers, creating a three-dimensional frame. With restricted areas all around the floor, each laser cut across the space to meet its set point within the figure. And you guessed it, a 3-D frame in a space that huge looks awesome. Larger than life models all the sudden became a small and unique piece inside the borders. To be totally honest, the fashion was my least favorite part of this whole experience.

Did I mention designer Yōji Yamamoto chose some Paul Simon tunes to send his fashions down the runway? Oh and that there was a choreographed martial arts performance piece between looks? Yōji kicks the crap out of some model, some other model comes and kicks the crap out of Yōji, then the fashion show resumes. Oh God was this chick stoked.

Why can't all designers be this cool?

Top photo: First piece of the show.
Bottom photo: Open drill hall in the Armory (i.e. space without fashion show), photo courtesy of nytimes.com

Rehearsal for the Y3 fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory - February 14th, 2010.

Two looks from the Y3 fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory on February 14th, 2010

Y3 fashion show - Park Avenue Armory - February 14th, 2010.

Ms. Kelly Osbourne's hands. The combination of energy, texture and color makes this one of my favorites from Fashion Week.

Ms. Kelly Osbourne.

Sean Lennon and his girlfriend, model Charlotte Kemp Muhl, await their car on the streets of New York, post-Fashion Week event. I love his pinstripes, her mink and the tail lights behind them.

Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Sean Lennon select some tunes for a Fashion Week party on February 13th in New York.

Sean Lennon. Possibly the best DJ ever.

Although the shadow was an initial error in lighting judgment, I can now do nothing but giggle at giving John Lennon's son a cartoon-like mustache. I feel he would be amused too.

(L-R) Diana DeGarmo and Jeannette Bayardelle hug after a performance of "Let the Sunshine In" at the press announcement/photo call of the new cast.

The new cast of Broadway's "HAIR" with Diana DeGarmo, Ace Young and Kyle Riabko.

Proposal at Rockefeller Center on Valentine's Day. Gentleman, propose this way at your own risk.

Rockefeller Center on Valentine's Day.

Posting this photo only to prove I'm not delusional. There WAS a skating cupid at Rockefeller Center on the 14th. Please ignore the lighting/frame.

My dear friend Greg Scaffidi of the New York Times lost a photo assistant Tuesday night (He could have sworn he put him in his left coat pocket!), so yesterday morning, starting at 6:30 a.m., I stepped in to give him a lighting hand with Tory Burch's Fall 2010 presentation in Bryant Park. Greg has been at the tents* everyday for the past week doing a ton of "First Look"** shoots for the Times and guess what, they are all pretty awesome. So awesome, in fact, that the Times selected one of the First Look: Tory Burch photos as one of their global photos of the day.

To see more of Greg's beyond beautiful work, please check out the links:

February 17, 2010 NYT Pictures of the Day (#12)

NYT "First Look" slide show: Carolina Herrera

Obviously Herrera is my favorite so far, both in Carolina's designs and Greg's lighting, but if you wish to see more of his "First Look" slides, just use the drop-down menu on the right side of the page. Totally worth the 68 seconds it will take you.

P.S. - It's kinda cool to know you participated in an NYT global photo of the day. You helped make the day's news, less than one second in the history of the world. Crazy. Weird. Awesome.

*Arrangement of tents in Bryant Park which bi-annually hold New York's biggest fashion shows. Thhhey're pretty fun.

**A preview shot of each model's "look" prior to being presented on the runway. You know, sneak peak, first photos - same idea.

Photos courtesy of nytimes.com

(L-R) Designer Prabal Gurung and Hanuk at the 'Fashion Loves Hanuk' photography exhibition and party at Bellhaus on February 12, 2010 in New York.

Pre-event photo of the 'Fashion Loves Hanuk' photography exhibition and party at Bellhaus on February 12, 2010 in New York.

Internal view of the Timo Weiland Fall 2010 after party at The Wooly on February 15, 2010 in New York.

The focus is a tad too soft to have posted on Getty's website, but I love it. If you look closely you can see the corner of his smile.

(L-R) Designers Timo Weiland and Alan Eckstein attend the Timo Weiland Fall 2010 after party at the Wooly on February 15, 2010 in New York.

Self-explanatory.

Brooke Shields at the Choo 24:7 launch at Saks Fifth Avenue on February 11, 2010 in New York.

(L-R) Brooke Shields and Jimmy Choo Founder and President Tamara Mellon attend the Choo 24:7 by Jimmy Choo launch at Saks Fifth Avenue on February 11, 2010 in New York.

Keith Richards' daughter, Alexandra Richards, DJs at the Jimmy Choo event held at Saks Fifth Avenue on February 11, 2010 in New York.

Part of the Jimmy Choo event held at Saks Fifth Avenue on February 11, 2010 in New York.

After staring at my computer screen in stressed debate about whether to post Paris or the onset of NY Fashion Week, I racked focus toward a tiny icon on my desktop aptly named according to my latest archiving system: poutineMTs.jpg.

And [insert All-Mighty Power Du Jour] hath spoken.

Poutine - 1
Paris/Fashion Week - 0

Some might call this procrastination or perhaps avoiding an inevitable decision for just one more day, but I call it priorities. No, no... I call it necessity. I will try to write a wee review tomorrow, but right now, my eyes aren't focusing in the same place and I, yes me, have to go to sleep prior to 4 a.m.

Hmmm achievement? Surrender? A surrendering achievement? An achieving surrender? I don't know, I'm just plum tired.

Snowy village. I'd write more, but I'm at the beginning of a very important time in my life.

Watching.... The Goonies.

Hm. Accumulation not bad for having poured the first day, wiping out day one on the slopes. Funny how the last day is always when you desperately wish you could have the first day back. Four days? Not exactly what one would call enough.

Photo: Photo trek while skiing back down to the lodge. Gloves on this time.

Ok! It's -8 outside, but gee-golly, that sun is a-shining!! What a great day to ski with your camera! All right, let's try a few lift shots. Poles secure under thigh, one glove alllmost offf and HOLY CRAP I can't feel my hand. Whatever. Onward! Unzip camera bag, adhere naked hand to camera body, wrap Nikon strap around wrist multiple times, expecting the unexpected, and frame shot! Snappy snap snap snap snap.

Wedge camera out of unsheathed hand, recognize lack of response from stiff fingers, calmly panic, pray to God your glove is still in lap (success!), wiggle glove back onto frozen digits, fumble camera back into bag with mobile hand, zip up bag,

decide not to do that again.


Photo: Looking west on the north side of mountain from ski lift.

Come on Blog! Keep up!

Looking down the southern side of the mountain with Lake Tremblant below us.

Top photo: black and white
Bottom photo: altered black and white

Daylight version: Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, Montreal. ID courtesy of John... what teamwork!

And again, ladies and gents, I will end up much farther behind on this blog than I'd like. Hmm I haven't even posted anything from Mont-Tremblant. And yes, I'm off again.

This time overseas and leaving the computer at home. Truly an experiment of disengaging.

Photo walk on our way to get dinner. In this case dinner meant fondue and, more specifically in my case, a ham/swiss/spinach crêpe doused in maple syrup. Heaven in my mouth.

As a side note, lighting in most of these establishments of deliciousness was less than ideal, which explains my choice to pair architectural photos with words longing (I repeat, longing) for regional cuisine. I'm very sad about it too.

When I refer to this "side-by-side" shooting, what I mean is one's compatibility in shooting next to another dude/dudette with a camera. Sometimes it's a major fail and sometimes the dynamic takes some time to grow - almost never is it an immediate success. Generally fearing the worst in this realm of professional observation, I've only tried this a few times - John being my 4th, I believe. What frustrates me the most about it is conversation, because it's the best part about it too. You don't want that person to stop talking, but you swap the facts you should be collecting for his/her thoughts. A fair trade, I suppose, but then the writer (me) looks like an asshole. Honestly, I wish I had three more ports in my brain to process all of the information to take a photo of something you know nothing about in a place you know nothing about. You are all at once trying to digest your thoughts, your technical decisions, your buddy's thoughts, your collected information of subject and worst of all, your stupid back-burner brain that loves to heat itself up from time to time.

Like every good relationship - and I consider my photo partnerships to be very important relationships - usually all it takes is time and a desire to watch how someone else is seeing the world in the exact place and at the exact moment you are. If you think about it, it's a completely awesome experience. Just takes some Effort. Capital E, my friends.

So here we have another photo about which I know nothing. Yes, yes, of course I'm annoyed, but not really in a bad way. All I know is there are some sharp lines, some high contrast, a nice moon and a solid conversation all in this photo.