My Bill Cunningham New York
I recently saw the movie “Bill Cunningham New York” at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre and remembered that when living in New York, I had the briefest encounter with the legendary man. I was working as an entertainment photographer for the Everett Collection photo agency and was at a benefit at Cipriani on 42nd St. for UNICEF. Although he wasn’t wearing his trademark blue smock, he did look dashing in his simple blazer with cuff links and wide-whale navy cords. I said, “How are you doing,” and he replied, “OK, young fella.” I’m in my 40s now, and it was fun to have him say that. Here’s his “On the Street” work for the New York Times.
Anna Wintour in New York
I didn’t get eye contact, but I did catch the Most Famous Bob in the World on the red carpet for an AmFAR benefit at Cipriani’s 42nd St. Feb. 12, 2009.
Anna Wintour
New York City street corner
Chicago is great, but from time to time I miss the view from my apartment in New York. Here’s my visual reminder…
Yellow cabs rush through the intersection of 14th St. and Sixth Ave. in New York.
Rufus Wainwright in New York
Rufus Wainwright at Cipriani 42nd St. New York City. © JasonSmith.com
Rufus looked uncomfortable on the red carpet at Cipriani’s on 42nd St. for a benefit for The Paley Center for Media in New York until he started chatting with fans. He came alive and I was able to get this picture of him looking a little less stiff.
“Rock of Ages” premiere
Michael Urie
Rocco Dispirito
Jane Krakowski
Dee Snyder
Patrick Wilson
Zac Efron was a big, fat no-show at the premiere of the “Rock of Ages” on Broadway April 7, 2009. I’m not going to even hide that I was disappointed. So I present you here with my favorites from the shoot. I’m going to have to get my hands on the box set of “Ugly Betty” as Michael Urie might be one of my all-time favorite red carpet photo subjects. It was also pretty cool to see chef Rocco Dispirito as I had seen his reality show “The Restaurant” and thought how cool New York looked when I was living in Chicago. And now here he was making eye contact with my camera. “30 Rock’s” Jane Krakowski was super cute and Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snyder did not disappoint with his presentation of devil horns and rocker face. Oh ya, James Franco was supposed to be there, too. I wonder if he and Zac decided to hang out together instead of attending! And doesn’t Patrick Wilson from “Watchmen” look exactly like Paul Newman? To license any of my images, contact the Everett Collection.
The bonus photo below is of my friend Jim Glaub of Art Meets Commerce. Jim was on hand to do some of the red carpet video interviews for his company that did a lot of the advertising development and publicity for the production.
NYFD flag
A member of the New York City Fire Department gets tangled in a flag at the dedication of a fire-simulator at the fire departments Randall’s Island training academy March 19, 2009. The structure was made possible by a donation from actor Denis Leary’s foundation. Photo by JasonSmith.com
From the press release: The Leary Firefighters Foundation, in partnership with The FDNY Foundation is proud to announce the dedication of the state-of-the-art High Rise training simulation facility on March 19, 2009. The first and only of its kind in the country, the simulator will help firefighters improve their skills in combating the difficulties of fighting fires in high-rise buildings, performing rescues, and saving lives under extreme conditions.
The 4,000-square foot structure located at the FDNY’s Fire Academy on Randall’s Island, will feature a variety of real-life functions, including a fire and flashover simulator, a central smoke system, a dry standpipe system, mock elevators and stairways, video hookups on each floor for review and a simulated fire command station. High-rise buildings retain heat and gases that can quickly spread and create hazardous conditions for firefighters, and the simulator will help recreate these scenarios, improving each member’s ability to predict the movement of a fire.
Chuck Close at MoMA
Here are a few pictures I took at the Museum of Modern Art when Chuck Close made an appearance in December 2008. I’ll have more details later (it was also the evening that I photographed billionaire investor Stephen Schwarzman) but I wanted to post this as more of a test of the gallery function of WordPress than anything else. I’m not a programmer, so this has been a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.
After clicking on a photo, use the arrow keys to navigate between the pictures. Press “x” to exit or click on the icons at the bottom right of each photo.
