Posts tagged ‘brian williams’
Bruce Springsteen Rocks The Apollo
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!
On the set of the Gayle King Show with Lady Gaga
I recently had the opportunity to visit the set of the The Gayle King Show (Oprah’s BFF) for a profile piece in the New York Times.
Thus far in my career, I’ve found shooting on television or movie sets to be an exciting and rewarding experience. I love seeing all the work that goes into producing television and film. Learning how all the different people on and off set work together to make TV is almost magical. It’s actually pretty intense, especially on this particular set because her show is LIVE and there’s no room for mistakes!
I feel the most in my element when I’m allowed to float around a room and simply document what’s happening around me….and this assignment was just that. I obviously had to be aware of not getting in the way, but Gayle’s crew was very welcoming to me and let me float all around.
As it turned out, Gayle had some cool guests that day on the show. First was host of NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams, and second was the music and fashion sensation Lady Gaga….freshly hatched from her egg at The Grammy’s.
I’ve always enjoyed newsman Brian Williams because behind the stern anchor, he’s actually very funny….I’ve seen him on many talk shows hamming it up as well as his comical cameos on NBC’s 30 Rock.
The only time I was asked not to take photos on set was for 1 minute as Lady Gaga came out to the set. Gayle thought it would be funny to strip to her undergarments and stand on a pedestal to get a reaction out of Gaga as part of a personal joke in honor of Lady Gaga’s unclothed interview on “60 Minutes.”….and it was pretty funny, I must say….unfortunately I don’t have photos of that!
Anyhow, Gaga came out wearing 10″+ platform shoes, a shoulder-less, leather outfit (for lack of a better word) while sporting faux, pointy, alien-like shoulders with spikes on her face and a large, egg-shaped hairdo. She was quite a site….though I wasn’t surprised as the last time I ran into her she was wearing a dress made of meat at the VMAs.
So yes, it was quite an experience. Gayle was super kind and chatted with me about my photos in the Justin Bieber book, who had recently been a guest on her show.
I was impressed with Gayle’s kindness and professionalism on set. Her team all worked well together and made me feel very welcomed. It was fun to run into Gayle a week or so later at the United Nations for a movie premiere I was covering. She remembered me and reminded me to send her the Bieber book….I delivered it the next day!
See more photos of Gayle King, Lady Gaga, and Brian Williams in my archives.
Gayle King Show – Blog – Images by Robert Caplin
