November 14, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about my past. You know, things I thought of when I was lying on my back for so long.

Planes, trains and automobiles. You know, I was always traveling. My work took me around the world and I always seemed to be on an airplane, bus or a boat. Oh, that reminds me, do you know what Boat stands for. Bust Out Another Thousand. Anyway, I remember taking a plane to New Guinea. We were on an old DC3. We couldn't fly that high so we would fly in the valleys below the clouds. It was pretty cool. Kind of scary, but cool. That was when I was young. I have hundreds of stories, like the time the captain of Malaysian Airlines walked down the stairs to look at the engine of the jet plane. It was pouring fuel out of the engine. The pilot looked like he was about 14 years old. One other time I got in a helicopter and it would barely take off. The guy looked at me. He looked like he was about 13. I've been in one major plane accident. I think I told you about that a few blogs ago. Go ahead and look for it. It might be a couple of years ago.

I've been on many train rides, like the overnight from Paris to Milan. That's pretty cool. The point is, I used to travel a lot. Now it seems I just stay home and stare at a tree. Kind of a contrast. I kind of like staring at the trees.

This thought came to me totally out of the blue, but I used to shoot with a film made by Polaroid. It was a cool film. It was 35mm and you could process it right there and then. It had a grainy look to it. Anyway, I was shooting a story of a girl in a white dress. I still remember the dress. It was made by an English designer, Ghost. We were shooting at night, underwater, and I was using strobe with an underwater camera. It was cool until I got on the boat and the captain looked kind of nervous. I said, "What's wrong? Why do you look so nervous?" He said, "Oh, there are some Cayman Alligators around here." I said," OK, we're done. Let's go to the bar." I still remember the make up artist's name and the hairdresser's name. It was a great shoot. For an English magazine. A good trip. Oh, and the bar was good too. Oh, and check it out. I saw a major, MAJOR celebrity at the bar. He was having a nice romantic drink with another dude, but I'll never tell. Oh yeah, and this major MAJOR celebrity has a really hairy back. I couldn't stop laughing to myself.

I'm gonna leave it there for now. I'll keep on thinking about stories from the past. Remember, if you are sick and lying in bed, it's a good way to pass the time. Just think about the past. That's why I admire kids in the hospital so much. Because their past is so small. It's amazing they can make it through it. Anyway, that's it for now. Love, B. Nice

Oh, and here's a link to my other blog, you know, where I talk about the present.

November 7, 2014

Hi every body. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the past.

Gee, I wonder where I get it from. You're probably wondering what I mean. Imagine this: My dad's painting away. So he's in his studio. A floor through studio in Soho NYC. I'm riding my bike around the studio. He's listening to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. And then I get picked up by my mom and go to our apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Then my mom has a brilliant idea. It's April 1st. April Fool's Day. So my mom calls my dad and tells him the toilet fell through the floor into the floor downstairs. Water is going everywhere. The super for the building is out to lunch. We call my dad to let him know what's happening. He rushes home and when he opens the front door, my mother, my sister and I yell, "April Fools." My dad was kind of pissed off. That's how my life has been. I used to always love to play practical jokes on everyone through our shoots.

I remember what the Japanese always said to me, "You must work Mr. Brian. You must not fool around."

I'll tell you one story, then that's it cause I'm kind of tired.

I mentioned before that I was obsessed with wind surfing. Well, I kind of forgot to tell my friend that his cat was on top of his windsurfing car. I may have told you this before. Anyway, the cat was sound asleep in the sun on top of the car. We took off when the wind picked up. We drove about half an hour. The cat was on top of the car. When we got to the windsurfing spot we looked up to find the cat. He was a little freaked out.

I'll talk to you guys next week. Here's a link to where I talk about the present. Miss you guys. Love, B. Nice

October 31, 2014

Hi everybody. Let's start by saying it's Halloween today, October 31st. I want to start by saying … Boo. I want to talk about the past because this blog is about the past. I want to talk about the past before I forget it.

I'll talk to you about meeting my first photo editor in Australia. You see, my first wife and I were gonna drive from Cairins north in Australia to Sydney. Back then it was a small country road along the coast. We had rented a car in Cairins and started driving south. Well, I thought to myself, I'm gonna need to buy a car so we kept on the lookout for a used car on the way to Sydney. Well, we found one about well, around Brisbane. We went to the local pub and called the man that had a for sale sign on his car. I decided to buy something subtle. It was Hunter Green, holden HQ, with a white roof and mag wheels. It was a total muscle head car. It had oversized tires on it. It looked like a meth smuggler's dream car. It looked like an American Trans Am. Pretty cool. Anyway, I was at the bar, called the owner who came with his father. They were nice chaps. We hung out and had a few beers and then they invited us over to have dinner. Like a young idiot, I decided to go over to their house for dinner. Now, most people in their right mind wouldn't go over to a stranger's house, but we were young and stupid. But dinner was really good and they were really nice people. I bought the car. Paid cash and the young man who sold me the car actually started crying when he handed over the car. We dropped off the rental at the closest spot and continued driving south to Sydney. Going back to the photo editor, one of my first jobs, I showed up to meet her, I rolled up in my muscle head car, stepped out all in black. I was pasty white and I looked about 15 back then. She looked at me like "Who is this guy?" Oh yeah, I had Queensland plates, which is northern Australia. I used to get stopped all the time because it looked like a total drug smuggler's car. The job went well despite the fact that I looked like a total freak. Oh,  yeah, actually, the car didn't look like a Trans Am. It looked like a 1970 Camero. I ended up selling the car to a bunch of Swedish guys. I said the car is fast, has a straight 6 in it and it can go from zero to 60 really quick. So be careful. It's very powerful. They just said, "Ya, ya, we take it." They must have had a good time.

I'm gonna include a cartoon from a random diary my friend here picked out. And we will include the link to the blog about the future and the present. Have a good Halloween. Don't take any rotten apples. Boo, B. Nice

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