Back In Business And Ain't It Grand Part Two

Aside from the fact that I just think the work is good (modesty is good but self confidence is better), that the photos--each photo--is individual, unique to the person in the pic, that the colour and composition is top of the game, that the ad layout (designed by me and one of the graphic artists at Reproductions!) is interesting, that the ad is (mostly!) every day New York actors rather than famous people (hey, when you are the only photographer in New York with a photo of Judi Dench...ya know? that photo has become my trademark), what I love most is that the people in the ad are my loved ones. Well, mostly, my loved ones.

Even Jude is a friend, albeit one I never see - our friendship is strictly epistlary; and of course everyone can spot my spouse of 20 years, Pat, just underneath the great Dame Dench. Above Jude is Alison, a friend and client and one of my favourite models--we've worked together two or three times and she is sassy and gorgeous. On Jude's lower right hand corner is our new friend, Michael, who moved to New York from El Passo to be a dancer and with whom we became fast, immediate friends. Next to Michael is my best friend, Brady, more commonly referred to as my 'split-apart' (I think it here, it comes out there...), whose headshots I have been doing all his adult life. Above Bray is my friend Marja, newly moved from New York to L.A. and that is the headshot that is going to do it for her; and next to Bray is Stephen Lamm, a beloved friend who left town and is exploring the world and who we miss, badly. Underneath Bray is an actress I photographed a couple of years ago and who I am not in touch with -- but I love the photo!

The center of page two of the ad is my dearest and longest running friend, Marci--we call her my Grace Adler. I've been doing her photos for so long that she will not permit me to say, in pubic, the actual number of years; suffice it to say, I am proud to make her the centerpiece of this ad in what is, arguably, the best photo of her I have ever taken. On either side of Marci are Diedre Goodwin, the gorgeous Broadway diva (possibly the fiercest one in her age range, currently), who will play Sheila in the revival of A CHORUS LINE; and Jennifer Houston, the actor/singer/dancer/songwriter; the chef and proprietor of the PMS KOOKIE KOMPANY (my favourite snack) and the dearest of my friends. Below Marci is her friend and mine and the possessor of one of those voices that makes you stop breathing, Michael Buchanan. At the top of the page are my best friends Tom and AJ in one of the sexiest pics I have ever done, my close friend Tommy Foster (another one of those goosebump voices) and my sweet Dan, withwhom I share a birthday!, who is off to take L.A. by storm.

These are among my dearest friends and family members and isn't it swell to get to have them represent my work? A lucky man, am I. I cannot wait until next year, when I have had time to do new pics of Kaitlin, Laurelle, Natasha, Heather and all of the other flowers in my garden, and show them off.

Who says I'm not lucky? (Is that a line from a Barbra Streisand movie? I think so but to be sure I would have to call Peter in California).

Peter! He'll look good in next year's ad, too!