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The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Alcoholics make the world go around, at least the night life world go around.  Parties on Tuesday’s just wouldn’t be the same without kids who get drunk every night of the week.  Now, in all honesty I have seen a lot of bad shit in my life because of alcohol and have dealt with a lot of serious drunks in my life.  Watching people close to me go through bouts with booze is the #1 reason that I don’t drink.  All that aside, the drunker people get the more fun the party is and the better photos I get.  So I guess what I am saying here is drink as much as possible unless you are close to me, in which case I wish you would cut back a little…  One thing to be careful about is photographing really drunk people naked or doing dumb things.  You don’t want people to wake up the next morning pissed off at you for taking advantage of them.  If I take nudes of someone that I think is pretty drunk I try to get contact info from them and don’t post anything until I get a sober okay from them.  I also have a policy of taking things down any time someone asks, and they ask all the time.  You never want to fuck up someone’s life because they got drunk, but in the same respect, if you are afraid you are going to do something to fuck up your life while you are drunk, maybe you shouldn’t get drunk.  I’ll take down your photos and you take some responsibility for your actions.  Sorry to preach.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Most of the clubs I shoot at offer bottle service and there are one of three reasons someone has a bottle at their table.  1. They promoted the party. 2. They are some sort of VIP. 3. They spent 400 dollars on a 30 dollar bottle of vodka.  In every case there is reason to shoot that person.  If they are the hosts of the party you should get the shot.  If they are VIP  you need the shot, and if they are dropping that kinda cash at the bar, taking their photos will make them feel special and then they will spend more money and then the bar will make money and have money to pay  you to take photos in the first place.  Totally exciting.  Anyway, people taking chugs out of vodka bottles makes for good photos anyway, as does people pouring the bottle all over the place which happens all the time, especially when the person is not paying for the bottle.   When the bottle service comes out, ruckus usually ensues, just make sure you are there to get the shot.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Nothing makes a bad photo look great than a celebrity. People have made entire careers out of taking bad photos of celebrities. If you get a photo of a famous person you can leverage it into hits through gossip sites or try to sell it for actual monies. These things are exciting. You also make the promoter of the party happy because his place looks like the spot to be. The only issue celebrities is that you sort of have to be careful around them. If you piss off a celeb by taking their picture you risk them leaving the club which really pisses off the promoters and venue owners you are working for or with. A lot of these people go to clubs to escape all the people outside trying to take photos of them all the time. I usually just walk up and ask them if I can get a photo and if they say no, you have to respect that. I have had a few say no and a few pose with their friends for me. Then again, if Britney, Lindsay, Brad, Angelina or Suri Cruise walk through the door, I am getting the shot no matter what. We all need to eat right?

 The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I hate shooting DJs.  Nothing is more boring that watching a guy stand over a computer with head phones on.  Once in a while a DJ will get really into it and it will make for some good shots, but it is pretty much a tedious experience.  Unfortunately it is a shot you have to have.  When the main draw of the party is often the DJ you need to get that shot.  A lot of time the person paying you to take photos is the DJ so you know you need to get photos of them.  DJs are also a shot I get early in the night when I am sort of getting comfortable shooting.  The DJ is expecting you to take his photos, when some times others are weary of it if they don’t recognize you.  Once you get a few shots of the DJ people are more ready for you to take photos of them.  If you know the DJ some times you can get them to pose for you and it looks a lot better than them standing over the turntables looking kinda bored.  All that being said, once in a while I get some really good shots of them though… in fact my desktop background is a shot I took of a DJ about a month ago.  Crazy.

 The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I think I have a weird relationship with eyes.  I couldn’t tell you my best friend’s eye color.  I couldn’t tell you about any of my ex-girlfriends eyes.  The truth is I just normally don’t care about eyes.  But once in a while I meet someone with crazy amazing eyes and I am real into it.  I sometimes don’t even notice until I have photographed them, and once I have I pretty much shoot their eyes up close every time I see them.    As you might have noticed, I am a big fan of really up close shots.  I don’t shoot everyone up close, I just shoot them when I get a sense that they might look cool up close.  Usually it is because of some amazing eyes or some nice lips or something… or maybe a horrible disfiguring scar or lack of teeth.  I also make sure to get good shots of anyone with weird fake contacts, even though we all know how silly they are.  I think I want Miami Dolphins contacts… I would look beautiful.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Here is a trick:  If you can’t get a good photo out of someone ask them to make a funny face.  Everyone looks good when they are trying to look bad.  If someone isn’t photogenic, they will be if they have their eyes crossed and their tongue out.  They also won’t complain about how bad they look in your pictures, they will just laugh about it and make it their myspace default.  A funny face should not be compared to the “Ugly Face” which is created by motor-boating your lips while shaking your head from side to side in order to freeze the mouth in a most hilarious fashion.  While this is also a great trick for making people look awesome, it is much harder to get people to play along.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I am not a big fan of go going.  For someone who is obsessed with girls and spends a lot of time taking half naked photos of them, I am strangely opposed to girls dancing around in their underwear.  I don’t like strip clubs, I don’t like burlesque and I don’t like go go.   Maybe it is jealousy but I just find something gross about making your living based on your looks.  Seeing someone spend two hours doing their make up drives me insane and watching a dozen guys drool over a go go dancer makes me queasy.  That being said, I tend to make friends with go go dancers and it always gives me something to photograph.  I feel slightly creepy shooting go gos, but they make for good content for this site.  I seem to be friends with nearly every go go dancer south of 14th street.  I don’t know what it is.  I get along real well with strippers and porn stars too.  Sex workers are just my people and I love them… even though I think go-going is a dumb party gimmick.  My fault, I hope you will still pose for me…

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Shit.  I missed I.  I went straight on to H.  We can’t forget I.  I is for ice… as in bling… as in bling bling.  I want to see your grills… ya, ya, ya grills… Got a sweet gold watch like mine?  I’ll shoot it.  Got your name in diamonds around your neck?  I will shoot it.  If you have sweet LLCoolJ style name rings, you better believe I will shoot it.  Excess is the name of the game and while I find it absolutely disgusting to spend $1500 on a purse, I find it absolutely hilarious to spend that much on a necklace, or some fake teeth or even a wonderful golden hoodie spun from gold fibers assembled by small children in Southeast Asia!  How the hell could we forget I!  I is for ice and ice makes for sweet photos.  Show me those rocks!

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Cool hair makes for cool photos.  Got a mohawk?  I’ll take your photo.  Bright green hair?  I’ll take your photo?  Got myspace hair and look like you are in a shitty Warped Tour band?  I will probably avoid you like the plague.   Honestly I really appreciate bad hair cuts, and outrageous hair cuts.  You are talking to a guy who once had an orange mullet, but your awful scene-hair has to go.  You look like an asshole.  I saw a guy yesterday with absolutely the most douche bag looking hair cut and I went up to him and said “You look like you are in a band… that I would hate.”  In reality the crazier your hair is the more likely I will have a reason to take your photo, but is that so important?  Do you really need to get mocked on Blue States Lose again?  Do you need the attention that badly? Wouldn’t you just rather not look like an asshole?  Cut your hair, seriously.

PS. Ashely has amazing hair.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

My biggest fear is that one day I am going to take some naked photos of an underage girl. Then I am going to go to jail and have to register as a sex offender. I keep meeting people all the time who are like “yeah I have been partying here since I was 14″. You know how scary that is? You have any idea how much trouble I could get into if I put up the wrong photo? I meet people in bars who are under 21 all the time, most of them are in college, but I am sure that high school kids are getting in too. Jesus that is scary. As a photoblogger you have to be insanely careful about these things. Check IDs maybe? How can you tell if bouncers can’t. If you find out you took some photos, DELETE THEM IMMEDIATELY. If rumors get out that you have photos your computer could get seized and you will go to jail even if you don’t put them up. I am not a lawyer and maybe you would get cut some slack since you took the photos in a bar, but yikes. Anyway, if you are under age, please, please pretty please, keep your clothes on, no matter how much we beg you to get naked in a bathroom. Thanks.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

When I first started taking pictures at parties I took a photo every time I saw people making out.  At some point I was working on a zine (which I still might do) and I was organizing photos and I found nearly 100 kissing photos in like 2 or 3 months.  That is insane.  Recently I have realized I never take that shot.  Although most people don’t mind you taking it, and some people love it, once out of every 10 couples you catch, absolutely flip out.  I do not come to parties to piss people off.  I come to parties to have fun.  If someone yells at me for taking their photo I almost always ruins my night.  I stop shooting well as soon as it happens.  I like kissing photos a lot but that is a dangerous shot to take.  Whenever I do take one, if it seems really appealing I immediately talk to the people, telling them how adorable I look and ask them to take another photo.  This way if they don’t want the photo up they have the chance to tell me without getting upset.  My favorite making out story was  when this guy came up to me and asked me to take a photo of his male friend.  He had this thick French accent and he said “Take a photo of my friend. We are not homosexuals, but sort of.” And then he proceeded to make out with his friend.  So, in summary, making out is good, pissing people off is bad.  Lesson learned.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I have never been much of a leg man myself, but for some reason I take a lot of pictures of girls legs.  Also, while I am completely freaked out by feet, I find myself shooting people’s shoes a lot.  Mostly rad sneakers or high heels.  I am not sure why that is, I guess it just makes for good photos.  Legs are sexy, and it is way creepier to snap someone’s stems, so to speak, than it is to shoot close up shots of their boobs or something.  Short skirts and even shorter shorts seem to be all the rage these days and it makes for quite a scene.  Dig it man.  Legs are where it’s at.  Unfortunately, it’s November and we are probably going to have to wait a few months before we get back to it.  Stockings just don’t cut it.   But if you do decide to brave the cold, just make sure someone with a camera notices, so you don’t freeze your ass off without even getting a myspace picture out of it.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

When I moved to New York I had this sweet pencil thin mustache. The only problem was when I got here I realized that every single person in Williamsburg had one. I eventually cut it off and moved on with my life. I still miss it a little bit every day. The thing is, I party in Manhattan mostly and there are way less Mustaches to contend with. And since I still love a good ’stache I love photographing them. If you look like Tom Selleck, John Waters, that dude from Gogol Bordello or that Hitler guy, I will take your photo. Mustaches make for great photos and great entertainment for all. Q: Who doesn’t want to see photos of mustaches? A: No one.

As a bonus treat, please download the greatest song ever written about Mustaches ever: off their classic Angst In My Pants album.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

This was covered in X Is For X-Rated, but lets be reasonable, it is about a 50/50 shot that you are at my website because of the naked girls.  Other than parties or naked girls I can’t really think of anything to take photos of, so naked girls at parties are pretty much top shelf around here.  I will shoot a party just because someone is probably going to get naked and I want content.  I will shoot pretty much any one naked, no matter what they look like, what sex they are or how much they weigh (naked fat people = comic gold).  Be it drunk frat boys with their shirts off or go-go dancers in their underwear nudity makes for good photos.  I promise that if you want to be on the internet, the quickest way to do that is to get on the internet naked and everyone knows being naked on the internet is good for your social standing.  Just when you get drunk and show me your boobs, try not to email me telling me to take it down, that’s just depressing. Don’t get naked in the first place, I just can’t take the disappointment anymore.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

It seems that at nearly every party I go to there is one guy who is just far too old to be at a party, and I am not talking about Joey Nova.  I am not sure where they come from or what there deal is, but I rarely see them ever talking to anyone.  They just sip their drinks and hold up the wall.  I mean I am sure I am going to be 50 and at a bar, but at least I’ll still be hitting on 18 year old girls.  I always photograph these guys because it adds a different element to a party and I never get the chance to take photos of people over 30 so it is fun to get these old, some times creepy, guys.  I like them, and I’m glad they are around… Especially Old Joe who is constantly at Trash and a fan of my site and the old biker dude with the beard cause he never stop dances and you have to respect the hell out of that.