October 24, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the past. I'm gonna have my friend here grab one of my cartoon books. I used to keep my diaries in cartoon form. So I had my friend here pick out one of my journals. She opened it up to a time I was seeing this one girl when I lived in Paris. Here's the cartoon, but I'm not gonna say anything. I think the photo says it all.

P.S. I looked outside to verify which floor I was on. I was on the eighth floor. Maybe I'll explain more one day when I'm much older, and living in Antartica.

You know, I used to travel all the time. I have many many cartoons of me on the plane. My friend here opened up one of my journals to a time I was on the plane on the tarmac for four hours. This seemed to be a common thing. It would drive me crazy. I'll include a cartoon of when this happened to me.

The last thing I'll talk about is windsurfing. I was obsessed with windsurfing. I would try to windsurf every day. I even brought the bloody thing with me on photoshoots. The client would often say, "What's that?" I would reply, "Oh that? That would be my reflectors." Never a dull moment, but let me give you some advice, if you're surfing or windsurfing in uncharted territory, always ask the locals if there is anything in the water you should know about. I was once chased by a shark in New Caledonia. Not a comfortable feeling.

That's about all for this week. I'll talk to you guys soon. Love, B. Nice

P.S. Here's a link to my other blog where I talk about the here and now.

October 17, 2014

Hi everybody, welcome to the blog where I talk about the past. I saw on the news there's a hurricane going to Hawaii. I used to shoot in Hawaii all the time. But the weather drove me crazy. One second it would be sunny. The next second it would be cold and cloudy. Oh, that reminds me: One time I was in a taxi in Italy. I asked the cab driver what the weather was like here in Italy. He said to me, "Oh, the weather here, she's like an Italian woman: hot one minute, the next minute, she's a freezing cold." Anyway, that's what Hawaii was like, a great place for a vacation, but not a great place to do photoshoots. Plus, where I was, it was always windy. That's a trade off says my friend and I agree.

I'm including a cartoon I did of a place called Briland. It's another name for Harbour Island in the Bahamas. I used to love shooting there. The beach is actually pink sand. It's pretty wild. Plus, it's not too developed. So it's like shooting at a small local beach. It would be great to go there on vacation, you know, just hang out for a couple of days or weeks, or months, or years. I'll include the cartoon I did when I went from New York to Briland.

You know, I traveled all the time. I was on an airplane like once a week. It was crazy, but I was always happy to come home. I could surf right in front of my house. Plus, I built my dream home in Montauk. I'll show you some pictures of the kitchen. It was pretty cool and it had great light.

I used to shoot there as well. It was a great location like this black and white story. That was in my front yard. That's why I built the house. It was basically a live/work situation. It was rather large, but, you know, I built it so people could come and stay. I would shoot from home. It was pretty cool.

I'll leave it at that. Here's a link to my blog where I talk about the present. I'll talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice

October 10, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the past. You know, I mentioned before that I had agents all over. You know, like New York, London, Paris, Milan, etc. I had agents all over. But I had this one agent. All this agent wanted to do was make money. I felt like a bloody ATM machine. You know, it's good to make money, but oh man, this was out of control. You gotta keep your creative side going.  You know, I guess it's a constant battle between art and commerce. You get hired for your artistic side, but next thing you know, you're doing stuff for them like, I won't go into it, but you're doing commerce. Am I making any sense to you? Anyway, keep doing your own thing. Remember that. My friend here said, I could have just said no, but let me tell you, after you do that starving young artist thing for a while, you know, no heat in Paris, you get kind of tired of that.

You know, you guys, I'm starting to run out of stories. I know I said it before, but the well is starting to dry up. I don't want to repeat myself, you know, tell the same old story. Maybe someone out there that knows me can tickle my memory and send me an email.  But then again, I might not want to remember some stuff. But I'd still love to hear from you. Hey, why don't I include a cartoon from the past. I'll have my friend here take photo of a cartoon. Hope you have a good week. I'm gonna sign off. Remember my blog about the future is the other one on briannice.com/mypointofviewproject.

See you next week. Love, B. Nice

October 3, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the past. Stuff I used to think of when I was on my back for so long.

You know when I lived in Australia I learned very quickly the sun is strong. I mean really strong. One day I was sitting at the beach and there was a film crew at the other end of the beach. I didn't pay much mind to them. I went for a swim and went home. After I was at home for a while, I had a beer, started cooking dinner. I turned on the tele and there was the same film crew at the same beach I was at. They were talking about sun damage. They were doing shots, you know, people in the water, people playing badminton on the beach. Then all of a sudden there was a picture of me! I'm watching the 6 o'clock news and there's a picture of my back. They were talking about sun damage and skin. My back is a disaster 'cause I used to surf in midday sun. I look like a freaking leopard. Actually, one night, in college, this is a little side note here, in college, I got really drunk. Imagine that. And my girlfriend thought it would be funny to number all the moles on my back. She and her friends played connect the dots. I woke up to some very abstract drawing on my back. I don't remember anything because I passed out.

You know, when I first got to Australia I started shooting and I brought my film into a lab to get processed. After I ran the first roll I said to the guy who runs the lab, "What's with your developing? It's so contrasty." He just laughed. He said, "All people from out of town say the same thing." The light in Australia is very white. Very contrasty. The light isn't like the light on Long Island or Europe. It's very hard. It's actually really difficult to shoot there. At the end of the day you can almost use tungsten film which is film balanced for the household light. It's crazy. That's film speak.

One last story I have about the sun there goes like this: I went to a dermatologist about every six months. My usual doctor was away. His assistant took over. The guy looked like he was about 14. Anyway, he checked out my skin and stopped for a moment. He looked at me and pointed at my nose and said, "Oy mate, that's got to come off." I was like, "My nose?! You're going to cut off my nose?" He said, "No mate, but the little bump on the side of your nose, it's pre-cancerous and has to come off." The guy pulled out a scalpel that looked like an ice-cream scooper. He said, "Lie down." I said, "Now wait a minute, it's gonna leave a big mark." He said, "Oy mate, stop your complaining. You're a bloke. What do you care if you have a little mark on your face. It's not like you're a girl." He said, "Hold still." And before I could say "No," he scooped out the cancer. I still have a mark on my nose. I tell everybody I had a nose piercing. It makes me seem less like an old fart.

That's about it for my sun stories. I just stay covered up all the time now. Hell, even when I surf with my long board I wear a big hat. I go every six months to get checked now. Anyway, I'll leave you with a few photos. Oh, and if you want to go back to my homepage it's www.briannice.com

Talk to you next week. Love, B. Nice

6770-12graduation

Friday, September 26, 2014

Hi everybody. So I'm gonna dedicate this blog to a friend of mine who I was going to visit tomorrow. But it turns out she was really sick and she's no longer with us. It's sad because she was really cool. But, I've a good story to tell you. You know, we were like brother and sister. It was kind of a love/argument relationship. Anyway, one day we were out location scouting on a photo shoot. She would always get lost. She insisted on not having a GPS, but she would always get lost. I would tease her all the time. Anyway, we were driving around. She looked lost. I said, "What's going on?" She mumbled something. I said, "Are we lost again?" She said, "Yeah." I said, "How far are we from the hotel?" She replied, "Well maybe like 2 1/2, 3 hours." I said, "All right. I folded down the middle seat, mind you we're in a mini van. I said, "Pull over here next to this gas station convenience store." I went inside, got a six pack of beer and a bag of chips. I sat in the back. I told the client who was in the back with me to have a beer. And my friend said, "What am I? a chauffeur?" and I replied, "You are now." It was a good trip back to the hotel. Another time I put a big snake behind the toilet. A fake snake. I tied some very fine fishing line around the neck. My friend sat down to use the toilet and when she sat down I pulled the snake out. Have you ever heard someone scream "Oh Shit!" really loud? It's really funny. I paid for that one though.  That's a whole nother story. She got even in her own way, believe me. I think I heard her yell, "Brian, you little brat." Anyway, there are endless stories like this. She and I used to tease each other all the time. I'll miss her.

You know, I started getting nostalgic for some of our trips. I worked with this one client who seemed to think the best light was in Hawaii. And a specific nice hotel in Hawaii. Those were great trips. Good fresh fish as well. We came back with good shots all the time. It didn't hurt to be in Hawaii. The other cool thing was we shot in the morning and late afternoon. I had the midday to myself. I of course would go surfing every day. We were right next door to a great break. Those were great trips. My friend here asked me, "What's better? Having memories of those trips or not doing those trips at all?" I just stared at her blankly.

You know, that's about it for the past. I don't feel like talking about the past so much. One other thing I do remember about my friend. We would always go to Harbor Island to shoot. Harbor Island is in the Bahamas. Great place to visit. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend it. Talk to you next week. I'm gonna include a photo of a heart I was gonna bring tomorrow. Talk to  you next week. Love, B. Nice