August 11, 2021

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

I’m not sure whether to categorize the following blog. It’s either present or past. It’s probably recent past. It involves my mom. She set up a meeting for me with a well known artist who had similar difficulties that I have. It was after my first operation. I met with this artist and he showed me how he has adapted to painting and his work. It was pretty cool. I remember talking to him and he said, “Oh, I could have probably walked, but I prefered to work on my painting.” I thought to myself, that’s cool, but why can’t you do both? Walk and work on what you love to do. I think that’s the way to go. Work on your therapy and work on what you love to do. That’s how I do it anyway. It’s exhausting, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

That’s it for this week. Oh, we have something about the present I thought was funny. I had my family over for my nephew’s birthday. He just turned 20. We all had a birthday cake for him. With one blow of the candles, he symbolically went from a teen ager to a 20 year old. My niece said, in the background, “Yay, we all made it through out teenage years without a teenage pregnancy.” I thought that was funny.

Talk to you guys next week.

Love, B. Nice

July 28, 2021

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

You know, I lived on Australia for over a decade. My next stop was Paris. I lived there for about 2 to 3 years. I went there with about 20 strong images from Australia. My friend here says all the images were of scantily clad women. And it’s true, I did have a certain look to my portfolio. Now let me explain:

Your portfolio is as strong as the weakest element. For example, if the hair is bad, your image is bad. If the makeup is bad, your image is bad. If the clothes are bad, the image is bad. You get the idea. I tried to lessen the chances of a bad image by minimizing what I use (i.e., clothes). My photos were more elemental, like sun, skin, water, sand. That sort of thing. It took me over a decade to just get 20 strong images. Like I said before, my images were more elemental. I guess I kind of learned the element idea from my father, who was a great artist. www.donnice.com

My images were more about the elements of nature. Of course, we used models as a focal point, but the elements of nature gave the images energy. Either way, it was fun. I shot underwater, in waves, even moving on a trampoline, used clouds as the background, wind. Stuff like that. It always gave the image a bit of energy.

My friend here just reminded me of a story I did. We were shooting swimwear with a japanese catalog. They said, Mr. Nice, you’re not done. You have one more photo.” It was dark out. We were by the ocean, so I said, “No problem.” We pointed all the headlights on the girl and put her in the water. I shot in black and white. It looked cool. I should have done the whole story like that. Here comes the “You have to adapt,” sort of thing. Anyway, it was cool.

So, basically, what I’m trying to convey is just use the least amount as possible in your image. Clothes can date a photograph real fast. A specific era hair and makeup can date a photo. So I just kept it natural. Anyway, that was my look I was always going for.

Now I take pictures of flowers and clouds. Who said life is boring? Never a dull moment, and always changing. My friend here said I’m very philosophical today. I replied, “No, I just had a lot of coffee.”

This is B. Nice signing off. Love and miss you guys. Love, B. Nice

June 23, 202

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

Thank God I used to run fast. It saved my butt a few times. For example, I was approached by a gang in New York City. They wanted my bag, so I ran as fast as I could down Central Park West. Luckily I had green lights all the way. Another time I was on Daytona Beach, training. I ran past some bikers. They made some comment so I, like a young idiot, I showed them my middle finger. They chased me with a big knife and I ran very fast. I’ll tell you one other time. I was on a run in the countryside. A dog came out from behind a barn. It was barking and running me down across a field. I ran like hell. Luckily, the dog just gave up. You see, it came in handy, being able to run fast. Oh yeah, my legs also took me across the United States. Me and eleven other guys were in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not bad for a young idiot, right?

Love and miss you guys.

Love, B. Nice

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