Photographed John Cougar Mellencamp with Meg Ryan strolling in Soho for Frye boots.John is a cool dude and found out when I gave Meg my card, she is a Slick Rick fan. Impressive.
Portraits
John Cougar Mellancamp
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January 5th, 2014
Ben Sherman
A shoot for Ben Sherman at The Box in NYC. The three British bands Duologue, Morning Parade and Prides were dressed by Ben Sherman. The event, part of CMJ, was presented by Her Majesty’s Government no less
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November 8th, 2013
Happy Halloween
Couple in the East Village
Ghost on the West Side
NYPD after the parade
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October 31st, 2013
The Go Hard Boyz
In 1999 Shea Evans and Don Villnueva, both Harlem dirt bike ‘warriors’, decided to form the movement they called the Go Hard Boyz (GHB). The GHB quickly grew and now has members all over the world – dirt bike and ATV riders and extreme sports specialists – living a lifestyle in urban communities and rural suburbs Their unique riding style and attitude has spread far and wide The logo a mask with a backward baseball cap represents ‘their mantra “Do It With Style’ which is how they ride. Dirt bike riding is illegal in NYC and riders often get harassed and chased by the NYPD,
One summer afternoon I met Shea in Harlem – he introduced me to some of the GHB posse – they seemed like a family (above GHB on the stoop in Harlem). Shea took me me to the Bronx to take photos of the GHB, we rode in the flat bed of his cousin’s F150 pick up truck on the Bruckner expressway shooting the Go Hard Boyz doing wheelies, showing their skills through Harlem and the Bronx on a hot summers day. Shea tells me “It’s Bigger than Bikes”.
GHB riding on the Bruckner Expressway, the Bronx
Bike Life
Riding in the Bronx
Youngster riding in the Bronx in front of Cope mural
GHB posse on 158th Street Harlem
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October 28th, 2013
Louis Mendes Street Photographer
I recently spent the morning with iconic street photographer Louis Mendes and his biographer Ray We met for an early breakfast in Harlem at his favorite tiny soul food diner.We walked around the neighborhood chatting and taking photos Then we went to his home in a converted old hotel by Times Square His room is stacked with photo books, old cameras, boxes of flash bulbs, photos cover the walls.
He used to photograph at nightclubs and has probably shot every one, the famous and not so famous He takes just one Polaroid which he sells to the subject He never thought to take one for himself
“”I just photograph people, I stand outside and wait for them to come to me. I give them a set price for a Polaroid photo if I need to buy a coffee or an extraordinary price if I need to fly away”
The idea that he is a documentary photographer seems strange to him He was just taking photographs of people for ‘coffee money’
Now 80 years old Louis can be found outside B&H Photo, Adorama or at an event at BAM, always impeccably dressed, still taking polaroid portraits – have him take your photo.
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September 17th, 2013
A day with Niko and crew
Last thursday Niko’s video crew (below) followed me taking photographs on the streets of New York. We met a bunch of stylin’ teens on Houston St (above) and a guy with the biggest boom box on 125th st, we went to the peaceful Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, a seedy alley where I had shot Brandon Boyd, RZA etc, and a bunch of other locations. New York’s city streets are constantly changing and always a surprise.
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May 19th, 2013
Punk, NY Magazine, the Met
The punk show ‘Chaos to Couture’ at the Metropolitan Museum inspired New York Magazine to interview me about my experiences back in the seventies London punk days.
Punk brought an anti-establishment raw freshness to music, art and style. It was about change, the idea that people should question authority and do it for themselves. Coming from an art school background. I loved punk, 2 Tone, reggae. rockabilly, I liked soul music. I liked all kinds of music. At that time in England, the economy was really bad and the whole “No Future Punk” thing was going on. Kids would come out of school and they couldn’t get jobs. People were rebelling against that. To me, punk was an attitude, a life style, that changed everything in the UK.
FYI In 1994 London’s Victoria & Albert Museum had an exhibition called ‘Streetstyle: from sidewalk to catwalk’ which explored a similar theme to the Met show – they displayed a twelve foot high print of my photo of the Islington Twins at the entrance – the exhibition unpretentiously showed how street style, music and youth culture affect the world.
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May 4th, 2013
ICP class this summer
I will be teaching my ‘Youth Culture’ Portrait & Documentary Photography’ summer class again at ICP in July. Classes will be on Wednesday afternoons July 10 through August 7.
This year I taught a ‘Youth Culture’ workshop with Stella Kramer in Caracas- it made the New Yorker blog – we did 3 days of 12 hour classes – work !! the students took some great photographs.
Below is a photograph of a group of Mods at a festival in Scotland that I shot for the iconic style and culture magazine The Face back in the UK Punk days.
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April 24th, 2013
LL Cool J
LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) is releasing a new album ‘Authentic’ at the end of this month.
I took his first promo photograph (below) back in 1985. The then seventeen year old LL Cool J seemed shy when he arrived in my downtown studio with Bill Adler, the PR for Def Jam ( keeper of the great hiphop ‘Adler ‘archives) carrying a huge boom box . Two years, and many hits, later I photographed him again on the street (above) with Cut Creator, E Love and B-Rock for the British music weekly Melody Maker. He was still rocking the Kangol with bigger gold chains and more confidence. The New York Times claimed he radiated ” the charisma of the young Muhammad Ali”
These days he is one of hip hop’s great success stories, a movie actor and star of the TV series ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’. Looking forward to seeing the NY show at Roseland.
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April 21st, 2013
Jocks & Nerds Milo Johnson
My shot of Milo Johnson is on the cover of the latest Jocks & Nerds magazine. First off I happen to think Jocks & Nerds is the best magazine covering style, music, attitude, culture out there today. I’ve been working for them for over a year now – the mag is beautifully designed, lots of black and white photography and in a truly arcane way – well you can’t buy it anywhere – it is a free quarterly only available in specialist stores like Paul Smith in London.
And then there is the legendary Milo Johnson, with whom I spent a really nice afternoon taking photos, wandering around his Harlem neighborhood, talking about music, Bristol, London, New York,Tokyo, magazines, photos, and other good things. A few days later he dropped off some music for me : his current CD ‘Return of the Savage’ in my opinion irresistible grooves, ‘The Wild Bunch’ great hip hop mixes, ‘Live at the Cat Club 1979’, and ‘Suntoucher’ are all on heavy rotation on my ‘jukebox’.
Have to say I love photographing people on the streets of NY – there is always so much going on. Standing under the overpass for the 1 train, at 125th street avoiding trucks, speeding cop cars and taxis, the odd passerby making a comment, breeze from the river and the noise of the trains overhead. It’s never boring.
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March 15th, 2013