If you ever want to shoot photos in NYC, READ THIS!

photographers, originally uploaded by seth_holladay.

IF YOU EVER WANT TO SHOOT PHOTOS IN NEW YORK CITY... READ THIS...



The Mayor’s Office of Theater, Film, and Broadcasting, which coordinates film and television production and issues permits around the five boroughs, is considering rules that could potentially severely restrict the ability of even amateur photographers and filmmakers to operate in New York City. The NY Times reports that the city’s tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour (including setup and breakdown time) to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including setup and breakdown time. - (Excerpted from The Gothamist)

If the above troubles you, please take action now. The city quietly released information about the proposed regulations on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and many of us missed the notice and subsequent hearing. The office is accepting public feedback until August 3, and the rules could go into effect this summer!

New York Times article on the proposal.

Sign the petition by Friday, August 3rd.

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Angel in the Light

I know that lighting is everything. Bad lighting makes you look bad and good lighting makes you look good. And then there are a few times that lighting is just... well... everything...


This image was the result of an accident. As I was shooting Angel and he was looking all sexy, one of my studio flashes didn't fire. I looked at the image in the camera and immediately turned off the key light and kept shooting with just the side/back strobe. This is the result!

I love accidents!

Joel

Just got finished Photoshopping Joel's photos from the photoshoot. He's got such a great look on camera. This was his first shoot. With a little experience, he's going to go far...

Brooklyn Bridge

Creative as hell and funny! Watch....



Davey Dance Blog -26- BROOKLYN BRIDGE - Ace Frehley - from Pheasant Plucker and Vimeo.

Scary steam

Originally uploaded on Flickr.com by ~ Raymond.

Today's steam pipe explosion on the city's east side reminds us New Yorkers just what a scary time we still live in even almost six years after 9.11. But the television shots of steam, smoke and people running with debris on them brings back those 9.11 memories all too quickly.

Luckily, this looks like it's not terrorism related, but it's still scary.

Hero vs. Celebrity

“I feel sorry for kids today,” the late Red Auerbach once observed. “When I was a kid we had heroes; today kids have celebrities, and there’s a big difference. We used to admire performance. We used to admire class. Now we applaud glibness. Now we admire flair.”
That’s TV news in a nutshell, with its dazzling graphics, mawkish scripts and endless supply of Ken & Barbie reporters. Please. What good are straight teeth and gorgeous hair if you can’t pronounce Worcester, and how important is a pretty face if it’s wrapped around a vacuum where the brain ought to be?

Those couple of paragraphs are from an article in the Boston Herald "Natalie blazed trail with poise" on the retirement of long-time WCVB-Boston (ABC affiliate) anchor Natalie Jacobson.

I thought that Herald columnist Joe Fitzgerald did a great job of summing up television news today, as he says, "in a nutshell."

In looking at the amount of airtime that's been devote to someone like Paris Hilton, it's a little disgusting. She's done nothing and yet she's a celebrity. No one would use the words "class" or "performance" to describe Paris... she's definitely more in with the "flair" and "glib" crowd.

This can't be good.

Angel

I worked with another awesome model on Monday by the name of Angel. He's originally from NYC and now a Buffalo University student that's in the city this summer working at Armani Exchange to make some cash for school.

We had such a great time shooting. We really clicked and talked about all kinds of stuff during our nearly 5 hour shoot... and we shot over 1,100 photos! (a new record for me)

The shots above were from when Angel went to flip up his hoodie and it ended up covering his whole face. You had to be there... but believe me, it was funny. And Angel's laugh is very infectious.

Watch for more photos of Angel soon.

Artistry

I had an amazing shoot today with Jason. He's a dancer with the Balance Dance Theater company. I've never seen a person move the way Jason was able to move his body today during the shoot. It defines the word artistry to watch him move. I only hope my photographs can capture a small part of what he's able to do.

Jason had just completed three nights of performances of Ibomba at the Kumble Theatre at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus. (and I made him get up at 9a for a shoot following his final show!)

I'm editing the 922 photographs that we took during today's session. It's going to be a very difficult edit because we created a lot of fantastic images. I'll post more soon.

Verizon Ad

I had a photo shoot with Joel (above) on Saturday. During the shoot he was using his cell phone as a prop for some of the shots. I made a comment that he looked good enough to be in a Verizon ad, soooo, I put him in a Verizon ad. Photoshop is fun!

And to take it an extra step, using some of the tools in Flickr and a companion site called Big Huge Labs, I was able to put Joel's Verizon ad on some billboards...

Studio 2F

Apartment 2F has now become STUDIO 2F

I've now transformed Apartment 2F into STUDIO 2F. Hmmmm... might be a name for a website, or a blog or a new company! :-)

The living room now is a studio complete with a portrait background (yes that same cheesy portrait background that they used for all your school pictures!). I've got a black background (if you slide the couch over next to the portrait background). And if you take down the black cloth... it turns into a freshly painted white background. I can also shoot against the white wall in my bedroom without having to take down the black cloth.

Almost like a real studio except I don't have to worry about all that cavernous space that a big photo studio has. My studio is "cozy" (New York City euphemism for "can't turn around in the space.")

Saturday Shoot with Darnell

Shot yesterday with Darnell. He's been modeling for about 5 years now and was so easy to work with. We took 649 pictures during the 4+ hours of shooting. It was fun. There was a lot of back and forth idea sharing and we came up with some good photos.

Two shoots on July 4th

I did two photo shoots on July 4th. It was a long day, but I had a lot of fun. Both models were really laid back and easy to work with.

I shot Christopher (top photo) in the morning. We've done one shoot together before, so we're used to each other styles.

In the afternoon, I worked with Eric. This is our first shoot together. Eric moved great, was easy to work with and looks great on camera. We shot for about four hours and took over 600 pictures.

Now I just have a ton of Photoshop work to do!

Happy 4th!

Macy's Fireworks 2006 Redux, originally uploaded by ~ Raymond.

Happy 4th of July!

Sunday Shoot with Dwyll

dwyll, originally uploaded by michaelnyc.

Had a fun shoot today with Dwyll. He's a "cash model" at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch store in Manhattan. A&F calls them "cash models" but most other stores call them cashiers!

We got some good stuff. I was please with the shoot. Here are a few more of the shots....