Last spring a guy named Jeremy Rocklin approached me about doing an episode of his web series New York Lives on me.  They are great little documentaries about interesting New Yorkers or places/events in New York. I loved his work so I agreed to do it.

I sat down with him months ago and he interviewed me for about an hour about the website and my life and all that stuff… but he needed more footage.  He wanted footage of me shooting a girl and shooting a party.  I had an idea to shoot a girl naked in Chinatown but people kept flaking on me.  Finally Veruca James was visiting from Chicago and was really into the idea. We went down there with Jeremy and shot some crazy stuff all over lower Manhattan. You may have seen the photos here.  A few days later I brought him to Lit Lounge and he shot a little b-roll footage of me shooting the Thursday party there NC-17. It was pretty dark and he didn’t need much stuff so that was quick and easy.  Finally he came with me to Red Rocket tattoo where my friend Betty Rose gave SB from Rocky Business his first tattoo… it just happened to be of my logo.

Jeremy got great stuff and sent me the video. I thought it was great, but in the months he was working on it I ended up losing 30 lbs.  I hated seeing how fat I was in all the footage. It seriously was awful. Plus I had this horrible mustache as you will see in the film because I played “mustache guy” on an episode of this HBO show Girls that will be out in January.  There wasn’t that much footage of me talking in the documentary, it was just my voice over photos and video, so I begged Jeremy to reshoot part of the interview.  Luckily for my ego he agreed and we shot a little bit more footage at my apartment a couple weeks ago.

He finally put it all together and created this madness that is 7 minutes about my life. This thing is perhaps the first in the series. It focuses on the girls mostly but he want to do future episodes about my new punk band and my Miami Dolphins club. I hope it happens cause shooting this was a lot of fun.  Just wanted to thank my friends who helped out on this… Veruca, SB and Betty Rose. And thanks to Ballpoint Pens and The Death Set for the music!

Now check out the documentary! And be warned… it’s NSFW.

Now that all the SXSW stuff is behind me I plan on taking a break from photos updates this weekend. I thought this would be the perfect time to post about this interview I did with a website called The Set Up.  I do interviews from time to time (I am actually doing another interview on Sunday…) but I thought I would feature this one because it features some questions I get asked a lot.

The Set Up is a geek interview blog where they ask people from different industries what sort of tools they use to get the job done. I think the site mostly is about tech people and what sort of software and hardware they use but I got to talk about all the camera equipment that I use as well as being self effacing about what sort of computer stuff I am dealing with.

I did the interview a couple months ago so a few things have changed. The main thing is that I have been using a program called Photo Mechanic that I love to do the basic edit of my photos. I don’t mean editing the photos themselves but editing out the bad shots, thumbnailing them and sticking my logo on them. That stuff used to take forever and now it is a breeze thanks to Photo Mechanic. Then again as you will read in the interview my old process was a fucking mess.

Anyway, I might not update for the rest of the weekend. My Alma Mater VCU is playing their first Final Four game in history tonight and I plan on watching that and doing nothing else today. Tomorrow I have an interview and a photo shoot and then if VCU wins tonight I am going to get on a bus and get my ass to Richmond to watch the Rams play in the national championship game on the VCU campus and hope for a riot that I can photograph…

So click here to read my interview with The Set Up!

On the last night of South By Southwest a mini riot broke out at the not-so-secret Death From Above 1979 reunion show. It was the last thing I shot at SXSW and it seemed like something Vice would want.  Before I went to Austin they told me they wanted SXSW coverage but they didn’t want bands or music stuff. They wanted weirder more interesting non traditional stuff and this seemed right up their alley. They ran a bunch of my photos and a story about the whole thing last week.  I am just going to reprint the whole thing here so I have an archive of it on my site plus there are some images I loved that Vice didn’t run that I will.  Check out the original article here on Vice or just keep reading…

During the last time slot of the last night of South By Southwest, Death From Above 1979 reunited for the first time in several years. They were playing the Undocumented Management showcase at Beauty Bar in Austin. I knew I couldn’t make it there in time for their 1am set, but the owners of Beauty Bar NYC were in town and I knew they could sneak me in the show, even if just for the last few songs. I texted Jessie Keeler from DFA about trying to make it and his foreboding response was simply “Gonna be a shitshow.” He was not wrong.

By the time I made it down to Beauty Bar, DFA was well into their set. I was coming down an alley that leads to the back stage at Beauty Bar and I could hear them playing. When I got closer, I saw hundreds of people just standing outside pressed up to the gate trying to watch the show. These kids were clapping and dancing and moshing and having a party in the alley behind the club. As I tried to push my way towards the gate, someone suddenly tried to climb the fence. There were security guards waiting for him so he didn’t get very far, but as he climbed a few other people attempted the same move and the fence came down. Several off duty cops were standing on the other side of the fence armed with TASERs and pepper spray. I was about 10 feet away at this point and I could hear the sound of TASERs zapping the shit out of people. I got closer despite the SXSW staff trying to keep me away.

I pulled out my camera and started shooting. So did 100 other people armed with camera phones and video cameras. Unfortunately, I had been shooting for more than 12 hours and my flash batteries were almost completely kicked. I fired off a few underexposed shots of people getting hit in the face with pepper spray and sparked by the stun gun type TASERs the off-duties were using liberally. I saw at least one zapper get shot randomly into the crowd, but the sound was a more effective deterrent than anything else. Meanwhile the band just kept playing.

Eventually the fence was put back up and held in place by Beauty Bar staff and security guards. The kids outside were even more riled up by this point and just started moshing in the alley. After a few minutes two uniformed cops finally showed up, a bit taken aback at the shit show they had just walked in to. As the police moved through the crowd people cursed and threw shit at them. The two officers warned us that crowd control horses were not far behind.

When the riot cops on horseback came through the alley, the DFA fans just moved out of the way. People started throwing empty beer cans at the horses, which caused them to start spinning around and freaking out. I can’t imagine the Austin Mounties get a lot of practice. As the horses passed, everyone in the alley just went back to the fence and started dancing.

By this point I had given up on my flash and started shooting portraits of the crowd, the horses, and the police with natural light. The cops finally got DFA to stop playing long enough to tell everyone that the band couldn’t finish their set until the alley party dispersed. Then the cops sort of huddled in front of the gate for a while as the crowd stood their ground waiting to see what would happen. Then, out of nowhere, the cops left, the show started back up, and the crowd started dancing like the police were never there.

When they finished playing everyone left peacefully and without any problems. The only trace of the mini-riot/party was a few beer cans and the thousands of camera phone pictures and videos that were already on YouTube by the time I got back to my hotel.

Click here to see all the photos from The Death From Above 1979 riot at Beauty Bar Austin.

Once in a while I like to dump some links and scans and stuff on you guys to let you know what I have been doing outside of this website.  I always post this stuff on my Twitter and my Tumblr and such but here is a round up of some published work and recent press.  It’s not really that exiting but everyone is going on vacation tomorrow and I haven’t shot anything too exciting in the last few days so I guess now is as good time as any to do this post. Oh and yeah, I am going to DC to visit the family for Thanksgiving so if shit is slow over the next couple of days cut a guy some slack. Damn!

Here is a link to The L Magazine’s write up of me and some pictures of mine in their Best Of NYC Nightlife Photographers.

So here are just a bunch of things I have shot in the last few weeks for the Village Voice:

• Tiny Furniture Premiere After Party
• Exxxotica Convention (NSFW)
• This Is Music
• National Book Awards

Here are a few Dos & Don’ts that I have shot for Vice Magazine:

• Don’t
• Do
• Don’t
• Do
• Don’t (NSFW)
• Do
• Don’t (NSFW)
• Do
• Don’t (NSFW)

The NY Daily News wrote up this Harry Potter street art stunt at the Union Square Subway stop. My DBB sticker just happened to be in the shot. Both The Village Voice and Gothamist wrote it up as well so here are some serious viral points for my sticker.

And lastly I shot a bunch of photos for Ryan Keely’s Porn Star Sex Life workshop a while ago. Evidently they ended up in Penthouse Magazine which is always pretty funny. I think I was voted most likely to be working for Penthouse in high school so it’s always good to end up in there… even if it’s not a real shoot or anything.  Oh, and if you want to see all the pics from the Porn Star Sex Life workshop the are right here.

And if I don’t see you guys tomorrow… have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

The cover story on the Gathering of the Juggalos that I worked on came out in yesterday’s Village Voice. If you live in NYC you should pick one up. It is a pretty amazing adventure tale written by my editor Camille Dodero after we spent four days in the middle of nowhere surrounded by killer clowns. It’s 6000 words so it takes commitment to read it, but it is very enjoyable.  I have been working for VillageVoice.com for two years but this is the first time that I have worked on a big cover story for print like this. Even though I didn’t shoot the actual cover I do have nine pictures in the article which is pretty substantial. Anyway if you don’t live in NYC and can’t pick up a paper you should click here to read the story online.

I mentioned it in my last post but I feel my guest blog spot deserves a bigger mention.  Starting last week and continuing until mid next week I am blogging for Late Night Feelings aka FLNGS. FLNGS is an erotic photography group blog that features a ton of photographers who I love and admire. They also have had some absolutely amazing guest bloggers in the past including a number or friends of mine and I am pretty happy that I am getting the chance to blog for them.

I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to show some of my never before seen 35mm work.  Over the last two and a half years I have been carrying a point and shoot Yashica T4 everywhere I go with me. I am sure if you have seen me out you have noticed it on my hip. It might not be the greatest fashion accessory but I have shot several hundred rolls of film that I haven’t published. This work is very different from my party work. It is a lot more personal and stylistically very different. I am sure you can see me in the work, but I think you guys might be suprised by it if you haven’t seen any of my more fine art oriented work.

Now obviously the work on FLNGS is very Not Safe For Work so I can’t post much on the front page, but below I am going to post a few examples of some of the more tame stuff I will be showing over there. So check out the few shots below then click here to check out my guest blogs over on FLNGS.  You can also read my bio over there if you want a laugh.

I hope you dig the work. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Just kidding. If you clicked over from Twitter or Tumblr or your RSS feeder you have been fooled! I have no Hannah Montana child porn for you no matter how much you want it. Seriously, that is gross. Why did you click that link? What the Hell is wrong with you?

All jokes aside I have nothing fun for you today. Just a little house keeping and some links.  I just thought Miley Cyrus Naked would be a better title than “Bullshit you don’t care about, and other links”.

Mostly I just wanted to tell you guys that I am going on Vacation. I will be gone Saturday to Tuesday and then as soon as I get back on Wednesday I leave for another few days to cover THE GATHERING OF THE FUCKING JUGGALOS for the Village Voice. That is really happening. I will be sleeping in an RV for 4 days in the middle of nowhere so I have my doubts that things will get updated at all. I don’t even know if I will have electricity. That is for serious.

So things will be a bit slow next week and clearly they are slow right now. I have an update for you tomorrow, and I hope I will shoot some parties either tonight or tomorrow so I have some shots ready to go for the weekend, but like I said, it might be slow around here for a little while.

So to kill time while you are impatiently refreshing my page over and over again to see if I have updated you could check out some new stuff I have online.

Here are some of the Dos & Don’ts I have shot for Vice Magazine recently: Don’t, Do, Don’t, Do, Don’t, Do, & Don’t

Here are some of my naked photos that have showed up on Gawker’s adult blog, Fleshbot, recently (NSFW): Andy, Dana, Shay & Tayte.

Here are some new Village Voice galleries: Naked Art Party, Gallery Bar, Greenhouse, & Trash.

Complex.com wrote and article on Ellen Stagg and I took the the picture of her for it.

I have some stuff in Inked Magazine this month (and most months).

And lastly, here is a picture of the Mario Kart parked outside of my apartment every day. Oh, and sorry again about the Miley Cyrus thing…

Check out The IGORR.

The IGORR is some sort of Frankensteinesque version of a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star made by Steve Madden.  While the shoe is completely hideous it does have one main feature that makes me have to buy a pair: it is named after me.  And not in any sort of coincidental way… the shoe was actually named after me.

Last year I had a roommate named Kara.  She was pretty much the best roommate I have had since my freshman year of college.  When she moved in I figured she would be around for ages, but she snuck out in the middle of the night to move in with my good friend and now next door neighbor OJ.  Seriously, they moved less than 5 feet away from me.  As a going away present Kara, who happens to be the male shoe buyer for Steve Madden, named a shoe after me.  That was in September so I figured it would have been out ages ago (and it probably was since they are on sale) but she just sent me the link today.  I am pretty excited about it.  It’s not quite a shoe colab with Etnies, but I’ll take it.

Now the real question is… Which color should I get?

Normally I have been just posting my photo clippings to my Tumblr, but this one deserves a full post.  Besides, my internet is terrible again today so I might not have anything to post until pretty late tonight.

I have been working for The Village Voice for about two years now. They are my most consistant client and I love them.  They don’t pay me a ton per assignment, but they give me a lot of work, get me press passes to anything I want, and occasionaly pay some of my travel expenses. So, yeah, I love them.  The only problem is that it’s all for web.  Once or twice a month one of my pictures shows up on the page dedicated to VillageVoice.com, but I never have any editoral content in the paper… Until now.

It just happened that my web editor was writing an article on Courtney Love’s latest comeback and Hole’s new tour while we were both at South By Southwest.  We both happened to catch her show at the Perez Hilton party and so I sent her one of my better shots from Hole’s set and they ended up buying it.  I know it’s pretty dumb of me to care about it since I have worked for the company for two years, but it’s nice to finally have something in the actual paper. I mean, it’s a NYC institution….

So click here to read the article or just pick up a copy of the paper and turn to page 48 .  It’s free in Voice boxes all over the city until Wednesday…