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Boylesque 101 – Probably Not Safe For Work
About a month ago I was on a shoot and received a phone call from my editor pal at the New York Times Styles Desk about an assignment the following day. Given that I was in the middle of another shoot, the call was quick and all I really remembered was the words “burlesque class tomorrow in Williamsburg”. I said, “sure, send me the info.”
The next morning I took a more detailed look at the assignment slip and realized it was a little different than I’d envisioned:
Instructions: The rise of “Boylesque” — that’s burlesque dancing for guys. There’s a class happening this Sunday in Williamsburg. Need scenes from the class, there will be 8 pupils. ***Please creatively frame the photos so that there is no blatant nudity.****
Ohhh…. BOYlesque, not BURlesque! And avoid blatant male nudity? Oh my, what did I get myself into?
I made my way to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and found myself in a large warehouse-style building searching for the dance studio within. I finally found the space, which turned out to be a very small studio with 9 sweaty men sporting only jock straps or thong underwear. Oh yeah, the room was hot, moist, and smelled like sweaty balls.
When I arrived the undressed men were sitting in a row of chairs watching as each student took a turn performing a short routine in which they pretended to give a striptease while taking off imaginary clothes. They were wearing only thongs for this portion. The goal was to get the rest of the group to guess what character they were representing and what sort of imaginary clothes they were taking off.
Afterward, the instructor provided various props and costumes that the students were to use for a striptease routine. Though only three students gave their OK for me to shoot, I still I got quite enough to work with.
I will say, though, the toughest part of this assignments was having to kneel behind the sweaty butt cracks of the seated students in order to frame the photo and hide myself from reflecting in the mirror. I won’t soon forget this assignment…
Election Night 2012 in Times Square
Yesterday was a long day covering various stories for the NY Times. I woke up early and excited that it was election day and promptly walked a block to my polling place to vote. Fortunately for me, it only took 15 minutes to wait in line and exercise my civic duty.
Afterward, I hit the city to work on a long-term documentary about an interesting fellow…but I can’t talk about that until it publishes…so stay tuned.
From there I was off to a late-night improv club where I was tasked to document one of the musicians for a profile on the NY Times around 10PM. It was a hilarious experience and I intend to go back to the club soon with my wife for an evening of fun!
At about 10:30, though, the NY Times Metro desk called me and asked me to get to Times Square where large crowds of people were gathering to watch the results of the presidential elections come in. Given NY, especially Manhattan, is a blue state, my editor was hoping I could get some jubilation shots if/when President Obama won.
I made my way to 47th Street to the red TKTS steps where CNN had set up an outdoor studio and large screen right in the middle of Times Square. Every video board in Times Square was carrying various network feeds of the election from CNN, ABC, to Fox News.
Surprisingly, Obama was declared the winner much earlier than expected to the cheers of the crowd. I made a handful of photos of the folks celebrating on the TKTS stairs and then decided to stick around until the president spoke. Little did I know I’d be waiting about two more hours.
Though tiring, yesterday was an exciting day full of picture-taking. I’m happy I was able to experience a special moment in US history in such a cool location.
Victoria Justice on the Set of “Fun Size”
A year ago I was hired by US Weekly special edition’s photo editors to document the young and talented actor/singer Victoria Justice of Nickelodeon fame. I’d seen her on TV in the past, but due to our age difference, I wasn’t watching Nickelodeon anymore, so I’d never seen her show or knew much about her.
The story was about how she’s an up-and-coming big star (she was 18 when I shot this story) and how she’s progressed from TV to music, and now to the big screen in the upcoming Halloween flick “Fun Size“. Interestingly, the movie was being filmed too close to last year’s holiday, so the movie hasn’t been released until this Halloween.
The film is clearly geared toward a younger crowd in the way that most high school dramas are, but there are a few others stars that make appearances that could draw in an older demographic: Jonny Knoxville and Chelsea Handler, though neither were shooting scenes the day I was on set.
I was sent to Cleveland, OH and found my way to the house in a totally midwestern subdivision where they were filming the movie. I’m from Ohio, so it felt like being home. There were many trailers lining a street and hundreds of area kids awaiting the arrival of Victoria.
When she did, she was swamped by the kids and immediately signed autographs and took pictures with the fans. Having documented a lot of celebrities myself, I could instantly tell Victoria was a super nice person.
I started hanging out with Victoria and her mother in the hair and makeup trailer where she was being turned into her character. It turned out that the scene that was being shot was a raging high school Halloween house party, so Victoria’s character was wearing a costume, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.
Victoria and her mother in the hair/makeup trailer
After her hair and makeup were done, she moved to her personal trailer where she and I had some one-on-one time, chatted a bit, and took some impromptu portraits in and around the trailer.
Quickly we were told it was time for Victoria on set, so we made our way to the house in which the movie was being filmed, which was actually around the block.
It was quite a riot as the house was decked out like one of those crazy high school Halloween parties you’d only see in a…movie. Of course!
There were dozens of actors and extras dressed up in really great costumes waiting for their queues and waiting in-between takes. Along with all the production crew, cameras, and lighting equipment, it was a rather chaotic scene.
I met a few of the other main characters in the movie who were all very nice, kind, and clearly going places.
R.I.P. Architect Lebbeus Woods (1940-2012)
I was saddened to read about the passing of architect Lebbeus Woods in the New York Times today. Back in 2008 I was assigned to take portrait of Mr Woods for the New York times for the Arts cover.
I arrived and Mr Woods made me feel right at home. I took a handful of natural light portraits using the light streaming in from his skylights and windows as well as a few strobed shots as well. He even took me into his bedroom where I made a somber portrait of him sitting on his bed with the sun illuminating just his face.
I was asked by the paper to try and incorporate him smoking as he is a unapologetic chain smoker…and he obliged, as you can see in many of the photos.
I also took a few photos of Mr Woods working at his desk when he began drawing on a piece of paper. After the shoot he was just going to throw the paper away, but I asked if I could take it and he said “sure!” and even signed the copy over to me.
What a nice experience I had him. My thoughts are with his family.
