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.

Earlier this month I covered the 2013 ING New York City Marathon for the NY Times. It was nice to cover the official race again as last year it was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. This year I was assigned to cover the 1-mile stretch of the course in The Bronx at about Mile-20 as runners crossed the Willis Avenue Bridge from 1st Avenue in Manhattan and back over the Madison Ave Bridge into Manhattan.

It was clear security was much heavier this year as the course was guarded from blocks away from the actual course. Luckily, I was on a scooter and was able to snake through the snarled NYC traffic. I parked my scooter near the Madison Avenue Bridge and walked across the bridge into The Bronx. As it turned out I’d arrived quite early as I had to wait about an hour for the leaders to pass.

It was fun to chat with and see all the various supporters from local cheerleaders, a Japanese drumming team, bands, firefighters, and local residents cheer on the runners as they passed.

I made my way to the Willis Avenue Bridge and eventually spotted a building that gave me a great vantage point to make an overall shot and transmit my photos to the paper. It was worth the hike to the roof as the photo quickly made it to the NYTimes.com homepage!

I made my way back to my scooter over the first bridge and got back home to the Upper West Side where I transmitted once more before hitting Central Park as evening approached. I entered the park around 90th Street and walked toward the finish line at around 67th Street. As I made my way closer I was swarmed by Marathon finishers attempting to find their belongings and way out of the park.

One of my favorite parts of covering the Marathon is seeing the runners cross the finish line as it’s a very emotional moment for them. Overall, I had a great time covering this year’s race!

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.

If you don’t already follow my feed, you can do so from my Instagram homepage! Here’s to all of you and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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!

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.

As a freelancer, I’m always waiting for the phone to ring because a ringing phone usually means work’s calling. It’s always nice to hear the familiar voice of a photo editor on the other end asking my availability. The only thing that spoils it is when they pre-empt the assignment pitch with “So you’re an early riser, right?” delivered in a tone closely associated with a mischievous grin . I answered with “Oh boy…what’s the assignment and how early?…”

As it turned out, the next morning was the NYC Triathlon and the New York Times wanted one nice photo of the event for the paper. Given triathlons consist of swimming, biking, and running; we figured swimming would be the most visual portion to photograph…especially since it took place in the Hudson River!

So I found out I needed to be to my assignment by 5:50AM as that’s when the swimming portion for the pros was scheduled to begin. Unfortunately when I woke up at 5AM, the weather was rainy, hot, and humidity was at 99% according to the forecast. Yuck. With an oversized umbrella and rain-jacket, I made my way to Riverside Park along the Hudson on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down to the dock where all the triathletes would soon be exiting the water, and waited. The race had been delayed about 30 minutes. Hurry up and wait. In the rain.

After passing the time under my umbrella, I could finally see the flapping arms and faces of swimmers popping up, down, in, and out of the water. Moments later the pros and elite athletes first approached and stormed out of the choppy, brown Hudson River gasping for air and pulling themselves out or the water, some with the help of lifeguards. Up the ramp and down the dock barefoot they clambered down the bike path where they jumped on their bikes and headed north along the West Side Highway continuing about 24 miles before ending in Central Park with a near 6 mile run. Woah.

It was my first time shooting or even witnessing a triathlon and I was truly amazed at the determination and strength of its competitors. It’s even inspired me to work towards a goal of someday competing in a race like that myself…though we’ll see if that ever happens….

Big congrats to my triathlete/photographer pal Jason DeCrow for completing the course!

Yesterday I was sent out to Times Square by The New York Times to photograph what was quickly becoming America’s double dip recession. I was assigned to take photos at the Nasdaq building in Times Square where I was told screens showed walls of red monitors displaying plummeting stock prices. My mind quickly went back to 2008 when I found myself covering the initial market crash.

I was familiar with the Nasdaq building as I’ve shot there numerous times in the past and immediately had an idea to make an artsy reflection photo showing the stock prices within the building against a reflection of the craziness of Times Square in the background. When I arrived to the scene I was bummed to find the window blinds were drawn, which put a wrench in making any sort of stock market related photo.

I called back to my editor on the photo desk and we scrambled to call the media relations team who let me inside the building to make some pictures from within. Thirty minutes later I was back in business inside the studio lined with a video-board backdrop which is essentially a TV studio used for various news services to report on the economy. While I was there a correspondent for New Delhi TV was reporting the stark financial news to India.

To my good fortune while I was shooting inside, the blinds were raised revealing the busy streets of Times Square. Excited, I exited the studio to make the pictures I was originally envisioning. Due to the time of day, the bright sun made it difficult to shoot from the Broadway-facing set of windows, so I was forced to shoot along the 43rd Street side, which was less busy, but still made some fun images.

I rushed back to my office to transmit the images to the paper. My editor called to compliment the photos and to alert me that the stocks were still tanking, so the story was big. I decided to go back out to see if the ticker in Times Square was showing news of the crisis, which it was. I made a few more photos and stopped back into the NY Times office a few blocks away to deliver them directly as deadlines were approaching.

It was a vague assignment that tasked me with making artistic and abstract photos that told the story… just the kind of assignment I enjoy!

I have to admit, it’s always fun meeting people you see on television and in the movies. I had the opportunity to photograph actor Macaulay Culkin (goes by Mack) for a New York Times article about how he and musician Adam Green had worked together to create a movie filmed entirely on an iPhone 3G.

For this assignment I wasn’t quite sure what to expect….I was to meet at Adam’s small, eccentric apartment in the afternoon and take their portrait. Green’s apartment was part of the movie’s set, so I  planned to use the interior of his home as a backdrop.

After taking a handful of indoor portraits with a number of goofy, papier-mâché props from the movie, we took a short walk in the park across the street where the three of us chatted about our love of Manhattan, my touring with Bieber, and the women’s-sized, brown, leather jacket and police mug shot “Free Mack!” t-shirt Macaulay was wearing for the shoot.  It certainly was an amusing conversation to say the least!

Adam and Mack were fun guys to hang around. I hope we have a chance to work together again in the future…or at least grab a drink!

More photos from the shoot in my archives:

Culkin/Green Shoot – Images by Robert Caplin

Check out Laia’s photos on her Meow Chicken Blog!