Beat

I got home from work at 10:30 tonight and I have to be back at 7:00. Goodnight.

EDITS

Here are some pictures that I've been working on. I want you to see them.

The Most Intense Day of the Summer

So things just keep getting busier and busier up here. On Thursday we shot Jamal Woolard, star of the upcoming movie Notorious. It's about Notorious B.I.G. We were shooting on the lower east side of Manhattan in front of a liquor store with graffiti and stuff all around. My day started at the car rental place where Drew and I picked up a box truck with a lift gate and a 15 passenger van. We brought them back to the studio and started loading. We took so much stuff. Nearly the whole grip room. By the time we finished it was time to eat lunch and head to the location. After that much waiting took place. We got there around 1:00 and scoured the block for parking for the 15 pass, grip truck, and the motor home for the talent/stylists/producers. This was a rather low key shot so there wasn't a lot of set up to be done. We got out what we needed and then waited some more. I got a walkie talkie and an earpiece which was cool but that just made one more way for people to tell me what to do. I would wait at the truck and when the assistants needed anything they would radio and I would bring it to them on set across the street. "Alex bring the Mamiya case and a super clamp, please." I realize thit doesn't sound super exciting but it was really cool to be there. Finally I got the call I was waiting for. I knew they were about to start shooting and then over the radio I hear "Alex we need you on set, NOW." I played a quick game of frogger across Houston St. and got to the set. Mark and the talent weren't even there yet but they had a job for me. I was so pumped to be right there watching everything while they were shooting. I got put on smoke machine duty... around the corner from the set. So I can't see, big deal, I still get to be right there for it all. I get the radio message that Mark and Jamal are on their way from the motor home to the set so I try to look alive. It's go time. As Mark shot one of the assistants would radio me for smoke and that's when I would shoot a lil puff of smoke their way. Sometimes the smoke machine would freak out and keep shooting way too much smoke when it wasn't supposed to; but being the great intern that I am, I took care of it. I waived a flag like crazy to disperse the smoke into the atmosphere so that even the film wouldn't be able to detect it. irulesomuch. So when you see that pic of the fake Biggie, you'll know the smoke was all me baby. I obviously didn't have a really important job but it was still cool to get to be on set and watch Mark Seliger take pictures. Plus I got to listen over the radio to the digital tech and the assistants talking about exposure and settings and stuff during the shoot. They are alot more detailed than we are in the studio back in Commerce. It must be a New York thing. The real excitement started later on after we had unloaded the truck and were going home. Drew and I were going to take the trucks back to the rental place and I got elected to drive the cube truck. I have never driven a truck like that, let alone on Manhattan. Driving, driving driving. Avoiding taxis and the homeless. *BOOM* blowout. I could hear the back right tire flapping so I pulled off and parked on the first street with an empty spot and called Drew. He was almost to the rental place already so he was going to talk to them and come back with a tow truck. So there I was with nothing to do but wait, until I saw the 2 NYPD officers coming my way. They weren't smiling. They informed me that I had just parked a white unmarked cargo truck in front of a U.S. Federal building. Whoops. I explained what was happening and they basically said, take care of it and go away. Just as they left Drew called me and told me to just park it somewhere because they couldn't get a tow truck for something that big out until the next morning. I looked around the block for somewhere to move it. Nothing. I went to the security office and asked what my options were. Eventually I gave a few agents a tour of the truck and showed that it was completely empty and they agreed to let me leave it there until the next morning. I didn't get home until 11:00ish that night and I immediately went to bed. That was my Thursday.

Here Are Things:

Well this seems to be turning into a once a week update kind of blog. I'm sorry about that, I'll try to do better this week. A lot has been happening lately. I've moved. My old place at 90 Washington fell through which is a major bummer. Luckily Ryan Dorsett was kind enough to let me take over his living room as soon as that fell through. As it turned out, one of his roommates was just leaving to go home for a little while when I dropped in on them; so now I have taken over her room in the apartment. The place is really great. It's in Brooklyn so the building is no skyscraper but there's much more character here. A picture of the outside of the building can be seen in a previous post here. Whats great about this place is also that it is on the top floor, which means we have access to the roof. The view is gorgeous, it's not far from the subway, and I have a really cool roommate. The picture isn't great but I'll put more up later on. Manhattan from my roof:



I walked down by the Brooklyn Bridge the other day. An artist named Paul St. George
made something down near it that he calls the Telectroscope. Read about it here. He has a lengthy story explaining the whole thing but basically there is one here in New York and one in London and they are connected via a huge tunnel that runs beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Visitors can go to either site and see people visiting the site on the other side of the world. Even the Queen of England has been to view it. I didn't want to wait in the lengthy line but the Telectroscope itself is a sight to see. See:



More pictures of the Telectroscope can be seen at their website, here

So I've started working as an intern full time now at Seliger Studios. It's some hard work sometimes but its always worth it. This past week was really slow as far as shooting goes. We shot one thing and it was of Mark for a contributing artist column in Vanity Fair. The first and second assistant and I were the only ones there with Mark. It was intense but I don't think I screwed anything up too badly. Other than that I've just been doing things around the studio. I built a new rack for our backgrounds. I've been delivering things to ad agencies like J.W. Thompson and Magazine offices of GQ and Vanity Fair. It's a whole different world. Sometimes it's a little stressful when things need to be rushed but that just adds to the excitement. (plus that means I get to take a cab rather than ride the subway) I'm having fun and trying to make the most of my time up here. I don't know who or what we're shooting anytime soon but I'm already pumped about it.

And now for something completely different.

Oh, Excuse Me

I think that ringing a bike bell is the nicest way to say to "MOVE!"

Finally...

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've put anything new on here. I'm sorry and I'll do better but for now shaddup 'cause here's some new stuff. Courtney came to visit me. She left yesterday morning after being here for about a week. We covered a lot of ground. She had never been here before so we did all the touristy stuff. Literally all of the touristy stuff. We went to Times Square at night, rowed a boat at Central Park, ate unhealthy food at Coney Island, felt tall at the Empire State Building, hung out with Lady Liberty, got a little nervous in Chinatown, rocked Rockefeller Center, you know, all the basics. There was a lot of walking and sweat. (we're experiencing record breaking heat/humidity up here ya know) We had a great time. Want proof?






Those are just a few, more can be found on my computer.

So I'm supposed to make a list of things that I want to get out of my internship. I've been working on it and this is what I have so far.

1. See how Mark interacts with and talks to his subjects and staff before, after, and during shooting
14. Experience how every aspect of high end photo business takes place
22. Get more comfortable with professional equiptment
7. Get to know people in NYC. Business contacts, social, or otherwise
19. High five Natalie Portman

So what am I missing? What else should I want to get out of this internship? I know commenting on these things can be confusing but please, figure it out and tell me what else should be on this list! (I just updated the settings so that you don't even have to be registered to comment! Just choose the Name/URL option before you hit "Publish Your Comment".)
So please let me know if you think of anything.

I saw this today and it blew my mind a little. Wired has a photo gallery of it on their site but here's the original video from BMW:

LAZY

What a lazy week. I didn't do much of anything. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I sat around a lot. I explored and made some pictures. It's frustrating because if I learn something at work or get an idea, I have no studio to go experiment or try it out in. Which has led me to shooting more outside and around town which is fun; but frustrating as well. I can't complete the process. I can shoot and edit all I want but I can't make prints. I need a project; any ideas? At least I'm enjoying myself and seeing lots of stuff. I'll post more pictures later.