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.

A rendering of 432 Park Avenue, an 84-story tower. (Credit: dbox for CIM Group & Macklowe Properties)

For this particular assignment I was called the night before, which is unusual for the NY Times to give me so much notice. Typically I’ll get an early AM call to run out and cover a story happening within the hour. As with most other assignments, I was able to do a little extra research about Mr. Macklowe and found he’s quite an impressive person. One of the most striking achievements, in my opinion, was when he purchased the General Motors (GM) Building for a record $1.4 billion, then personally pitched to Steve Jobs the concept of the underground, glass-roofed, Fifth Avenue Apple store underneath the building’s plaza, which did it’s part to double the building’s price. Amazing.

Instagram I took of the GM Building reflected against the Apples Store last year.

Anyhow, not knowing how accommodating Harry would be, I was envisioning a quick portrait of him out in front of the property. When I arrived, I was happy to find Mr Macklowe extremely accommodating and eager to take the time to accomplish an unexpected portrait. We even started talking about photography as I found he’s a lover of photography and a big art collector.

We started the shoot out front where I made the images I’d originally envisioned. Then I started discussing my idea of placing Mr Macklowe onto the 2nd story window frame outside the edifice of the building, which was a 10-story shell at the time. From a distance it looked pretty simple, but as we walked deeper into the construction site, we realized the only way to get him into the position was to find a mechanical lift to hoist him up to the second story level from street level.

While we waited for the site boss to roundup the lift, Harry walked around the site to evaluate progress. One thing I found to be really rewarding was to see was the genuine smiles on both Mr Macklowe’s face and the faces of all the workers as they spotted him. Many came up to me asking if it was indeed the man funding the project. When I confirmed, they all wanted to shake hands with him because they were so happy to be working in this tough economy. Harry was extremely kind and shook hands with all who came up to him for a quick word. It’s nice to see someone is creating jobs and likewise to see those workers showing their appreciation. That’s a good thing.

Not only did I get a great variety of solid portraits from Harry, I was also able to do what I love most: document the lives of my subjects. Mr Macklowe won me over that morning, along with a number of construction workers.

Years back, I was given the opportunity to visit and photograph legendary artist Chuck Close at his New York City Studio.

The shoot was for the Los Angeles Times Calendar Section cover story on Chuck. I was familiar with some of his work at the time, but didn’t know much about him personally. In 1988 he suffered a collapsed spinal artery which left him paralyzed on one side of his body. Through rehabilitation, he’s able to continue his painting, which makes his artistry that much more amazing.

I was given an address of a non-descript apartment building on a corner in SoHo and was amazed when the door opened onto a two-floor studio. Chuck’s easel, if you want to call it that, is located In the back of the studio against connected to a lift that can move the artwork up and down on the wall between the 1st floor and the basement so he can work on his paintings at eye level from his wheelchair.

I wasn’t able to take an overall shot of the setup because the piece he was working on at the time, a portrait of President Bill Clinton’s face, was embargoed. I was able to take pictures of chuck around the studio and details of the painting. Though you can see the painting and setup in the background of one of the photos.

Since the shoot I’ve become more familiar with his work and have been taking note of his work whenever I see it whether at a museum, the web, or an office building. I’ve also run into Chuck a few times over the past 7 years at various events at the MoMA and the United Nations.

Anyhow, it was a really fun experience to meet Chuck. The man is a legend!

A chuck Close painting in the JP Morgan Chase Headquarters in New York City.

]]> http://www.robertcaplin.com/2012/12/the-barefoot-homeless-man-in-new-york/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:45:58 +0000 http://www.robertcaplin.com/?p=1988

Last night around 7:30 I received a call around asking if I was available to take a last-minute assignment in my neighborhood. I was told that one of the NY Times reporters had happened upon the now-famous barefoot homeless man, Jeffrey Hillman, who was given a new pair of boots by a generous NYPD officer last week. The exchange was caught on film by a tourist and the photo went viral after it was shared on the NYPD’s Facebook Page gaining hundreds of thousands of likes, shares, and comments.

Of course I had seen the photo as it was on the cover of many newspapers, magazines, and television shows worldwide. It painted a picture of generosity and sympathy for the homeless population and was great publicity for the NYPD and Officer DePrimo.

In taking the assignment, I was intrigued to meet him and see how his sudden celebrity had effected him. I was shocked, though, to find him just blocks from my apartment near one of my favorite grocery stores, Fairway Market, still standing barefoot and begging for change on the cold, dirty NYC sidewalk.

When I arrived, the NY Times reporter was already speaking with him as I approached. In the well-to-do Upper West Side neighborhood, Jeffery stuck out like a sore thumb in torn and soiled clothes that were hanging off of him. As I listened to him speak with the reporter and myself, I couldn’t help but feel a knot build up in my throat.

He explained that he’d hidden the boots because he feared they’d get stolen by other homeless if he was seen wearing them. He explained that he’d hidden them in a “safe place” somewhere outside and went on to say that there are many places one could hide objects that could never be found.

What gripped me was his genuine fear of being robbed of his possessions and the fact that he was very able to articulate those feelings to us. He was hesitant to give us his name at first or really dive into his past because he didn’t know what to make of this publicity, so it took some time to let him get familiar with me before I really started taking my photos.

He explained he’s been in NYC for about a decade, was from New Jersey, and previously was a cook in the Army where he served as a food specialist in the US and Germany. He even pulled out his tattered veteran’s card, which was hidden in a black plastic bag under his shirt by his heart, to confirm his story.

While Jeffery was being interviewed, I witnessed dozens of people walking by doing double takes as they realized he was barefoot in the cold. I could hear many of those people saying “oh that’s him!”…and maybe 4-5 people stopped to confirm it was. Some expressed concern for him and others said that he was crazy and refused to wear shoes, even offering stories about how they’d tried to help in the past to no avail, he always continued to walk barefoot and beg, and there was nothing that could be done to help him.

I was iffy about blogging about my experience because I don’t want to make it seem as though I’m exploiting a homeless man. Rather, I wanted to share with my readers the fact that folks like Jeffery need help. My hope is that someone who is in a position, perhaps with US Veterans Affairs, can step in and give Jeffery the help he needs, whether it’s food, a place to stay, or psychiatric evaluation. He is a veteran and deserves that much.

This was an experience I won’t soon forget. It made me really appreciate what I have. I hope my pictures and story do the same for you…and if you know someone that can help, please share!

Yesterday was a long day covering various stories for the NY Times. I woke up early and excited that it was election day and promptly walked a block to my polling place to vote. Fortunately for me, it only took 15 minutes to wait in line and exercise my civic duty.

Afterward, I hit the city to work on a long-term documentary about an interesting fellow…but I can’t talk about that until it publishes…so stay tuned.

From there I was off to a late-night improv club where I was tasked to document one of the musicians for a profile on the NY Times around 10PM. It was a hilarious experience and I intend to go back to the club soon with my wife for an evening of fun!

At about 10:30, though, the NY Times Metro desk called me and asked me to get to Times Square where large crowds of people were gathering to watch the results of the presidential elections come in. Given NY, especially Manhattan, is a blue state, my editor was hoping I could get some jubilation shots if/when President Obama won.

I made my way to 47th Street to the red TKTS steps where CNN had set up an outdoor studio and large screen right in the middle of Times Square. Every video board in Times Square was carrying various network feeds of the election from CNN, ABC, to Fox News.

Surprisingly, Obama was declared the winner much earlier than expected to the cheers of the crowd. I made a handful of photos of the folks celebrating on the TKTS stairs and then decided to stick around until the president spoke. Little did I know I’d be waiting about two more hours.

Though tiring, yesterday was an exciting day full of picture-taking. I’m happy I was able to experience a special moment in US history in such a cool location.

Four or five days ago I heard there was a hurricane named Sandy brewing and could possibly hit NYC. I wasn’t very concerned as I’d been through Hurricane Irene about a year prior with little or no inconvenience to us personally. I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan close to Central Park which is one the highest parts of the city. Also, I’m in an apartment building which is essentially a fortress of brick and stone as every building down a block touch each-other. It’s not like in the movies…there’s very few alleys in Manhattan. Also, for the most part, Manhattan doesn’t lose electricity from wind or storms because our entire electrical system is underground.

Anyhow, as the storm got closer, there was a little more panic setting in as I saw that the grocery store had massive lines, and the 24 hour fruit vendor on my corner was completely sold out…he never sells out. My wife and I decided to go ahead and get some extra food just in case the worst happened.

I spent the whole day in front of my computer working as the wind began to pick up. I watched the tree outside my window get bent nearly sideways with the continuous gusts of wind. I peeked outside briefly and took a few iPhone videos from the front entrance of my building. I needed to quickly move my scooter to a safer location next to my building in hopes the wind wouldn’t blow it over.

It ended up getting dark and I decided to go take another peek, this time I brought my camera to take a few quick snaps out the front door. The photojournalist in me kicked in when I noticed a downed tree at the end of my block, so I decided to throw on my motorcycle helmet and ran down the road to document the damage. Just after I took a few pictures, I heard a horn honking down the street and a loud noise. I turned around and looked back down the street towards my apartment and could no longer see the lights at the end of the intersection, just tree branches and leaves.

I ran back to my apartment to find that a 5-story tall tree had fallen across the street and onto the front of my apartment building, just where I was standing moments earlier. As the tree fell, it laid across multiple parked cars and just barley missed a taxi coming down the street. The driver braked just in time and rather than getting crushed, he slammed into the tree laying across the road. It was quite shocking as it really made me feel vulnerable and frankly stupid to be out risking my safety to take a few pictures.

Still, the photojournalist in me kicked in and in a matter of maybe two minutes I ran around the scene taking stills and video. I spoke with the taxi driver and my downstairs neighbor who gave their accounts of the incident. I came home and my wife was pretty freaked out because I’d gone down against her wishes and all she heard was neighbors freaking out and running through the halls. I felt bad that I put her through that.

This morning we woke up after a lousy night’s sleep hearing the wind blowing and rain banging on our windows. I jumped out of bed to and quickly ran out with some cameras to go see if there was much damage on my street and surrounding blocks. Only the same two trees were down on my street and the street was a blanket of green leaves and branches. Our block was clearly the worst damaged within a few block circumference due to the old, tall trees that our block is know for.

Last night I watched photos come in from my FB newsfeed and on NYTimes.com from my friends and colleagues who were out in the storm making photos. I give kudos to them, but just feel it’s not worth the risk. Seeing that massive tree laying where I was standing was a pretty eye-opening experience…there may be great pictures to be had, but nothing is worth getting yourself hurt or killed for a storm photo. Just my opinion.

I know I’ve said it before, but what I love about my job is the variety of assignments I get mostly on a moment’s notice. Since I’ve been back in NYC from a week in Ohio shooting for a college, I’ve had a range of assignments each day since I’ve been back: a jazz club, an author’s portrait, a scent museum exhibit, Barbara Cook’s 85th birthday at Carnegie Hall, a dress rehearsal of a Broadway play, and most recently a rare portrait opportunity with NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

It all started with a call around 10:15 AM asking if I could meet the Mayor on the Upper East Side across the park from where I live for a shoot that was still being arranged. It would be at either 11AM or noon. No problem. Quickly, I was told the shoot was at noon, so I thought I had some time to finish editing the previous evening’s shoot. At about 10:35 I get a call saying “change of plans, the mayor wants to meet you at City hall at 11AM. Now, I live on the upper West Side of Manhattan which is quite a trek from City Hall in the first place. To top it all off, I still hadn’t eaten breakfast or really gotten dressed for the day.

En route to the Upper East Side from City Hall with my subway friend.

So I had to quickly upload the photos I was editing while getting dressed and my gear ready to rush out the door in hopes of getting to City Hall by 11. I already knew the time was not going to work and told my editor as much, but I was their only hope of scrambling someone as the mayor’s schedule shifted. I grabbed a cab which took me to an express Subway station on 72nd Street and I took the 2 Train directly to City Hall. I was above ground right at 11, but after going through the security checkpoint outside City Hall, it was 11:15 by the time I was inside. At that moment I got a call from my editor just as a mayor’s aide said, “Sorry, he’s left!”

Ugh, so I spoke with my editor and she asked me to go back to the Upper East Side location, the offices of the Bloomberg’s charitable foundation, where the reporter and I would have about 45 minutes of the mayor’s time.  After waiting a bit, we were led to a room where we (well, the reporter) sat down and spoke with Bloomberg about his reason for not endorsing either presidential candidate. It really was an interesting conversation which led to a decent amount of photos of the mayor sitting in a chair gesturing.

Towards the end of the interview, I stepped out of the room and asked one of the mayor’s aides if he’d stand in while I found a couple of locations for portraits if I could convince Bloomberg to give me a minute or two of his time. As the interview concluded I asked the mayor if he’d allow me to take a few quick natural light portraits in a large gallery room with floor to ceiling windows. I used the window light to make about 3 separate portraits with different and distinct looks: a full, medium, and tight shot.

I knew that my editors would have a really nice variety of options both from the interview and portrait session with the mayor. As it turned out, only a photo of the mayor sitting alone giving the interview was used, so I thought this blog would be a good way to share the rest of the take!

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.

Today I decided to wake up early on the weekend and head to midtown on my bike with my wife and photograph some of the activity around the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Normally I try to stay as far away from Fifth Avenue parades as possible, but I felt motivated this morning. Also, this was not for an assignment, rather just for ourselves, so there was no stress with deadlines or editor’s expectations. We decided to  concentrate on the activity around the parade because in order to get a good spot, we would have to stay in one place and not move…this way we got to roam and see all the participants of the parade warming up for the before the parade started.

It was fun, but as the start time approached, more and more highly intoxicated revelers began pouring out of bars, which wasn’t so fun. Anyhow, I hope you like my take on the parade!