Every so often I’ll make a personal call and connect with someone I see on TV or the web, someone who I think is a really interesting person and I’d like to get to know a little more. First time I did this was with my friend Casey Neistat, a filmmaker I became familiar with after watching his HBO show “The Neistat Brothers“. I really took a liking to his personality and storytelling. We’ve since become friends, worked together, and I’ve become even more acquainted with his youngest brother, Dean, who is an actor, stuntman, and photographer himself.

Casey Neistat

Casey Neistat

What I found interesting about Casey was the fact that he had a fresh way of telling stories about his life while incorporating all sorts of social media into what he does. In addition to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, he’s recently begun using the medium Snapchat to tell quick and dirty stories through his iPhone. Through his new Snapchat YouTube page I noticed he was friends with Jerome Jarre, another fella who I’ve been following through another app, Vine, where users post 6-second looping videos. So I asked Casey to introduce us.

Jerome is super popular on Vine with about 7 million followers and over 560 million loops of his Vine videos…that’s over a HALF BILLION plays… His short videos are simply hilarious and often over-the-top. With a thick French accent he takes to Union Square, a park near his apartment, to surprise unsuspecting tourists, locals, and nappers with jokes, songs, and utter randomness. As I scrolled through his profile page I found he’s even gotten the likes of Robert DeNiro, Pharell Williams, and Ansel Elgort to be in his Vines. He’s become so popular that he covered the Oscars red carpet for the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

We met at Jerome’s apartment before taking a walk through the city. We started in Union Square where I took a few portraits before he started getting mobbed by random fans, 99% teenage girls, asking to take photos with him, hugging him, and generally in awe of his presence. I asked him how it feels to have this sort of recognition and he admitted that it feels good. He explained that his followers feel close to him because they watch him wherever they are; school, work, before going to bed at night…

We eventually made our way down to Washington Square Park near one of my first NYC apartments to take a few more portraits. While we were there we met an artist who Jerome took interest in, made a connection, and perhaps they’ll work together someday in the future. That’s what’s great about living in NYC…you never know what sort of connection you’ll make or where it will lead.

It’s amazing to me that forms of communication like this exist. At the ripe age of 24, he’s carved out a career spreading joy and creating content in his unique way. The future is bright for Jerome…and I hope to document where life takes him in the future.

Last night I was watching the Golden Globes and just loved the two hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who kept me cracking up all night. I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a photo shoot I had with the two of them back in 2008. The assignment was a press junket for their then new movie, Baby Mama. Like with any press junket, I’m tasked with showing up to a hotel, this time the Ritz Carleton in NYC, where I’m given a room to set up and have about 10 minutes to make a photo. I arrived early and decided the couch and stairwell would be the best spot.

One of my memories of this shoot was the insane amount of publicists and handlers that accompanied them into the room. Typically celebrities have a publicist in tow, but this time I counted at least seven who were all hovering over my shoulder while I was taking the photos.

The two were very funny and super nice…of course I had to get my photo with them!

Wednesday I had the opportunity to document the 12-12-12 Sandy Relief Concert at Madison Square Garden for The Robin Hood Foundation.

Now, I’ve photographed many concerts in my photographic career, but this one takes the cake. Not only was it the longest, starting at 7:30pm and ending at 1:30am, but it had the most star-studded lineup featuring The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Eddie Vedder, Roger Waters, Kanye West, The Who, and Paul McCartney. All the proceeds went go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund.

I was tasked with documenting the evening, everything from meet-and-greets, pre-parties, backstage, a telethon, the performances, and of course all the various branding relating to Robin Hood Foundation and the sponsors of the event.

Not only was the concert awesome, but I was simply amazed to see so many famous faces and talented individuals in one place at one time.

Enjoy just a few of my selects from the evening.

Autographed memorabilia backstage

Bruce Springsteen meet-and-greet

Richie Sambora at a meet-and-greet

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Billy Crystal

Jon Bon Jovi

Billy Joel in his dressing room

Jon Stewart

Eric Clapton

Jimmy Fallon

Mick Jagger

Roger Waters

Steve Buscemi

James Gandolfini and the cast of The Sopranos work the phone banks

Jon Bon Jovi watches and photographs The Who

Pete Townshend of The Who

Roger Daltrey of The Who

Jack McBrayer works the phone banks

Jimmy Fallon works the phone banks

Steve Buscemi works the phone banks

Billy Joel

Chris Martin

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Alicia Keys and Paul McCartney perform

A year ago I was hired by US Weekly special edition’s photo editors to document the young and talented actor/singer Victoria Justice of Nickelodeon fame. I’d seen her on TV in the past, but due to our age difference, I wasn’t watching Nickelodeon anymore, so I’d never seen her show or knew much about her.

The story was about how she’s an up-and-coming big star (she was 18 when I shot this story) and how she’s progressed from TV to music, and now to the big screen in the upcoming Halloween flick “Fun Size“. Interestingly, the movie was being filmed too close to last year’s holiday, so the movie hasn’t been released until this Halloween.

The film is clearly geared toward a younger crowd in the way that most high school dramas are, but there are a few others stars that make appearances that could draw in an older demographic: Jonny Knoxville and Chelsea Handler, though neither were shooting scenes the day I was on set.

I was sent to Cleveland, OH and found my way to the house in a totally midwestern subdivision where they were filming the movie. I’m from Ohio, so it felt like being home. There were many trailers lining a street and hundreds of area kids awaiting the arrival of Victoria.

When she did, she was swamped by the kids and immediately signed autographs and took pictures with the fans. Having documented a lot of celebrities myself, I could instantly tell Victoria was a super nice person.

I started hanging out with Victoria and her mother in the hair and makeup trailer where she was being turned into her character. It turned out that the scene that was being shot was a raging high school Halloween house party, so Victoria’s character was wearing a costume, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.

Victoria and her mother in the hair/makeup trailer

After her hair and makeup were done, she moved to her personal trailer where she and I had some one-on-one time, chatted a bit, and took some impromptu portraits in and around the trailer.

Quickly we were told it was time for Victoria on set, so we made our way to the house in which the movie was being filmed, which was actually around the block.

It was quite a riot as the house was decked out like one of those crazy high school Halloween parties you’d only see in a…movie. Of course!

There were dozens of actors and extras dressed up in really great costumes waiting for their queues and waiting in-between takes. Along with all the production crew, cameras, and lighting equipment, it was a rather chaotic scene.

I met a few of the other main characters in the movie who were all very nice, kind, and clearly going places.

Most corporate shoots are boring and involve photographing stiff executives speaking at a podium and shaking hands. But that wasn’t the case a few weeks ago when I photographed a special event held at The Harvard Club in New York City. The event was a fundraiser for Cinema For Peace, a worldwide initiative promoting humanity though film and has events all over the world with big celebrity backers. I was shooting the event for one of the sponsors, a bank based out of Berlin.

Sting’s wife Trudie Styler, English actress and producer and supporter of Cinema For Peace, speaks prior to her husband’s performance.

My task was to photograph the CEO of the company interacting with the celebrities and other business executives in attendance. This particular event was a fundraiser for the organization and raised money through auctioning some amazing prizes that ranged from Sting’s autographed guitar (sold for $20K), guest starring in upcoming movies, official after-party tickets to the Golden Globes, to yachting adventures around the world.

The experience was quite fun for me…I’d never been in The Harvard Club before. It’s a members-only facility that offers hotel rooms, dining rooms, athletic facilities, and more….and of course you have to be affiliated in some way with Harvard University to be a member. So that might be why I’d never been invited in the past! The entire place screams wealth and old school luxury. Think leather chairs, libraries, reading rooms, animal heads all over the walls, chandeliers, and so on.

So there was a red carpet situation set up for all the attendees of the event to get paparazzied during a cocktail hour before a fancy dinner with speakers, an auction, and a private performance by Sting, who is a big supporter of the cause. Sing ended up playing 4-5 of his classic songs. He was a good sport and let me take a few portraits of him while he was at his dinner table too.

All and all it was a great experience.

I’ve shot a lot of concerts in my days as a news photographer….especially in 2010 when I shot 85 Justin Bieber shows (yeah, seriously) when I was touring with the kid making his book. But rarely do I shoot a single concert that makes all my (older) family members envious. Last night I shot Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for the New York Times as part of a VIP concert for Serius Satellite subscribers who were celebrating their 10 year anniversary.

I was tasked with not just shooting the show itself, but also to try and get a sense of who was attending this VIP show being held in one of the smallest venues Springsteen has played. I arrived around 6:30 to the Apollo and there was already lines of folks waiting to get in, as well as many people just loitering around in hopes of snagging a loose ticket.

I don’t come to Harlem all that often, but I think it might be safe to say that there were more white folks in their 60s than this venue sees in a month…not to stereotype a Springsteen fan…

Some of the more famous VIPs that I saw there included Michael J Fox, Tommy Hilfiger, Brian Williams, Coach Tom Coughlin, Harry Belafonte, Ben Stiller, Elvis Costello, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and a host of others who I didn’t personally know.

The set list was long and consisted of early hits and tunes from his newest album. It was my first time seeing The Boss in concert and I must say I was impressed an old white guy could rock a stage like he did.

On top of simply being a fun night at work, I got to see an old pal from the Bieber tour, Adam Courtney, who was my busmate for 6 months while I toured with Justin Bieber, and is now touring with Springsteen. Good seeing you bro.

Fun times!

I got a call form the New York Times photo desk late in the afternoon a few months back asking if I could run down to Times Square late that same evening and photograph a new tv show called Smash being filmed on location. I was told the show was NBC’s answer to FOX’s Glee, but was more of an adult-themed drama/musical about the making of a hit Broadway play.

So I jumped on my scooter and headed south from my pad on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Times Square around 11PM for the shoot. When I arrived, I was immediately confused because the crew was apparently on a break and all I could see were tons of tourists hanging out in Times Square…the usual. Moments later as I saw the camera crews start to move around, it dawned on me that I was actually standing in the midst of hundreds of extras who were only acting like tourists for the production! Clearly they were doing a great job as they even fooled a New Yorker like myself!

I met with the show’s publicist, who pointed out all the important folks like the director, producers, and eventually led me over to the actors appearing in the scene, Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee. I was happy to see Katherine because previously I’d taken her portrait in the dressing room of “Live! with Regis and Kelly” for the Los Angeles Times years back. This was after she had been a top contestant on American Idol. I was pleased to find out she remembered the shoot before I could even mention it. It’s always good to know that my brief encounters with portrait subjects are remembered positively.

Pretty quickly the filming began and I was roaming the “set” taking pictures of a scene where Katherine and Megan’s character are walking through Times Square and suddenly break out singing with the accompaniment or a random trio of street musicians who coincidently are playing nearby.

The mood of the set was unlike most sets I’ve been on due to the uncontrolled atmosphere of Times Square. It was hard to even tell there was a major production filming because of all the extras. I was walking with and taking pictures of Katherine and Megan as they crossed 7th Ave to begin a scene. Behind me a real tourist says to her daughter, “hey, I think something is being filmed, do you see any celebrities?”

Only in NYC can you walk down a street and never realize you’re right in the middle of a huge production!

A few years ago I started a relationship with US Weekly Magazine when they were running a special issue on Justin Bieber. For those of you who don’t know, I spent about 6 months shadowing him for a book project and subsequently as his tour photographer. I was surprised to find out that US Weekly high-quality special issues called “bookazines” about ten times per year that sell for $9.99.

So the magazine needed some pictures and I was a good source. Since then I’ve shot a few more times for the publication documenting the lives of celebrities. Most recently they sent me to Massachusetts to spend a few days with Olympic gymnastic hopeful Aly Raisman. Since my time with her in June, she’s gone on to qualify and is currently competing (and doing quite well) at the Olympic Games in London.

This shoot was a mix of documentary and portraiture as the magazine wanted to show various aspects of Aly’s life. For instance; she’s 18 years old, lives at home with her parents, was just asked to the prom by a friend, and spends obscene amounts of her time practicing her sport at Brestyan’s Gymnastics.

The day started when I arrived to her home and was first greeted by her two overly-excited dogs who put me through my paces until my newness wore off. She has a big family, two sisters, one brother, a neighbor friend who is apparently a fixture at their household. Also a Boston Bruin loving father and a sweet mother who homemade a wonderful buffet of great food and snacks.

After having her hair and makeup done, Aly gave me a tour of her family’s massive home and grounds. We took portraits in various locations around the home and outside in their vast yard. In her bedroom, she keeps every medal won, credentials, and ID numbers from her various competitions throughout her life. She showed me her prom dress and even her prom date came over for a portrait with Aly.

Interestingly, while I working there was a videographer named Torey Champagne who had been working on a long term documentary on Aly’s bid for the Olympics called Quest For Gold. He was a really cool guy and documented our photo shoot as well as interviewed me. His documentary is currently on Comcast Sports Net…I still haven’t seen it, but if you have…tell me if I made it in!

The next morning I visited her briefly at the gym where she was training with Coach Brestyan. I was simply blown away at how incredibly athletic Aly was. I’ve watch gymnastics on TV whenever the Olympics are on, but until you see the athleticism in person, you have no idea how intense these gymnasts are. When I arrived she was just finishing her bar routine and moving to the balance beam. First of all, that beam is 4″ wide…unbelievable…and she was doing armless flips and twirls with ease. Pretty soon her practice was wound down with a stretching routine that was simply painful to watch.

It’s always a pleasure documenting amazing people. Aly’s the real deal. Go USA!

Last week I got a call from the New York Times asking me to photograph Darren Criss, the breakout star of the Fox high school musical series “Glee”, to accompany a story about his upcoming Broadway debut in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

One of the things I love about my job is the unexpected assignments I receive usually on a moment’s notice. This time my editor called around 5PM to schedule a shoot later in the evening on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at an old-school diner near Darren’s apartment. It happened to be very cold that night, so I opted to take a few pictures inside the diner so we could first warm up a bit.

I met the reporter, Patrick Healey, and soon after Darren arrived joyful with a big grin. It’s always nice to work with someone who is very upbeat and talkative. Darren, Patrick, and I had a hot tea to warm up and chatted a bit before I started shooting.

When I have celebrity shoots, I always try to arrive a bit in advance to scout the area for nice portrait locations because often I have little time with those subjects. I’m always looking for quality light sources, as I prefer to take naturally lit portraits as often as possible. I love documentary photography and I suppose shooting natural light is my way of merging the two genres of photography.

After capturing a few portraits of him enjoying a ice cream sundae at the bar in the diner, we walked outside and up the block to a bank of pay phones I’d scouted earlier. I liked the nostalgia of a pay phone, but what really drew me was the light from the adjacent Apple Store spilling directly into the booths.

I hope I cross paths Darren again in the future…until then, break a leg on Broadway!

I was approached about six months ago by the father of an extreme Justin Bieber fan who, along with another girlfriend, had written a book entitled Got Bieber Fever? about the varying degrees of “Bieber Fever”. After discussing the project with her father and working out the arrangements with management, the book was a “go” with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Pencils of Promise, an charitable organization that raises money to build schools in the developing world. Just the first print run alone will build TWO schools! How awesome is that?

With the designing expertise of my beautiful, graphic designer-wife Laia Prats, we put together a super high-quality, coffee table-sized book of my photos and their story.

If you’re interested in more details about how this book came about, you can download the press release or check out the article in the San Francisco Chronicle!

The book is available on Amazon for $17.95 and includes an amazing, oversized, glossy, fold-out poster behind the dust jacket (below), alone worth the price of the book! Get your copy today and support an amazing charity!