Model Sighting: Samara Martins

I popped in to Manhattan last night to surprise a friend of mine who was hosting a new store opening and fashion show on Canal street, called Outerspace. It was a modest affair with an open bar and giveaways. My muse and Spicy Magazine cover model Marlene, was excited to see me. However, when the first model appeared for the start of the fashion show, I quickly realized I was not prepared, camera-wise.

That model on the makeshift runway, was 17 year old Samara Martins from Newark, NJ. I've seen her recently but had yet to see her in person. Now having seen her in the flesh, I'd be willing to bet Samara could reach stratospheric heights... with the right coaching and guidance. Her beauty is unquestionable. Not surprisingly, her manager told me she was recently signed to IMG Models here in New York and has aspirations of becoming a Victoria Secret model. Did I mention she's chock full of Brazilian heritage? Unfortunately, without the right gear, this is all I got, but here's a few photos I grabbed with my iphone from the event.

The David Lynch Foundation Presents...

Last night I was asked to cover the David Lynch Foundation Benefit Gala at Lincoln Center for my friend Jill Nannery at the TASC Group. The evening was hosted by ABC's George Stephanopoulos and guests included, Liv Tyler, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Jerry Seinfeld amongst others. The benefit was held as a means to raise funds for free meditation instruction for inner city kids, veterans, low income families and abused women and girls. Proceeds from the event will go toward teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique to thousands. Since 2005, the David Lynch Foundation has provided scholarships to more than 250,000 at-risk adults and children to meditate. For more information about this organization or to support a great cause, you can go to www.davidlynchfoundation.org.

The evening was topped off with a soothing performance featuring Jazz greats, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding and Corinne Bailey Rae. Here are a few of my outtakes from the evening...

ARCHIVES: Chance Encounters

Here's two classic shots from my film archive. Both were taken in 1999, over a decade ago. 

The first one is of pre-megastar Jay-Z with Method Man and Redman on a Manhattan street. Meth was actually the bigger star at this time. They had just exited a smoke filled black SUV as I was passing by and they granted me this quick set up. I spent alot of time around Jay-Z in the years ahead. This was one of the few times he would ever let down his guard enough to pose for me - or many other photographers, for that matter. 

The second shot was a chance photo op of Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots fame, meeting neo-soul heartthrob Deangelo for the first time. It was at the entrance to a Honey magazine launch party at Canteen in SOHO. There were several photogs snapping pix until the weird looking white boy with cornrows showed up. He had been having alot of issues with cops & drugs and hadn't been making much music around this time. Most of the photogs were there primarily to capture the Hip Hop and R&B artists. Lucky for me, none of them recognized Weiland. I believe this photo ran in VIBE magazine that year. This is when celeb street photography(Paparazzi) garnered much larger cash sums than today's shooters get. It was also from a time when it took days to edit your film and rush it to the mags on foot. 

Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd, Performs at Terminal 5

Brooklyn's Barclays Arena

It's been about a month since my last blog post, so I headed over to my old neighborhood in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on Saturday. I wanted to capture some images of the new basketball arena that was finally finished last month, after years of delays and controversy. After all of the drama, I love the design and layout of the whole thing. In my opinion, Barclays Center is a success already and has enhanced the neighborhood immensely. Here's a few pictures from Saturday...

PSY - NBC's Today Show 9.14.12

 

Austin the Flyin Lion

While out in Venice California last week with my daughter, we ran into a local icon and his two legged companion. This is the story of Austin the Flyin Lion, a Pomeranian pooch and his master, Johnny Mitchell. The duo have been celebrity fixtures on the Venice beach scene for a number of years. Back in 2010, Austin went missing one day. Someone had stolen him from Johnny's home and after 2 years of looking, he had given up hope of ever seeing his lil buddy again. Check out the video below to see how the two were recently reunited.

...and yes, Austin was named after the Texas capital city.

Hurricane Leslie Brushes the Rockaways