New Year Resolutions

The New Year is here and its time for those pesky New Year resolutions we all make. The ones where we try to force ourselves back into the gym or find that new love which we will never find.  Well mine are completely different. Mine are more centered on the business and making things in life happen. It more of making my life better it is than it is right now

So here are my New Years resolutions… I hope I follow them

1. Increase business by 50-100% a month
2. Shoot at least twice a month which includes model shoots
3. Advertise and Market in different locations then usual
4. Go on a work/vacation trip
5. Take course to help the business and myself
6. Yes… I’m going to say it, get into a routine and get back into shape
7. Read 3-4 books a month
8. Volunteer more

I think that’s good for now. Didn’t want to get crazy and make a ten page blog of me listing resolutions of which half of them I wont get done….maybe 3/4 of them not getting done. But this is a start and I can also build upon it.



Prospect Park shoot

Last month before the year ended, I did a photo shoot outside in Prospect Park.  It was right after the snowstorm and wanted to get one of my snow theme shoots out of the way.

I posted a tweet looking for a model to do a lingerie shoot outdoors. Everyone told me I was nuts and I wasn’t going to find a model as crazy as me. But lo and behold a friend on Facebook said she was in.

So the next day we head into Prospect Park.  The weather was freezing and the snow was intact. I already knew of a location or two to shoot in but I was worried we might get caught by the park rangers or locals and the next thing you know cops are out there and I’m getting written up for shooting without a permit.  Thank god I had my hairstylist and mua around to be my lookouts for any signs of trouble

The shoot went quick and painless. I didn’t want to kill the model or freeze her to death. Not a good thing. We got about 50 photos in the can and came out with 4 great ones and 3 that are perfect for the portfolio and here they are.

Lamb Meatballs with seafood

So I decided to do something new and different for dinner. I took some spices; smoked paprika, ground ginger, cumin, fennel seeds, garlic and a few other things, mixed it into the ground lamb and made small little balls. Added that into a crock pot with hot olive oil, garlic, onions and mushrooms. Let that cook for about 10 minutes. Then added some chimichuri sauce; I know, a bit of the Latin flavor. After another 10 min added the shrimp, and calamari with some dried up rosemary. Cooked that for 10 more min and done.

It was actually pretty good. Had some rice on the side. The only thing I would do is add some tomato paste and a touch of cinnamon into the meatballs to give it alittle extra.

Changing my flickr layout

For the last few months I stopped using flickr. The reason for that….I had the new website. But the problem was I was always shooting and didn’t always want to bother my web designer with all the new photos. Plus I didn’t feel like blogging everyday when I just want to put a new photo or two up. So I basically deleted all the portraits and fashion photos that were up there and added all the everyday photos. So now I have the website for all the major stuff, the blog for the event or special occasion shots and the flickr account for the day to day stuff. So hopefully now I can organize my photos a little better. Now if I can get myself to write on this blog every week I would be a happy camper.

Allison Parris show

Yesterday I shot two different fashion shows. One was okay, crowds weren’t that big and I wasn’t really impressed with the clothing. It looked bland and simple, it felt like the designer didn’t put any effort into the clothing and I didn’t put any effort in posting any of the photos.

The second show I was impressed with. It was for Allison Parris For this show the house was packed and filled to capacity. I liked the clothing and the style of it. It had a mixture of the simplicity of the 50’s with the modern styling of today. Plus I got access backstage so I can’t complain.

For more of her work goto: www.allisonparris.com

August

The last month has been pretty good in an artistic and creative way. But business, that’s a whole different story. Lets just say it wasn’t one of my best months. It also has been a slow one writing on this blog. Maybe I have been lazy or just….yea, just lazy.

I did a few photo shoots. Two of them on the High Line and on the second one I started to get issues with the volunteers while the security guard kept looking at the model with a huge smile on his face. He would always walk by and check out the model.

The third shoot was for Macenstein website. It’s all about Mac and beautiful women. I got to shoot the beautiful woman. The shoot was interesting cause I basically used natural light and a flash to soften up the model. The shots came out great and some of the fans of the site loved while some complained cause there wasn’t enough skin.  But I thought they came out classy and fit her personality perfect. But you can be of the judge of that since I’m adding the site onto the blog. http://macenstein.com/default/2009/08/macensteins-mac-chick-of-the-month-august-2009-valeria-tignini/

The other important event of the month, the new website is up. Brain definitely did a great job on it. I was ecstatic and overjoyed. Finally I had a professional website. The other one was just put together from scratch with the servers help. But wow, now I can hopefully get more work.

My own personal work has been slow. I have not been doing that many walks around the city shooting. It feels like I’ve been shooting the same thing over and over again. I definitely need to get out of here for awhile.

Well I hope this month I’ll write once a week and not once a month.

Pork Tenderloin, with a cheese sauce wrapped with bacon and a salsa verde.

Last week at my brother’s place, I committed a very horrendous crime.  It was a crime so horrendous that most rabbis would kill me for but secretly love me for.  I committed pork on pork crime. And let me say this, it was delicious. It was so good for you that its so bad for your heart.

I made pork tenderloin stuffed with a cheese sauce and wrapped with bacon and to top it off I made a salsa verde. This was my first time making it as well and I’ll make it again even though it’s really bad for me.

The cheese sauce was a combo of goat cheese and blue cheese mixed with olive oil, garlic, basil, rosemary, salt and a pinch of smoked paprika all blended together.

I serried the tenderloin for a few min on each side and then just slowly grilled it for about 10 min each side and that’s it.

The salsa was a mixture of tomatillos, jalapeño peppers, onions, cilantro, garlic, lime juice and salt. Blend that together in a blender and you have a salsa verde.

Bubble Fight

You can tell when it’s summer when the weirdo’s come out to play. And on Friday I was at Times Square to shoot the bubble fight and did they come out. It was actually pretty interesting to see all types of people come out and just have fun in the middle of Times Square. Its even better to see the looks on the tourists faces as they wonder what the hell is going on.
But at the same time you had kids just enjoying the day with their parents and blowing bubbles at each other while the grown ups were just messing around.

Coney Island Shoot

Two weeks ago I did a shoot in Coney Island. I shot with a new model and worked with a new make up artist and I have to say I was extremely happy with the way the photos came out.
We didn’t start shooting until 5:30 in the afternoon. I was afraid I wasn’t going to have enough light. Thank god I had an assistant to help me reflect some light onto the model.

We shot two looks in two different locations. But by the time it was over we had 4 different locations in Coney Island with 3 different looks and two looks combined into 1(we added a few accessories to change the look).
But Coney is starting to get sketchy again; well it always has, but not as much in recent years. You have more little punks running around and harassing everyone. Hell I almost got into a fight cause of some little punk was wasted and high. All he wanted to do is bother me, my crew and get his gang hand signs into the shot.
I could tell it was time to leave cause my model was getting a little scared and you can tell that from the shots. I think the best time to shoot there is early in the morning when there is hardly anyone there.

Bread burning before Passover

On Wednesday all the Hasidic Jews were out burning bread right before Passover. It’s a tradition that is longer and older than I can remember. I have never photographed this before and I thought I had the perfect opportunity to do so. Plus I got to play with my new camera.
I walked over to Borough Park where it’s filled with nothing but Beards running around.  I found one burning but it was being hosed off by the FDNY; who were there just to make sure the kids didn’t run into the fire and start praying to god.
There was one bon fire after another. Some were being done on the lawns with just a bottle of gas a piece of bread; guess who won that fight, while others were being done on the street with piles of bread and paper.
I got funny looks from kids in the neighborhood who have never seen a photographer or were just curious why I was in their neighborhood photographing an event that is yearly and dear to them.  Others would just ask me the most annoying questions.