Winter 08

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS:

We’re All Ears Hi Resource Magazine!

To whom it may concern,

I was working at Industria on Wednesday and found a copy of Resource Magazine on their rack. I thought you might enjoy some of a stranger’s near-useless opinions:

We received your complimentary shipment of Resource Magazine’s yesterday. I passed them out to our staff of 9, along with the rest of the crew that had been working that day. Everyone enjoyed it to the highest extent.

Your magazine sums up the industry to the T and it’s very personable in every way. It is put together very nicely, well written, and very relatable.

We just wanted to compliment you over here at Serge Nivelle Studios.

We too have a Gaffer tape guy, awful return sales stories, and close knit studio family of our own. We are looking forward to your next issue.

For a first issue, the magazine was very, very good. The articles were great! I read almost all of them. There was an article about stylists who return items and I know about that end… so that was very good to read. A lot of the pieces were good…

I didn’t see any glossy, lengthy, crazy photo spreads!?!

The design of the magazine was superb in every way.

Anyway, like I said, it was a very good magazine from my perspective, and I’m an old zine guy/designer, so I have some slim perspective, for what it’s worth.

Once more, thank you for writing a great magazine “For the Professional Photo Productionist” along with all our crazy set stories, egotistical maniacs, bite size models, and overbearing art directors. An ode to all of our long location hours, cliental pleasing and being part of a business that has (and I quote) “Freedom of expression, freedom from the uptight suit-and-tie world.” -Jon Melamed Monica Lowstuter

All the best, Tony Leonardo

8 Tricks of the Trade

TRICKS OF THE TRADE:

Model Maker Story: Joe Fassler | Photos: Kumiko Suzuki

In visual media,

artificiality is the

enemy. Most people realize that films, commercials, and print advertisements rely heavily on visual trickery, and words like “sets,” “props,” or “miniature models” are entrenched in the common lexicon. Still, while consumers don’t expect images to be “real,” they do expect them to be convincing – fake-looking sets and props are the ultimate signs of amateurism. When advertisers or filmmakers want eye-popping, surreal or exaggerated visuals that are still lifelike they turn to model-makers. Our expert, Makoto Aoki, who began his career making miniature sets and special effects for TV and film, now runs a model-making studio renown for its craftsmanship and taste. Whether Makoto is designing an Absolut Vodka ad or sleek visuals for Cartier, he’s one of the best in the business. Here are some of the tips that have brought his clients back to his workshop time and again.

1. Clients come first.

“Advertisers have a very specific idea of what they want the final result to look like,” says our expert.

“Make sure you understand a client’s wants before even attempting to execute their idea.” Ultimately, a model-maker must share the client’s vision and design. Therefore, listening is the first step, and is as crucial as the design and building stages.

2. Details matter.

The best model-makers don’t cut corners. Photographers often approach a model from a specific perspective, which makes it tempting to focus only on the details in front of the camera. Makoto, however, insists on building complete reproductions.

“When every detail is addressed, even ones that will not be immediately visible to viewers, the difference is palpable,” he says. A model built most realistically will always be more convincing than one that is only an approximation.

3. Experiment!

When clients approach model-makers with ideas for their ads, they are often unsure how to achieve the specific effects they want. Makoto often builds several prototypes from different materials before achieving the desired effect. For example, he had once to create a large amount of translucent snakeskin for an ad. “It took many tries using an assortment of varied plastics to achieve the right balance of realism, opacity, and texture,” he recalls. “After spending hours preparing a solution or building a proto-model, it can be frustrating starting from scratch, but it’s always worth taking the extra time to get just the right look.”

4. Beauty is more important than authenticity.

Though most models still need to resemble their real-life counterparts, Makoto likes to “make [his work] better than the actual thing.” Sometimes, believability just isn’t enough. “The best model-

makers”, he suggests, “take time to think about what elements of their subject naturally appeal to the eye – and then exaggerate or accentuate the striking qualities.”

5. The staff can make it or break it.

“Model-making projects can be so difficult to make,” Makoto acknowledges, “and they often have such strict deadlines.” However, a diligent, capable staff can help make the work less stressful and nerve-wracking. Makoto trains and oversees his staff himself, which is perhaps one of the reasons his company is known for superior work – even on assignments with demanding deadlines.

Makoto Aoki www.swellnewyork.com

10 Etiquette

ETIQUETTE:

The Morning After The ins and outs of on-set hook ups

Story: Jon Melamed | Photo: Eric Hason | Hair/Make-up: Chyna Wu | Talents: Ryan Fahey & Vania Muller

So you did it. You slept with a coworker. Another notch in the bedpost.

Another carnal conquest embarked upon. You have officially seen somebody you are supposed to regard in a professional manner during work hours, naked in the twilight. Great, I hope it was worth it, because you now have a lot of damage control to look forward to. You will be working with this person on set tomorrow, and even if you are super suave and maintain a higher maturity level than most, things are going to be a bit weird.

These things happen, especially in an industry of young, attractive people who are in the habit of having a few drinks after a long day on set. The whole thing is a crapshoot: as a freelancer your best networking often happens at parties, and if you are getting a flirtatious vibe from a coworker it may behoove you to reciprocate or at least humor them if you wish to remain in high standings and continue to be called for work. Does this make you a whore? I guess we are all whores sometimes, and it really just depends on how far you take it. Certainly this is an industry based on good looks and sexuality, but it is also an industry in which you are expected to work hard, for long hours, without a breakdown in creativity or productivity. However when things do go a bit too far, a good general rule is to regard your fling as you would a freelance photo job: fast, intense and over in about a week.

NEVER

ALWAYS

Turn a hookup into a power play: There is a difference between staying on top of your assistants on set and being on top of them in bed.

Refrain from picturing your coworker naked on set: So you saw that cutie in less than pants the night before, get over it. Chances are there will be a partially naked model walking around on set, which should be a sufficient distraction to deflect any libidinous glances you may feel inclined to send your lover’s way.

Allow for your lovers’ performance in bed to reflect upon their performance on set: Some c stands extend higher than others, but that’s not the point. What’s important is how well they function in their on-set applications.

Use hero props or furniture during your sexual acts: You should have at least laid down a packing blanket ‘cause all the Goo Gone in world ain’t gonna get that stain out.

Feel obliged to repeat the sexual offense: Sometimes it’s easier to just do it again than to figure out what to say in order to terminate the casual relations, but that is just plain immature. If you are old enough to do it, you should be adult enough to end it.

Divulge your lascivious secrets to other coworkers: The old saying “Loose lips sink ships” works for photo shoots too.

Play love songs on set: It’s REALLY your lucky day!

You are permitted to put your iPod on the studio’s system. Go for it, impress everyone with your arsenal of obscure or ironic music, but please refrain from playing the “It’s Thursday morning and I just got laid” mix.

Maintain your game face: This means no “goo goo” eyes, no dramatic kiss-y faces or sounds, and that thing where you stick your tongue into the side of your cheek is just all together perverted.

Blame it on the booze: If you do engage in this act of forbidden fraternization, chances are you will be intoxicated. Even if you were just sort of buzzed the statement, “We were both really drunk,” always provides for an easy out or gentle let down.

Maintain your dignity: If you are in fact in love, or at least in deep lust, with a coworker, but she doesn’t seem to reciprocate, avoid any on-set outburst or proclamations of undying love. Choke back the tears, suppress the rage and remember you are here to get paid and advance your career.

Wait for the wrap party: Take a cold shower, think about the hair prickling out from your great uncle’s ears, get a friggin’ chastity belt... do whatever it takes.

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12 Resource Guide to:

RESOURCE GUIDE TO:

Kits Story: Justin Muschung Photo: Hiroki Kobayashi

It may be called the photo industry, but there’s a lot more to it than just snapping pictures. Someone has to set the stage, both metaphorically and literally, and perform the day-to-day tasks that keep the gears running smoothly, such as building sets, styling hair, wrangling babies, handling money… the list goes on.

To aid them in their tasks, people use a vast array of kits that are lugged from shoot to shoot. Many years of experience and knowledge have gone into accumulating the contents of these kits, which now lay fully bare and thoroughly poked, prodded, and analyzed for your edification.

Much as the samurai has his sword and the writer his pen, these professionals also wield the tools of their trade.

So read closely, take notes, and share with your friends, because you’re about to get a lesson in what makes a master a master.

FOOD STYLIST: Karen Pickus From the outside, bottom left: Q-tips - Combined with hot water or Windex will clean your filthy fingerprints off the plates' rims.

Measuring spoons - To keep those recipes as accurate as possible.

Melon-baller - It's just fun to say. Plus it's good for hollowing out strawberries.

Finer brushes - To add a delicate layer of sauce or olive oil.

Zester/Channel knife – This combination device will make short work of your fruits. The zester will finely julienne the rind, while the channel knife will peel it off. Go around the whole piece of fruit and you've got yourself a spiral. Neat!

Back row, again starting from the left: Scissors - A good pair of scissors can be used for everything: opening packages, snipping herbs, fending off ninjas...

Metal spatula - Good for lifting, turning, and moving foods. Did you know you could also scrape with it? No you did not.

Metal spoons - Plop your toppings on with these, like chopped tomatoes over garlic bread for that perfect bruschetta.

Metal spreaders - For icing, buttering, and spreading goodness.

Serrated knife - No bread product is safe from a serrated edge.

Rubber spatulas - These can do more than scrape the bottom of a bowl.

Not only are they more flexible and less noisy than spoons, they can also withstand high temperatures, so they're safe to use in frying pans.

Knife - A smaller knife is good for paring fruit and peeling and coring apples. This particular one happens to be Japanese... Maybe I should have saved that ninja joke...

Smaller thin blade knife - Like the big one, but smaller.

Smaller serrated knife - The smaller one is the perfect size to slice tomatoes with ease.

Chef's knife - You have to have one. It's called a chef's knife, after all.

Thin blade knife - The best knife for filleting fish and dicing cheesecake.

Just don't do one right after the other.

(Even bigger) Chef's knife - The general, all-purpose knife you'll end up using the most, especially if you chop a lot of onions or garlic. And frankly, who doesn't?

Pastry brushes - To dust your dishes with flour, or slather them with BBQ sauce or olive oil.

Little metal spatulas - See comment for "Smaller thin blade knife."

Chopsticks - Keep these on hand to make you feel cooler when you use them instead of a fork.

Resource Guide to: 13

HAIR STYLIST: Vassilis Kokkinidis from Artwing Hairpins (waved, with enamel coating, smooth surface) and curl pins Carry a whole mess of these. But don't use too many, or your model will end up looking like a hedgehog.

Snag-free headbands - Please note the "snag free" part. No one likes having her hair yanked.

Bungee bands - Yeah, you've always wondered if it's possible to bungee jump with enough of them tied together but you'll never try, will you, coward?

Colored hairspray (multiple colors) - This will hide those gray hairs and botched dye jobs in a jiffy.

White and colored powder - Powder can soak up oils and make the hair fuller. But be careful with the white stuff or it will look like old man makeup in a community theatre show.

Hand steamer - A beauty salon staple in the palm of your hand (also works great on vegetables).

Electric curlers and rollers - Use for curls, or to achieve that sexy and hip, chain-smoking-middle-aged-housewife look.

Curling iron, wave iron, hair straightener iron - The most important part of using an iron is remembering to unplug it when you're done.

Porcelain conical wand - It's basically a curling iron (insert Harry Potter joke here).

Hair extensions (different colors), hair pieces, wigs, wig caps, ponytails, bangs, hair clips - Bring enough faux-hair to recreate Cousin Itt. That way you'll always have a backup solution when styling someone non-photogenic.

Hair dryer - The only thing that will blow more hot air than the producer.

Diffuser - Snap this onto the hair dryer to muzzle its strength and add fullness and body.

Clippers - When using these, keep an eye out for any choice pieces to add to your already-immense hair clip collection.

Trimmer - Put unruly 'burns and 'staches back in their place.

Brilliantine - Only use a small amount to soften dry hair and make it more manageable. Unfortunately, the effect on the subject's mental faculties is minimal.

Styling crème, styling lotion, straightening lotion, De-Frizz smoothing lotion/shine, grooming crème, setting lotion, styling foam/mousse, gel With enough lotion, crème, foam, gel, and other miscellaneous gunk you can manhandle anyone's hair into doing damn near anything, even if you have to lay enough down to form a protective helmet around the skull.

Sculpting wax, precision wax - Apply lightly. No one wants to be mistaken for an exhibit at Madame Tussaud’s.

Egyptian Magic Multi Purpose Balm - This stuff will do anything and everything, from salving burns and moisturizing dry skin to conditioning hair and removing makeup. Just don't eat it.

Thickening spray - Makes thinning hair look fuller. The prematurely balding will thank you profusely.

Gloss spray - Don't use too much, or the model's hair will shine more brightly than the sun.

Hairspray - It may be a hit musical but no one appreciates you belting out show tunes at six in the morning.

Shampoo/Conditioner - Not everyone has a chance to wash before they reach the studio.

Hair masque - This will soften and moisturize dry and brittle hair.

Hair moisturizer for curls- Keep that curly hair moist if you want to maintain the look.

Scissors - Aim away from the face and groin.

Mason Pearson Brush - A kinder, gentler hairbrush that will leave your model grateful that you didn’t rip all the hair out of her head.

Brushes - Be sure to use a hair detangling solution before brushing or it will quickly turn into every hair-related argument you ever had with your mother when you were a kid.

Combs - I hope you saved all the ones they gave you at school on picture day...

14 Resource Guide to:

MODEL MAKER: Makoto Aoki (www.swellnewyork.com) Starting from the top, upper left corner: Hole saw - A drill bit that will cut neat little holes into thin pieces of wood.

Countersink bit - Drilling holes with this will make the countersunk screws that go into those holes flush with the surface. Just don't ask me what a countersunk screw is.

Router bit - Slap this onto your wood router or laminate trimmer to make patterns in your woodwork so it's all nice and pretty.

Eye protection - Poke an eye out and it'll be much harder to work with tools.

Mitsutoyo digital caliper - Calipers measure the distance between the two sides of an object, like a quarter, or a screw, or your head, if it weren't so damn big.

Gripper gloves - Keep tools from flying out of your cold, clammy hands by sporting a pair of these.

C-clamp - Secures separate pieces of wood together.

Japanese hand saw - Beware! Despite the name, do not actually saw any hands! #1-#60 drill set - The man who said you can have enough drill bits...well, that man was a damned fool.

3M Respirator - It may smell good, but spray paint has no business being in your lungs.

Insulated wrench [1000v protect] - This will protect you from charges of up to 1000 volts. 1001 volts though and you're screwed.

Jewelry vice - Keeps precious jewelry steady as you grind it into worthless dust.

Iwata spray gun - Tempting though it may be, do not spray innocent bystanders.

Bottom photo, counter clockwise starting from the upper left: Machine screws - Like other kinds of screws, but capable of one day subjugating the human race.

Set screws - Prevents your finely crafted work from coming loose through movement and vibration.

Graphic tools - You really should draw a line showing where to cut before you turn on that circular saw.

Small airbrush - For when blasting paint with the spray gun isn't appropriate.

Small scissors - These are handy for small jobs like trimming fake leaves. Real leaves just look too fake after all.

Tweezers - For the delicate work your fingers are too thick to perform.

Drill set - Because it doesn't make any sense to have all those dill bits and no drill.

Starrett center finder - Eyeballing the center is just a bad idea.

Small vice - Seizes tiny things you don't want to let get away.

Square - Make sure the edges are a perfect 90 degrees or everything will end up lopsided. Everything.

Rivet gun - Aim away from the eyes and groin.

Wrenches - Useful for securing bolts and nuts, and for gumming up gear works.

Diamond drill bits - These are stronger than the normal drill bits and can make holes in glass.

Laminate router trimmer - A smaller, handier version of the wood router. Slap your router bit onto here and hop you go.

Screw gun - Much less fun than it sounds. It just makes putting screws in easier.

Quick-grip - The more compact, cuter cousin of the c-clamp.

Silver solder set - Heating up solder liquefies it so you can glue pieces of metal together. Except here the glue can burn your fingers together.

Soldering iron torch - Solder metal together or heat up plastic to soften it for molding. Just remember to wear that respirator.

Starrett Combination Square set - Your thumb is not a good tool for measuring angles.

Milling machine bit - Milling machines are used to shape solid materials like metal. They're too big to fit into your kit, but if the studio has one, you can "borrow" it by adding your own bit.

Jewelry saw blades - Used to cut tiny metal pieces.

Scissors, laser blade, etc... - It might sound like an American Gladiator, but a laser blade is actually more of a utility knife.

Wire brush (File cleaner) - You're an adult, so remember to clean up after yourself.

Level - You ever wonder what the liquid in a level tastes like?.....Well, neither did I. File sets - It's best to have as many different styles of file as possible on hand. You don't want to get caught with a joint round edge file when what you really need is a pippin.

Clay tools - These wooden tools will help you sculpt clay, but they will not fix it after you burn your creation in the kiln.

Dremel bits set - Don't mix these bits up with any of the other 3,487 bits in this kit.

Dremel rotary tool drill - This hand-held drill can be used like a pen to grind down metal, plastic, or wood.

Resource Guidetitle to: 15

MAKE-UP ARTIST: Mario Dedivanovic from Illusions at Click Model Management From the far upper left: Tan Airbrush in a Can by Model Co (pink bottle) - For that deep, rich tan that washes off in the shower. Blend with a velour puff.

Model in a Bottle (clear bottle with gold top) - Once the makeup is finished, spray this product over the face to preserve the look for several hours.

Giella Matte Extender (round silver cap) - Mixing this into cosmetics will mattify colors and reduce the shine on oily skin.

Sephora Brow Scissors (scissors beneath the brushes) - Banish an unsightly unibrow or cut false lashes into pieces with this handy tool.

Giella Grape Seed Oil (skinny clear tube to the right of the brushes and scissors) - If you're working with, oh, I don't know...Clint Eastwood, use this to soften his skin and cuticles. And if you want to give him a dewy look, mix it with liquid foundation or concealer.

L’OrÊal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black (black tube, gold top) - A rich mascara that blows up the lashes...with volume, that is.

Face Matte Oil Absorbing Sheets by Alcone Professional (the white rectangle with a woman's face) - Use these instead of powder on set to avoid leaving chalk-like dust hanging in the air. Everyone will appreciate it.

Giella Vitamin C Ginseng Moisturizer (orange-y tube beneath the sheets) - It may smell delicious but do not allow anyone to eat it.

Make Under Transparent Coverage (tube beside the moisturizer) - This will create a base on the model's face and mattify the skin. Translated into paint terms: it's a primer.

Telesis Makeup Remover (the white tube on the other side of the Olay thing) - A creamy makeup remover that won't irritate the eyes or skin.

Kevyn Aucoin Lip Pencil in Medium (pencil beside the makeup remover) - A universal shade that's a bit darker than natural lip color.

Makeup Forever 12 Flash Color Case (the box that looks like a child's watercolor paint set) - Much like the children's paint set they resemble, these colors can be used alone or mixed and matched to create just the

right shade. Add in other products as desired.

Make Under Eye Transformer (white round container with the red mark) - A primer for eyelids that prevents the eye shadow from absconding. Dust it with a bit of translucent powder.

RMCA Foundations (two white round containers above the Makeup Forever case) - Apply this foundation with a brush and then blend it in with a sponge; the result is full coverage that can easily be built upon.

Giella Eye Dazzle (little round white jar above the RMCA Foundations) - Bedazzle the tear ducts with this loose powder eye shadow. Sounds painful, but it isn't, for you.

Ben Nye Neutral Set (to the left of Makeup Forever) - Neutralize the Face! But don't shout that as you apply it, because then people will look at you funny.

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer (two round burgundy jars above the pink sponge) - Concealer, but don't use it willy-nilly: save it for those spots where things didn't go quite the way you wanted them to.

The Beauty Blender (pink egg-shaped sponge) - As there are no sharp edges on this sponge, it won't leave streaks when it's crammed into every crevice of the face. It also washes easily for repeated use.

The Body Shop Lip Exfoliator (silver tube with black bottom to the left of Ben Nye) - Eliminates chapped lips and works well as a base for matte lipstick. Kind of like a high-end version of that glitter Chap Stick middle school girls use.

Mattese NYC Q-tips - For elite, precision touch ups, the skinnier the better.

Preo Individual Eyelash Curler (the silver thing beside the Q-tips) Gets to those hard to reach eyelashes that average curlers just give up on.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler (the other, regular eyelash curler) Outfitted with a rubber cushion, this curler will leave those lashes with a more natural curl.

HOOLA by Benefit Bronzer (above the curlers) - This is one bronzer that will not make models look like they've been dusted with Cheetos.

16 Resource Guide to:

SET BUILDER: Michael Bednark (www.bednarkstudio.com) Clockwise from the lower right hand corner.

Drill bit kit - It's always good to carry an assortment of drill bits in every conceivable width, length, and head type. Also, throw in a socket set.

You'll need it.

18v cordless circular saw - Excels at cutting large sheet goods, such as plywood, and any hands that get in the way. Be careful.

18v cordless hammer drill - Attach one of those bits to drill holes or distress and age your props so they look like someone's actually used them.

Scraper - Designed to remove paint and varnish. It's another tool that can be used to distress your set and to make it appear lived-in.

Black sash cord - A handy tool for tying things down or back, such as those damnable drapes that just won't stay still.

Sureforms - Dozens of tiny planes clustered on a metal surface, Sureforms are used to shape and carve foam. Sort of like a cheese grater, but not.

Cordless nail gun - If you're James Bond, it can be used to dispatch bad guys in funky sunglasses. But since you're not, you'll mostly just apply molding with it.

Mitre box - Cut wood from angles of 0 to 45 degrees, but not without wearing your safety goggles, mister.

Torch - Use it to remove paint and solder objects together, or have some fun with it and distress furniture, brown a turkey, or char anything that

needs charring.

Japanese acrylic saw - It cuts acrylic. And it's Japanese. Kind of explains itself.

T-50 staple gun - An adhesive tool, but much, much more fun to use than glue.

Trick line - Invisible wire that can be used to manipulate props on set.

Later, you can tell people it was all magic.

Streaks 'n' tips - Technically a hairspray product used to darken hair and cover bald spots, but in this case you can use it to age objects and make them look dusty. Afterwards, it easily wipes off.

Steel wool - If the set is too glossy or too new, buff it down with steel wool.

Pounce bag - A powder filled bag that distresses sets and wardrobes by emitting dust. Comes in several delightful colors such as black, NYC dust, and sepia.

Hudson sprayer - Fill this up with watered down paint to quickly cover large backgrounds and break up surfaces.

Butyl - A hulked-up version of that poster tacky you used for your dorm room posters. Only this stuff works. Attach objects to the wall or secure ones that won't stay still. It’s easily removed afterwards and leaves nothing behind, quite unlike you.

Resource Guide to: 17

WARDROBE STYLIST: Renate Lindlar (www.renatelindlar.com) Lint roller, lint brush – To clear away all those tiny pieces of everything that inevitably find their way onto every single inch of fabric.

Safety pins - Buy them by the bushel.

Binder, paper clips – Use them instead of safety pins to tighten a toolarge garment if you want to be able to return it.

Tape, tape, and more tape…and lost of double stick tape too - Put tape on the bottoms of shoes to prevent them from getting dirty (and thus preventing you from returning them). Use the double stick version to prevent belts from flapping loose, or to keep the ladies from falling out of their dresses.

Fun Tak - Another use for that stuff you hang posters with: making a model’s finger bigger so a too-large ring won’t fall off and land in the nearest drain.

Jewelry shine cloth - Don’t worry: it also works on cubic zirconia.

Goo Gone towelettes, Shout wipes, baby wipes… - Anything that can possibly stain the model’s clothes will. Keep these on hand and patrol with vigilance.

Antibacterial wipes - Courtesy wipes for the ladies before they plug in a pair of earrings.

Collar extensions - They increase collar size and are easily hidden by a tie knot.

Big and small scissors - Always versatile and handy, but be careful with them around people.

Static Guard - Clingy clothes are about as welcome as clingy people. This will help at least with the clothes.

Pre-threaded sewing kit – You can buy one for about a dollar, instead of having your poor assistant make one form scratch.

Shoehorn, shoe mitten, shoeshine, shoelaces, insoles - Shoeshine boy not included.

Tape measure - For those rare cases when you actually want the clothes to fit the model.

Wire ties (the kind you close garbage bags with) - Good for making necklaces shorter.

Cable ties - These will ensure that suitcases and bags stay shut.

Pincushion (with pins), thimble - When shooting just the clothes and no model, pin them ferociously into place.

Clear bra straps - An elegant dress isn’t so elegant when the bra straps are showing.

Bra extender - Give the model more breathing room.

Underwear - They will keep everything covered.

Nipple patches - To preserve modesty and good taste.

Makeup cover hood - Put this over the model’s head between wardrobe changes to prevent makeup from smearing all over the clothes.

Spritz water bottle - To help with ironing.

Rubber bands - Instead of paper clips, use these to make belts tighter in the back.

Mini-eyeglass repair kit - This is the one instance when you don’t want to use tape.

Tie button - To hold ties in place.

One big trash bag - Because it’s easier to carry around than a lot of small ones.

Latex gloves - They make cleaning up messes less icky.

Airsickness bags - If anything gets wet, put it in here. Don’t use plastic bags: they always leak.

Ziploc bag - There’s always good catering.

Razor and shaving cream - Technically the hair and makeup crew should have this but they usually don’t.

Brush ups, toothpicks, dental floss - Especially dental floss. Someone always asks for it.

Tampons, sanitary napkins, and panty liners - For the, uh...

Sunscreen, Buzz Away - Outdoor shoots are rough enough already. This will make them slightly less hellish.

Basic first aid kit - It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Single-use eye drops - They’re much more hygienic than having everyone share one huge bottle.

Plug converter - This will fit your three-pronged monstrosities into twoprong holes.

Box knife, pliers, multi screwdriver - MacGyver only used a Swiss army knife, but let’s face it, you are no MacGyver.

Corkscrew - How else will you open that bottle of wine after a long day’s work?

Birthday candles, matches - It’s always someone’s birthday.

Small Krazy Glue bottle - Does this need introduction?

WD-40 - Handy for props, or if the photographer is having trouble with the tripod.

Hand held electric fan - For the grueling summer heat.

Heat pads - For the grueling winter cold.

18 Resource Guide to:

PRODUCER: Anonymous Laptop - Use it to send e-mails, find great restaurants, get directions, or look busy. Mostly that last option.

Cell phone - Stay connected to the world around you, then kill time with Bejeweled.

Calculator - Make sure it's a scientific calculator. You know it’s good because "scientific" is right there in the name.

Business cards - These are essential if you ever hope to win a free lunch.

Oh, they also help with networking, I guess.

Checkbook - To amuse yourself later, write something crazy in the memo line, like "Clown Murdering" or "Merry Arbor Day!" Credit cards - Always remember to keep a spare for when the first one gets maxed out...maybe you should carry two spares.... okay, three.

Money - Because without it, you're not a producer.

Folder - Keeps those contracts nice and crisp.

Paper - It's better to have too much paper than not enough. Isn't that right, tree killer?

Notebook - Free the demons in your skull by filling it with tiny, meticulous scrawls no one else is ever allowed to see.

Watch - Typically used in conjunction with the “speed-it-up” hand wave.

Sunglasses - Never let them see your true emotions.

Bottle of water - Prevents dehydration. That's just smart.

Gum - What better way to show your impatience than constantly snapping a piece of gum?

Lip balm - Schmoozing doesn't go so well when you have chapped lips.

Receipts - For later reimbursement and tax write offs, fill an envelope with your receipts, including those found on the ground.

BABY WRANGLER: Anonymous Assorted crap - As a baby wrangler, your basic job is to keep the baby calm, cool and collected. This means entertaining the little tyke and keeping him happy while everyone else carries on with their business. Sounds easy? Then you've clearly never been around a child.

Take with you anything and everything that you think might even remotely interest a baby, from rattles and noisemakers to pop-up books and stuffed animals. And please, don't bring anything the baby could swallow or hurt himself with. He might find that shiny aluminum foil intriguing, but it's best to keep it out of his mouth.

Back up all that fun by being an energetic firecracker of boundless joy.

Never let the facade slip. If you're in a pissed off mood, so is baby. And if baby's pissed off, so is everyone else on the set. And who are they going to blame? You can try to pin it on the rugrat, but it's not going to work.

INTERVIEW:

Jay Boogie

Jay Boogie. Willie Nelson fan personified.

Underwear model without a care. Elusive to the point of being annoyingly unearthly, Jay takes tattoo addiction to the next level and inks his body the way Jackson Pollock splatters canvas.

Interview: Ana Callahan Photos: Carissa Pelleteri

W

hen he was 18 he saw himself on a billboard for the first time and described it as being “pretty cool.” Boogie tells me about more “pretty

cool” stuff as he leans against the stoop of a St. Marks tattoo parlor where he works. It’s one of those summer days in New York that is about as nice as being inside of a stewing crock-pot. While interviewing him, I realize he must be one of the most laissez-faire models in a city where most have to be nauseatingly concerned about every last detail.

While others go hungry for their next shoot, Boogie manages to dance his way into David Lachapelle studio through his own private agency. The agency is simply called “Jay Boogie”. He has been on a shoot with Donatella Versace, has rubbed elbows with countless supermodels, and claims that Kate Moss would be great with a different head. Words like Versace and Calvin Klein don’t seem to register with him, in fact, he doesn’t even blink an eye. His fashion sense goes along the lines of: overalls, Doc Martens, and forget the shirt. His tattoos simply speak for themselves, not to mention the piercings. Ask him about the one that got ripped out on a bus and watch him become strangely animated.

Boogie has all the makings of a rock star without the filler. The only thing edging on “model behavior” was the fact that my editor, our photographer, and I had to chase him around for over a week to get even a word or a photo out of him. Tracking down Jay Boogie is comparable to the search for the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail of tattoo.

How did you get your name, Jay Boogie?

I’m from the Bronx, way down in the Bronx.

When is the first time you ever saw yourself on a billboard?

When I was eighteen.

How did this happen? How were you cast at first? Were you just walking down the street and then someone was like ‘Hey! You could be a model”?

I was skating down Union Square and this chick picked me up for a Levi’s ad.

Then after that I got picked up for a couple of other things.

Who was your favorite photographer to work with? Who was the one that you had the best time with?

Terry Richardson.

Did he make you get naked?

Not butt-ass naked, but close enough.

Really?

Yeah, David [Lachapelle] got me the most naked.

Does he yell a lot?

At his staff, yes.

What is the craziest request you have ever gotten from photographers?

Hold my nipple rings and squeeze my dick.

Do you have weird issues when you go on a photo shoot?

Yeah, other models swear that they’re hot shit, but they look like they are made out of plastic. They’ve got their portfolios with them and I’m there sitting with a beer in my hand, looking at them and laughing. Then I get the fucking job.

Do you have a favorite designer?

No, I don’t care about fashion.

Do you read any fashion magazine at all?

No, not unless I’m in them.

Have you ever met Kate Moss or any of those models?

Never met Kate Moss, I just saw her at a party. Didn’t say nothing to her.

She’s pretty?

She’s alright.

She’s “alright”? Don’t you think she’s really attractive?

Eh. “Eh”?

I’d change the head.

Did you meet Donatella Versace?

Yeah. Broken English. I didn’t really hang with her. I said a few words and then she put her foot on my junk.

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

Twelve.

Is there such a thing as a tattoo addiction, like once you get one you want to keep getting more? Is that a myth?

No, it’s real. We put heroin in our ink.

No, seriously! Is there some sort of high?

Well, what happens is that you get one and then you look at the other side and there’s nothing. So you kind of want to balance it out. Then you keep looking at what you don’t have and get more.

Have any campaigns ever retouched your tattoos out?

Yeah. A lot of them because there are cuss words on me.

Oh, really? Which cuss words?

Well, let’s see. I got: “fuck”, “bitch”, “shit”, and it says “kill” a couple of times.

Are you pierced somewhere interesting?

Yeah. Cock ‘n’ balls.

Which one of your piercing hurt the most?

Uh, left nut I think.

Which one made you the horniest out of all your piercing? Which one made you kind of go like “yeah that felt really good”?

Neck.

Let me see it! Wait, why isn’t it there anymore?

It got pulled off.

In a fight?

No, a three-year-old kid pulled it off.

PHOTO DECO-PAGE:

The Zen of Red Hook Story: Sara Ciaverelli Photos: Hiroki Kobayashi

What makes your neighbourhood yours? After walking around the many areas of the city, we came across a defining element. Something that is smattered everywhere, possesses an artistic feel and makes a wall stand out more than it ever has before: G R A F F I T I. It’s a marking of territory that we embrace as a part of our everyday visual aesthetic. It can be crude, unique, and sometimes when it interacts with nature, a profound balance of peace and chaos may be captured with the snap of a camera‌ There is one particular endangered maze of colorful cement walls where art leaps over plants and onto grey blocks. IKEA threatens this serene equilibrium with its plans to create yet another bland block-long building in its place, erasing an integral part of the neighborhood. We now invite you to take a closer look with us as we stroll through Red Hook, Brooklyn.

30 Location

Story: Sara Ciaverelli | Photos: Hiroki Kobayashi, Keith Telfeyan and Jason Kremkau

The one-dimensional portion of a wall that enters the frame of your shot can be elegant and understated while it is saturated with endless possibilities.

What about the space that would meet your gaze if you were to look up this very moment? Can you see a bit of its location reverberating off it? Or maybe you’re able to pinpoint a piece of yourself in its interior. Photographers are able to take in the blankest of spaces and see its true character or how it gently complements the beautiful girl in front of it. So, take a look at our stories behind the walls‌

Photo this page by Hiroki Kobayashi

Photos this page: Top left: Keith Telfeyan, right: Hiroki Kobayashi Middle left: Hiroki Kobayashi Bottom: Jason Kremkau

History 32

Early on in their career, Queen was labeled

everything from “promising” to “pretentious” by the press. Little did either party know just how influential and revered the British rock band would become.

With a flair for the dramatic and the operatic, Queen became one of the greatest acts of all time, spanning three decades of fame and 14-plus albums, as well as recording some of the most popular songs in music history. But in January 1974, they were still virtually unknown, about to release their second album, Queen II, and looking for the right photographer to capture their style and persona on film.

Meanwhile, Mick Rock had already garnered enough acclaim from having been David Bowie’s photographer during the Ziggy Stardust tour to be awarded complete access to such acts as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Syd Barrett. Queen’s management set up a meet-and-greet with the two, resulting in a photo session that created what the public now knows as the “classic Queen” pose: the darkly lit, dramatic picture with the four band members (Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon) that inspired the “Bohemian Rhapsody” music video.

Resource recently chatted with legendary rock photographer Mick Rock (who still shoots the crème of the rock world today) to find out what it was like shooting the enigmatic, regal band.

On getting the gig: “In early October of ‘73, their management company contacted me to set up a meeting at Trident studios, where they had their recording studio and management offices. And there they were, all four of them. Three of them were very vocal, but one wasn’t: John Deacon.

He was actually quite quiet and to this day still is.

The other three wanted to know how I felt about their music. They played the album for me and I remember going, ‘Whoa, it’s like Ziggy Stardust meets Led Zeppelin.’ That was the comment that got me the gig. They figured I got the message of their music. For an unknown band they were certainly ambitious but also incredibly confident.

They were quite upfront in telling me how this was going to be a significant album; they were pretty sure they were going to make some kind of serious impression out there.”

On the band members: “Freddie had been to Art College, Brian was studying Astrophysics, and John Electronics; Roger was trained to be a dentist. So these were very bright guys. These were not your regular British band members of the period. [Queen] was definitely [made up of] middle class lads. They were very articulate; they were very charming. Freddie was the one I bonded with quickest because he was the one that not only made the band but also designed the logo and lettering. They were very ambitious, very bright, and frankly not at all pretentious in reality. They knew what they wanted and were determined to get it. These were incredibly talented people. They were very much in control of their destiny from the beginning.”

On the concept: “Even though they didn’t know much about photography, Freddie, more than anybody else, was very alert to image. He was the

most sophisticated in terms of how they thought about their image. Their brief to me was—and again, this was very ambitious for a band that hadn’t sold many records, but these were the days when there was some extravagance in the packaging—it was going to be a gatefold album cover.

The theme had to be black and white, and it had to feature the band, but after that I was on my own. I was the art director as well as the photographer.”

On the “classic Queen” pose: “I had recently met a guy called John Kobal. He had this incredible collection of old Hollywood movie stills he’d picked up in the early 60s, when he’d been trolling around the Hollywood lots and this stuff had been thrown out. They saw no value back in those days of these old photographs.

I had done John a favor: he had a new book coming out about Hollywood, essentially a picture book with words, and he needed a picture for the dust jacket as a promotional photo and in return he gave me a few prints. One of the pictures I chose from his collection was this shot of Marlene Dietrich on the set of Shanghai Express with her arms crossed and in that particular light.

I showed Freddie a copy of the photograph of Marlene and he was instantly enamored. I think the idea of being Marlene Dietrich is what really turned him on. That became one of the shots, this black and white of him posing like Marlene.

The decision was made that that would be the black shot. That’s the genesis of all that.”

On the set: “It was a lot easier for the photographer to get that shot of Marlene Dietrich because she had the discipline and had been around film for quite a while. It was a much tougher job for

me to get all four of them lined up the right way in order to get the hooded effect on the eyes.

There were loads of interruptions. One or the other wanted to get up and look in the mirror to make sure they looked pretty.

I used a Hasselblad. The beauty of that format is it’s a square, the perfect format for an album cover. I was up on a ladder above them and had to keep changing angles, and it was obviously just one light source (electronic flash with one head and an umbrella). And these guys were not professional posers like Marlene.”

On the decision making: There was no decision made before we took the pictures as to what was going to be the outside and what was going to be the inside cover. But there was some rumbling among the other three members of the band: they thought that maybe it should’ve been the white shot. I think maybe they were a little intimidated, because the shot looked like they were a “big deal” already. Obviously the black shot had a certain resonance to it, and they had been slightly stung by the little bits of press they did get which accused them of being pretentious. There was a little bit of fear that maybe they would be safer to go with the white shot on the outside.

But Freddie badgered the other three and they acquiesced, as they always seemed to do in those days if Freddie really felt strongly about something. But it was right down to the wire as to what was going to be the actual outside cover shot. Fortunately Freddy prevailed and I know the band is really happy that he did.

Mick Rock’s new book “Classic Queen” is now available from Sterling Publishing.

Queen II

HISTORY:

Queen II, by Mick Rock - January 1974, London. Story: Charlie Fish | Photo: Mick Rock

Round Table of Truth 35

Please give us a little background on yourselves.

Ralph Mennemeyer: I own an agency, M Represents, which has thirtynine photographers, with a partner in London. We cover as many categories as we comfortably can. Some agencies are all about cars; some are all about beauty or fashion: we’re much more generalized than that, we cover the whole gamut.

Who has more power on deciding who will shoot a campaign: Art Buyers or Art Directors?

RM: An Art Buyer told me recently that they are so overworked, it’s more important to reach Art Directors than Art Buyers, especially with the young generation of Art Directors coming in. She said, “We’re immune to schmooze, we’re immune to the gifts, the lunches, none of that matters.”

Ed Varites: My agency is JK &. I partner with John Kenny. We’re more of a boutique agency: we only have 13 photographers. Some of them are more on the artsy side. We have some younger guys who come from the art world but their work is applicable to commercial assignments. We cover just about everything except for heavy automotive.

CV: Art Buyers are today very involved with production. You find them more often on locations than in the agency, which makes our jobs as reps more challenging. How do we get their attention when they are out busy producing?

Colleen Vreeland (formerly Hedleston): I work for Elizabeth Pojé + Company. We rep twenty photographers on the East and West coasts.

We are automotive heavy and we’re transitioning to be a little bit more well rounded, taking on five new photographers this year. We cover the gamut between lifestyle, still life, and food.

EV: I know there are art departments that blacklist certain reps. You have to be careful with that. But if the Art Director wants to use your photographer, there’s a really good chance that he will get the job.

That’s why we ask our guys to make their own appointments, because Art Directors are always a little wary about reps.

How has the industry changed these last years?

Are photographers responsive to your suggestions to take the initiative?

RM: This is an ever-evolving business. There used to be a lot more assignment and illustration work. A lot fewer photographers, a lot fewer agents. You could put all the reps in a small hotel room back then. It was harder to be a photographer, physically harder. Photographers were still shooting under dark cloths and dealing with chemicals. Technically you had to know your shit, but today you don’t even need to know how to light. Just shoot it and fix it with Photoshop later.

CV: Budgets were bigger because you were shooting fewer campaigns.

Now with usage being out of control, if the client has unlimited use, they can run that campaign three or four years, which didn’t happen before.

RM: Usage fee really came about in the mid 70’s. Prior to that clients ran the ad forever anyway they wanted and paid you a day rate. That was it. It’s almost like they are trying to get back to that business model, but there’s no way that’s ever going to work.

EV: Some are, some aren’t.

CV: Some turn around and say, “You’re the agent.”

EV: “That’s what I have you for.” But I can only shake so many hands in a week.

CV: Or make so many phone calls. There are some photographers who are really good at it, and there are some who not in a million years would I want to ever put in front of somebody for a long time outside a shooting situation.

RM: Photographers need to understand we’re partners with them.

Because they have an agent now doesn’t mean they should be sitting around waiting for us to call them with a layout. It’s about more people rowing the boat.

36 Round Table of Truth

EV: We always tell our guys, “Go shoot some new stuff for the book. Take someone out to dinner, go show your book.” It’s not a one-sided thing: everyone rows the boat. Photographers can’t just call and say, “Where’s the work? What’s going on?” I’m like, “You kidding me? I wish there was something going on. We don’t make money unless you made money.”

CV: They’ll say “buyout”, and I’m like, “Think about your talent’s costs.

Maybe you don’t need unlimited-unlimited when you are probably only going to run the ad in trade and consumer advertising, with no billboard or packaging.” But it’s just become so competitive you don’t want to be turning away jobs. I also have a lot of West Coast talent whom I have to bill as local as the clients won’t pay for travel.

Do you have any particular pet peeve?

EV: We get calls, “So where’s he based?” Well, where do you want him to be based? He’s in Australia, he’s in Tokyo. We’ll get him there.

RM: I know of one agency where the art buyer is using her husband for quite a bit of the photography. It used to be you could lose your job over a thing like that. Nepotism didn’t fly. In my mind, it’s vaguely illegal and a little odd.

CV: I’ve had clients coming back on their word. The job is awarded, the PO is in the works, the crew is getting ready, then the creative director, who’s been on location for the last three weeks, sticks his head out of the sand, walks over and says, “Oh, we’re not using him, I’ll get my friend.”

EV: And you can only say, “Thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity.”

CV: I love it also when the client picks the photographer. Now that’s an account person’s faux pas. What also happens sometimes is that approved budgets get suddenly questioned. The ad agency just wanted to get you in, and then tells you, “I know we agreed on this amount, but if you could do better…”

RM: People have completely forgotten the number one word on the top of every estimate: ESTIMATE. EV: Yes, it’s not an invoice.

RM: It’s not a guarantee.

CV: There’s even supposed to be a plus or minus ten percent contingency. And what’s ten percent these days? It should be plus or minus twenty percent.

CV: We always try to make it work. But the buyout request makes our job harder.

RM: Photographers a lot of times cave on money. They always say, “Oh, get me the most, get me the most,” but when it comes to either do the job for less money or not work, nine times out of ten they’ll cave when we wouldn’t.

Is there a difference in attitude between your male and female photographers?

EV: Our one girl, Jillian , is amazing! She is the hungriest one. She’s based out of London but she will fly over here to meet an Art Director if there’s a job.

CV: I wish there were more females. We have twenty photographers, and only two female photographers. I don’t understand why. Sometimes family can interrupts things temporarily. It has to be factored in.

RM: I’ve worked with some female photographers who started families and never wanted to get back into the business, which from an agent’s stand point hurts a little bit. On a big picture scale, they made the right decision, no question. From my standpoint, I spent years building their career and they stepped away from it. It was financially damaging.

Are you more cautious when a female photographer comes to you?

RM: To tell you the truth, if it’s a great book, I don’t care if they’re Martians.

Do you feel clients are unrealistic in their demands?

EV: Clients want everything now: unlimited time, unlimited use. They don’t want to have to bother buying the usage in two or three years, they just want the whole show.

Do you ever broker deals with other agents, where you both put it together and split the commission?

Round Table of Truth 37

CV: I used to. People don’t want to split commissions anymore, that’s the thing.

EV: We tried that with a west coast agent. Didn’t work out so well. I always say that if all the agents made one company, which agent would the client call? If this was to happen, you’d have to poll the photographers and see what they say, but I don’t think they would be too happy. Anything is possible, but there would be a lot of conversation, a lot of things to work out.

RM: You’ll find that a lot of partnerships have come together over the years, and it’s very interesting. I think as a business model for the future, if we’re going to have any power in this industry, coming together is the rule.

Because we’re fighting Getty and Corbis. Who could be bigger than that?

CV: I agree. And they just don’t do stock sales anymore since they are now repping photographers too.

Under what circumstances do you turn away projects, or are there projects that photographers stay away from?

it.” It’s a little bit easier.

EV: And normally you kind of know that. You feel the same way before they come to you.

RM: Some repping agencies have a business model where they’re constantly changing photographers so that there’s a new reason for Art Buyers to go there.

EV: We’re always really careful about who we take on too, very careful, because even if you see someone whose work is great, you really have to think, “Is the work applicable? Can I market it?” It might be the coolest book in the world, but if you can’t turn it into advertising dollars then that person is just going to sit out there on the roster.

RM: I think there’s a certain lifespan for photographers. It is a youthoriented business. A photographer will probably have five years of struggling with editorial and the like, and then hit a stage of maybe another five to ten with solid consistent work, and then after that it can absolutely drop off like a cliff, or it can wind its way down. Any photographer who thinks the gravy train goes on forever is smoking crack.

CV: We don’t rep people who don’t want to work.

What’s the one quality that makes you want to take a photographer on?

EV: A couple of our guys don’t want to shoot tobacco. One doesn’t want to shoot liquor campaigns. We don’t turn things down, but there can be scheduling conflicts.

CV: Passion.

EV: Motivation.

CV: Or if the clients slash the budget. We’ll have those long discussions: “Is it creatively appealing, is there a new production challenge or something I’m getting out of it?” We have a list of questions that we feel gives everything good value. And if we answer no to three of the five, it’s probably just not worth it.

RM: Personality. I’ve seen some great books, but the personality has to match.

What do you think people are looking from you?

RM: We’ll take a pass on clients who are bad with money or have a history.

RM: Honesty and hard work. It’s not a 9 to 5 job.

EV: There’re some agencies when they call you’re like, “Not again. No.” You know it is going to be a nightmare, you can feel it.

EV: Personality: as an agent you have to have personality. Along with perseverance and poker skills when it comes to negotiation.

What do you do if a photographer isn’t working out? How do let them go if you have to?

CV: The best-case scenario is if they come to you saying, “I’m not feeling

CV: A tough skin and a soft touch. Photographers hire us to take the rejection they can’t handle.

As Seen in Resource Magazine 39

AS SEEN IN RESOURCE MAGAZINE:

American Plume and Fancy Feather Story: Joe Fassler | Photos: JJ Sulin

H

e’ll stick a feather in your cap, but he won’t call it macaroni.

For Jon Coles, manager of American Plume and Fancy Feather in Midtown, feathers are no laughing matter. His shop, lofted above a drab block in the Garment District, has no sign, but it houses enough material for all of New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

Taking the elevator to the top floor of 247 West 37th St. is like entering a jungle Dr. Seuss might have envisioned. Feathers in mish mashed swaths of dark, elegant tones and leafy neon cascade from floor to ceiling. Boas are draped on every conceivable surface like whimsical vines.

Exotic masks hang on the walls. Fleets of large fans hum, with fluffing feathers, giving the shop a breezy, outdoorsy feel.

And everywhere are towering stacks of boxes with scrawled descriptions: different greens, purple and light purple, assorted royal blue, chinchilla ostrich, strung marabou hot pink.

Mr. Coles is the absolute master of his gaudy kingdom. He bounds throughout the shop, cordless phone in hand, tending to clients, “Pheasant you want, right? Not rooster? What color?” he can be heard saying, and then, “We’re all out of the thin yellow!” When asked about his business, he talks feathers the way Tiger Woods hits a golf club or Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello. “People call up from out of town, and the first question they ask is, ‘How much are your feathers?’” he laughs. “I roll my eyes back in my head! Each bird gives you about seven different types of feathers, and they’re all different prices, all different grades.” And unless you like white, you’ve got to factor color in too. “Fluorescent dyeing costs more than regular dyeing, but speckled dyeing,” he gestures towards a set of distinguished-looking, thickly dappled plumes, “costs more than anything.”

Coles’ work is in-demand, so of course he has help. In the spacious back room, half a dozen women sit demurely at tables, nimbly sorting, stitching and assembling feathers into a variety of accessories. “These are my girls,” Coles says affectionately. He trained the floor leader himself, but she’s trained the others because, he explains, “I have no time for training people! I have enough with my own work!” And clearly, he’s been busy over the years. The Broadway shows he’s worked on are the all-stars of modern musical theater: Chicago, La Cage aux Folles, Cats, Dreamgirls and The Producers. The shop even gave wings to John Travolta’s drag-y turn in 2007’s Hairspray.

Newspaper clippings line the walls, bearing headlines like “Jon Coles: The Feather Guy,” “A Piece of Fluff” and “Temple of Plume.” One article likens him to a feather-fledged Willy Wonka, and as he ricochets from room to room, enthusing over his many masterpieces (the pink feathers hanging from Sandra Bullock on a poster for Miss Congeniality 2, the curled green plumes soon to be featured on stage in Wicked and the immature ostrich feathers being readied for Cirque du Soleil) it seems an uncanny comparison.

Ask Coles if he has a favorite feather, and his answer is immediate. “My favorite color’s red. My favorite feather is ostrich. So give me red ostrich every time,” he says. “If my wife would wear feathers…” he trails off, and sighs. “But she won’t.”

American Plume & Fancy Feather 247 West 37th Street #16E New York, NY 10018 (212) 921-2828 www.americanplume.com

FASHION:

Styling in the Snow

By Sara Ciaverelli | Photo: Helena Palazzi | Designer/Stylist: Annebet Duvall from Ford Artists | Make-up: Kim Weber | Hair: Gigi Gommers from Ford Artists | Set Designer: Brian Byrne | Model: Julia Lazareva from Next

S

o how does a stylist compete with a model adorned in the designs of Doucette Duval?

Take a page out of our magazine and see how a snazzy tool belt might just do the trick. Fanny packs were never in, but tool belts are rocking the fashion scene in the production world. Not only do they hold every necessity that a stylist can dream of, but it avoids those “pain in the ass” scissors in the back pocket (you know what we’re talking about!).

Why insist on making your life harder? Pick up a tool belt at your nearest hardware store and fill ‘er up with your tools of choice. The photographer will be thanking you for not stopping the shoot just to get the tape from your kit!

Leopard Georgia dress by Doucette Duvall ($545), vintage sweater vest and hat from RRRentals.

Fashion 41

Margarita gown by Doucette Duvall (price upon request, by special order only), Chanel shoes ($785), vintage hat from RRRentals, tool belt from Home Depot ($2.99)

42 Fashion

Carmel Zsa Zsa dress by Doucette Duvall ($850)

Black Wrigley dress by Doucette Duvall ($575), vintage stripe shirt and argyle sweater from RRRentals.

Doucette Duval: www.doucetteduvall.com 212.269.2618

Industry Tales 44

INDUSTRY TALES:

The Hairline Horror Story: Justin Muschong | Illustration: June Glasson

A

s a makeup artist and hair stylist, it’s my job to turn average looking people into beautiful superstars. Even the rich and famous can look dowdy and schlumpy under normal circumstances: when they pose for a photographer or appear on television, I am called into action to create the illusion of sublime, ethereal beauty.

Some present a greater challenge than others.

An aging country music singer needed to be fixed up for a long day of interviews promoting her comeback, which included the requisite new CD and a tell-all book. It was 4:30 in the morning and I was stifling yawns as I entered a posh hotel on New York’s West Side. The ornate lobby was decorated with gold trim, wood paneling and marble columns. The bored concierge barely acknowledged me as he rang up her room and received her permission to let me upstairs.

When the singer greeted me, I saw that she had already done her makeup in full, down to the thick false lashes clinging to her eyelids. Her choices were not the ones I would have made, but as long as she was content, so was I. Only her hair remained for me to do.

She sat down in a chair with a towel wrapped around her shoulders. I took out my tail comb and began to brush her short hair, the color of which I suspected was not natural. After a few brush strokes, I parted it in the middle and glanced down. What I saw stopped my hand and my heart!

Swollen scars held together with black stitches crisscrossed her scalp; fresh evidence of some recent face and neck lifts. They were still moist with clear fluid oozing from the lacerations. One ran from ear to ear across the top of her skull. Another went around the back. Together they resembled the stitching on the world’s biggest baseball. They were bisected by a third scar that ran from the top of her forehead down to the base of her skull.

I froze, unsure of what to do next. That’s when the smell hit me. It was a bit like a medicinal reek, reminiscent of hospitals or newly scrubbed bathrooms, but mostly it was a sickening rot, the kind of stench that crawls into your sinus cavity and spreads across your brain. It would have been hard to take when I was at my most alert. At five in the morning, I wanted to weep and crawl back into bed.

The singer noticed my hesitation and pressed a coloring stick into my hand. “Here,” she said, “It’ll color my roots and hide the scars.” Her tone was friendly and nonchalant, as if it were a normal occurrence to scour raw plastic surgery incisions with hair care products.

“Maybe...they’re a little too...recent...” I stammered, but she shook her head and insisted on makeup. With a trembling hand and a held nose, I obeyed, covering the wounds with strawberry blonde and begging myself for forgiveness. Images of Frankenstein and Darth Vader inevitably popped into my mind. I banished them and tried to blank out, focusing so diligently on the task at hand that I wouldn’t notice the tight skin straining against the stitches that were keeping it firmly in place.

After this ordeal was mercifully over, I moved on to styling. I covered her scalp as much

Industry Tales 45

as I could, trying to get those scars out of sight, but her hair was thin and I kept coming up short. She noticed and said, “Oh, honey, if you need more hair, there’s some in that suitcase over there, in an envelope.” Suppressing a shudder, I inched over to the suitcase she had indicated, a huge monstrosity containing more clothes than a department store. I shifted through them, grateful to be performing a task that took me away from her head. I found the envelope under a pile of monogrammed robes, but rather than hair, it contained a thick stack of hundred dollar bills.

Swollen scars held together with black stitches crisscrossed her scalp, fresh evidence of some recent face and neck lifts. They were still moist from the clear liquid oozing out of the lacerations.

A brief image of the singer appearing on national television with her hair padded with Benjamin Franklins flitted through my mind before I turned to her and explained the situation with the word, “Umm...money?”

“Really? How much?” I gave her the envelope and she quickly flipped through the wad, murmuring, “That’s strange. I don’t know where this came from.” I resisted the urge to relieve her of the burden that keeping track of her money seemed to pose.

She shrugged and tossed the envelope back toward the suitcase. It landed on the floor and sat there, the green bills bulging from the opening. “I guess you’ll just have to make do.”

And so I did, using every trick I had ever been taught, every secret ace I had up my sleeve. After the arduous process of making her gorgeous was complete and she was safe for public consumption, I fought the urge to run out the door screaming and stayed on to perform touch ups between interviews. During one, a young reporter asked the very daring, original and creative question: “How do you keep yourself looking so young and vital?”

There was no hesitation in the response, and her face did not betray any contrary thoughts. “I don’t do anything special,” she boldly stated, “I’m just happy, everyday, in a nice little house in the countryside. Happiness is my beauty secret.”

But maybe she was right. If a lot of money and plastic surgery made her happy, who was to say that wasn’t her secret? In the end, all that mattered was that her check cleared.

Are you thinking...

“Hey! I got great shots from around the world!

My work should be published.

What’s up with that?”

Well, here’s your chance.

Don’t think.

Don’t sleep.

Just WIN!

Submit your photo for the International Productionist Contest!

Go to our website for more details and to submit! www.resourcemagonline.com

48 International

INTERNATIONAL:

Tokyo, Madrid, Beijing Chicago, Moscow

By Sara Ciaverelli

Photo production thrives throughout the world, and our duty is to connect our readers to the soul of our internationally united industry. Although we may exist miles and miles away from each other, the one thing that joins us all is photography (and, hey, the occasional job to London or Tokyo helps too). The next 8 pages showcase personal interpretation of the photo industry from far-off destinations, giving a taste of culture to those of you who haven’t applied for a passport yet.

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Tokyo, Japan: Artist: Keico | Title: Shooting Game - ver. Smile | Camera: Polaroid SX-70 ALPHA1 / 600 film

Concept: Shooting people is fun but not with a gun. With a camera you can take their smile, you can even make them smile again. > www.air-paradis.com/photo/ > www.myspace.com/sx70_lover

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Concept: The internal divide between myself and my homeland; the manifested divide between China’s hyper rise and its people. > www.stylocreations.com

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Beijing, China | Artist: Thomas Lee | Title: Sihui, Beijing | Camera: Canon 1Ds mark II

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Concept: This is shot from a train leaving Chicago toward Michigan. The train on the next tracks is going the opposite way, and my train is in its shadow. I was doing fairly long exposures, trying to catch light between cars to get an image. In effect the cars of the opposite train were my shutter. > www.humanfiles.com

Chicago, USA | Artist: David McGowan | Title: Leaving Chicago | Camera: Nikon D200

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Madrid, Spain | Artist: Marc van der Aa | Title: Massive the other way | Camera: Canon 30D with 17-85 mm lens

Concept: This picture was taken during the performance of Massive Attack at the Weekendance Festival in Madrid.

Weekendance is a two day festival, held one day in Madrid and the next day in Barcelona, both days with the same line up, consisting of bands such as Faithless and Too Many Dj’s and dj’s such as Sven Vath and Hernan Cataneo. > www.marcvanderaa.com

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Concept: As a photographer, an important aspect to my work is the edit.

With one shoot you can build dozens of different stories just by the edit. In this situation, the concept didn’t crystallize until I had a collection of various shoots. I noticed that one could have an edit of the test shots of the standins. And just as in physically shooting a photo, one needs to “see” what’s there in front of them. It was a concept that came about rather then me going about shooting it. It wasn’t until I started to edit these shots that I realize that there was something quite captivating about the material that was never meant to be seen by anyone. There’s a banality that’s exactly opposite of what the final shot of the actual subject was to be. In the world of commercial and editorial photography, what is shown is a product of art imitating life and what I had in this edit is really, life imitating art. Or is it vice-versa? > www.pauleng.com

Moscow, Russia: Artist: Paul Eng | Title: Stand-ins | Camera: Canon 1ds Mark II

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T here was a time when driving was a luxury.

Classic Car Club (CCC) revives the tradition of long Sunday drives, road trips and driving a car worth being seen in. A yearly membership gives you the privilege of tearing up the pavement with some of the most enviable cars out there. The premise is simple, but the rewards

By Stephanie Nikolopoulos | Photos by Kumiko Suzuki are extravagant. Beyond the dazzling spectrum of classic cars at your fingertips, members – including celebrities – have the unique opportunity to meet like-minded devotees at the Club’s many networking events.

Self-described as “a worldwide private members club,” CCC unites car enthusiasts from around the globe. Phil Kavanagh began CCC in 1995, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, where people enjoy bangers and mash and call soccer “football.” Since its London success, CCC has branched out to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Copenhagen. In the summer of 2005, Michael Prichinello and Zac Moseley opened their first Statesside garage, right here in Manhattan. Prichinello touts that it was time to “bring auto emancipation to the States!”

Classic Car Club Manhattan is located in a 9,500 square-foot storefront at 250 Hudson Street, a touch west of SoHo. With subways, buses and taxis tunneling through the city, driving is generally not a necessity in New York City. Bumper-to-bumper traffic from sun up to sun down makes it even hard to imagine why anyone would want to drive here. “We strategically placed the Club in a neighborhood that’s easy to escape from,” explains Prichinello. “Within a matter of twenty minutes, you’re powering through upstate on Route 17, heading up to Connecticut on the Hutchinson River Parkway or just pulling up to Bubby’s on Hudson Street in a Bentley.”

Right now, the clubroom is haphazardly multifunctional. It’s got all the right amenities, but looks just a notch above the waiting room of your local mechanic. Ranging in interest from Autoweek, Gotham, Men’s Journal, to Nylon (the clear winner being Maxim), the obligatory magazines for you to browse while waiting for your car sit in neat piles on a black leather ottoman. As a CCC member and the founder of Third Eye Studios, an architecture and industrial design studio, Marc Thorpe

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saw the need to enhance the Club’s current space to match the elegant cars and prestigious members it hosts. He has designs in the works for the new CCC Lounge and Café to open in Spring/Summer 2008.

Thorpe’s description of the clubroom includes words like “honest,” “raw,” “progressive” and “organic.” He envisions the lounge and café to have a symbiotic relationship with the garage, echoing the craftsmanship of the cars: “Luxury is translated in details and textures, in both the cars and the space. Every screw matters in the construction of a Ferrari.

The same approach is taken in the construction of the CCC Lounge and Café. The cars and the lounge are both made out of the same materials: metals, glass, wood and leather. The new CCC Lounge and Café are an extension of the cars and vice versa.”

Although joining CCC can seem like an unnecessary extravagance, it serves a very practical purpose. When owning even a dinky car held together with duct tape means paying parking fees in the city equivalent to what people in the flyover states pay for apartment rent, CCC offers a solution. “After becoming a member, the only cost is the fuel you burn,” declare the CCC’s website. “All the other costs attached to owning and operating the cars (insurance, tax, maintenance, repair, storage, security, breakdown recovery, etc.) are covered by the club.” Thorpe joined the Club because he needed a car to get to business appointments outside of Manhattan. For Thorpe, “anything red, Italian and with a prancing horse is first choice,” but renting a Ferrari would have cost him a pretty penny. A Ferrari F430 goes for $1,750 on a weekday at Gotham Dream Cars. In comparison, CCC charges a one-time initiation fee of $1,500, and a standard membership comes to $7,500 a year.

Whether it’s a sports car or a touring vehicle you’re looking to get your eager hands on, CCC boasts more than thirty of the world’s most desirable automotives. Prichinello explains the Club’s elite selection process: “They all have to have a place in automotive history or have to lend a hand in automotive progression. To us, the Shelby Cobra is clearly a classic, due to its racing pedigree, but the Lotus Elise is a classic too because of its race platform for the street, or the new Corvette Z06, which is 505bhp of ultimate American design. Our fleet is made up of cars that make you drool.”

A flashy Parnelli Jones Limited Edition Saleen Mustang is among the latest cars to strut through the garage doors. With only five hundred of them in the world, CCC members belong to the lucky few who get to drive one. Meanwhile, if you’ve always dreamt of being Steve McQueen in Le Mans, you could rev up the engine of the Club’s Porsche 911. Or if you find the car Eva Longoria drives on Desperate Housewives sexy, you could take the Aston Martin DB9 out for a long smooth ride.

There’s a large selection to choose from to suit your every whim and mood.

Prichinello thrives on driving these cars. “I love the ride to Limerock Raceway on the Hutch. Route 17 to the Adirondacks

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“Our fleet is made up of cars that make you drool.”

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is a good one, or the Manhattan 500 (as I call it!), which is up the West Side Highway, right on 125th Street, down the FDR, through the Battery Tunnel and back to the Club at 250 Hudson Street.” Any occasion becomes an excuse to show up in a classic car. Thorpe says you’ll volunteer to pick people up from the airport, while Prichinello admits, “I’ve been known to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond in a Cobra. Anywhere is fun in a great car.”

CCC also organizes special activities for its members.

“This week we went Kart racing in Upstate New York,” says Prichinello. “We’re racing our Spec Miata in a six-hour endurance race next weekend … and we’re going to Limerock to race some racecars on Thursday.” On a grander scale, they’ve thrown caution to the wind for their annual Rally to Hell, where they ripped through America to get to Miami or New Orleans.

Back at the Club, there’s always a party or cultural event going on. There is happy hour on Thursdays, and a wine tasting recently took place. A poker night that “raise[d] thousands of dollars for local charities in need,” drew more than three hundred members.

Between the fast cars, high-stakes gambling and flowing alcohol, it seems the Club garners fly-by-the-seat-of-theirpants individuals, rather than the mid-life crisis variety often associated with beautiful cars. Prichinello assesses, “They’re younger than you would think. Our average member is about thirty-eight years old and they’re adventurous. A lot of selfmade entrepreneurs, media-types. Our doctors are the perfect example: we have seven surgeons, but they all prefer to work in the ER, where the action is.”

There are also celebrity members like Heath Ledger and The Sopranos’ James Gandolfini, who is always taking out the Mustang. Thorpe says he missed Robert Downey, Jr., one day when he came to pick up an Aston Martin.

“The Club is just one of the coolest places in New York City,” boasts Prichinello. “Yes, there’s millions of dollars worth of cars strewn about, but it’s fun because we have members in the mechanic bay turning a wrench and learning about the cars with our mechanics, a few others will be racing on our 60inch TV and X-box and others will be having a drink at our bar.”

“Cars are the common bond,” says Thorpe, but both he and Prichinello agree that CCC isn’t just about the cars. A highend, private club such as CCC appeals to the type of people who can afford to have their own cars. In fact, Thorpe reveals, “Some guys bring their cars to show off.” What sets CCC apart from being a mere rental service, is that it’s what Thorpe calls “member-centric. It’s a great opportunity to meet people.”

Classic Car Club gives its members the opportunity to drive the most incredible cars out there. For a few hours, behind the steering wheel of one of these machines, you can feel, look and act like a millionaire.

HOUSE OF EXECUTION The Fashion Wizard of Oz

From Hollywood divas to international corpora-

tions, House of Execution bends to the fashion needs of the world’s most exacting clients. The firm is the beloved baby of designer Camilla Huey, providing samples, designs, and consulting for runways, productions, and performances.

Nestled in the heart of the ever-shrinking fashion district of Manhattan, the studio offers a sneak peek into the work and rhythm of this specialty couture shop.

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66 Where To Take Your Client Out

T

rue to her name, Camilla Huey lives in color, from her vibrantly exotic yet earthy demeanor to the fabrics that she creates. I knew this from the first moment that I

stepped onto the 16th floor studio of House of Execution, with its neatly ordered shelves of every hue lining the hallway, forming a rainbow of their own.

At age five, Camilla Huey stretched tiptoed and eye level with her sewing machine, pushing fabric under the whirring needle. Today, corporate clients and celebrities alike, from Donna Karan to Vera Wang, Sarah Jessica Parker to Jennifer Lopez, clamor for the products off Camilla’s sewing machine at House of Execution.

“It didn’t matter what I made, I just wanted to wear it,” she reminisces on this overcast afternoon, perched on a vintage red-andwhite striped loveseat. Large windows with white drapes offset bold crimson seat cushions in the airy space of her studio. A pair of black high-heeled shoes lies neglected in one corner of the hardwood floor, while my mind contemplates the future wearer of a gold glittering dress currently flaunted on a headless mannequin.

Camilla never thought inside the box. Her mother a painter and father an architect, she was bound for art school but was never an “academy” artist, despite receiving a scholarship. “I thought ‘What fools!’ … They’re going to pay for what I do?” she reflects coyly with a half-hearted twinkle in her eyes.

Ignoring the standard curriculum, Camilla explored courses that caught her fancy: ceramics, printmaking, bookbinding, metals, enamel, printing …and textiles.

“The textiles… it was like I had caught on fire. There it was: it was paint on canvas, on a fabric, but you could wear it, you could do something with it. It went out with you, it wasn’t just hanging on a wall, you know, in someone’s house or your house…I thought it was great to take it off the wall.”

Immediately upon moving to New York, Camilla’s first job and irrefutable talents surrounded her with top-notch company and clientele.

Her first order was to paint a silk gazar (a fabric similar to chiffon) with flowers, “tossed,” she emphasizes with a flare of her dancer’s arm, “like if you had thrown a bouquet of flowers across a piece of fabric and they landed there.” This dress was worn by Lady Byrd Johnson, for the dedication of the Night of the Wildflower, and received rave reviews by none other than The New

York Times.

Camilla now admits that from her first week in New York, she had “no sense of reality… because that was my world.” She flips a cluster of dark brown hair over her shoulder, her own delicate gold jewelry gleaning a distinctive yet subtle shimmer, reminisc-

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“The textiles... it was like “I had caught on fire.”

Is America

Ready

European Style Advertising?

for

By Justin Muschong | Illustrated by Michele Rosenthal | Photos courtesy of Vincent Dixon

By Melanie Blythe | Photos by Jeremey Bot

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S

o, you’re on another photo shoot. Chances are that the photographer just might happen to be all decked out in an ensemble of black on black on black on black. As with any group of people, photographers come in all shapes, sizes, genders and styles; yet while photographers and artists seem more colorful in spirit, flavor and uniqueness than the Average Joe, why is it that this creative crowd often dresses in black?

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Some photographers don’t even realize they do it. Just last week I was working with a photographer in his studio planning a shoot when I posed the question to him. I said, “Why do photographers wear black?” He laughed politely and said, “I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t think that they do.” I cleared my throat, and then casually gestured for him to look down at his own clothes. After he eyed his own completely black outfit we both broke into a fit of laughter.

Even photographers’ portfolios, cases and cameras are often black. A few photographers break out of this trend, but most stick with black: it looks professional and doesn’t show the smudges from the cupcake the art buyer and/or creative director were eating while handling the book. Plus, black portfolios look hot when they match the all black outfit the photographer wears for the clients meet and greet.

Generally speaking, black clothing has an artsy quality to it, making it almost anti-corporate and reminiscent of a more creative lifestyle. The prevalence dark clothing is apparent at most social gatherings, as we see that every woman owns at least one little black dress, while every man has at least once pulled together the black tee under black sports coat look. There is a natural slimming quality to the classic black outfit; some just take advantage of this more than others. And, everybody knows that wearing black kind of makes you look like a badass.

This phenomenon doesn’t stop here. The history of how this trend developed took years to culminate in our society and maybe for more than just the purpose of fashion. Think back to the 4th grade and you will probably remember that the human eye sees colors and shades in a specific way due to scientific color theories. Tomas Perez, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, explains it for us, “Simply put, white light is composed of many wavelengths of light that are perceived separately as different colors. Pigments can reflect specific wavelengths to impart color on an object. Black is more appropriately defined as a shade, which means the lack of reflection (or absorption) of white light, irrespective of wavelength. In short, black is the absence of any light.”

As I understand it, a specific color will be affected by the other colors surrounding it. If a photographer wears a crazy mint green sweater, the image he is photographing might be affected by said crazy mint green sweater. It would then be best if he wore black (absence of color) so as not to imprint crazy mint green sweater colors upon his own image. I suppose you could say the color theory is not just all black or white.

Historically, wearing black started in the theater and shifted to photographers and other artists through time. E. Dale Smith, theater teacher, playwright and director, describes the origins of wearing black: “Backstage black clothing is worn so stagehands vanish as much as possible from audience view, while onstage black costumes are commonly used as a neutralizing color, as often seen in Brechtian theater. Also, in theory black is the easiest to light and can be dramatically and aesthetically pleasing as part of a larger stage picture.”

Denis Defibaugh, Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, and photographer of a newly published book, “The Day of the Dead”, says, “It originated when photographers worked in the dark room so no light would reflect from their clothes onto the

print or film. It also allows the photographer to blend into a crowd and inconspicuously take photos. The future will see photographers in black because it has become a successful trademark of the profession.” He also noted, “they wear black because photographers are cool.”

According to Kurt Thometz, a rare book dealer and author of “Life Turns Man

Up and Down: Highlife, Useful Advice and Mad English”, the reason that photographers wear black has to do with “absence of color, absence of light, death, darkness and the unknown. It dates back to the Middle Ages and 18th Century French poets. During my lifetime, it’s been in constant fashion [and photographers most likely dress as such because] black is a neutral palate and wouldn’t influence the light in the room.” After a brief pause, Thometz smiled and added, “plus, black turtlenecks keep your neck warm.”

Some of the photographers I asked said that they wear black because it is as neutral as possible, allowing them to disappear into the background and record the image they are seeing without reflecting anything unnecessary into the photograph, further supporting our scientific color theory. However, some photographers don’t believe this concept and claim that they just enjoy wearing black.

Although fashion may be the reason for some, these other theories about why photographers often wear black may still be behind this trend for others.

The natural allure and appeal of black is excuse enough to put on any slimming, light absorbing, fashionable, and practical clothes. This is a trend that not only has a history and a purpose, but it looks good on you too.

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“I don’ t want people to lose fo other a cus on each nd the produc t”

It’s not just frozen yogurt.

It’s a wicked brain freeze on hydraulics. And behind each quivering brain cell is Pinkberry’s mastermind, president and designer, Young Lee. He’s a Parson’s product, former Jean-Michel Basquiat party pal, sweet-tooth visionary, burning to turn desperate sugar cravings into guilt-free, positive experiences at a corner store near you.

What first began in 2005 as a last resort following a failed attempt to open an English teahouse, Pinkberry has become the new crack, and is now known as “Crackberry.” It’s available in Original and Green Tea flavors with your choice of twelve different toppings.

You’ll want to come back for more, and you WILL. Even after the Los Angeles Times conducted an independent lab test, which failed to prove that Pinkberry is in fact yogurt, “sales have risen 25% and have remained stable,” according to Lee. And although controversy still lies over whether or not Pinkberry meets the minimum 10 million cultures per gram required in frozen yogurt, we’re still Pinkberry devotees.

According to Young Lee, Pinkberry is a concept, and within it, “everything has a meaning.” Next-door is Baskin-Robbins, heating up the block with industrial fluorescent lighting and eternal spill-stained floors.

Pinkberry, however, provides an experience. It’s a welcoming soft-lit spot for the entire community with warm, bright colors to heat up your chilled palate and trip you out on a ride back to memory lane, when everything was warm and cozy, sort of like the fifties.

As a final touch, the cool Le Klint lamps mimic the swirls of Pinkberry yogurt.

To demonstrate his store’s all-around conceptual design, CEO Young Lee recently visited a Pinkberry in L.A. There was a melodramatic splash as Lee took

out a pitcher full of water and spilled the contents directly onto the floor, right in the middle of the store!

No sooner had heads turned the water had disappeared into the porous pebble stone floors. Lee later commented that the functional flooring is comprised of hand-laid stones imported from New Zealand.

Take that Martha!

It gets crowded in there so don’t be surprised if indeed you do run into Martha, Leonardo DiCaprio and other admittedly dependent fans like Paris Hilton and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Don’t be shocked either if you see your 10th grade high school math teacher, that cop who pulled you over last week for speeding or Grandpa. Pinkberry is a rush strong enough to leap over the age gap and into anyone’s mouth.

Leave your laptop at home: there’s no Wifi or Plasma TV’s at Pinkberry. Bring a friend instead and enjoy your guilty pleasure together over Phillipe Stark ghost chairs and tables. Lee believes that with technology people have become distant from each other and more within themselves. “I don’t want people to lose focus on each other and the product,” he says. “I don’t want that to happen here.”

You’re more likely to hear a revived techno-track of the 1967 hit, “The Look of Love,” by Nina Simone than the last bass blast you heard coming from the SUV riding next to you on the way over. It’s more than yogurt: it’s a fabulous excuse to flash back with your parents to their disco days and ask your dad how it really felt to wear bell-bottoms.

The conceptual yogurt shop’s success has competitors hungry for a bite. Its continual growth has clearly spawned a cornucopia of derivatives such as Berrywild, Eks, Yolato, Red Mango and Oko Yogurt.

china in chelsea 63

ng o r t s h s u gar r age e h “It’s a su t r e v leap o o t h g u outh.” o m en s ’ e n o to any n i d n a p ga

When asked about the copycat phenomenon, Lee admits it simply comes with the territory. He likes to compare it to fame and says, “You are not a star if no one wants to take your picture.”

In the end, however, his biggest concern is YOU: the customer.

He regards Pinkberry more as a concept than just a store. In his words, “everything has a meaning, everything must have a background and when you take someone’s concept and ruin it, it creates a bad experience for the customer.”

With plans to branch out beyond Los Angeles and New York, local rip offs don’t stand a chance against Pinkberry’s growing power.

It will soon touchdown in Taiwan, Singapore and London. Lee smiles and points out how over there locals call it, “Pinkbarry.”

No matter how you pronounce it though, the real question is: are you strong enough to survive the brain freeze?

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Commercial Production To history buffs the word “production” elicits thoughts of Marx and Engel’s Methods of Production and conjures images of assembly line workers, lined along a conveyor belt, who were in time replaced by machines. To varying extents artists have been grappling with these very concepts when borrowing industrial production methods.

But in the realm of photography, an art form that in essence captures light for a split second in time and imprisons it in an indelible image, it is only natural that production should be a more ephemeral and loosely defined thing.

Inna Khavinson of Inna Khavinson Productions has produced everything, from fashion to editorial to advertising shoots. She describes the responsibilities of a producer as, “Everything from putting together the budget, doing location scouting, organizing the crew [and doing] casting when necessary.”

With twelve years as a photo editor for Glamour among other publications before she began producing, Khavinson can attest that a commercial photo shoot requires a huge collaborative effort involving dozens of professionals. Depending on the number of people involved and the size and scope of the shoot, preparation can take days, weeks, or even months. Much of it is really the “no-brainer logistics of getting motor home and catering” says Khavinson. “I have this network of great people that I can rely on who are an integral part of making the shoot successful even though they are not in the forefront.” The producer’s job is to integrate and orchestrate these disparate groups so that the photographer can turn a vision into a reality.

The requirements for each shoot vary with the job. Mitsu Hagiwara of Hideoki Productions deals almost entirely with Japanese client. “Oftentimes,” he says, “[my clients] know what they need to get and I tell them how to get it and how much it’s going to cost.” But his responsibilities also extend beyond the shoot itself. “When I have time I don’t mind showing them around. I love it.

It’s a very good way to make lifelong clients.

I’m all about tour guiding.”

It’s not all pleasure on the company’s dime, however. Even the best-laid plans are subject to clients’ whims. “You have this nice schedule laid out and something changes,” Hagiwara explains. “They bring it up to the big boss for final approval and he suddenly decides that the location is not good, or wants a blonde model now. And it’s just a scramble.” You have to accommodate clients’ requests, and “there can be no mistakes because you really don’t get a second chance.”

Cindi Blair of Cindi Blair Productions/ Turks and Caicos Productions

has dealt with these kinds of quick reversals innumerable times. “Some companies are so big,” she says, “there are six people who need to approve either a location or a model or a prop. This process, though not difficult, is time-consuming because you are dealing with ten or twenty chefs in the kitchen as opposed to one.” Clients retain so much control because they are paying for everything. They have invested money into the set, location, cast, crew and postproduction, not to mention the campaign itself, with PR and magazine spaces, catalog pages and billboard, often on a global scale.

It seems money does make the world go round.

Even though there has been a downturn in the market Blair explains that commercial photographers “may say they have less money but on the whole they are getting paid more. The money’s still out there.” Khavinson agrees, although she laments that because budgets have shrunk and assignments are fewer and farther between, “the same very top photographers are getting all the jobs. It’s not like it used to be when there was more money and more opportunity for younger talents.” Because of this, “it seems that some clients are turning to stock photography.”

Cheaper, readily available due to the proliferation of the Internet and the high quality of digital photos, stock photography has been growing as an alternative to assignment photo shoots. Hagiwara has also seen the future. He says, “In still life, I think digital photography has really opened up the field for more people. It’s more competitive and you don’t need as much experience to get high quality shots.” Perhaps the future of the industry lays in a merging of assignment photographs and stock shots. “By being able to photo-compose people with stock photography you are only going to have to drive the car onto a soundstage…there will never be a weather day again.” He believes that professional photographers will never become obsolete however. “The intimacy between models and photographers will always trump any kind of technology.”

Fine Art Production Quancard Contemporary Art is a new company with a new idea. The woman behind them both is Muriel Quancard-Johnson.

Before she jumped into the fledgling field of fine art production Quancard-Johnson worked as the director of Yvon Lambert Gallery and the manager of Casey-Kaplan Gallery in New York. As she explains it, “The producer’s job in the art world is to produce works that are too complex for the artists to produce themselves. The job is so new that it is still not clearly defined yet. When I started my company a year ago I didn’t know of anybody doing that.”

Quancard-Johnson drew upon her experiences and observations in the gallery world when mak-

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ing the leap into production. She explains that money has allowed artists to tackle new modes of production that were formerly prohibitive, especially in New York with its high concentration of art galleries and dealers. In the past, financing would normally be the responsibility of the artist, but with the intense competition between galleries, many of them have taken on the roles of producers.

This has its drawbacks, she feels. “ Galleries have staff to install the work, but they do not have engineers or skilled specialists to produce complex sculptures or installations.” Quancard Contemporary Art positions help artists by coordinating the production and putting them in contact with organizations other than galleries that are able to finance or commission their works.

Though art has often been erroneously viewed as a solitary pursuit, many contemporary photographers have begun employing large staffs and methods of production that would be familiar to their commercial counterparts. When Gregory Crewdson shot his latest series of surreal suburban dreamscapes in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he brought with him set designers, builders, hair and makeup artists, lighting specialists, and a select group of A-list actors such as William H. Macy and Tilda Swinton. Multiple rooms were built on a soundstage. In Ophelia, an elaborately staged scene of a middleclass family’s living room, the set is flooded with three feet of water. In it a woman floats in a nightgown, delicate and apparently dead.

Cinematic and rife with narrative, Crewdson’s photographs are feats of absurdly high production value and would never have been possible even a few decades ago before budgets expanded so explosively. “Budgets in fashion and advertising used to be much higher than in fine art, but it has changed,” explains Quancard-Johnson. “There is a lot of money injected in the art market. Artists work with bigger budgets because there is more demand and people are paying more money to buy their work… because of that they have been using production methods that are comparable to ones of commercial or fashion photography. They are able to hire a team.” But unlike photographers in the commercial field, each and every decision in the process of creating the work is the artist’s alone to make. Crewdson and other fine art photographers are not beholden to the guidelines set by an editor or an ad agency footing the bill.

We cannot discuss high production value in modern photographic art without mentioning Thomas Demand, who employs a mini factory of assistants in creating his work. Starting with images culled from mass media, ranging from German filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl’s archives to shots of Saddam Hussein’s kitchen in his hideaway in Tikrit, Iraq, Demand and his team of thirty to fifty assistants assemble life-size paper and card-

board replicas of these tableaus, which he then photographs with a large format camera before destroying them.

While Demand explores the concept of photographs as representations of reality, new artists utilize commercial techniques in order to comment on the monetary aspects of commercial photography. Kalle Lasn, of Adbusters magazine, openly subverts the magazine as a medium for social and political purposes through mock advertisements. Jeff Wall, an artist from Vancouver, showcased his cinematically staged photos as transparencies mounted on lightboxes with his installation Overpass in 2001, an idea directly inspired by backlit bus stop ads in Europe. Many artists react and comment on the increasingly blurred boundary between commercial and art photography.

It seems these days one cannot escape the ubiquitous images of Terry Richardson’s snapshot aesthetic. From the pages of Vice magazine has emerged an entire movement in advertising that (though utilizing all the tricks of production, with makeup and hair artists, perfect casting and the best catering and locales) on the surface seems to reject the excesses of big business with its amateurish feel. Jeff Burton’s photographs have emerged as a kind of antidote to Richardson and his ilk. Whereas Richardson’s photographs flagrantly dart back and forth across the borderline that defines porn and fashion, Burton’s works find the art in pornography. As an art student making a living shooting for the porn industry in Los Angeles, he began taking personal photographs on the set of adult films. A glimpse of an actor’s feet on worn shag carpeting, the reflection of a bare torso in a framed print above a sofa, there is tragedy and narrative contained in each print. Perhaps Burton’s work is the most subversive of those who have been discussed here insomuch as his photographs stand as the only true example of Ready Made Art comparable to Duchamp’s urinal. The production is there, provided by the adult film industry, but Burton steals moments from it and re-labels them as his own.

No matter where a particular artist’s work falls on the spectrum of art and commercial photography, there is one point in which all works are in agreement: money. It takes money to make money, whether for the photographer, the crew, the ad agency or the gallery. If there is a definable difference between the two fields, then it lies in their purpose. Photographs by fashion photographers like Helmut Newton or Guy Bourdin may hang in galleries and on walls of posh hotels but most commercial photographs will solely appear on magazines or billboards, only to immediately devalue. Fine art photography, however, if it garners critical praise and recognition, will only gain in intrinsic worth for what it is - a snapshot of one person’s vision, in a place and time that can never be revisited.

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While some photographers strive for accurate photographs and blemish-free results, others seek out noise, strange colors, and artifacts for their work. This can be for artistic purposes, or for when a client asks for something different. As digital processes become more efficient, and common post-camera plug-ins proliferate, photographs increasingly look the same. There will then always be a need for a look that differentiates work from the mainstream.

An option to help set your photos apart is to use expired film, particularly expired Polaroid and Fuji instant pack and sheet-films (”peel-apart”, not “integral”1). The unique chemical process used in both the black and white and color instant films often leads to pleasing results when used after their expiration date. A wide range of effects can happen when using expired instant films, such as a reduced color palette, color shifts, color substitutions, on image artifacts, or incomplete images.

Unfortunately guidelines for what types of film to use, and viable expiry dates to choose from are impossible to define because the films are affected by not only age, but also where and how they have been stored. Correctly stored film can last many years; Polaroid black-and-white film from the 1970s has been used successfully with nothing more than reduced contrast. Yet, some color film barely past its expiration date could be nearly unusable because it had been stored in a garage in tropical Okinawa.

Temperature during storage appears to be the variable with the greatest effect on possible end results. It causes changes to the chemicals, and dries out the development pods. Worst of all, it can also affect the complex tab glue and pulling process on pack films, not allowing you to properly remove the film from the pack or causing problems with separation of the prints (not an issue for single sheet films). The film’s position during storage can also affect the results, as gravity will work its slow effect on the chemicals in the pod, causing them to flow sideways if not stored flat.

Unique and compelling images that look a little familiar but have distinctive qualities can be obtained with the right combination of film type, age and exposure techniques.

1

Integral Polaroid films include a battery pack for self-ejecting, and do not involve the `peel-apart` process. Depleted batteries compound the

problems with using Type-600 or SX-70 films passed their use-by dates.

DPN

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When he was about five, the King Kong he saw on television had a huge impact on him, as it has with generations of filmmakers. King Kong and his fellow beasts on Skull Island were brought to life through the stop-motion animation created

by Willis O’Brien. His apprentice, Ray Harryhausen, would go on to be the most famous stop-motion animator of all time. In 1958, Tippett saw one of Harryhausen’s films, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, reinforcing the initial impact King Kong had on him.

O’Brien and Harryhausen’s specialty is more specifically referred to as model animation. Unlike the stop-motion characters in Corpse Bride and the Wallace & Gromit films, the characters created using model animation are intended to “interact” with flesh-and-blood actors to give the impression that these fantastical creatures actually exist in something approximating our reality.

Wallace and Gromit can look like cartoons and move in distended, unbelievable ways because their world allows for this. For model animation, the armatures must look and move as if they are living, breathing animals that could hold their own against their human counterparts. It’s no easy task bringing the unreal to reality, but it can certainly be fun and rewarding for a person inclined to the task as Tippett soon discovered he was.

There weren’t many resources available in preInternet California for a young kid eager to learn the tricks of stop-motion animation, but Tippett

was able to find an early supporter in Forrest Ackerman, a science-fiction fan who ran a magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Tippett gleaned information from the magazine and began making his own experimental short films, using whatever objects he had on hand.

He eventually met several other young animators through Ackerman. He began getting his first jobs doing television commercials as they formed a small working community. Tippett worked job to job, learning what he could from several mentors in the industry and earning money to see him through his studies at the University of California, Irvine, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Art. His college studies focused on Art History, which he claims gave him perspective. “Having that background facilitates communication when you’re trying to convey what you’re looking for,” says Tippett.

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, times were slow for the special effects biz. The New Wave movement was starting to take effect in Hollywood, and films were generally becoming more realistic, more socially conscious, and less escapist than in previous years. Think Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, Nashville, and Taxi Driver, films reflecting their time. There was not much call for model animation, but Hollywood moves in cycles, and it wasn’t long before classic escapism would return in a big way and Phil Tippett would get his break.

“

It’s no easy task to bring the unreality to reality. But it can certainly be fun and rewarding for a person inclined to the task, which Tippett soon discovered he was.

”

When Star Wars went into production in the mid-’70s, Tippett was asked to assist the stillyoung company of Industrial Light and Magic by creating additional alien costumes. George Lucas became aware of Tippett’s interest in stop-motion when he saw an armature Tippett had created. This led to Tippett and Jon Berg getting the assignment to animate the holographic chess players seen during the downtime on the Millennium Falcon. In the inevitable sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, model animation played a more significant role, and Tippett created perhaps his most famous work: the AT-AT Walkers, the enormous four-legged tanks seen on Hoth. He also animated the tauntaun, the friendly animal who serves as Luke Skywalker’s overnight shelter. On Return of the Jedi, Tippett was made head of the ILM creature shop, leading

movements would look too perfect. To get this effect, a series of pins were made to pop up on the miniature hill as the logs rolled down.

After filming this, the actual walker was animated to match the movement of the logs and then programmed into the shot.

In between the Star Wars films, Tippet developed a variation of stop-motion to animate the mythical beast in the film Dragon Slayer, giving him his first Academy Award nomination. This variation is called Go-motion, and it integrates existing stop-motion techniques into a new process. Traditional stop-motion has a less-than-smooth, herky-jerky quality since the animators work from pose to pose, sculpting the models as they go. Go-motion breaks down each movement into axes, which are programmed into a computer that con-

with some revolutionary technology.

By the time Jurassic Park was in preproduction, Tippett had become known as a “dinosaur guy.” Producer Kathleen Kennedy asked him to serve as an initial consultant, someone who knew dinosaurs and could translate their scale and actions into a visual, cinematic language. As the script was being written, everyone on the project imagined the dinosaurs would be created with conventional stop-motion animation. Then ComputerGenerated Imagery reared its head. You know it, of course, as CGI. It had been around for several years prior to Jurassic Park, but up to that point everything done in CGI wasn’t supposed to have the same tangible realness as dinosaurs and AT-ATs. Think of the T-1000 in Terminator 2 or the water alien from The

“CGI completely freed filmmakers from physical realities. Suddenly, anything they wanted to create on screen was possible”. the design and creation process of numerous alien characters.

A description of a special effect will give you an idea of the complicated, intricate nature of the entire stop-motion process. When those cuddly little Ewoks are battling storm troopers to the death on the forest moon of Endor, they topple an AT-ST Walker (the two-legged versions of the AT-ATs) by unleashing a tide of logs down a hill. To film this, a miniature hill was set up in ILM’s parking lot. The logs were filmed rolling down the hill at high speed to give them a bigger, weightier look; their very movements were choreographed to the smallest detail. The logs had to bounce into the air as if they were rolling over natural impediments on the hillside otherwise their

trols rods attached to the armature. As each frame is shot, the rods move the armature slightly, giving it a more life-like appearance in the finished film.

After a while work began to dry up as the special effects cycle ran its course yet again.

Tippett left ILM to establish Tippett Studios, beginning with a short film shot in his garage called Prehistoric Beast, an attempt to recreate the age of the dinosaurs according to the then-current scientific theories. This led to work on an animated documentary called Dinosaur! One of his most notable achievements at that time was animating ED-209, the faulty security robot for Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop. Just on the horizon, the special effects cycle was about to start all over again

Abyss. Those creatures looked otherworldly and surreal because they were supposed to be amorphous and insubstantial. It wasn’t until Jurassic Park that CGI proved it could create characters that looked so real audiences believed it when they stampeded over tropical jungle and ate lawyers off toilets. CGI completely freed filmmakers from physical reality; suddenly anything they wanted to create on screen was possible. Stop-motion’s herky-jerky movements were replaced with CGI’s smoothness.

For Tippett the transition could have gone better. As he puts it, “There’s a tendency for the future to sell itself at the expense of the past.” That past that was about to get so callously tossed aside was the foundation of his

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entire career. He became physically sick and was bedridden with pneumonia for several weeks.

Luckily, those chomping at the CGI bit couldn’t discount all of the work he had put into the industry. CGI was so new that everything it created looked too perfect. Most of the CGI animators had no experience in the field pioneered by model animation. They had been schooled in the traditional 2-D style and didn’t know how to give an object believable weight and mass. Creatures formed on a hard drive were too clean and didn’t fit in with the real world setting. Director Steven Spielberg brought Tippett back to help ease the transition. ILM and Tippett Studios developed the Digital Input Device: sensors were placed on traditional dinosaur armatures, which were then connected to a computer. The stop-motion artists manipulated the armatures frame-by-frame and the information was sent to the computer. The device was essentially an early form of motion capture, which is used extensively today for digital performances such as Andy Serkis’ turns as Gollum and King Kong. With the device, stop-motion animators could help bring the dinosaurs to life and show the CGI boys how things were done.

Following the success of Jurassic Park, which won an Academy Award for its special effects, Tippett Studios began

making the transition to CGI. Tippett found himself more frequently working as a supervisor and choreographer rather than a hands-on animation guy.

Paul Verhoeven tapped Tippett again, this time as the visual effects supervisor on Starship Troopers. This was an enormous project. An entire bug army had to be designed and created, and large crowds of ten thousand charging soldiers had to be rendered using computer graphics. This was an extremely complicated task even for a notoriously demanding industry. As is his custom, Tippett was on the set, making sure the actors’ eye lines matched the non-existent bugs that would be digitally inserted later. A great number of takes had to be performed to get the choreography just right and to ensure that the actors hit their marks.

Tippett’s efforts for the film would earn him another Academy Award nomination.

Tippett Studios continued working on projects that steadily grew in scale, and its staff and space grew with the demands. A special effects studio, Tippett says, is comparable to a small town: it needs to be fed and sustained on a steady diet of film and commercial work. He recently took on the ultimate supervisory role as the director of the straight-toDVD Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. The intention was to keep the franchise alive with a low budget sequel, which meant toning down the

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giant armies of bugs and cranking up the atmospheric horror.

Tippett says the difference between working on visual effects and working as a director is drastic. “Directing requires a lot more energy. The shooting schedules are daunting and you burn through material very quickly. It’s physically demanding.

With visual effects, you’re not at the center of the storm, you just help the director get what he wants.”

Currently, Tippett is working as the animation supervisor and character designer for The Spider Wick Chronicles, which is slated for a February 2008 release. There are other projects in various stages of development he can’t discuss, but he was willing to make some observations about the state of visual effects today. “Cinema has to sell spectacle over television right now. Studios are looking for projects that have synergy.

Visual effects can support that kind of imagery.” Tippett also mentioned that 3-D is currently poised to make a comeback, as evidenced by the recent brawns-and-beasts hit Beowulf.

Everything old is new again.

The cycle continues.

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By Jon Melamed Photos by Steve Duncan

We have just entered the Amtrak tunnel and Steve is already hollering “Anybody home?”

He is not trying to be cute by using the word “home”. Truly, this rat-infested tunnel located underneath the Riverside Park, just East of the West Side Highway, is the known residence of a handful of homeless men. Steve told me of this intention days before, but the danger of such an undertaking only took hold of me about an hour or so before we got on an uptown train towards the park. With the all too near future prospect of incarceration for trespassing and/or sustaining bodily injury, even a simple thought such as breakfast seemed futile. Would this chocolate coconut donut be my last meal? Should I have gone to a better coffee shop? This cup of burnt liquid, the wax from the paper cup melting and collecting on its stagnant brown surface, should not be my last. Who is this god-dammed Steve Duncan, dressed all in black and donning a fluorescent headlamp? What right does he have to lead me to my most certainly grisly death at the hand of a rusty shank-wielding derelict?

This is not Steve’s first time in the tunnel, but it is his first attempt at speaking with any of its inhabitants. He admits that he feels more comfortable with me in tow, and surely my dubiously large stature seems to only further his confidence. But I am only armed with a pair of designer eyeglasses and a piece of shit tape recorder. I am a writer with doughy biceps from the suburbs, and I brought no weapons as to not incur any more legal charges on top of trespassing if we are indeed caught and searched by Amtrak security or the cops.

Steve is in no way a coward. He has been traversing the unknown and inaccessible crevices of New York and other cities since 1996. Many people claim to enjoy exploring the supposed “underground” of New York City. To some that may mean patronizing a bar South of 14th Street and East of 1st Avenue. Others may get their lascivious kicks from Midtown massage parlors or West Side S&M clubs. To Steve “exploring the underground” has a much more literal meaning. With a degree in Urban History from Columbia and a digital camera in hand, he scales fences and lifts manhole covers to gain access to sewers and tunnels. He relishes the idea of being one of a few who, in a city of millions, will ever get to see these underground treasures. Through his photographs, which he plans to compile in a book, he wants to share with everybody his love of the abandoned, the derelict and the decrepit. Steve has traveled around the world, studying the history and exploring the underbelly of European cities, most recently Rome and Paris. He has also been known to climb to insane heights to get a great shot. He once scaled the Manhattan Bridge to capture an evening view of the sea of headlights from the Brooklyn-bound traffic and the illuminated windows of Manhattan’s concrete giants looking like fuzzy orbs of light in the distance.

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To reach the tunnel we have to enter Riverside Park and walk past the tennis courts and two park employees who seem more interested in sitting in the shade of the public restrooms than busting any trespassers. As I will later discover, the walls of the tunnel are heavily graffitied, and young men with large backpacks, although generally filled with spray paint rather than photo and recording equipment like ours are, are not a rare sight. So much so that the tennis playing yuppies, too busy chasing that yellow fuzzy ball in their all-white outfits, hardly look in our direction as we walk along the outside of the fences, turning our shoulders sideways and gripping the chain links as the overgrown brush whips at our faces. As we ascend a hill, the tall grass and bushes flatten into a narrow path, stomped down by frequent foot traffic. I begin to wonder, “Do these people know about the underground world that lies just below their immaculately white K Swiss sneakers? Do they choose to ignore that, just as an upturned rock in the forest exposes an entire civilization of insects, another world exists beneath their courts and only a few blocks away from their swank apartments?”

After walking along the West Side Highway, stepping over a fallen fence and jumping down a twelve-foot wall, we enter the tunnel, trading the fresh wind blowing from the Hudson River for musky, damp air. Although there are signs of life, signs of a “home,” with piles of books alongside rows of dilapidated footwear and worn boxes thrown on a rudimentary shelving unit, Steve gets no initial responses to his calls. After hollering a few more times, we are ready to give up. We assume that everybody is out enjoying a hazy day in the park, lying on benches, looking up at the sun, deflecting the judgmental glares from normal people. But just as we start to make our way further into the tunnel, kicking through piles of empty bottles and food containers - more evidence of a modern human’s existence - a head pops out from above the retaining

John is one of very few who still live in the Amtrak tunnel. About a decade ago it was home to the much-publicized “Mole People.”

These intrepid vagrants created a whole civilization down there with multi-roomed shanty homes built from plywood and other discarded materials.

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wall. It is an older black man with a graying goatee and hardly a tooth in his mouth.

Although his eyes are still squinted with sleep, he mutters that he would be happy to speak with us. He untangles himself from a mass of soiled blankets. He is bare foot but otherwise fully dressed in relatively clean Boss jeans and a Coors Light shirt. He struggles to put on his boots but then climbs down off the edge with the agility of a man half his age.

Holding court atop an overturned five-gallon bucket, he accepts a cigarette and introduces himself as John. We sit down cross-legged, trying hard not to fidget since any movement seems to cause the unmistakable scent of urine to waft out from the damp soil. He starts his life story with a heartwarming yarn about growing up in rural New Jersey: “The hog got out of the hog pen and went down into the woods, and we followed him. He ran into a corn liquor stall and he was drunk... We got down there and we got on his back, and we rode his ass home, my mother took a picture.” Suddenly a southbound Amtrak train screeches past and my instincts are telling me to press against the wall, make myself small, if not to avoid being struck, then at least to evade the train’s occupants and personnel. John reassures me as he casually crosses his legs, drags on his cigarette and says that the train traffic “doesn’t even exist.”

John’s story goes on for over an hour and at times borders on ridiculous, but I have no reason to believe that this man is insane. He is an articulate and engaging speaker.

He is a fantastic storyteller, his life story told chronologically as if he was a master of narratives. The idyllic childhood memories serve as a great introduction and set an amazing contrast to the stories of incest, robbery and drug use which led to his life on the streets and in the tunnel. Clearly, he has told his story before, and later claims that he has been interviewed by numerous journalists and was the inspiration (and even plays the part) of a homeless man in an independent film. I later search the movie on the Internet and, sure enough, he is on the cast list and the film’s synopsis satisfies John’s claims. I stand corrected but still cannot understand why such an intelligent man has resorted to living in such squalor. Perhaps it is penance for his years of criminal behavior.

John is one of very few who still live in the Amtrak tunnel. About a decade ago it was home to the much-publicized “Mole People.” These crafty vagrants created an entire civilization down here, complete with multi-roomed shacks built from plywood and other discarded materials. Tapping into the street lamps of the park, many homes had televisions, hot plates, heaters and other appliances that are commonplace in any normal home. But they were all displaced when Amtrak bought the tunnel and started running north and south bound trains out of Penn Station. The Mole People were cleared out and their shantytown bulldozed. Evidence of the demolition can still be seen in the tunnel: piles of rusted bicycles, splintered structural pieces of what used to be homes, shoes, and a most unnerving number of toy dolls, covered in filth and missing various limbs.

We continue to walk down the tunnel and the air gets even danker: the pages of my notebook wrinkling, the edges turning up from the moisture. Light is supplied every fifty yards or so by ventilation grates on the roof, which, besides letting in the sound of traffic from the West Side Highway and the dead echo of volleying tennis balls on the courts above, allow for slivers of daylight. Dust particles dance in the strips of late afternoon sunlight. Directly under these grates we can see large graffiti pieces. The more intricate works were done by an artist named Chris “Freedom” Pape. The majority of his artwork uses pop culture images to create ironic mosaics telling the story of the Mole People’s lives, struggles and eventual displacement. The other graffiti,

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sprayed arbitrarily throughout the tunnel, are a bit undeveloped and probably done by amateurs who take advantage of the tunnel’s privacy to practice their illicit art.

We do not encounter any more people until we are almost at the end of the tunnel.

We follow a trail of Styrofoam take-out boxes and dozens of white plastic bags with large yellow smiley faces (an almost perverse image to be found down here). Again the strong scent of urine pervades, a telling sign of life. We poke our heads up over the edge of a retaining wall and make out a small figure sitting cross-legged, the ember of a hand rolled cigarette like a lighting bug in the darkness. We ask if he would be willing to speak with us if we agreed to pay him ten dollars. We are answered by a violent fit of coughs. When was the last time he has even spoken I wonder? He finally introduces himself as Louis. We climb up over the wall and he warns us to be careful to not cut ourselves. Once he lights a candle we can see that he practically sleeps on a bed of broken forty-ounce bottles, a musty packing blanket serving as his mattress.

There is no ground in sight, just jagged edges of glass glistening in the candlelight.

Although the smell alone is enough of a deterrent, I wonder if the glass serves as additional protection, a spiky moat to keep trespassers from his abode.

I attempt to keep my footing as I crouch among the glass, trying not to receive a second circumcision from a broken Old English bottle. The prickle of insufficient blood flow to my feet becomes intolerable and I try to sit back on a ledge. Louis begs me not to sit down as I am close to where he pisses out the rotten malt liquor that he drinks in excess.

Louis warms up, and it becomes clear that he is extremely lonely. He is vague at best about how he ended up living in the tunnel and is more interested in asking us questions. When he does answer questions about himself they are muttered with an air of complete defeat. He states “You just don’t patch your life up in a few minutes,” and “All I need now is a place to live and then it’s pretty much over.” He claims that, “You’d rather stay out here than go to the shelters.” He denies any mental illness but is clearly an alcoholic. When he stands up to show us an easy way out of the tunnel, we can see how emaciated he is, his belt tight around his waist, his large jeans cinched to his hips, his t-shirt cascading over his thin frame.

We exit the tunnel through a construction site, scaling two ten-feet fences with fiercely sharpened, upturned ends. A curious German Shepard watches as we jump off the fence, then quickly retreats to the safety of its master’s crotch. Having spent four hours in one of the dingiest places in New York City, it feels strange to see normal people living normal lives, when you know what is down there, what we all try to ignore. But as we leave the park and walk onto 72nd Street we pass two very attractive ladies and I start to think about the prettier side of life. I joke to Steve, “I don’t think we have a chance of picking up those ladies the way we look right now.” Steve answers with bravado, “You kidding? We are badass. We can pick up anybody.” Hours later at the bar I tell my friends about my day, but I already feel detached, the only visceral reminder of my travels being my dirty jeans, crumpled in the corner of my room, smelling like piss. I have to commend Steve on his unyielding curiosity and I am glad to know that he will continue to traverse those unknown and ignored spaces and share the images he captures with those whom are less intrepid.

WHERE TO TAKE YOUR CLIENT OUT

Crispo / 8th Street Wine Cellar

Ever find yourself wondering where to have a drink with a client? Looking for a place that doesn’t have television screens blaring ads for the next reality show, where beer-chugging men spit past your ear, hitting on squealing girls who are ordering sour apple martinis...

Or a pretentious velvet scene dipped in Swarovski bling, full of gelled-up douche-wank suits, waiting to work the magic of The Game on some poor, unsuspecting soul...

Or a place so granola crunchy that it serves only tempeh plates to its macro-vegan, grey-skinned crowd that is in dire need of iron?

Michael Lagnese and Jonny Cohen said, “To hell with this,” and crafted 8th Street Wine Cellar with their own hands. For those of you who can appreciate the sweat behind hand-laid bricks and boards, you will be pleased to know that Michael and Jonny built their baby themselves from the ground up.

They envisioned a place for one of those winter evenings when you shuffle off to a bar, sip a glass of wine or a flawless martini and sink softly in your seat. And they have succeeded.

You can easily take a client here while it’s still light out, talk a little business, then tuck your work away and have a glass or two of reasonably priced Cabs ($8-14/glass). The list includes a variety of reds and whites from every region, micro brewed beers (nothing on tap – there are plenty of NYU frat packs a block away if that’s what you want), and Michael is never shy about his martinis. Just please don’t ask for any “fruity, sugarlaced, mixed blends.”

The 8th Street Wine Cellar opened its doors this past July, and the brick walls, clean lines and minimalist finish lack the character of your typical Village bars worn in over the years.

Luckily, they won’t be the new kids for long since the area is shifting from clearance shoe stores to new restos and jazz bars. Industry foodie friends from Babbo, Blue Hill and the

Union Square Café looking to wind down at the end of their work day come to snack on the Wine Cellar’s seasonal menu, consisting of fresh oysters ($2.50), pigs in a blanket ($6) and Ahi tuna sliders slathered in a pickled ginger mayo ($8). Even if wine isn’t your drink of choice, scotch and bourbon tastings also make an appearance in winter. So climb out from your cellar of a studio, peel off the scarves and faux fur coats and come chill out with the cool kids on 8th Street.

8th Street Wine Cellar 28 W. 8th Street b/w 5th and 6th Ave NY, NY 10011 212-260-9463 www.8thstwinecellar.com

8th Street Wine Cellar Price

$$

Food/Drinks *** Ambiance

**

Where To Take Your Client Out 125 Crispo 240 W. 14th Street b/w 7th and 8th Ave NY, NY 10011 212-229-1818 www.crisporestaurant.com

Crispo Price

$$$

Food/Drinks ** Ambiance

***

Special Icon Garden When the blahs kick in, the chilling air pricks at your face and your client stares back at you gaunt, famished and grey, it’s time to go to Crispo.

The front indoor dining area has the typical Village vibe, with mahogany panels and tables close enough to admire your neighbor’s date. However, a heated back patio garden showcases the breathtaking “Carriage House” – with the ultimate table to reserve directly in front of the beautiful rustic fireplace with chandeliers overhead.

The octopus salad ($11) begged me to take a bite, but I politely declined, because, well, it just didn’t look like food. In fact, it looked like Frank Crispo (the chef and owner) went to the bottom of the ocean, knocked out an octopus, twirled its tentacles around and around until a few of them snapped off onto a grill and plopped on top of strategically placed wilted frisée and some delicious Yukon potatoes. Quite frankly, the octopus was a bit overcooked, and I’m not a fan of sawing feelers in front of company. I doubt you would be either.

Hunger pangs started to kick in, and thankfully the aroma of Crispo’s well-known spaghetti carbonara ($18.50) wafted towards our table.

A beautifully tangled mess of spaghetti tossed with regular pancetta, smoked pancetta and prosciutto, topped off with a lightly poached egg and a flurry of shaved parmesan made my eyes salivate. The yolk smothered each al dente curve, twirling together a calorumptious dish that made up for a lackluster appetizer. The carbonara is definitely worth breaking your diet for, and hell, why are you dieting anyway? It’s winter.

Waiters and waitresses don’t deliver monologues here, but they also don’t seem to know much about the menu. Regardless, Crispo fills the house, even on a Monday night, so be sure to call ahead to book a feast for your stomach...and your eyes.

Luggage scale: The suitcase shuffle: that frantic transfer of excess weight from your checked luggage to your carry-on in the hopes of avoiding the airline’s overweight fee. The dirty looks and the shame over your incompetent packing skills can all be avoided with this portable luggage scale available at Flight 001. This is the definitive place for any traveler, with items you never knew you needed to have. Paper soap or pill towels anyone?

Flight 001 132 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 243-0001 – www.flight001.com Luggage Scale- $12

Coral:

Trimmings: No, this isn’t a Rorschach test made of cloth (although for my money it sure does look like a hookah. I’ll ask my shrink what that says about me). This collection of trimmings, ribbons and various other items will add a bit of class, color and fun into any stylist’s life. This smörgåsbord of fabric is available at M & J Trimmings.

M & J Trimmings 1008 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10018 (212) 204-9595 or (800) 9-MJTRIM www.mjtrim.com Assorted trimmings- Prices vary

You’ve got a photography gig you aren’t thrilled about, but you also have a hefty cell phone bill to pay because you exceeded your minutes talking to a friend in California who was dumped by their significant other. Now you are forced to shoot a bottle of yet another new fragrance.

Bereft of ideas, sometimes the old standards are the best. Grab a shell or piece of coral and suddenly you’ve got instant mood. B & J Florist Supply Wholesale will be happy to provide you with just such an item.

B & J Florist Supply Wholesale 103 West 28th Street, New York, NY 10001 (212) 564-6086 Assorted seashells and coral pieces- Prices vary

GO SEE:

Ice Picks Writer: Alec Kerr | Photographer: Zachary Swenson

Thread bracelet: If you’ll have an anxiety attack of monumental proportions if your perfectly colored thread isn’t just right, then fear not. This colorful accessory is more than meets the eye. The bracelet is comprised of 21 different colored threads that can be pulled loose at a moment’s notice, thus saving you from biting off some poor assistant’s head. Well, at least until the next crisis arises, that is.

Multi-pot:

Kiosk 95 Spring Street, Second Floor, New York, NY 10012 (212) 226-8601 – www.kioskkiosk.com Travel Thread Kit- $9

It may look like a trash can for the very rich, but look again. This nifty gadget could very well revolutionize the industry. “What industry?” you ask. Why any industry!

Perhaps revolutionize is too strong a word, but the multi-pot with its multi-socket outlet and charging dock, suitable for all small electronics, will certainly clean up the clutter of wires on any desk.

The Conran Shop 407 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022 (866) 755-9079 – www.conranusa.com Multi-pot- $235 Rock Sure, it’s just a rock, but when you need to have that absolutely perfect hunk of compressed minerals and sand and don’t feel like getting arrested for digging large holes in Central Park, there is really only one place to go. Think of Complete Sculptor as Pebbles, Boulders and Beyond. It’s a great resource for model makers and prop stylists alike.

Complete Sculptor 90 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013 (212) 243-607 – www.sculpt.com Sculpting rocks- Prices vary.

retouching

studio galadriel sharon@galadrielstudio.com 646.678.2836

Brooklyn Studios* 211 Meserole Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222 718-392-1007 brooklynstudios@verizon.net www.brookylnstudios.net

Dayspace Studio* 480 Broadway, 4th Fl New York, NY 10013 212-334-1241 info@dayspace.com www.dayspace.com

Camart Studios* 6 W 20th St, 4th Fl New York, NY 10011 212-691-8840 rentals@camart.com www.camart.com

Divine Studio* 21 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 212-387-9655 alex@divinestudio.com www.divinestudio.com

Capsule Studios* 873 Broadway, #204 New York, NY 10003 212-777-8027 info@capsulestudios.com www.capsulestudio.com

Drive-In 24* 443 W 18th St New York, NY 10011 212-645-2244 info@diveinstudios.com www.driveinstudios.com

CECO International* 440 W 15th St New York, NY 10011 212-206-8280 info@cecostudios.com www.cecostudios.com

DuVal Enterprises* 8-03 43rd Ave Long Island City, NY 11101 718-392-7474 adv@duvalenterprises.com www.duvalenterprises.com

Cinema World Studios* 220 Dupont St Greenpoint, NY 11222 718-389-9800 cinemaworldfd@verizon.net www.cinemaworldstudios.com

Eagles Nest Studio* 259 W 30th St, 13th Fl New York, NY 10011 212-736-6221 eaglesnestnyc@yahoo.com www.eaglesnestnyc.com

Clocktower Building* 325 Gold St, Suite 4 Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-596-0504 info@clocktowerproperties.com www.clocktowerproperites.com

Fast Ashleys Studios* 95 N 10th St Brooklyn, NY 11211 718-782-9300 shelly@fastashleysstudios.com www.fastashleysstudios.com

Composition Workshop* 45 Summit St Brooklyn, NY 11231 718-855-1211 Setinbrooklyn@mac.com www.compositionworkshop.com

Gary’s Manhattan Penthouse Loft* 28 W 36th St, PH New York, NY 10018 917-837-2420 gary@garysloft.com www.garysloft.com

Dakota Studios* 78 Fifth Ave, 8th Fl New York, NY 10011 212-691-2197 dakotastudios@yahoo.com www.dakotastudio.com

Gary’s Loft* 470 Flushing Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 718-858-4702 gary@garysloft.com www.garysloft.com

Daylight Studio* 450 W 31st St, 8th Fl New York, NY 10001 212-967-2000 info@daylightstudio.com www.daylightstudio.com

Go Studios* 245 W 29th St New York, NY 10001 212-564-4084 info@go-studios.com www.go-studios.com

Photo Group Inc.* 88 Lexington Ave, #15E New York, NY 10016 212-213-9539 info@photo-group.com www.photo-group.com Picture Ray Studio* 245 W 18th St New York, NY 10011 212-929-6370 bookings@pictureraystudio.com www.pictureraystudio.com Pier 59 Studios* Chelsea Piers #59, 2nd Level New York, NY 10011 212-691-5959 info@pier59studios.com www.pier59studios.com Pochron Studios* 20 Jay St, #1100 Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-237-1332 info@pochronstudios.com www.pochronstudios.com Polaroid Studio* 588 Broadway, #805 New York, NY 10012 212-925-1403 mail@jennifertrausch.com Metropolitan Pavilion* 125 W 18th St New York, NY 10011 212-463-0071 info@metropolitanevents.com www.metropolitanevents.com

NoHo Productions* 636 Broadway, #302 New York, NY 10012 212-228-4068 info@nohoproductions.com www.nohoproductions.com

Michelson Studio* 163 Bank St New York, NY 10014 212-633-1111 info@michelsonstudio.com www.michelsonstudio.com

Paul O. Colliton Studio* 305 7th Ave, PH New York, NY 10001 212-807-6192 Paul@collitonstudio.com www.collitonstudio.com

Milk Studios* 450 W 15th St New York, NY 10011 212-645-2797 info@milkstudios.com www.milkstudios.com

Persona Studios* 40 W 39th St, 4th Fl New York, NY 10018 212-852-4850 persona@kristeratle.com www.kristeratle.com

Neo Studios* 628 Broadway, #302 New York, NY 10012 212-533-4195 mail@neostudiosnyc.com www.neostudiosnyc.com

Peter White Studios* 601 W 26th St, #1465 New York, NY 10001 212-414-0629 peterwhitestudio@mingspring.com www.peterwhitestudios.com

Primus Studio* 64 Wooster St, #3E New York, NY 10012 212-966-3803 info@primusnyc.com www.primusnyc.com Production Central* 873 Broadway, #205 New York, NY 10003 212-631-0435 david@prodcentral.com www.prodcentral.com Project 35* 381-383 Broadway New York, NY 10013 212-226-0035 studio@project-35.com www.project-35.com Pure Space* 601 W 26th St, #1225 New York, NY 10001 212-937-6041 rida@purespacenyc.com frank@purespacenyc.com www.purespacnyc.com

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Personalized Transportation Need space to move your photo equiptment, props, luggage, or “stuff”...

Call and reserve even the night before your local, hourly, airport, and long-distance rides. We take care of our clients in the New York City Metro Area.

SUV: $45 per hour* $80 JFK/Newark* $450 day rate*

Minivan: $40 per hour* $65 JFK/Newark* $350 day rate*

212-777-9182 * call for details

dlivery@msn.com

MC/Visa by request only + Addl. Fee*

Rabbithole Studio* 33 Washington St. Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-852-1500 info@rabbitholestudio.com www.rabbitholestudio.com

SoHo Loft 620* 620 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212-260-4300 nancy@nancyney.com www.soholoft620.com

Studio 147* 147 W 15th St New York, NY 10011 212-620-7883 info@studio147.net www.studio147.net

Ramscale Productions* 55 Bethune St, Penthouse New York, NY 10014 212-206-6580 info@ramscale.com www.ramscale.com

SoHo Studios* 13-17 Laight St, 4th Fl New York, NY 10013 212-226-1100 sohostudios@hotmail.com

Studio 225 Chelsea* 225 W 28th St, #2 New York, NY 10001 917-882-3724 james@jamesweberstudio.com www.studio225chelsea.com

Serge Nivelle Studios* 205 Hudson St, Suite 1201 New York, NY 10013 212-226-6200 www.sergenivelle.com

SoHoSoliel* 136 Grand St, #5-WF New York, NY 10013 212-431-8824 info@sohosoleil.com www.sohosoleil.com

Shoot Digital* 23 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 212-353-3330 Kevin@shootdigital.com www.shootdigital.com

Southlight Studio* 214 W 29th St, #1404 New York, NY 10001 212-465-9466 info@southlightstudio.com www.southlightstudio.com

Studio 450* 450 W 31st St, 12th Fl New York, NY 10001 212-871-0940 www.loft11.com

Shop Studios* 442 W 49th St New York, NY 10019 212-245-6154 Jacques@shopstudios.com www.shopstudios.com

Space 523* 10 Jay St Brooklyn, NY 11201 646-515-4186 rentals@space523.com www.space523.com

Studio 7 New York* 120 Walker St, PH 7 New York, NY 10013 212-274-0486 paul@studio7ny.com www.studio7ny.com

Showroom Seven Studios* 498 7th Ave, 24th Fl New York, NY 10018 212-643-4810 maricaso@aol.com www.showroomseven.com

Splashlight Studios* 529-535 W 35th St New York, NY 10001 212-268-7247 info@splashlightstudios.com www.splashlightstudios.com

Suite 201* 526 W 26th St, #201 New York, NY 10001 212-741-0155 info@suite201.com www.suite201.com

Silver Cup Studios* 42-22 22nd St Long Island City, NY 11101 718-906-3000 silvercup@silvercupstudios.com www.silvercupstudios.com

Steiner Studios* 15 Washington Ave Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY 11205 718-858-1600 jwooten@reubenstein.com www.steinerstudios.com

Sun Studios* 628 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212-387-7777 sunproductions@sunnyc.com www.sunstudios.com

green

Studio 270* 270 Bowery, 5th Fl New York, NY 10012 212-431-3436 info@nomd.net www.nomd.net

catering

café

épicerie

catering

212 254 9825

www.greenbrownorange.com

Sun West* 450 W 31st St New York, NY 10001 212-330-9900 sunwestevents@sunnyc.com www.sunnyc.com Taz Studios* 873 Broadway, #605 New York, NY 10003 212-533-4299 fotogbill@aol.com www.tazstudio.com The Bridge Studio* 315 Berry St, #202 Brooklyn, NY 11211 917-676-0425 sander@bridgestudionyc.com www.bridgestudionyc.com The Space* 425 W 15th St, 6th Fl New York, NY 10011 212-929-2442 info@thespaceinc.com www.thespaceinc.com Zoom Studios* 20 Vandam St, 4th Fl New York, NY 10013

212-243-9663 zoomstudios@yahoo.com www.zoomstudios.net

718-609-0605 info@readysetinc.com www.readysetinc.com

RV RENTALS & LOCATION VANS

WARDROBE RENTALS

Big Shot* 268 Delmar Ave Staten Island, NY 10312 212-244-7468 bigshotsinc@aol.com www.bigshotsinc.com

RRRentals* 245 W 29th St, #11 New York, NY 10001 212-242-6127 info@rrrentals.com www.rrrentalsny.com

Chelsea Motor Rental* 549 W 26th St New York, NY 10001 212-564-9555 chelsearental@verizon.net

WARDROBE SUPPLY

Royal Buses* 95-40 Tuckerton St Jamaica, NY 11433 718-657-9609 royalbuses@aol.com www.royalbuses.com SET BUILDING Ready Set* 663 Morgan Ave Brooklyn, NY 11222

Manhattan Wardrobe Supply* 245 W 29th St. 8th Floor New York, NY 10001 212-268-9993 info@wardrobesupplies.com www.wardrobesupplies.com

*Distribution sites. a

where we are

Coming soon... A simpler way to shoot still life in a rental studio.

NOHO PRODUCTIONS

www.nohoproductions.com