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I walked past the chaotic Lady Gaga performance today on my way to another job, pushing through blocks of screaming fans. On the way home there was a crowd of impersonators trying to get some TV time on the morning show who looked more like they belonged in the Village.

Last year I used to shoot those morning shows every week until I got to the Miley Cyrus one and there was a photographer willing to wait on the sidewalk since midnight the night before. I’m told that a waiting list for the photo pit was started at 10pm for Lady Gaga.

They were long days and crazy evenings of shooting concerts, parties, lounges and conventions, but looking back it was an awesome weekend filled with some nice images of some pretty great acts. It was fascinating to be in New Orleans right as the oil was going to was ashore and hear the local concern for the fresh seafood that governs nearly 60% of their economy. New Orleans didn’t need another disaster on its doorstep! We ate at a place called “Butcher“, which is attached to “Cochon,” where I tried 4 sandwiches, and every single one was close to the best sandwich I had ever eaten!

The superdome is huge and was pretty much full every night, including the smaller lounge stages on the 2nd floor that hosted smaller acts. I must have circled this arena several times.

Although I’m a not a Janet Jackson fan, you had to admire her performance and ability to entertain.

The leopard printed Keri Hilson and Jill Scott attended a late night dinner at “August” where I took a doggie bag home and was blown away by the quality of the steak and salad!

Frank is one of the nicest guys to work for, he maintains a sense of humor and friendly demeanor even after the long days we all worked. I papped him walking out of the super-dome for the last day. For more pictures of the festival go here.

I spent a few hours hanging around inside and outside of Splash Nightclub last night for some pictures of Kylie Minogue. I couldn’t have felt more out of place, although Kylie seemed right at home.

Some Kylie videos after the break Continue Reading »

It’s been a busy 2 weeks which is why I’ve been ignoring my blog. Here is a snippet

I think it’s great that we’ve had such advances in technology, but honestly I think we’re on a downward spiral when someone’s recording news worthy content on an ipod nano (and getting in my shot)…

I was made to shoot a show from the back balcony not that long ago, and this was the opening scene. A whole audience of front row photographers who probably had their content on youtube/flickr before I had anything out.

In honor of my little brothers 18th Birthday today, here’s a classic Looney Tunes clip…

I had to work alongside the infamous Steve Sands leaning all over me today at an event with Jenni ‘Jwoww’ Farley. If you don’t know who he is there is this classic video…

Sometimes I get roped into stuff while I’m working that I don’t always think is the best idea. After a long day of photographing on set for this music video I became a part of the whole thing. The director made me move around, ducking and bobbing like a deranged Steve Sands, while snapping as many pictures as possible. Thankfully, you can hardly even tell it’s me and it doesn’t look anywhere near as silly as it felt.

I really liked working with the family. They were from the North of England but had moved to the Barbados for the good life.

“No Reservations” is the perfect mix of a cooking show, travel show and documentary. Thankfully unlike lot’s of other Travel Channel shows, Anthony Bourdain isn’t a ‘hippy-dippy traveller’ who loves everything and patronizes the locals. He comes across as more of a journalist that eats than a food critic. How do I become his travelling photographer for all the shows??

I’ve written about Brian Ach’s Photographer Project before (go HERE to buy a copy). Jason Kempin is an old friend and coworker, I edited his images at Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006, and now I occasionally shoot alongside him at events. You really learn how good a photographer someone is when you edit their raw take. I like this portrait of him with his Gimme! coffee and his responses are spectacular.

I’ve been trying out this paparazzi thing over the past few days. It seemed like a worthwhile time to enter into the game as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in town. Angelina is filming “Salt” on location near Chelsea Piers so I headed over to try and get some shots. It was possibly the coldest and windiest day this year. I found a bunch of photographers bundled up on a pier jutting out over the Hudson River. I joined the group and began the long and arduous wait for her to leave the set. They were filming inside a boat, so there was no way of getting her in action.

I only really meant to stay for at most half an hour before heading home, but it soon turned into one of those mind games where I kept convincing myself that in five minutes she was going to pop out of the boat in a bikini and wave to us all in a triumphant gesture. I waited 2 hours. Finally the whole crew exited the set trailed by her in a small crowd, wrapped in a big down jacket with her hair in her face. The best picture I got, uncropped mind you, was this one (with some delicate photoshop work it gets better, but only a little!) -

Then, after both my shoots today, I got a call from an assignment editor that she had an exclusive tip on Brad Pitt playing with his son Maddox in an arcade at Times Square. I headed straight over from my New York Stock Exchange closing bell with Carson Daly (well worth visiting the NYSE if you can) to try and get some pictures. Again I was planning on getting a picture of Brad waving at me while Maddox played away on Dance Dance revolution and several other fun and wacky scenarios. I arrived at the arcade, walking around looking for someone with a big gross beard who could resemble Brad Pitt. Right as I was about to give up he walked straight past me with Maddox in tow, heading for the shooting arcade. This was my big chance… “No Pro Photographers,” grumbled his security and I was accosted by the arcades security and shown the door. Yet another failed couple of days for Benny where I felt like a perverted scumbag who stalks celebrities for the chance to make a few dollars. I should probably stick to the event photography as a means of income and go back to working on my fine art photography.

This is how the pros do it. A Nikon D3s, 600mm Lens and a ski mask (optional).

We just got back from seeing “Up in the Air” with George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. We’d planned on seeing it before Christmas and then yesterday while returning or exchanging items at the Westchester Mall I saw Vera Farmiga buying a coffee at Starbucks and later having lunch with her friends around a table. I don’t consider my current profession to be that of a “Paparazzi” but have once or twice visited film sets to get some street shots. I hated doing it, even though I made some money and kept an agency happy with the pictures. Here is my dilemma: most days I love my job and am really happy to be a working professional photographer covering events throughout NY for agencies like Getty Images, however when I see celebrities out on the street (or shopping malls) I feel the need to grab pictures of them, stalk them and ask them to pose for me. Exclusive pictures of Vera Farmiga shopping with her kid the day after her movie has been released would have been worth plenty of money, but I would have felt like a scumbag taking them. So all I got was this fuzzy iphone picture of the scene outside Sephora and I left the mall sulking about not being a perv with a big lens!

So here’s the problem… I love taking pictures and making money is pretty awesome too and recently I’ve been able to do both which is really great. It’s just that there are a few side affects:

1) I don’t ever take pictures for fun or of my life outside of work.

2) I don’t ever use either of my beautiful film cameras (Voigtlander R3A and Mamiya 7ii).

3) I can’t even go to a shopping mall on Boxing Day without thinking about work.

P.S. – The movie was pretty good. Not amazing but worth watching on DVD or maybe even HBO. The previews always show all the best parts. Bah!

Continue Reading »

I’ve been listening to this bands album over and over and over. They’re another band that I found on La Blogotheque, the greatest music blog out there, even though it’s French!

Plants and Animals – A Take Away Show – Bye Bye Bye from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Plants and Animals – A Take Away Show – Feedback in the Field from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

It’s finally here, so set your Tivo, practice your fist pumping and get watching!!!

This is Scott’s picture in New York Magazine that he took down on the Jersey Shore while I was assisting this summer.