June 9, 2021

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about my past.

Ah, man. I was never an A grade fashion photographer. I don’t know what grade you’d give me, but I definitely developed the behavior of an A grade photographer. I’ll explain.

I was in Australia. I got hired by a famous designer to do a swimwear shoot on the beach. The designer hired a male model, female models, my photo assistant, me, caterer, the location van, the rental equipment, hair and makeup, a fashion stylist. You get the idea. The whole works. Anyway, it started to rain a little, so, of course, I cancelled the shoot. The designer flipped out. Hey, I was just doing what I knew. I definitely learned that one should always have a plan B in their back pocket. You know, go in the studio or think of another idea. One should always have a back up plan. We ended up shooting in nicer weather another day, but it’s funny. I never worked with them again.

Another time I remember, I think I already told you. I did a fashion shoot on an island just off of Australia. Getting there, the seas were really rough. The six foot six male model was on his stomach holding the bench, screaming for his mother. Glass was breaking everywhere. It was not fun. Anyway, I didn’t want to go back like that, so of course I booked a helicopter. As I was taking off, the editor came running out and said, “Oh, my God! a helicopter?! Who’s paying for this?” So I opened the door, reached out and grabbed the paper she was holding. The helicopter was billed to her magazine. I looked at the paper and said, “You guys are paying for it,” and threw the paper back at her and slammed the door and took off.

My middle name in London was known as “Notso” so my full name was Brian Notso Nice. I was always good to my crew. Never be mean to your crew. But I did my own thing when it came to shooting. I mean, that’s why they hired me, right? That’s what my book looks like. Anyway, I won’t go into it. I guess it’s an artist’s thing.

That’s all for this week. Check out my blog where I talk about the present. Love and miss you guys.

Love, B. Nice

June 2, 2021

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the past.

Oh man, we used to do some crazy stuff, just to get “The Shot.”

There’s a walking path on the south headland of Bondi Beach, Australia. Off the footpath, there’s a little path that leads to some shallow alcoves or caves. The alcoves have been cut out by the wind and the rain for centuries and centuries. Now, they’re a great place to shoot. It’s great light. The only problem was there’s a 50 foot drop to a certain death. And if the fall didn’t kill you, the giant waves that broke against the boulders would. You’d be dropped into a human blender. I think I shot a cover for Australian Elle there. The light was cool. The fall wouldn’t have been. But it was worth it I guess.

Another time I think I told you about. We were in Greenland. We put the model on an iceberg and backed away to get the shot. It was crazy because, if the iceberg broke off or rolled, or she fell into the water, it would have been instant death. Just to get the shot. Crazy.

I’ll tell you one other time. There were many times we did crazy things, but, this one really stood out in my mind. I used to scuba dive all the time. So I thought it would be brilliant to photograph a model in a white dress, underwater. She was basically at the surface, and I was on the bottom of the sea in my scuba equipment and the camera, and the flash. It was a good idea, but the only problem was the waters were really sharky. My damn camera and her thrashing about were like a dinner bell for sharks. I guess in hindsight, it wasn’t such a great idea. But the shots came out cool. I think that was for British Elle. I can’t remember. I know it was in Mystique.

All this was well before photoshop. It’s when you could believe a photograph was real. Now you always question a photo, the reality of an image. Kind of a shame.

That’s all for this week. Check out the blog where I talk about the present.

Love, B. Nice

P.S. OK, I have one more story about taking risks. I was in New Guinea on a photo shoot. We came across a great rope bridge over a gorge. The gorge was about 100 feet down and there was a raging river that went through giant rocks. The rope bridge was made up of three parts. One rope for your left hand, one rope for your right hand and one rope for your feet. Well, we thought it’d be a great idea to put the model on the rope bridge. Being a tough Australian girl, she said, “No worries, Mate,” and she went out to the center of the bridge. I thought it was scary enough, but then, all of a sudden a wind gust came. It almost blew her hat off, so she grabbed her hat with her left hand, so she was basically suspended over certain death with 2 feet on a rope, one hand on her head, and one hand on the rope. Then, of course, there was an earthquake (you can’t make this shit up). But, because she was on a rope bridge, we felt the earthquake and she didn’t, thank God. I think I drank heavily that night.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. Talk to you next week.

Love, B. Nice

April 28, 2021

Hi everybody, welcome to the blog where I talk about the past. I’m gonna dedicate this blog here to Superwoman, I mean my friend in front of me.

Ah, man, when I was a fashion photographer, we stayed in some awesome hotels. This one hotel I remember vividly was in Hawaii. I was approaching reception to check in. The reception desk was in a lanai overlooking the ocean. Then as if on cue, a giant blue whale breached the surface of the ocean. I said to the front desk, “Did you arrange that for me?” It was an awesome hotel. I’ll never forget it.

I used to love shooting at hotels that were from the 50’s. You could always find them in Mexico. The hotels were great locations. At this one hotel I used to always go to, they would give me a bungalow to stay in. It was more like a five bedroom house with a swimming pool overlooking the ocean. It was very cool. Anyway, one night there was a full moon. There was a group of people dressed in all white writing blessings on the corner of our house. I didn’t know whether to thank them or call security. It was a strange night.

Anyway, that hotel is gone now. They tore it down for a more progressive hotel. What a shame. I guess the blessings didn’t work.

Another place I loved to shoot was just south of Cancun, Mexico. I checked into my room. They actually gave me a very nice bungalow near the lagoon. The bungalow was cool, but the 12 foot saltwater crocodile on my porch was not cool. I went back to the front desk and got a room in the main part of the hotel.

Another hotel that I used to love to shoot in was in Charleston, SC. One hotel I stayed in when I was there was definitely haunted. I fell asleep on my back and I woke to something with their knees on my shoulders, their hands next to my ears, and their nose, nose to nose with me, growling, very angry. I didn’t know if I was having a bad dream or actually being haunted, but it was not comfortable. I got dressed, packed my bag and went to the front desk. Mind you, this was about 2 in the morning. I talked to the guy at the front desk. He handed me a key in the new section of the hotel and said, “You’ll be more comfortable over there,” and I was.

I could tell you many other stories, but we’ll leave it at that. Oh! Wait, one more.

I used to love shooting in the small country called Palau. I think I told you this story before, but I went there in the 80’s, went back there in the 90’s, and they said, “Oh, Mr. Nice, welcome back!” and they gave me a T-shirt which I still wear.

That’s all for now. Love you and miss you.

Love, B. Nice

April 1, 2021

Hey everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the past.

Oh man, I had great parents. They were very cool. Life seemed to always be a big adventure with them. One specific time, I’ll tell you, was a trip we took for a couple of years. We took a steamship to England, stayed in the west wing of an estate, went to Paris, then lived in the South of France where my sister and I went to school. And then we went to Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, India, Australia, New Guinea, back to Australia where we went to school for a long time. And then, we went to New Zealand and back home. Each country I have a great story, but there’s not enough time to tell you. It’s probably where I got travel fever. I love to travel. Now I sit at home with my smelly dog and stare at the trees. I guess that’s another adventure.

Hey, guess what! I’m getting married! (April fools.)

That’s it for now. Love you guys.

Talk to you later.

Love, B. Nice

March 3, 2021

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about my past. You know, before my brain injury.

Oh man! I used to love to shoot photographs with water. I used to love shooting on the water, underwater (when I was a scuba diver), underwater at night, at the edge of the water (day & night), in the waves, on boats, in the studio. It was great. Water always added an element of energy to a photograph. It was great. But I’ll tell you, there were some risks involved sometimes.

Once I was on an island called Palau near the Philippines. I had to photograph swimsuits on girls. So I put on my scuba equipment, sat on the bottom of the water and had the girls jump or dive from a sailboat into the water. The images were cool. But, the only problem was there were a lot of sharks. One time there was a lull in the diving off the boat. I was thinking to myself, “Where the hell’s the model?” And then I heard a tapping on the boat hull. I looked to my left and there was a big ass shark coming towards me. And when I said big, I mean BIG. It didn’t see me yet, so I tucked myself in amongst the coral and held my breath. The shark just cruised on by. It either didn’t see me or didn’t care. I got out of the water after that, let me tell you.

There are many incidents that happened, but I’ll tell you one more story. The photo assistant I had knew the lifesavers at North Bondi, in Australia. Well, I had the bright idea of asking the surf lifesavers if we could go out in the surf boat, you know the big wooden boat with the oars. The surf was big that day, but they didn’t mind having us on board, so they said, “Hop in mate.” The model was one of Australia’s leading fashion models so I was a little nervous taking her out. But she was on board, being a tough Australian girl. She said, “Let’s go.” Well we paddled out into the waves. It started out OK, but man, the waves were big. Looking back at it, I should have pulled back and shot it more like a photojournalistic moment, but I kept in close and concentrated on the model. I really didn’t think about what I should be doing because I was almost shitting in my pants. The waves were super big. Even scarier was riding the waves back in. We did this about three times and then I said, “OK, that’s enough.” It was a great adventure, but I’ll never do that again.

Oh yeah, I shot with an underwater camera. I have lots of other stories, but I’ll tell them to you later. Love you guys. Don’t forget to look at my blog where I talk about the present.

Love, B. Nice