leave me a note!

mail me

photo blog

human-scale chess project

poetry project

my paintings

T A N G E R I N E A L E R T

watching TV with robert deniro

johnnie utah

newest
archive
diaryland

< - >

SOTU drinking game, 2008 - 2008-01-27
little light - 2007-12-19
hamburger phone - 2007-12-18
why 'grease' is a perfect LA movie - 2007-12-17
recipe: barley treasure - 2007-10-12

2006-04-04 - 10:59 a.m.

i haven't posted in forever, largely because i've been working tons of hours at my job and barely have time to read more than the headlines let alone write my own. there's something about the photographic nature of the job that stimulates the visual cortex to the exclusion of the verbal.

i work at a very small paper and i'm learning to do my job and two or three others. i work on the photo desk researching photos and assigning photographers, i take assignments myself, and i do the occasional society column shoot with the society editor. this last task is one i volunteered for, and i have complicated feelings about it.

i volunteered because the society editor has a deceptively difficult job and it was obvious she could use some help. also, i thought it would be a great way to meet wealthy people who might want to buy my paintings (one of the first parties i shot was the frick young collectors ball). these parties are often very photogenic, people dress to the nines, and they're soaked in free booze. i've met several gallerists and even a few museum directors on this beat, as well as getting invited to previews of the whitney biennial, the armory show, and the asian art fair.

the downside is that i often get treated like the hired help at these functions. of course, i pretty much *am* the hired help in a roundabout way, but technically i'm shooting for the newspaper. some of it is in my head, clearly i'm carrying around a lot of class anxiety with me. but people really do wave me over and tell me to take their picture.

last night i met the editor in VIP lounge at julliard's 100th anniversary gala. most of the swells were seated in the theater watching wynton marsalis, itzhak perlman, kevin kline et al perform with current julliard students. but the truly connected were being fed hors d oeuvres and white wine in the lounge. there was no direct view of the theater, but instead we watched the performances on several widescreen TVs. about halfway through, robert deniro and his (fabulous looking) wife strolled in. he sat very near to where the editor and i were standing in the corner. i turned to the editor and told her we could now say we'd watched television with robert deniro.

later, i did get to take robert deniro's picture, making him both the most famous and most gracious person i've yet photographed. i had lunch with david henry hwang last week but did not get to take his picture.