How not to spam.

I sent this spam to 10,000 of my closest friends. The subject line was something like:"No marriage waiver for me and it is going to take a bucket of Paxil" In retrospect maybe including Paxil in a subject line if I am trying to get people to open an email is not the greatest idea. Ya think?

CR City

I shot a job here in Oakland yesterday morning and left an assistant to pack the gear, jumped on a plane to LA , had another guy pick me up there and shot two more portraits in LA last night. Cockrock city.

Commuters

Sauna Final

Vince Neil

Honey, does this look Photoshopped?

People are always amazed how truly terrible I am at photoshop. They look at my work and assume I do the post. Believe it or not the comp above is better than most things I hand off to the retouchers.

Flak Photo

CTWWWTB featured on Flak Photo

More editorial

Doesn't really look like me but one of the cool things about shooting for magazines is you can try out different ways of making a picture. Maybe it looks a little like Copy Stand.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles: Wrap up

Photo-Natalie Young
Overall it was a pretty amazing experience. To be around so many people so focused and committed to what they are doing is a little bit humbling. Most people had been working on their project for years and after shooting CTWWWTB for only 6 months it made it clear how far I have to go.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 3

I had lunch with Jimmy Williams yesterday in Santa Fe. He is a commercial guy shooting in the south since Ford pardoned Nixon. I think longevity is no small feat in this business and I bow down to him, no doubt.

We were talking about how we get calls for jobs from out of town ADs when it would often be easier and cheaper to shoot in their home town. But of course it is more fun to shoot in Miami or San Francisco than Dallas or Columbus.

Jimmy said he has often told art directors that if they want to shoot in Florida it is not that complicated: just put a palm tree in the comp and then pack your bags.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 2

Day two here was a doozy. Four reviews in the morning followed by a monster show at a local gallery. Last year they had more than 500 people come through and there were at least that many last night.

Early in the day:
It is surprisingly exhausting to sit down and talk about your work over and over again. I got some great feedback from the reviewers and has given me a ton to think about.

Later at the party:
A woman of a certain age came up to my table and complemented me on my work. After we both agreed what a genius I was I asked her if she too took photographs. She said she did and as a matter of fact she had just published her fist book. I thought to myself, wow Santa Fe really is an artist's colony but without having to go through that whole unpleasant starving artist stage. Out came a book and she handed it over to me. It was a iPhoto book and consisted of a series of nude self portraits shot in various environs around the globe. In one image she is covered with dirt somewhere in South America. In another she is ankle deep in a stream in New Zealand. And so it went page after page. And with her standing next to me it wasn't like I could just flip through the book at break neck speed as I might have wanted to. Each image had to be looked at with care and each page turned delicately.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 1

I arrived here in the land of adobe, turquoise jewelry and Range Rovers this afternoon. The women who put on this event are incredibility well organized and I can see things going very smoothly.

There was a party at a local gallery and that was when the cockrocking began in earnest. I met a kid who just got an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea strategically to pretend I had never heard of SVA. And then having made my bed I had to lie in it. When I met the woman next to him I had to come with an awkward sounding way to ask if she knew of SVA and if she had gone there. Maybe he seemed smug. Maybe I just wished I was 28 and fresh from a graduate program.

I met Sarah Small who was super nice but of course I came on too strong and weird and she probably thinks I am a manic freak.

A woman asked what my work looked like , and I said a little Atget mixed with Stephen Shore and dash of Misrach. She said that was great...If I knew who those people were.

And then a commercial guy I had never heard of (who wore a t-shirt and baseball cap with the name of his company on it. I am lucky if I have a business card) complemented my work at the top of his lungs and then did it again as he was leaving. I love that guy. He is my new Santa Fe BFF.

Review Santa Fe

A couple days until Review Santa Fe starts. Not enough Paxil in all the world to make me want to go.My wife said imagine how upset I would be if I didn't get in. I said I want to be get in but then be called out of town at the last minute. My wife said that doesn't sound very healthy. I hope my table is close to the Glaxo Table.

Link to all participants here.

Editorial Shoot

New CTWWWTB Website Beta

Update:

http://closertowherewewanttobe.com/