Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Yesterday I mentioned my shoot with Miss CariDee English. She is of course wearing designs by Christian, from the fall collection that he showed at Bryant Park in February. Here are some of my favorite images from Sunday:
CariDee and I met at a Valentino party a while back and it was love at first sight. She’s lots of fun, and an amazon, and before she modeled she went to school for photography! She was the winner of her season of America’s Next Top Model, and now she’s the host of a new show that’s premiering tonight on Oxygen called Pretty Wicked. Watch tonight at 11!
Monday, March 30th, 2009
I’m enjoying being in one place lately… trips to Seattle and Chicago are coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I’m doing as much sleeping in as possible now! I get to see my best friend Candace from back home when we go to Seattle, and her daughter (my god-daughter) Bella. Not sure if I know anyone in Chicago anymore.
This weekend I photographed CariDee English in Bushwick. We shot at my friend Quinn’s apartment because it’s such a great backdrop; there are things everywhere. I haven’t gone through the photos yet, but the shot above of all of us was taken by Geneva between sets. I’ll have some more to show later in the week.
On Saturday Christian and I went to the GLAAD Awards, where Tyra and Suze Orman were being honored. It should have been a nice evening, but we were unluckily situated, I guess. Very good seats, but with sponsors or something. For some reason they sat all the celebrities (not talking about myself) separately, at tables with random people they didn’t know. It was apparently a big problem for some big names in attendance. Someone at our table shouted embarrassingly toward Chris Noth that he would “drink Mr. Big’s ass water,” and someone else spilled wine all over Christian and got pissy about it, and then another guy who told everyone that he was a Grammy nominee while wearing a gold pin in the shape of a Grammy kept talking about how “fleeting this all is” while another guy kept telling Christian he was too thin. It got real old real fast. So we were kinda itching to make a break for it. It was a beautiful place, though, and it was obviously wonderful and humbling to have been invited. Lisa introduced us to Jasika Nicole from Fringe and her partner Claire, with whom we’re gonna have to have a drink.
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
I haven’t had new photos to show for a while because I haven’t been doing any shoots for a week or two. Did some commissioned look books but those are largely uninteresting as art. I have a few portraits that I shot a while back and would love to show you all, but they are going into a new issue of OK! so I can’t show them until it’s on stands. Also, one of my photos of Topper is going to be in Healthy Pet magazine alongside an interview I did about training him. Not quite the circulation of OK!, but I’m sure some of you hang out in the vet’s office every now and then!
I have, however, been making a lot of music. The goal is to have the new album finished and ready this summer. Have been recording lots of vocals lately; very happy with some, very not happy with others. The new songs are very different sounds for me, different styles. I’m really excited to be doing so much… haven’t had a proper new album in three years! It’s exhausting doing this all myself, though. I write, record, mix, fix, edit, master, and make all my own music. Sometimes I would like to just sit down, sing some shit, and walk away.
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
I recorded an hour of guest programming and commentary for Tap Project Radio, to raise awareness and benefit UNICEF and its efforts to bring clean and accessible water to millions of children around the world. Other guests include Elijah Wood, Lucy Liu, Schuyler Fisk, Rosanna Arquette, and members of OK Go, Duran Duran, Rilo Kiley, They Might Be Giants, Dandy Warhols, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Earth Wind & Fire. I picked some good stuff, so tune in! My hour will air four times: Thursday, March 26 at 2pm and 8pm EST and Friday, March 27 at 2am and 8am EST. More info and live stream at the website.
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Swirling around some cellos and a dance beat, making things stereo that are mono, painting some vocal tracks across and perfecting them, placing each little bass womp here and there, echoing this netting of synths, equalizing each rail and slamming it all together, applying my special recipe secret spices to make it sound like one complete breathing monster instead of stacked babies in a trenchcoat. First thing people ask in an interview is what equipment I use, and I never talk about it other than to say “I work on ancient equipment with programs that nobody uses anymore.” But I know them inside and out, and though it may be quicker to use something else if I took the time to learn, I’d rather spend my time making something new with my hammer than learning which button to press on a hammering machine.
Monday, March 16th, 2009
On Thursday we went to a Vanity Fair + USA Network party with Bianca and Mena (who was hosting with Jeff Goldblum). It was the “American Character” gallery opening; lots of really great portraits. Some made me jealous. Bianca introduced us to Lucy Liu, who looks just as great as she did ten years ago. We met a little girl who was the subject of one of the photos – couldn’t have been more than ten years old – and she gave me and Christian each her business card! Girl is a professional model. Already networking, and she fluttered away to the next in like ten seconds. Kind of awesome.
Afterward we all went to dinner at Bagatelle. I’d never been there before, it was great! My mushroom risotto was seriously incredible. Across the room I spied Ramona Singer from the NYC Real Housewives, who came over and was very sweet, and we got through half the meal before we noticed that Nicole Scherzinger was seated at the booth next to us. Christian dressed her for the American Music Awards a few months ago, so there were some excited hellos and hugs exchanged. I really like her, she’s so quiet and calm and nice and then she gets out on stage and becomes this monster performer with a huge incredible voice. We saw the Pussycat Dolls the next day; Bianca managed to score us tenth row tickets to their show on Friday with Britney in Newark! So we popped open a bottle of champagne in the SUV and happily waited in rush hour Holland Tunnel traffic for two hours to get there. The show was great. Britney’s really back.
I’m really into the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Fischerspooner albums (though both had to grow on me) and the Pussycat Dolls’ version of “Jai-Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire. Still really trying with the new Kelly Clarkson but aside from the single and the end-of-album “I Want You” I’m having a hard time getting into it. What I am into is our Keurig machine, which is making me coffee every morning and hot chocolate every night for the rest of my life. How do I liiiiive without youuuu…
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
I won’t make a Sally the Camel joke. Nor will I quote Fergie. But I will say that Josh’s martial arts training is beneficial to me in that he can hold poses like this for long stretches of time:
I’ve known Josh for about seven years now, since college. He dated my friend Robin for a while before he went off to Japan for a few years after graduating, doing things as random as fun as writing city reviews and listings for a popular travel guide. Now he’s back and moving to New York, as most Oberlin grads seem to eventually do.
So, even though I’m on the national do-not-call list, I still get solicitor calls every now and then, and I have gotten a few spam/marketing text messages recently. I imagine texts are not covered by signing up for the do-not-call (even though text spam should be outlawed in general), but aren’t companies who call these numbers in violation of the law and subject to something from the government? I get calls from numbers that, when Googled, come up as Experian, a shady credit report company. Lots of people still get calls from them when they are not supposed to, and have filed many complaints with the government. So how are they still operating?
Monday, March 9th, 2009
Sam lives with a black and white chihuahua named Titus, several stone sparrows, five wooden owls, and a nest of electronics. The lattermost came in handy when I forgot a power cord and he unplugged a computer and fit it in to save the day.
I’m having a tough time lately separating the day work I’ve been doing from portrait photography. I guess it eventually all combines into editorial. Shooting for the page rather than for the photograph itself. I do a clean, white background look book and I always sneak in a few between-look closer shots, or I do a darker, themed shoot and find myself framing the clothes.
It’s also getting harder to write about things. I feel more scrutinized than in years past. If I get angry here, it ends up in the Wall Street Journal. So I get boring. I write about my vitamin intake, but then it becomes the topic of a blog entry where I’m being role-played, so then another site has to validate that my Twitter feed is actually me. I write something odd and post a picture and ONTD calls me ugly. Plus, I’m not even a celebrity. I am near them, sometimes, and I do my own creative things but I really don’t think of myself as famous. I think the world is just obsessed more and more with the peripherals of celebrity. I whine about things like this because they are so foreign to me, and I’m just venting and using this outlet as a way of getting it out (my friends don’t want to hear it). But I know it seems pointlessly superficial to others, which leads to more of it all. Certain things are flattering, but it’s really just… very, very surreal to me. I’m not even trying to complain right now, actually. I’m just saying.
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Finally went through my photos of Marta and Elise of Moody Mamas. These were taken at the London Hotel in LA a few months ago. Love these girls.
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
This weekend I had a few photo jobs and spent much of my time setting up and breaking down equipment, and all without the aid of Geneva, who chose to visit home out of state right when I needed her. Just like her. Did you know she used to be a cheerleader?
I can’t wait to share the cover and interior of Christian’s book later this year; it’s much more representative of my work and I’m so proud of a lot of the images inside. The photo above isn’t for the book; we were just bored. I received comp copies of a book whose cover I photographed, and copies of Doree’s book Love, Mom, for which I took the author photo and Christian provided some anecdotes. I’m really not thrilled with the cover of Saturday Night, but they wanted what they wanted and they got it and paid, so whatever. I just think the photo is boring and the design is… lacking. Love, Mom, however, is done really well and if you’ve ever read the site that spawned it, you know it’s hilarious inside.
I had a burst of creative energy last night and worked on some good music, and I’m listening to lots of new inspiring stuff. Believe it or not, I’m really into the new Lily Allen album. I didn’t like her first one, but all my friends did, so I gave her another chance. There are four or five tracks on this new one that I really love. I don’t know why people compare her to Katy Perry, or them to Amy Winehouse or Duffy. They’re all very different. I guess it’s just human nature to compare, or to describe by example rather than in original terms.
