So I lied, I did have a shoot this week.

Everyone knows I love mail and what's better than getting a large package of things I can photograph? Not much, but for the record, large sums of money, music and world peace stuffed in an envelope are good too.

My dear friend Ms. Kelly McStay, didn't send money, music or world peace, but something that's still pretty cool. A bunch of bracelets to be photographed for her non-profit, Until There's A Cure.

To paraphrase the information in the above link, "Until There's A Cure® Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises funds and awareness about HIV/AIDS through sale of The Bracelet.

Until There’s A Cure is committed to:

• Funding innovative programs which promote AIDS awareness and prevention education for our generation of young Americans.
• Providing financial support for care and services for those living with AIDS.
• Actively supporting AIDS vaccine development which offers the best hope for reducing the spread of HIV."

Since it was introduced in 1994, the Bracelet has been showcased at The Body Shop, Kenneth Cole, Ben Bridge Jewelers, and Virgin Megastores and worn by dozens of celebrities including Jessica Alba, Kevin Bacon, Tony Hawk and Kerri Walsh. So far, over one million bracelets have been sold.

I'll be posting another series pretty soon, but if you'd like to purchase any of the bracelets, please visit: http://until.org/order.shtml

Please also check out Kell's blog at http://www.untiltheresacure.blogspot.com for news and more information.

Kell, feel free to add anything else.

Gesundheit!

After being prompted by my late night viewing of The Beach, (oh heyyy Leo), I took a nice dive into my external hard drive, only to stumble upon this little gem of a picture.

Having no shoots slated for this week and not feeling compelled to write about much, I decided it was a good time to post something totally irrelevant to my present work.

After "working" on the lovely Thai island of Koh Lao Ya all day, my production manager and I were naturally goofing around until the speed boats returned to take us back to the ship. And really, there's not much of a story to this photo, but I do need to ask you one question: have you had your boss try to pick your nose?

Haha, and that being said, Yuri is one of my most favorite story-tellers/pains in the ass probably ever. If he's as funny in his primary and secondary tongues (Russian and Hebrew) as he is in English, think how funny he could possibly be! If I spoke Russian, I certainly don't think I could ever eat meals with him, but if I had to choose, I'd prefer laughing to eating... believe it or not.

Despite what it looks like, I did not sneeze and he did not hold it for me... but that's why it's funny! This picture about sums up the positives of my stint in Asia. Three, no no, I'll go with six straight months of absurdities and silliness. Kinda right up my alley after all.

Oh, Pittsburgh. How I love thee, but cannot stay.

For at least some period in your life, comfort zones are best put to use when put out of use.

The trick to this, of course, is that the farther away you get from that existence, from the people and places you know, the closer you are to the things that really matter when you come back. Journeys become not so much about old perspectives in the new place, but about new perspectives in the old place.

Take this scenario, for example. You are standing alone on the bow of a ship in the middle of the South China Sea with the most brilliant lightning storm to the West and the most pristine starry sky to the East. You look to your right and you flashback to many an August night on the back porch, waiting for the Perseids to peak with your dad. To your left, the awe of light effortlessly illuminating a dark horizon brings you to past conversations solely about the grandeur of the universe with those whom you have let into your heart. Neither party is present, but then again, had you stayed, you would never have witnessed what is before you now.

Time passes and you eventually come to telling those people about that moment. The way they look back at you when you say, "and then I thought of you..." will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about true love. Love of your family, love of your friends and, uh, that other kind of love.

So, go away on your own for awhile, try it out and see how you feel about your life when you come back home.

Oh, and let me know how it goes.

PS - The Perseids peaked on 8/12 this year, in case you missed them.

"If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up."

"I wish I could find people who just would fight me, who would break through to me and hold me down and scream their life into my face."

"We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

"I'm getting a wrinkle above my eyebrow, because I just can't stop lifting it and I love that, you know..."


I could have easily pulIed about 55 more quotes (this obviously isn't my photography), but as I meet new people every day, I convince myself more and more that I don't know if there's anyone else on the face of the planet who is more stunning, strong, well-spoken, poised and accomplished than the woman pictured above. A balancing act of flares and personalities that tie together into one beautiful conundrum that, for whatever reason, makes perfect sense.

Media perception? True, I've never met her, but all you need is a photograph. Eyes reveal, hands define and words confirm. Frauds pop up left and right and it takes about 30 seconds to spot them. The give away every time is that you can't fake something like that. There is no mistaking self-interest for selfishness. There is only an individual who is willing to take responsibility for her actions as an individual. A rare thing, if you ask me.

Please enlighten me if you've found otherwise. If so, I would love to hear about it.


Disclaimer: According to data collected today by "1/4 Dr." Jeff Stambough, I have 37 hours of opinions. To put that on his scale, I have 32.5 more hours of opinion than the average human. I think his scale needs calibrated.


Image courtesy of vanityfair.com

Just to make sure we are all on the same page, it says:


Poison

LIVE RAW & UNCUT

STAGE CREW

To further clarify, or rather, if you are confused, this shirt belongs to me. Every rose has its thorn, baby.

And now for the $0.01* question... is Bret Michaels badly balding or does he wear a bandana 24/7 because he owns one in every color, in and out, of the rainbow?

Personally, I think he just likes the wide array of choices the makers of bandanas (whomever that may be) offer him.

*In case you were wondering, some worth was assigned to the question because Mr. Michaels rocks a Poison shirt while performing. Pretty gutsy. And stupid. But still, pretty gutsy.

This....

I cannot cross off my list of things to do. In fact, I'm pretty positive it was never actually on that list. Just for the record, these bikes and the gentlemen on them were not kind of awesome, but totally awesome.

And on a completely separate note: over the past 9 months or so I've been experiencing communication overload (as I'm sure everyone has), but it's finally getting to me now. It's absolutely ridiculous that I've been continuing and completing conversations in about 10 (in-person, cell (call and text), Skype, AIM, blog, gmail, gchat, Facebook, Myspace) different ways.

And I really can't do much about it. I mean, face-to-face communication is obviously still the best with the phone in close 2nd, but I can't neglect the fact that I've made my peace with Facebook and Myspace, that Skype is possibly the greatest thing ever for long-distance relationships/friendships/businesses, that AIM is like my favorite pair of slippers that I just can't get rid of, that texting still drives me crazy, but I believe my last monthly text total was 543 (thank you, NYC) and that gchat/gmail has been my love for the better half of a year. And well, the blog is the blog, but that doesn't mean that I like to admit any of the above.

What I would like to know is... where does etiquette come into the picture? Why is it okay to relay meaningful information via a text message or the internet? In light of all of these other options, why has it become so hard and/or intimidating to pick up a telephone or to look someone in the eye?

I mean, come on! I'm not saying to do anything drastically silly like ditching internet communication, but what happened to the glory of snail mail as a form of secondary communication, where the recipient recognizes the time and thought put into such a note? When was the last time any of you guys took the time to write a letter? It's been awhile for me too, but I can say that it's under 3 years.

I should probably stop writing now, but I'd just like to note that I'm confident E.T. wouldn't have text-messaged home and not just because he had awkward fingers.

Most importantly though, I almost ate a whole box of rosemary and olive oil triscuits while writing this. They were delicious.

Have YOU ever been in a Slipknot mosh pit??

I know I can cross it off of my list of things to do.

Rooooxxxxxxxxxannne.

Now, if I were to go through with my initial plan, the above would be all that I would write, but per the usual, my initial plan was totally foiled

by:

1) Sting's devestating blue eyes and wonderfully scruffy good looks
2) a wonderful crew
3) a live show that was waaay bettter than anticipated.

I love when I'm sooo wrong in such a right way. They sounded fabulous, slow and trite at some points, but it's the Police, X number of years later on a reunion tour, so what do you expect? A new school of harmonic brilliance? IIII don't think so. But the fact that they have a giant gong on stage makes up for it in some way that I can't actually validate.

Oh and please disregard the fact that when not shooting, I'm usually at the soundboard, so that may have something to do with my surprising positivity, especially with these guys. For those of you that aren't so into the music scene, that's the closest you can get to hearing a show as it's meant to be heard a.k.a the best seat in the house. Really, my only complaint through the whole thing was that that stupid "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" song was on the set list. If that's all I wanted to say to you, I would have slapped you and walked away way before I got to "de do."

Now, let's not forget how this day started: me blazing down the highway in a white Chevy 15-passenger van, rockin' out to Van Halen's "Jump" at about 5:30 a.m. - hey, don't judge... Like David Lee Roth says, "I get up, and nothing gets me down." How 'bout them apples?

Haha, ignoring the above fact, I wish I could say a bit about the opener, Elvis Costello, but I was running around like a nut during his set and only had time to give him a smile and a nod backstage. Never really have been a fan, but was quite curious.

So since this is supposedly the last Police tour (again), I will end on the note that I am truly glad that I got to hear "Roxanne," "When the World is Running Down," and "Every Breath You Take" (shut up and let me be a sap) live.

And wait... did I just quote Van Halen??

P.S. - Sting is still stunning.

By God! You're right! I DO love steak!!

So... I've photographed these guys before and holy cow how they have changed! I was definitely not impressed with their live presence about two years ago, but this is a band that has grown into a sound that they clearly love to play. Their sound has moved away from the poppy stuff and more into the blues/rock genre (hip hip hooooray!). I think that's why I was so impressed, to be honest.

I will say though, that Tim's (above) vocals have always been something that I've been drawn to. He's got some pretty real lyrics runnin' through his brain, as well, which counts for major points in my book. If you can get through some of the pop melodies and listen to what he's saying, you know this kid might be one of the brightest crayons in the box.

Check them out, make your own decision and if they come through your town, get off the internet and go see a good live show:

The Alternate Routes

Also, if you ever find yourself in NYC and craving some good jams at stellar venues 1) ask me oorrr 2) just go to the Highline Ballroom's schedule and you probably won't be disappointed.

Ya know when you really dig a band, then you go see them oh, say five years later and they sound nothing like they used to?

If you don't know this feeling, I feel either very fortunate for you or very sad that you've perhaps never been in love with a band enough to experience said emotion. Granted, some bands never go south, so it's possible that you are in the very lucky minority.

In lieu of naming the band, I'm just going keep playing their old tracks over and over on my ipod. I know that doesn't help you with the story behind the photo, but it helps me.

NOTE: Not the same feeling as having a follow-up album suck - that's a whole other, less tragic, barrel of monkeys.

Although success is a relative term, there is something about this city that just makes you want to be every inch alive as the very essence of the domain in which you live. I can't say for sure what it is, but the wealth of opportunity here is nothing short of empowering. On every corner, you meet someone with some kind of a dream, some kind of will to make their lives extraordinary. It takes some skill and a whole lotta luck, but New York is every bit as conquerable as you had imagined. So what if there are millions of other people with your dream. To you, it doesn't matter... or rather, it shouldn't matter, because your art is your own, your path is your own and when the time comes, you will be dealt a winning hand. You are always in the game and folding really isn't an option.

Man is prone to acting out of self-interest, and this city is one that both understands and respects that notion. That's not to say that it's devoid of compassion, in fact, it's quite the opposite. When self-interest thrives, passion is unavoidable. The price you do pay, however, is that you must expect to survive on your own, with dependence on nothing but your own blind faith in what you need to do to reach difficult, but 100% achievable goals. You will be vastly underrated, and occasionally overestimated. There will be many people who help along the way and you will help others along the way too, but you are your own reliability.

But the key to all this?

Always, always, always keep that heart open when kicking butt. Sometimes proportionately, sometimes not so much.

Even if your hands are shaking, and your faith is broken,
Even as the eyes are closing, do it with a heart wide open...

always, always, always...

go after what you want.

Brendan James at the Canal Room last week. Words to come tomorrow. However, my roommate just made me laugh, so I'm going to post the quote:

"I'm so confused... like you... when you're ordering a sandwich!"

When it comes to immediate culinary choices, I am one of the most indecisive people on the planet.

New York City and it's wealth of opportunity is just lovely. I think that's actually all I'm going to say about this for now... well that and the photo above is of Jason Reeves, a fellow vagabond and new-found friend in the music world.

Although our weather wasn't ideal and it was decided that "yinzerworks" truly do kick some butt, celebrating the 4th of July in NYC was fabulous. Committing to waking early to snag a good spot to watch Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, three of us made the trek down to Coney Island to witness the annual New York spectacle.

As if watching people shovel an incomprehensible amount of hot dogs into their traps at ridiculous speeds wasn't enough, little did we know we were about to witness history. Tied at 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, contestants Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi were forced into a 5-dog-speed-eating competition - oh yes, thats right... sudden death! And craziness!

In the end, Chestnut was declared the winner, Luke took better shots than me, all of us rode the famous Wonder Wheel and I received a warm invitation to the Coney Island Polar Bear Club USA, Inc.

All that followed by fireworks from the rooftop of our Brooklyn abode - pretty wonderful.

Oh and I neglected to mention above that I ate a hot dog. Figuring that my usual "um... ick" to the American standard 1. wasn't going to hold any water with that crowd and 2. made absolutely no sense being that I digested an innumerable amount of odd things in Asia, I snarfed that sucker in a pathetic 5 minutes and 18 seconds.

"Look Ma! I'm on camera!"

Sorry Dude, but contrary to popular belief, a dancing hot dog is only funny for exactly 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

More notably though, I gave Luke 5 years to make enough connections to land the coveted "Doofus" (pictured right) job. We'll see if he's up to the challenge.

More on Nathan's

Although Brooklyn offers an ecclectic array of photo opportunities, I've decided to take this first week to strictly observe, which means Baby has remained in the bag since I arrived.

In addendum to this camera T-O, I decided to dig up a photo from an Attack Theatre shoot I did last summer. The purpose behind the session was to come up with a promotional concept for their show Someplace, Not Here (pretty poignant title if you ask me) without really knowing much about the production.

So I had to come up with a photograph, purely by observation of their movements, that would embody that deceivingly simple phrase.

The treasure in this image is the idea of condensed cinema - one, or perhaps many stories in a single image.

All of my images have stories, but most of them are recorded truths, things that have actually occurred. It's not often that a project requires me to create a story, but I think it's incredibly cool to outline characters and then have the viewer color them in. There are no words, there is no diegetic or non-diegetic sound, just one frame and an infinite number of possibilities and perspectives.

I don't know the exact story behind these people, same as you. I don't know where they came from and I don't know where they are going. The truth of the matter is that the art in this photo is not that one storyline exists, but that many are possible. And as all great literature and cinema, the subjects are not as fictional as the word "character" may suggest.

Although I posted about "Give and Take" awhile back, I thought it was necessary to properly introduce you guys to Shea Mullen, multi-tasker extraordinaire, as last week was the last shoot in this series.

Not only does Shea work with multiple charities and design uber-comfy T-shirts, but she owns a cupcakery in Pittsburgh, well Shadyside really, called Coco's Cupcake Cafe. I don't even really like cupcakes, but there are soo many choices at Coco's it's hard to find one that doesn't suit your fancy - my favorite thus far being the biscotti, or no wait, the vegan red velvet, no no umm the chocolate chocolate with the Italian meringue buttercream? Eh well, I've never been known for my Blitzkrieg-like decisions.

I don't mean to talk about Coco's so much, but I'm hungry - or no, what I meant to say is that Shea is a living example of how the one-trick pony road to success is wrong in some cases and actually, is less secure than the multi-tasking-"crazy"-person model. And by the way, how are all of the multi-tasking crazies different than (y)our grandfathers who worked 3 jobs? Success is relative, my friends, whether it's found in supporting your family or in creating tons of different things.

The ironic part, at least in my case, is that I can't short-term multi-task. Have you ever seen me walking down the street, drinking a bottle of water and talking on the phone at the same time? If you think you have, that definitely wasn't me because you would have then proceeded to see me fall on my face. Yeah, yeah, gymnast, cheerleader, balance beam, schmalence beam. It all adds up to nothing.

Maybe this is the catch though. Maybe those who multi-task in the short-term can focus in the long-term and those who multi-task in the long-term can focus in the short-term. That's probably not true, but it would be funny if it was.

Ok, well, food for thought I guess and speaking of, NYC brunch is calling my name. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all month and you know what that means? You're right! Nine more brunches!!

Heaven.