Well shortly after, I found out that one of my photos had been printed in an issue of the New York Daily News! So naturally, I had to get my hands on a copy of it. I didn’t find out about it until the day after though, so I had to run around checking every newsstand and deli within an 8-block radius from my office. It turned into a wild goose chase with the unfortunate end result of nobody having any copies leftover from the previous day. I suppose I could have ordered a copy from the Daily News, but I reeeeeeally didn’t want to have to wait for it.

Then, completely by chance and in true NYC fashion, I stumbled across a massive pile of tied-up newspapers outside of an apartment complex, set on the curb for recycling. They were all in great condition, so I poked through and was able to find my issue! :D

This is a quick Macbook photobooth shot of me holding up the paper:

And here’s the photo that made the paper:

I’m pretty psyched!

Earlier this week, I photographed two players from the New York Jets volunteering at the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry of West Harlem. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who knows less about football than I do. I’ve even made a habit of referring to the championship game as the ‘Stuperbowl’ and avoiding it like the plague – and unfortunately it always seems to fall right around my birthday.

But according to my fanatical Jets fan cousin, Jason Taylor is kind of a big deal. Apparently he’s a superstar athlete and was once on Dancing With The Stars (ah, now you’re speaking my language!). He and teammate Bart Scott served breakfast at the soup kitchen, then helped unload a truck full of turkeys for Thanksgiving. They were nothing but friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy helping out, which was so great to see. Seeing the super-fortunate helping out the much less-fortunate makes me happy.

Some of my photos made it onto the Jets’ website – check it out! :D

Then I was told that Mischa Barton was there getting her makeup done, and that I wasn’t to photograph her until she was finished. What?! It was funny because people didn’t seem to realize she was there. I continued to shoot the event and others getting their lashes applied until I got the green light from her publicist to take her picture. I didn’t want to bother her too much, so I only took a couple. Now, for the record, I feel like I can address two of the major rumors circling about her, since I met her and observed her over the course of the evening:
1. She is in no way fat! Granted she is not as grossly skinny as she was while on The OC, but she looks fine and more ‘normal’ now.
2. She does like to drink; ergo, I can’t dispel the alcoholic rumor, since she had a drink in hand the entire time she was in the makeup chair.

Then later on, she disappeared into the store to try on clothes. No one seemed to be bothering her, and I stayed away until her publicist came to get me. So I walk over to her with my camera and she’s trying on this black dress, and she goes ‘do you wanna take my picture?’, in a very matter-of-fact manner. I didn’t have a flash bracket, nor enough time to alter my flash for a vertical shot, so I took it horizontally. Now that I look at it, it’s kind of funny to see her upper body next to a bunch of boots. It was also amusing to see her pose, clearly correcting her posture and sucking in her cheeks. Oh celebrities!

As for the event itself? It was pretty cool. I had to schmooze with a bunch of girls in makeup chairs and ask them for their names if I took their picture. The models were more than willing to pose for me and ham it up for the camera. And I ended up with some free swag at the end (though I don’t think I can ever see myself wearing fake lashes!).

I alternated between the wide angle lens and the 50/1.4 prime during the course of the night. I was mostly really close to people, so the wide angle was useful. The 35L would have been PERFECT for the event, buuuuuut I made do just fine without it.

ALSO – my photo of Mischa made it onto Star Magazine‘s website! :)

ALSO — you can see my on the show! Check out this clip from MSNBC and starting at 2:33 you can see me in the navy blue hoodie with yellow lettering!

On halloween morning it was drizzling and substantially less people (and paparazzi) were around for the show. The ‘surprise celebrity’ turned out to be Nick Cannon, who was hosting a mock segment of ‘America’s Got Talent’, with Lester Holt dressed as Susan Boyle – pretty hilarious. Amy Roebuck played Simon Cowell. We actually had a good view of the set this time, and the anchors took time to pose for the paps.

From 7pm-1am, I was waiting outside the Ziegfeld Theatre as they setup for the shoot. I saw the red carpet being rehearsed on, the lighting being set up, and the crew dashing around to cover things as it began to rain. I saw the extras being ushered onto the set in herds, dressed to the nines when it was <40 degrees out. I overheard plenty of foreigners and tourists gabbing about the actors, the show, and what was happening on the set.

I obviously didn't know ahead of time that they wouldn't begin shooting til after 11pm, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted 4+ hours of my life freezing my arse off and twiddling my thumbs. But I did what I do best: space out and play with my camera. I also took a walk around Times Square in search of caramel apple cider. You'd think there'd be a Starbucks on every corner, but the ONE TIME I'm actually looking for one, there are none around.

After 11, the actors began to arrive. I had a good view of the male cast as they stood inside the Ziegfeld lobby waiting to start the scene. Yes, Smith Jarrod (Jason Lewis) is one hunk of a man, worthy of a spot on anyone's "list". Stanford and Anthony look just as they do on screen. And Mr. Big is... big (tall)! But I didn't get more than an obstructed view of them through the window and between tent poles and peoples' heads. And the door they used to exit onto the set was to the side and out of view so I was SOL.

The whole time they were shooting, I could just barely see the tops of the actors' heads through the crowd of extras that had been cast as fellow red carpet goers or paparazzi. And I'm pretty sure some legitimate paps had wormed their way onto the set somehow, though I was unable to get past security. It was so discouraging. Couple that with the rain that had begun again and I was pretty disappointed with the night. All that waiting/suffering for this?!

I was about to call it a night when I ran into another guy with a camera. Turns out he wasn't part of the paparazzi (real or fake), but was in town for the week for a work conference. He had somehow waltzed onto the set unnoticed for a good half hour and had actually been in the theatre and by the red carpet! He showed me some pictures he got of Kim Cattrall, not even knowing who she was! I guess he was just up for an adventure and wasn't even a fan, but had seen the shoot from his hotel across the street and decided to check it out. So we talked about photography for a bit and then we decided to try to sneak onto the set again. We were caught immediately, of course. He was wearing a spiffy red suit jacket so he probably looked more legit than I did with my puffy coat and backpack. So then he offered to let me into his hotel so I could watch from the second floor windows.

Ahh, if only I had been there all along! It was warm and toasty inside the Hilton, and yielded a prime view of the set from above. I was just in time to see the last take with Miley Cyrus on the red carpet, wearing the same dress as Samantha (Kim Cattrall). They hugged and posed for pictures at the end, and then Sarah Jessica Parker joined them as well. It was all so surreal. I (not-so-?)secretly love Miley, and my friends all tease me about it, so it was crazy seeing this teen megastar right in front of me, doing a scene for one of my favorite series of all-time.

They finished the scene around 1am and took a break, at which point I sat on the floor of the hotel and edited my photos. The wifi crapped out on me though, so I had to go to another hotel to upload them... because of course time is everything when celebrity photos are involved! I was on the train by 2am and home by 3. Now that, my friends, is called DEVOTION (or insanity, fandom, madness, etc).

Toward the end, I joined the small crowd of people on the south side of the set. Luckily they cleared out the fire trucks that had been blocking the scene earlier and we could actually see the actors as they filmed. I’d like to take a second to thank the Canon gods for providing me with a 21mp camera. Without this mega-resolution, I’d never be able to crop down to 1-2mp shots taken from afar.

A few random notes:
- Mark Wahlberg, you are still pretty. And many thanks for constantly glancing at the crowd, specifically in my direction.
- Will Ferrell was doing goofy things toward the end of the shoot, like making weird hand motions and putting his hands on some guy’s shoulders and turning him around. I’d have loved to have heard what he was saying!

I couldn’t get over the number of people who walked by, saw the fake books and ads in the window for a book signing with Gordon Gekko and didn’t realize it was Michael Douglas on the cover and filming the scene. And again, people would walk by and ask me what was going on. I was careful not to divulge too much when the guard was nearby.

I did end up seeing Shia come out of the store a few times, stationed between two lines of people, being filmed running inside. I didn’t get a clear view of him for too long because the guards were intentionally blocking me. But oh, I more than made up for my first failed attempt by getting some decent shots of him here. Furthermore, I was able to see Michael Douglas when he was sitting near the window getting touched up. He even waved to us! I think my best shot came when he was inside filming the signing, sitting at a table with a stack of fake books, looking directly at me. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence – was he intentionally looking in my direction while being filmed? Or was it between takes? Could he even see me from there? I don’t know, but the angle was perfect.

I did come back later in the day, though, and caught a glimpse of Chace again as he went into the building to film with Blake. By that point it was getting dark, so I didn’t stick around for too long. I did get to talking with some fans of the show, who seemed to know an alarming amount about the cast and the shoots. One of them had been to a party with several castmembers in attendance, so she was telling us about what they were like in person. Crazy! I think surprisingly this is one of my favorite parts about this paparazzi gig – being around lots of spirited fans who come to me with questions, as if I’m an insider on the shoot.