November 25, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about my past. You know, I lived in Australia for a long time. It was great living there. I really liked the different animals that are there. For example, my neighbor saw a huge reptile in the backyard. She called up the zoo, the newspapers and it turned into a big thing. The zookeeper came over and it turned out to be a plastic toy from next door. She was a little embarrassed, needless to say. One time I was in the outback, you know, in a four wheel drive, driving down the road toward the sunset. I came up over the ridge and I saw a real strange creature in front of me. It had a big long face, big eyes, two long legs and it was just staring at me. It looked like an alien. Then there was another one and another. I thought Oh my god, they're aliens. It turns out they were camels facing me. I couldn't see the rest of their body. Only their front legs. It kind of freaked me out. It was a land of plenty of strange animals. Big crocodiles, big sharks, never a dull moment, I'll tell you.

It was a great place for a young photographer. Plenty of editorial, you know, magazine work. I don't know where young photographers start now. My friend said anywhere and I agree. My friend here says I was lucky to be there then, and I was. My friend got me a visa, I don't know how he got it but it was a visa they only issued to someone like the queen or someone like that, so every time I left Australia, they would say, "Who are you?" I never did ask him where he got the visa from.

I'm not gonna blog anymore cause my little one's here. Let's pick out a random cartoon to share with you. You know, I used to always keep my journals in cartoon form. I'll have my friend pick one out. Talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice

P.S. Here's the link to my blog about the present.

November 21, 2014

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the past. You know, I want to dedicate this blog to my coach from college. I know I already did it, but he helped me get through all this. His coaching and stuff.

You know I was reading the previous blog about Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It reminded me of a time in Australia. The time my first wife surprised me on my birthday. She called a car service. We went down to our local dock. She blindfolded me. I thought, OK, either she's going to kill me or put me on a boat or both! Anyway, she led me to a sea plane and as we were taking off, she took off the blindfold. We flew north of Sydney and landed in a bay at the edge of a state park. We pulled up to a restaurant you can only get to by a sea plane or a boat. It was pretty cool. We pulled up to the restaurant and had a great meal. We flew back with some other people. What a great night.

The other thing I want to talk about is exploitation. You know, when I was a young photographer, people kind of took advantage of me. For example, an editor might give you a story, but you'd have to pay for all the film and processing. Or an editor might give you a brake but you would have to dress up as a woman (just kidding). The point is, you would always have to watch your back. You know, as long as you're aware of what's going on and as long as you're getting something out of it as well, I think it is OK. Another example is when I worked as a photo assistant I would do some crazy stuff for photographers. For example, one guy I worked for in London, he made me go buy his "stuff." He gave me some pretty good advice. After you get my "stuff" if someone stops you, drop the bag and run. I never had to drop the bag and run, but I thought it was pretty good advice. Another time a woman photographer in New York wanted me to strip down to my underwear and do a test. I politely declined, and I was also wearing some pretty ugly grandpa underwear. It was all a bit awkward. Another company I worked for would hire young photo assistants to photograph events. If they liked the image they would use it but never gave you credit, but they would put their name on it. They totally ripped you off, but I got good experience from it. So, you see what I mean? Watch your back.

The other thing I was thinking about was, automobiles. I remember when I was a photo assistant. I was on a job in the mountains of colorado. Anyway, we got in kind of late and rented three cars. We raced each other up the mountain. It was pretty far. When I woke up in the morning, I felt like throwing up. When I was drinking my coffee, I looked at the road we had been racing on. It was a swtchback road up a very steep mountain. The road basically was on the edge of the mountain. If you went off the road, forget it. You'd be toast. We never knew how bad it was until the morning light.

I'm gonna leave it there cause I gotta have some stories to tell next week. This is B. Nice, signing off from the past. Hope you have a good week. Love, B. Nice

Here a link to the blog about the present.

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