Archive for October, 2008
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Ryder Ripps makes music and designs and loud noises when getting into character for photo shoots. He’s a friend of a friend, and we were all set to do a little shoot when another friend’s insides exploded, and she had to go to the hospital. We eventually got to do our shoot, and I am very happy with some of the shots:
He had five or six pairs of sunglasses and as many watches (he’s a collector). We have the same watch, in fact: an oversized jeweled four-number ticker with Obama as the face, so that when people ask “what time is it” we can say “time for change!” I got mine at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore when we visited a few weeks ago.
Tonight I am shirking my headache to photograph Shannen Doherty for something fun that I will detail more at a later date, and then Christian and I are going to Heidi Klum’s Halloween party! I’m determined to have fun, even if it takes a bottle of aspirin chased with a bottle of vodka to make it happen. Unhealthy lifestyle jokes are fun!
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
This is Elise Rosemarin. She and Marta Abrams run Moody Mamas, a maternity clothing company. Christian has been friends with them for a long time, and he’s currently doing a small guest line with them. I photographed their first and their most recent look books, and wanted to photograph both of them as well. Marta’s back in LA (we stayed with her a couple weeks ago) but Elise was in New York and free a few days ago, so she came by and Christian dressed her up for some photos.
Elise is completely unaware that she’s basically a supermodel. Very humble and self-deprecating but… even the professional models they hire for their look book shoots always remark that Elise herself should just strap on the foam baby belly and model the clothes because she’s gorgeous.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
After the jump is a gallery of my photos from the Sarkissian Mason party on September 30. (more…)
Monday, October 27th, 2008
I have two recurring life problems. Well, probably a lot more than two. I worry about everything, all the time, and I don’t know how to keep a normal workload. There’s no moderation. I take on way too much and end up working more and sleeping less than is probably healthy. There is always something to do or somewhere to go. Then I eventually get fed up, cancel plans, and make time for myself to be alone and without any responsibilities, like I did this weekend. But about half a day into “relaxation” time I start feeling unproductive and depressed, and the time off doesn’t help my psyche at all.
Earlier this year I had hoped to finish up this album and have it ready for release in the fall. That’s not going to happen. I haven’t seriously worked on my own music in a couple of months; any time I have had for music has been spent toward remixes of other artists. I need to make more time for it, since it really makes me happy to work on my own stuff.
Mara Herbkersman is an old friend of Christian’s; I first met her at his show this season. We spent a day with her last weekend in LA and did some photos, and she kept me company at Burberry, at which some women thought Mara was Lauren Conrad. I think she looks more like an Olsen relative.
I wonder if Tom and Katie (remember when they tried to make us call her Kate?) were/are really in love, or if the rumors are true and he auditioned actresses for months prior to choosing her. I wonder if he promised her the most beautiful baby and status as a top fashion player. People have backed off the speculation for a year or so now, but remember when every article mentioned that she had a scientologist advisor with her who would speak for her? And all she ever talked about was how happy she was? She’s only now starting to really do her own projects again. Maybe that’s because she had a baby. Maybe it’s because she didn’t really have much going on before all this anyway, and it took some time for people to stop wondering if the baby was hers and start offering her roles. I wonder if there’s really some crazy secret, and if so, will we ever find out about it? Will anybody write a book? Will Katie die in some tragic accident and be a forever young mysterious iconic creature? I will be seriously disappointed if the big secret is just that Tom is gay. That will be a major let-down. I’d much prefer the secret to be that he is an alien. Or a two thousand year old gay alien. Now that’s a secret worth fighting for.
Friday, October 24th, 2008
When I was in middle and high school my mom used to play Juliana Hatfield’s Become What You Are in the car and I remembered the lines from “My Sister” that went “I hate my sister / she’s such a bitch / she acts as if she doesn’t even know that I exist.” For me it helped usher in the 90s teenage angst that led me through all the ladies: Tori and Daria and Rayanne and Courtney. Then when I hit college in the early 2000s, Juliana released the album Feel It with Heidi Gluck and Freda Love; the trio called themselves Some Girls. It’s still one of my favorites of all time. Juliana herself has since released a few more solo albums and the group released a sophomore not too long ago, all of which I have and love.
So when my friend Kathy mentioned that Juliana was doing a small book/music tour sort of thing that would be stopping at Housingworks here in New York, I put in a photo request. In the book, Juliana explains that she is uncomfortable having her photo taken and she doesn’t really get why people are still intense fans of her well into this decade. Her manager had to ask Juliana personally if she would do this shoot, and I was shocked that she agreed.
It was really great to meet her again and to just hang out before the show; she really is antsy in front of a camera but I think it went very well. I’m happy with the results. She played a song for me while I shot her on stage, one I unfortunately didn’t know (she has released approximately one million tracks in the last twenty years). Kind of a life moment to remember, that one.
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Track listing:
1. Some Girls: Necessito
2. Juliana Hatfield: Somebody Is Waiting For Me
3. Some Girls: Is This What I’ve Been Waiting For
4. Some Girls: The Prettiest Girl
5. Juliana Hatfield: Law of Nature
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
I had the pleasure of photographing Miss Kit Scarbo (pka Kit Pistol) and Miss Sweet P Vaughn – two of my favorites from Christian’s season of Project Runway, – while he and I were visiting LA this week. Both of them are always so sweet. I was going to try and avoid that adjective, but it’s just too applicable.
We shot at Kit’s house, inside and out in the yard, and I even threw in one shot of everyone’s favorite little ham with glasses and a bi-level fashion hawk. Sweet P’s dresses were her own designs, and Kit’s outfits were mostly store-bought pieces, but she styled herself. She is a stylist, after all.
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
This trip to LA was a bit longer than the last one, but just as packed. We did some shopping and ate at some great places, but mostly we ran around the city doing things. Christian had an invite-only trunk show at Eve Gerber’s house, I did a few photo shoots, and we went to the Burberry store opening in Beverly Hills. Lots of amazing actors that I had never met before were there; it was kind of crazy. Ryan Gosling was the DJ. I think I was most impressed by Kate Hudson, but Christian was all about Mena Suvari. Somebody accidentally booked our return flight for November 21 instead of October, so we had a very last minute panicky flight change situation and got back to New York late last night. I’m a bit out of it today. There are about a million more things to do in the next few days. I am skipping San Diego, though. Planning on having some quiet time this weekend. Here are some more random pictures; I will have some good stuff to share later this week.
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Yesterday was a day for giving in to predictable cliché and admitting aloud that I genuinely like both Banksy and Jenny Lewis. His new animatronic pet store installation on 7th and her new album Acid Tongue are both really good and different.
Kathy and I went to see the pet store, where he has little moving chicken nuggets dipping themselves into sauce, a vain rabbit filing its nails in front of a mirror, hot dogs in cages drinking and rolling around with each other, and fish sticks swimming circles around a giant bowl.
I think the coolest thing at his “Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill,” though, was the cheetah resting on a branch in the window. From the outside it looked like a curled up cat whose tail moved every now and then. From the inside of the store you saw that it was actually a very well-positioned fur coat. By far the creepiest part of the place was the molting Tweety in a hanging cage. Click that link above and scroll down for video; it’s worth watching them all move!
Then last night Christian and I joined Mariah (who I love) at the Waldorf Astoria for a black tie dinner and presentation for FFANY “Shoes on Sale,” a multi-million dollar-raising annual event for breast cancer research put on by QVC. Christian was one of the presenters and gave remarks, and they raised a holy ton of money, which was excellent. Ruth Ann Swenson performed beautifully; her first song stopped all conversation in the room. I got to share hometown stories with Michael Fink and Jeff Charney, both of whom are from Ohio as well and were really great to talk to. It’s always nice to meet fashion players who have something to say other than “nice shirt.”
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
That’s kind of the best picture ever. The Key to the Cure celebration for Saks’ ongoing campaign for cancer research was last night at the Top of the Rock (the observation deck of 30 Rockefeller). We saw some friends and met some new people, and it was a good time. Becki Newton was Christian’s favorite cast member to work with on Ugly Betty, and she’s been really great since then. She came to his show at fashion week, and she’s always lots of fun when we see her. Debra Messing is also always very nice and talkative – she’s a self-professed big fan of Christian’s – and he’s been dying to dress her. So I hope that will happen!
Star Jones went out of her way to come talk for a bit, and she looked amazing, as did Miss Lohan. When regular celebrities like Jane Krakowski and Blythe Danner are on the red (or in this case, pink) carpet, the photographers get loud and barky and flash over and over again. But then when Lindsay shows up it’s chaos. You can’t even look in her direction because all the flashes are too much. And then they follow her around the corner, getting in her way, blinding her as she walks, getting every last picture they can before she disappears into the elevator. It really makes you feel for these girls. It’s kind of inhuman, the way people treat them.
The view from the Top of the Rock is 360 degrees, concrete and lights for miles, 70 stories above street level, the entire city beneath you. We stood out on the open air balcony and looked out, it was amazing. You can’t help but look out at the city and forget all that’s going on around you. It was just us up there for a little bit. It’s unbelievable, the things that humans do. Hard to believe that a bunch of little people just like us built this entire monstrous city with our squishy little hands.
