Archive for December, 2008
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
I took these photos of Christian at his mom’s house in Annapolis while we were there for Thanksgiving. The sunlight was perfect; I couldn’t have asked for a better artificial spotlight. I didn’t know so much bamboo could survive in Maryland. I expected a panda to come walking in from the back yard.
Yesterday a very strange and fortunate situation came into place, like nothing either of us has ever had happen before. It is pretty unbelievable. Ask me in person and I will tell you what it is.
Topper had an amazing night last night! He went to the bathroom where he was supposed to, didn’t whine too much in the evening, and then whined for only about a minute at bedtime before getting into his little Burberry-print pillowy house with his stuffed rabbit friend and one of my socks. Then he went to sleep and kept quiet for the entire night. It was a miracle. He’s learning things very quickly. Every parent thinks their baby is the smartest… but mine is. No, really.
Monday, December 8th, 2008
Ever since about the time he won Project Runway, Christian has been very vocal about wanting a puppy. So on Saturday we took the 6 train way uptown to 93rd and Lexington to a pet store called “Puppies & Babies” with the goal of finally getting a dog. We have tried several times and it hasn’t worked out, but this place came highly recommended. When we got there and saw how clean and colorful it was – like a baby nursery – we knew we’d find the right puppy to take home. We totally loved a little Chihuahua + Dachsund mix (they call him a “Chiweenie”), and he seemed to love us back, so we got him! We scooped him up, got all the accessories and went in half + half on the bill, so he truly is ours. The people at the puppy store were so nice and helpful, and they gave us so much helpful written info. And of course within 24 hours our puppy had visits from Lisa, Kathy, Sarah, Jamie, Geneva… basically, if you ever want your apartment full of girls in good moods, get a tiny puppy.
We named him Topper, and we are already resigned to having to repeat it two or three times when people ask. I don’t know how people name their human children things like Falcon and Artemisia (those are real people I know). He’s not named after Topper Headon, Topper Mortimer, a Cary Grant movie, or any other Topper. I just like the name, and he’s such a bouncy excitable little turd, it seems to fit. And I think “Topper” is a nice name for a puppy with two daddies. Christian already bought him a Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater and a $500 leather carrying bag. My dog has nicer things than I do.
He’s been whining so much whenever we leave him in his pen and go to the other side of the room; he is after all still just a baby. He was born in October. If you are in sight but not touching him, he whines. All night long, he whines and howls because he thinks his pack is leaving him. We are tired, but it’s worth it. It’s hard not to just grab him and squeeze him and hold on to him 24/7, but we know he has to learn temporary separation and independence. I’m the stern parent. I have to keep telling Christian not to go pick him up until after he stops whining for a while, so that Topper knows it’s not the whining that got him what he wanted. Topper’s already learning that the wee-wee pad is the only place he’s allowed to go to the bathroom. He’s doing well for a baby!
Friday, December 5th, 2008
Beyonce: Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (Brad Walsh Remix)
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Britney Spears: Circus (Brad Walsh Remix)
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You can also still download my Britney “Womanizer” remix here, and my remix of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” here.
Friday, December 5th, 2008
THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED, AT THE VERY BOTTOM.
My friend Tara Littman, the President of Support Shirts, is a designer whose work was picked up by Urban Outfitters a few months ago for sale in some of their stores and on their website. The style Urban chose was the work of her and her boyfriend Travis, a shirt that proclaims “I Support Same Sex Marriage.” Lots of my friends (mostly straight) own and wear these shirts. It’s a bold and blunt statement, so I was thrilled when she told me that Urban was going to sell them. When I asked how things were going, she told me that Urban had pulled them after only a week of sale, citing “bad press” that Tara and I soon found to be nonexistent. I told her I would like to help out, so I interviewed her about this and the subsequent lies that Urban Outfitters told to try and cover themselves, including to groups of customers looking for the freshly-pulled shirts. Please continue reading…
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Thursday, December 4th, 2008
My shoot with Shannen Doherty from a few weeks ago ran in OK! magazine, so I’m able to post some of them now. Like I said back then, she was great to work with! I don’t love the shot the magazine chose (last thumbnail below), but it’s not bad. I think some of the others were better.
There’s lots of good new big-pop music that I’ve been listening to, and I’m not ashamed! Beyonce, Kanye, The Killers, and of course Britney. One of my favorite new Britney songs wasn’t even on the album. Sarah pointed out that “Amnesia” (below) sounds like Santogold, and I see that. Mostly in the delivery. I think it’s what Rachel Sweet would be singing if she were a pop singer in 2008 instead of the 70s and 80s. Retro with a new sort of production, with a big sound. “Cuckoo Clock” (below) isn’t really a great example of this, but it’s all I could find on the internet in ten seconds.
I played Rachel Sweet’s version of “New Age” for Gideon Yago and he made me turn it off. But then, what does he know about music (please ignore his MTV resume…)? Rachel Sweet is one of those artists that my mom played for me my entire life and now I can’t imagine not having her music. I love her. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of huge stars, but I would absolutely kill to meet – or work with – Rachel. A song, a photo shoot, even just a handshake. Someone has to work this out for me!
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Tracks:
1. Britney Spears: Amnesia
2. Rachel Sweet: Cuckoo Clock
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Michael Carbonaro is not a rapist, but he plays one on TV! Well, he did… on Law & Order: SVU, to be specific. Though, most of the people who read this blog will probably recognize him as Andy from Another Gay Movie, or from Chapelle’s Show. He’s also a director, a magician, and he’s unafraid to wear a couture gown and cry out his mascara for a good photo. I love some of these photos we did:
Most of my photos are taken with purpose – for a publication, on a commission, etc. – but I retain all my own rights and I always try and get a few good artistic portraits even on a commercial-purpose shoot. I’m going to start to put together another portrait show. I’d like to do something in the spring. I haven’t really looked into new gallery space yet, but I have been offered things here and there, and taken some notes on some good places where like-minded work has been shown before. Does anybody in New York have any suggestions? Out-of-the-way “galleries” in Williamsburg are not what I’m looking for!
Monday, December 1st, 2008
In addition to his newly announced Payless deal, Christian’s also got a few other exciting side projects going on (the main focus being his next line to show in February), one of which is a book with Hachette. It’s going to be image-heavy, with about 80% of the photos taken by me. One of the “model muses” he talks about in the book is Sessilee Lopez, who walked in Christian’s first runway show at Bryant Park almost a year ago. We did a shoot with Sessilee at home this weekend for the book; here are some great outtakes:
Normally when I photograph a friend or even a less experienced model, I only really like about one in ten shots. Sometimes it’s even fewer than that. But out of 170 frames of Sessilee, easily 150 of them were ready to print. No wonder she got the Kanye video and the biggest & most amazing spread in the “black issue” of Vogue Italia this summer.
Christian sat me down the other day and said he was invited to Britney Spears’ birthday party tomorrow. Except it doesn’t start until midnight, and there is a trunk show down south that requires flying out of state tomorrow morning, which means no Britney for us. Now there’s a kick in the nuts! I am, however, excited that all this crazy amount of travel is almost finished for a while. A few weeks of stable life at home is exactly what we need, and it’s our two-week celebration of our one-year anniversary (the date we met and the date we first went out are two weeks apart). I’m all caught up on Heroes, and we just added all six seasons of Xena on the Netflix instant watch queue, so December is going to be an Amazon marathon…!
