I’m starting to get the jitters, big time for the race on Saturday. So, to distract myself, I thought that I would post a couple of photos of our new apartment. Yeah, we were tired of the walk up and all of our old crappy furniture, so we moved into this place. Psyche! These images are some that I did recently for Curatedmag, of the new items at BoConcept. I love pretty much everything in that store, and not just because I have Danish roots! I didn’t spend as much time as I normally do, squaring up the shots and pulling out lens distortion. But, you get the idea.

One more–

Other cool stuff that I saw on the webz today:

–What it is like to be hit by a speeding car, and live.

–Last week, I mentioned the El Mac exhibit that will be at the Joshua Liner Gallery later this month. Well, El Mac issued a teaser video, that actually shows him working on a piece. Very, very cool.

For the weekend:

Friday: We will be heading out pretty early for a long visit with Piper, on the way to Hartford. The way things ended up shaking out, some of my cousins (the ones who are also running the race on Saturday) are currently in NYC. So, they will be coming to meet Piper and riding to CT with us. I’m pretty excited about it for various reasons. I haven’t seen these cousins for several years, and it is always exciting when Piper has a chance to meet a blood relative.

Saturday: Race hard. Try not to be disappointed with the results. Visit PJ. Drive home. Rest.

Sunday: Picking apples in the country?

Reagan is still very sickly, so last night I was flying solo at a Drake/Trey Songz show that I was covering. The show was in Times Square, which is my least favorite part of town (a long with mid-town generally). At least the rain had subsided by the time that I arrived. I was able to get a few decent shots. I have included a few of my faves, in this post. Truth be told, it was kind of boring without Reagan there to dance around and make me laugh.

I really hope that Reagan feels better, soon. Beside the fact that she is clearly miserable, and that we are totally bored  (from not being able to hangout), I am way overdue for a haircut. It is to the point right now, where I might as well just start growing a beard and wearing Wayfarers. That way I can just tell people that I’m going for the Joaquin Phoenix look.

Also, the Hartford race is this weekend. I’m not sure if it will be a good idea for Reagan to run (even if she is feeling a bit better by then), but I’m not going to try to stop her if she wants to. I’m starting to get really anxious about the race. I have been extremely lax with my running schedule for the past 2 weeks. A lot of it is because of the rain. Just the same, it doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, going into Saturday. So, keep your fingers crossed for me. Happy Wednesday!

Try to solve the puzzle below. You can mouse over the image at the bottom left to see what the finished image should look like. Click “play again” to re-shuffle the pieces. To move a tile, click (don’t drag) the tile, and it will slide into the blank space.

Cover songs. Tribute albums. I know that there are those out there who have a strong distaste for cover songs. Some who feel like it is taking something precious and personal and corrupting it in some way, and therefore ruining it. There are also some who think why should you try and change a good thing? Okay. Cool. I get it… maybe I don’t.
Have you ever heard the phrase: “Mimicry is the most sincere from of flattery?” I guess that when you are singing along with your favorite song on the radio, it doesn’t count… because… you aren’t recording it? I don’t know. I like the idea of somebody taking something they really like, and kind of making it their own. Anyway, I have found some cover songs that I truly enjoy. I sometimes enjoy the original as well, but sometimes not. So… the Soft Cell version made this song famous in 1981. Originally composed by Ed Cobb, “Tainted Love” was first recorded by Gloria Jones in 1965. over the years this song has been covered and put on albums by dozens of artists from a variety of genres. A few notable names, and versions to check out, are Marilyn Manson, The Pussycat Dolls, Max Raabe, and Shades Apart.
My personal favorite rendition of this song (to date) is done by the group “The Living End.” Click here and listen.

We had a very mellow and lengthy visit with Piper on Saturday. We hung out, chatted, watch some college football, etc..

Piper got a little bit confused when I was explaining to her about why Tennessee had actually just lost, when she thought that she had just seen them pull off a victory. After I broke it down for her, this was her response:

I guess that I should start teaching her about sportsmanship.

Last weekend, Maggie, one of Reagan’s good friends that she grew up with in TN was in town with her fiance from DC. It was especially cool to see them because it was our firs time meeting her fiance, despite failed previous attempts.  One of the things that we did was visit an exhibit at the Brooklyn museum, of work done by an artist on a show that Maggie and Ben watch.

The dude’s work was pretty cool. Most of it was painted or drawn. But there were two large sculptures in the center of the exhibit, that reminded me of something extracted from the ancient Pompeii.

Below: Maggie and Reagan being dramatic.

We capped off the afternoon picking up a slice in the FiDi. Reagan snapped the shot below from the upper level of the dining room.

(slide to view)

This is an image that I pieced from a few different images. Like an idiot, I had the cam set to AWB, so the WB is a bit different it each, and you can see the seams. I was feeling too lazy tonight, to fix it. But you get the idea. It was a pretty good sunset. Here is a link to an 800px tall version, if you want to check it out in your browser.

I posted some kind of creepy photos in the spirit of it being the month of Halloween. They aren’t nearly as awesome as these ones, that I saw yesterday. But, who can compete with that kind of stuff!? Don’t worry, Reagan isn’t dead. These shots are from a session that we did with a painter friend of ours who asked if he could use Reagan as a model. Some of the poses that he had her in seriously looked like she had just ODed and collapsed, or something. The shots above are just two of the 400-something frames that we shot. I’m curious to see how the piece comes out. I’m sure it will be awesome. He does great work, and I mean, with a model like Reagan, you can’t really go wrong (even if she looks dead).

Exciting things happening this month:

I have some pretty interesting sounding shoots lined up, including two art exhibits that I’m pretty excited about. One is at the Met, an Exhibit by Miro, called the Dutch Interiors. From the description, it looks like it will be Miro’s take on the old Dutch Masters (which may me my favorite painters, ever). The other will be on display later this month at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Chelsea. The artist is El Mac. The reception that night is open to the public, so feel free to check it out. Thanks for the heads up on that one, Dan!

The weekend of the 9th, we will be racing at Hartford. The image above is from the 2008 Hartford Marathon, at about mile 23. Last year (below) I was not doing smiles or thumbs up at Mile 23. That was taken near mile 20… I was dying.

I’m still trying to figure out which one of those it is going to be (thumbs up, or dying) this year. Don’t ask me how the training is going. They did restructure the course for this year, though. I think that I will like it better, because they got rid of a nasty section of hills that was right at the end of the race. By “got rid of,” I mean, moved them to the beginning of the course, so that people will still have energy when they encounter them. It will be a fun ordeal regardless of outcome. Reagan will be doing the half, as will several of our friends. My friend Mike “might” be running the full with me. Also, some of my cousins will be in town running the half. So cool. This will be the first time in my adult life running a race together with a blood relative. I’m pretty excited about that.

Shortly after the marathon is my birthday. I’m not huge on birthdays, but I thought I would throw that in there.

Shortly after my birthday, we will be taking a road trip to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. We will be meeting up with Reagan’s family, there for a reunion and to celebrate the return of Reagan’s brother from a long stint in Mexico as a missionary. I have never been to Tennessee, so I have to say that I’m quite curious and excited to check it out. Plus I always have a great time when we get a chance to hang out with Reagan’s family. And, I mean…. road trip. Can’t really beat that.

To round off month #10 is, of course, Halloween. Not sure what antics Reagan is cooking up for this year. But I’m sure that they won’t disappoint. We are also keeping our fingers crossed about a possible visit from my sister Sarah, that week. Happy October!

I had a blast shooting Thursday night. It is kind of weird, but when I first moved to NYC, I used to have a lot of dreams about being out, about wandering the streets and overwhelmed. In my dream, it was always night and overcast, with the city lights reflecting off of the clouds. The photo above is a pretty close approximation to the way things looked in my recurring dream. Isn’t weird how fast the city starts to seem super small after just a few months of living in it?

So, here are a couple of my favorite shots from the evening. I like the bike in the shot above.  I like the bottle in the shot below.  The DJ team had a bunch of sick remixes of contemporary rock and pop, that they had remixed with club beats. You can check them out and download their free sampler at stellasanddutches.com