Posts tagged ‘manhattan’
Hurricane Sandy hits NYC
Four or five days ago I heard there was a hurricane named Sandy brewing and could possibly hit NYC. I wasn’t very concerned as I’d been through Hurricane Irene about a year prior with little or no inconvenience to us personally. I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan close to Central Park which is one the highest parts of the city. Also, I’m in an apartment building which is essentially a fortress of brick and stone as every building down a block touch each-other. It’s not like in the movies…there’s very few alleys in Manhattan. Also, for the most part, Manhattan doesn’t lose electricity from wind or storms because our entire electrical system is underground.
Anyhow, as the storm got closer, there was a little more panic setting in as I saw that the grocery store had massive lines, and the 24 hour fruit vendor on my corner was completely sold out…he never sells out. My wife and I decided to go ahead and get some extra food just in case the worst happened.
I spent the whole day in front of my computer working as the wind began to pick up. I watched the tree outside my window get bent nearly sideways with the continuous gusts of wind. I peeked outside briefly and took a few iPhone videos from the front entrance of my building. I needed to quickly move my scooter to a safer location next to my building in hopes the wind wouldn’t blow it over.
It ended up getting dark and I decided to go take another peek, this time I brought my camera to take a few quick snaps out the front door. The photojournalist in me kicked in when I noticed a downed tree at the end of my block, so I decided to throw on my motorcycle helmet and ran down the road to document the damage. Just after I took a few pictures, I heard a horn honking down the street and a loud noise. I turned around and looked back down the street towards my apartment and could no longer see the lights at the end of the intersection, just tree branches and leaves.
I ran back to my apartment to find that a 5-story tall tree had fallen across the street and onto the front of my apartment building, just where I was standing moments earlier. As the tree fell, it laid across multiple parked cars and just barley missed a taxi coming down the street. The driver braked just in time and rather than getting crushed, he slammed into the tree laying across the road. It was quite shocking as it really made me feel vulnerable and frankly stupid to be out risking my safety to take a few pictures.
Still, the photojournalist in me kicked in and in a matter of maybe two minutes I ran around the scene taking stills and video. I spoke with the taxi driver and my downstairs neighbor who gave their accounts of the incident. I came home and my wife was pretty freaked out because I’d gone down against her wishes and all she heard was neighbors freaking out and running through the halls. I felt bad that I put her through that.
This morning we woke up after a lousy night’s sleep hearing the wind blowing and rain banging on our windows. I jumped out of bed to and quickly ran out with some cameras to go see if there was much damage on my street and surrounding blocks. Only the same two trees were down on my street and the street was a blanket of green leaves and branches. Our block was clearly the worst damaged within a few block circumference due to the old, tall trees that our block is know for.
Last night I watched photos come in from my FB newsfeed and on NYTimes.com from my friends and colleagues who were out in the storm making photos. I give kudos to them, but just feel it’s not worth the risk. Seeing that massive tree laying where I was standing was a pretty eye-opening experience…there may be great pictures to be had, but nothing is worth getting yourself hurt or killed for a storm photo. Just my opinion.
Independence Day
My lovely wife Laia Prats and I decided to bypass the crowds last night and climb to the roof of our Upper West Side apartment building to catch the NYC Fireworks. We didn’t expect to see much, but as it turned out, the fireworks cleared the buildings and made for a beautiful show! Enjoy!
Check out Laia’s photos on her Meow Chicken Blog!
From The Archives – Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman – Images by Robert Caplin
Due to some Facebook requests, I’m going to bring out my Uma Thurman shoot.
This session was another press junket type situation at the Regency Avenue on Park Ave (Same as Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and for this junket she was making her rounds for her upcoming movie “Accidental Husband”, though I wasn’t shooting her for for that particular movie. As it turned out, I was scheduled directly after the entire day of interviews and photo-shoots for Uma, so she was dead-tired when her day was over and her publicists told her she has just one more shoot with me for the LA Times.
One of the thing’s I’ve learned about shooting celebrities is that time is VERY limited. Often less than 5 minutes and you’re done….this shoot was no exception. For beginners, I was given a hotel room what was literally turned upside-down with couches pushed vertically into the corners and a big round table littered with empty bottles of water and soda. I started with her out in the hallway of the hotel, directly outside the room I was given to photograph. Inside the room, I also had two more portrait situations set up so I could throw Uma in on the fly, if she gave me the time.
Right when Uma was arriving, I could just tell she was worn out and didn’t want to have to have anymore pictures taken. Oh boy…. I literally took a few frames in the hallway and she said:
“Ok, you got it, that’s enough, right?” and started to walk away.
“Actually, we have just a few more set up inside the room!” I interrupted in an excited tone.
I was able to persuade her to continue and enter the discombobulated room I was provided. At this point her hair/makeup stylist, a flamboyant fellow of about 5’5”, kept asking me to show him the photos on the back of my camera. Normally I decline because that leads the actor and the publicists to want to see and approve, but this time I obliged because I wanted the shoot to continue smoothly past 5 frames! It actually turned out to be a benefit because the stylist really liked the photos and he was extremely vocal about it, which cheered Uma up considerably!.
From there I snapped a few I’d prepared earlier at the window and in the corner of the room. I’ve found that getting to the shoot extra early helps me figure out a number of portrait scenarios so I have more than one set-up to choose from in the end. It also gives me time to have lighting in place and ready so the talent only has to step onto the mark.
Here’s a video I took the day of the shoot….it was originally for my grandmother back in Ohio…so excuse the nonsense talk. I cut most of it out! Tiffany Clark was assisting me the day of that shoot:
Uma was happy I only took a matter of minutes to complete her portrait session and took a snap with me!
From The Archives – Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Images by Robert Caplin
Some time ago I was assigned to take a portrait of Academy Award winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman for the Los Angeles Times. It was back when he had three films releasing in three months: Before the Devil Knows You re Dead, The Savages, and Charlie Wilson’s War.
Normally when I shoot celebrities it’s during a “press junket”, which is when the production company is promoting a new movie and they invite the press to interview/photograph the cast. They’ll typically rent out an entire floor (or more) of a fancy-pants hotel (this time the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue) and they give me a hotel room to set up some quick portraits. I usually get about 10 minutes to take a portrait….usually less. Also, the celebrities are usually flanked by their publicists who like to give me a hard time and tell me what to do and how to take the photo. Fortunately for this shoot, the publicist was extremely kind and corporative when I asked if there was a chance we could shoot on the roof of the hotel, rather than in a hotel room.
The hotel manager brought my assistant and me to the roof to scout it some good locations and I quickly realized it’d make for some good photos. Philip was kind enough to climb up to the very top and sit on the edge of the building…I actually think he got a little worried as when he was sitting on the edge, when I asked him to change poses, he said, “Um, no thanks”.
All and all, a successful shoot!
Of course I had to get a shot of myself on the edge!
