March 15, 2023

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

I’d like to dedicate this blog to the photographer I worked for in the early 80’s. I learned a lot from him. Some technical stuff, mostly what to do and what not to do in life. It was a great experience. I worked for him for about 2 years, but you know, if I was gonna do the whole learning photography thing over again, I’d go to school to learn the technical stuff for 2 years and then assist someone for 3 to 4 years.

Going back to the early 80’s, I was an assistant to this well known photographer in NYC. We were always on the road. It was a non-stop party. One trip in particular was to Acapulco, Mexico. Now, here’s where I go back to what I said in the last blog about the present. The whole thing about the drug lord I mentioned is not true, but the high class escorts, IS true, and the skinny dipping IS true. I’ll explain.

Now, I’m going back to the trip to Acapulco. When we first got there we all went out to dinner to a well known restaurant. We struck up a conversation with the table next to us. It was an elderly gentleman who was impeccably dressed and two younger women who were impeccably dressed. Well, after a few more tequilas, he invited us back to his house to check it out as a location and have a few drinks. We were up for it. The guy seemed cool. He said he was a “banker.” Well, we went to his house. There was an obscure, nondescript door in a wall with a buzzer and security camera. It looked very ordinary. We were buzzed in and it was amazing. The landscaping was incredible and there was a marble staircase leading down to the house. Well, we went down the stairs and all of a sudden there was this amazing huge swimming pool. It was alternating cobalt blue tiles and gold tiles. Of course there were roman like columns at the end of the pool with flames coming out the top. I thought banker, yeah, my ass, right. Anyway, we went down to the pool and to the right there was an indoor outdoor sitting area, you know like a lanai. That’s where we hung out and had drinks for a while. Well, after a few more tequilas, we decided it was a good idea to get naked and jump in the pool. It was a surreal moment. Here I was, overlooking Acapulco bay, naked in a weird pool in Mexico. Now check this out - the two girls who were with the older guy, they were high class escorts from Dallas, and they decided to put on their 80’s style swim suits which were high cut and didn’t leave much to the imagination. They also decided to put on their high heals, and they carried trays of champagne and tequila and various other adult items. I felt like I was on the movie set for the movie Caligula. The only thing that was missing was black doberman pinchers with diamond collars. I felt like I was in a photograph that Helmut Newton would do. (That dates me.)

The whole reason we were in Mexico was to shoot a beauty story for a well known fashion magazine. You’d know the name if I told you. This was back when magazines had a lot of money. I think we had 5 days to do 4 full page pictures. Crazy. Anyway, I didn’t see much of Acapulco. We stayed around the pool for most of the trip. We did end up using the house for the location for most of the time. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, one of the models came out of nowhere naked running down the stairs out of her mind on tequila. She slipped and fell on some pebbles around the pool and landed on her knees. Her knees were trashed. Well, we covered her up with towels. She was bleeding pretty bad from her knees. The rest is a whole other story, but we ended up going home, back to the hotel. Needless to say, all the pictures done with that model were headshots.

I would tell my neurologist stories like this to explain my lifestyle, and he would just shake his head. My parents were mortified.

Talk to you next week. Love, B Nice

February 15, 2023

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

I was reading what I wrote about Australia and the sun there. I forgot to tell you a story. Now, this is true but crazy, or crazy but true.

When I first got to my apartment on the beach in Australia, I went down to the beach in my typical NYC bathing suit. The bathing suit was a boxer cut, black swim shorts. Also, sporting the most white skin anyone’s ever seen. Hell, they should have called me the human guppie. You could see all my veins. Anyway, I noticed there was a film crew at the end of the beach. I didn’t pay it much mind and forgot about them and went for a swim. That evening, around 6 o’clock, I got a beer and sat down to watch the 6 o’clock news. They had a special report on skin cancer. The commentator said, you want your skin to look like this. It showed my back! I couldn’t believe I made the 6 o’clock news. I’ve got a lot of moles on my back from surfing. One time an old girlfriend numbered them 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. and played connect the dots. I was very drunk at the time. Anyway, I have a lot of moles on my back from surfing.

I’m gonna dedicate this blog to all the assistants I’ve worked with. I once had an assistant that used me as a human shield between him and an angry barracuda (fish). The barracuda can give you a nasty bite. I once had an assistant who got so wasted that he passed out and wedged his head between the toilet and the wall. I once had an assistant that was busy chatting up one of the models and didn’t see me walk backwards into an orchestra pit. All of this happened even though I asked him to watch my back. I once had an assistant who left most of the film in St. Bart’s and we didn’t notice it was missing until we got back to JFK in NYC. P.S. We got the film back because he went and got it. I once had an assistant. She plugged the lens into the wall and not the strobe pack. Needless to say, there was no more lens left. I once had an assistant who put my camera at the wrong setting and half the film came out. I mean, literally half of it. There was a black line through half the film. I had to pay for a re-shoot day. I once had an assistant who was so flipped out about breaking up with a woman that he forgot to zipper up the camera bag. Lenses and cameras went all over the parking lot.

I have many other stories, but probably the worst assistant was ME. I once backed the production van over the sea-wall. The only thing that kept the van from going into the bay was the transmission. I wasn’t allowed to get out of the truck until the tow truck arrived. All this above is probably why I’m so hard on my assistants. I know what can go wrong, because I did it.

Anyway, I’m gonna keep it short this week. Love and miss you guys. Love, B. Nice

P.S. I’m gonna leave you with another assistant stories. I was at a famous horse stable. We were working around a very famous horse. My assistant decided to share his pistachio nuts with the race horse. The horse looked like it ate a giant peanut butter. It was pretty funny because I kept saying, “You’ve killed the horse!” He looked a little freaked out.

February 8, 2023

Hi you guys. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the past.

I was looking at the previous post and it reminded me of Australia and how much I miss it. I remember after my honeymoon (the first one), I was presented with the option of either going back to New York, or living in Australia. I could either go back to New York as an assistant photographer, live in my small, dark, rented room in New York that had a very small window that overlooked a beautiful dark airshaft, filled with pigeons (half alive, half dead) and the airshaft was filled with garbage. OR, for the same price, I could live in Australia as a photographer, rent a beautiful, fully furnished holiday flat that was sun filled and overlooked the beach. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, in my NY apartment I had two roommates, and one time someone tried to break into the apartment while I was there. Now, going back to the Australian apartment, it was just me and my wife and had a beautiful cross breeze. So yeah, I stayed in Australia.

Now, you’re probably wondering how I stayed there. Well… My good “friend” got me a resident visa, but that’s a whole other story. That definitely falls under the category of “I plead the fifth amendment.”

It was a great Visa. Let’s put it this way, every time I left or entered Australia, the customs agent said, “Who are you?!” I just replied with a smile.

I learned a lot of things in Australia. Here’s two important things that I learned. The first is this: If you stick to something long and hard enough, you’re gonna get results (that’s what she said…heh heh). You see, I worked my ass off pounding the pavement looking for work and eventually you get a break from someone. If you stick to something long enough, you’re gonna get a break. You just gotta stick to it. Don’t quit. I still remember the fashion editor and the magazine that gave me a break. It was a tough one. They gave me ski wear to photograph. Now, Australia isn’t really known for its ski wear, so I pulled a slight of hand trick. I made the clothes second to the image. In other words, I made great photos and the clothes just became an element to the image. I hired Olympic level arial jumpers to wear my fashion clothes. I rented a trampoline, got some parachutes to cover it, and covered the whole thing in fake snow. The acrobats wore short skis. They did back flips and all sorts of stuff. The images were cool.

Anyway, that story launched me on my three decade long career as a fashion photographer. So yeah, someone will give you a break if you stick to your guns. It might just take a long time, but it will happen.

The second thing I learned, and this is important: always follow up on what you say you’re gonna do. I presented many stories to fashion magazines. And believe me, they remember what you propose, so you gotta followup on what you say you’re gonna do, and that probably applies to everything.

That’s about it for this week. Just remember, if you go to Australia, as a photographer, remember the light is strong there. It’s a lot different from here. I remember the first time I got my film back (that dates me). I thought there was something wrong with my film or that lab’s processing. Everything was so contrasty. You see there’s a lot more ultra violet light there. You become used to shooting in that sort of light. It’s not so much about changing your settings, but there are little tricks you can do, like shoot in open shade, backlight, that sort of stuff. You can deal with it. But the first time I saw it, it freaked me out. Which reminds me of one other thing I’ll say: man, watch out for your skin! Hell, they took off half my nose a few years back because I had skin cancer throughout my nose. That’s because I surfed, wind surfed, and worked outside all the time. Just be careful to cover up.

OK, now that’s it. I’ll talk to you guys next week. This is B. Nice signing off,

Oh, please watch this again. I keep pushing, but eventually the right person will watch this:

Help Aid The Health Aides

December 7, 2022

Hi everybody. Happy Pearl Harbor Day! Not such a happy day, but anyway, I guess we should all remember, right? Anyway, welcome to the blog where I talk about my past.

Oh man! Did I used to travel! It was crazy. Believe it or not, I think the worst travel experience I had was going from Grenada to the Bahamas. I had to take a whole bunch of different planes to get up the Caribbean. It was crazy. I can’t remember how many times I flew back to Puerto Rico - Yes, on that same trip. It would have been easier to just charter a plane and fly privately. As my friend reminded me, I just remberm looking out the window of the plane and making sure my photo equipment didn’t leave the plane with all the other baggage. I was not only physically tired, but mentally tired from keeping track of everything. I thought I was gonna get my nervous tick back. Some other fights I remember where flying from New York to Tokyo, New York to South Africa, and then, of course the never ending flight from New York to Australia. Thank God I spent most of my time drawing cartoons. I have about 30 years of cartoons. It was a good way to pass the time. Now you see why I don’t mind sitting in my garden staring at my roses. Anyway, that’s about all for right now. I’ll talk to you guys next week, and don’t forget to check out my blog about the present.

This is B. Nice signing off. Love, B. Nice

September 21, 2022

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

It’s funny how the universe works. I was looking for a photo I had of the Queen when I was in Australia. It’s a great shot. My friend wearing Elton John style sunglasses, and the next frame is the Queen, full length, walking up some stairs and scowling at me. Big Time. She wasn’t very happy I guess. My friend was screaming, “The Queen, The Queen, The Queen.” We were both wearing these big Elton John style sunglasses. We looked like a pair of queens. Anyway, my friend here was looking for the shot for me, and we could not find it. I have a whole cabinet of images from the past. Oh well, when I find it, I’ll share it with you. It’s a great shot. It was a crazy day the day she came to visit the shopping center we were in. The security was crazy high, but I was lucky enough to get a picture of her scowling at me. The whole reason why I took the shot was I saw her walking up the stairs. I thought, “Man! That woman has some great legs!” Anyway, I thought I’d just share that with you.

Love and miss you guys. Talk to you next week.

B. Nice