May 8, 2017

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

Let's call this blog: Things that fall out of the sky.

The first story takes place in NYC, around the early '90's. I worked for a photographer in Carnegie Hall. Right next door, there was a large skyscraper going up. Our landlord came to the door and said, "Stay away from the skylights." We were confused, so followed the elevator man to the main street. We looked up in the sky to see what looked like popsicle sticks fluttering off the new skyscraper. As they got closer, we realized they were not popsicle sticks. They were huge pieces of timber that crashed onto the street. When they hit the ground, they exploded. Some went through windows. It was pretty dramatic. And, no, none of them went through our skylights.

When I was a photographer in the '90's, I often took TWA flight 800 to Paris. The flight, one night, fell out of the sky. The main fuel tank burst into flames and fell out of the sky. Weeks later, I was in the Hamptons taking my friend's sea kayak out. A police military humvee pulled up and asked me to go out towards the horizon and collect some burnt clothing. I freaked out and thought, "I hope there's no body in that clothing." As I got closer, I realized, it was just a hat. I retrieved it, went back to shore. I gave it to these huge marines and told them there was sea lice in it. They jumped around like a bunch of ten year old girls, and threw the hat in the back of their vehicle. They drove off.

Another thing that fell out of the sky I don't talk about much. Yes, I dropped an 85 mm / 1.4 lens (very expensive lens) out of a helicopter and into the Grand Canyon. Not my finest moment.

One positive thing that fell out of the sky was pretty cool. I told you about it already, but I was location scouting out west. I looked up and there was a huge bald eagle nest above me. There were a bunch of babies in the nest. Then a single feather came spiraling down and landed right at my feet. Luckily none of the parents were around. That was a pretty cool moment.

That's all for now. Check out my other blog where I talk about the present. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

May 1, 2017

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

I'm gonna make this blog a little short. You know, when I did fashion photography, I learned one of the most important things was to shoot in nice light. I know the client will freak out a little, but really, the only good light is about two hours in the morning and two hours at night. I used to shoot everything backlit. It made the models look good. It made the clothes look good. It was a magical moment. Mind you, you have to work your ass off for those two hours. You have to be ready, get everything all lined up to go. But the results are worth it. Believe me.

When I was at lunch today, I heard an Australian accent at the table next to me. It reminded me of Australia and what a great apartment I had. It was a good time there. Come to think of it, I've been lucky getting good places wherever I lived. Paris, New York, Montauk. You name it. I've been lucky.

I'll leave it at that. Remember, stay positive and have a laugh if you have TBI. Otherwise, everything can be too depressing. Have a laugh. I watch the comedy channel, but it reminds me of the current administration. Ta ta. Check out my other blog.

Love, B. Nice

April 17, 2017

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

Hey everybody. Happy Easter. A belated Happy Easter. I know it came and went, but I wanted to tell you a couple of stories about rabbits. I thought it would be appropriate (or inappropriate, I should say).

I think I told you this story before, but I'm gonna tell you it again, because it's about rabbits. You see, a long time ago, when I was a kid, we had a cat, a one eye'd cat. It was not affectionate by any means. It was an ornery, mean, orange cat. Well, one morning, I was sitting up in bed, and the cat jumped up on my bed. I thought, wow, how unusual, he's being affectionate. He wants me to pet him. Well, the cat was stalking towards me and hiccuping. I thought, well, is there something wrong with him? And as he moved closer and closer to me his hiccups became more and more intense. I soon realized he was not hiccuping but throwing up in his mouth. And just as he got within feet of me, he threw up a bunch of baby rabbits. As he threw up he backed away. It was a whole nest of baby rabbits he ate. Nice gift, right? I can still see them all in my minds eye. I won't go into details, but it wasn't pretty. You see? He was a mean cat.

Another story about rabbits I think I also already told you: I was in college and I thought, "I'll get a pet, a pet rabbit." So I went out and bought a red satin rabbit. It was the largest of any of the rabbits you could buy. It was the size of a small dog. His name was Andrew. Well, Andrew was quite a novelty. Apparently, you can house train a rabbit, but all Andrew did was kick cat litter all over the apartment. He chewed on everything. He pretty much destroyed our apartment. My roommates wanted to make a stew out of him. When I was leaving college, a friend said that he would like to adopt Andrew. He said to me, "Andrew might be a good chick magnet." But all Andrew did was eat all of his ELO and Kenny Loggins albums. Oh yeah, one other thing. If you ever buy a red satin rabbit, don't ever put a collar on it and put a leash on it. The thing will freak out. Have you ever heard a rabbit scream? The neighbors must have thought I was a little strange.

The last story about rabbits I have, I know I told you, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. My uncle thought it would be a good idea to go out and hunt rabbits in his pickup truck. They were everywhere and they were a menace. Well, we all got up early, loaded our shotguns, got in the back of the pick up, and set off to better the farming community and rid them of this menace. Well, we drove all morning and didn't see one rabbit for about two hours. Then, all of a sudden, this little baby bunny came out of the grass on to the road. It was the cutest smallest bunny you've ever seen. What happened next? Well my uncle slammed on the brakes and yelled "RABBIT!" We all stood up with our shot guns and blew the beast away. There was nothing left but a whole in the ground. You can imagine what three twelve gauge shotguns can do to a little bunny. I won't mention what happened to the right side of my uncle's truck.

That's all the rabbit stories I have. Happy belated Easter. Check out my other blog where I talk about the present.

March 19, 2017

Whenever my health assistant comes over to help me cook, I tell a story while I'm waiting for something to cook or bake. My health assistant asked me what really sticks out in my mind, and it's always three things: 1. I remember I was in New Guinea. I must have been about 11 years old. I had long blond hair. I met a tribal elder at a "Sing Sing." A peace party where two fighting tribes make peace. The tribal elder was mystified by my hair so I gave him a piece of my hair. He gave me some bows and arrows from his personal stash. When he was giving me the bows and arrows, he held my hand, pet my head and said something. I'll never forget his hand. It was a cross between a human hand and the rainforest. Amazing.

The second thing I'll never forget was one time I was location scouting in the forest. I was just standing in the forest looking around. I heard a noise. I looked up. There was a gigantic bald eagle nest right above me. All of a sudden, one single feather fell out of the nest and landed at my feet. It was a gigantic feather. Pretty cool.

The third thing I'll never forget is when my daughter was born. It was cool. I was the first thing she looked at after they suctioned out her eyes. She just looked at me after I said, "Welcome." I think she smiled. But kids, when they're just born aren't able to smile. But I think she did.

That's all for now. Here's a link to my other blog where I talk about the present.

February 27, 2017

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

Let's call this blog: Lighting, ladders & long tables. I'll explain everything.

Lighting. Well, I worked for this one photographer that said lighting was the key to taking a good photo. When I'd get to a location, I'd walk around, I'd look lackadaisical, but I was slowly taking everything in. You see, I tried to light without light. I used what available light there was to take a photo. A good photo. You use what's given to you. Right? Anyway, the photographer I worked for always told me to really look at my subject. Figure out what I wanted to do and go from there. Some photographers like to control the situation and light everything. I like to stay as natural as possible.

Ladders. I say ladders because I used to always shoot using a ladder. One time I was in the studio in New York on a very tall ladder, you know, like 18 feet high, I was shooting down at a mattress. I think I told you this story before. I was shooting for one of those cheap men's magazines where they advertise beer, women and cars. It was kind of like a soft porn magazine. Anyway, I was on top of the ladder laughing. The shot was to be 3 girls in bed with one guy. The guy they got was a real model boy, you know, a Zoolander type. Anyway, I said, you know, use an average everyday guy. Use one of my assistants. So I made one of my assistants crawl into bed with these 3 girls. The guy had a smile on his face from ear to ear. We were all laughing until one of my clients came in from the studio next door. She happened to be shooting next door and came in to say hi. She was very very conservative. Funny, I never worked for them again.

Long table. When I was an assistant, we always had breakfast at this long table in the studio. We would get bacon and egg on a roll, coffee and the morning paper. On one particular morning, we happened to be doing a casting. We were casting for young women for a swimwear shoot. Anyway, I was on the phone and the doorbell rang. A model showed up for the casting. The photographer said, "OK, put your swim suit on in the bathroom." The model said, "Oh, I didn't know we had to bring a swimsuit." Then she said, "No problem." And she took off all her clothes. I misdialed my phone number. The other assistant spilled his coffee all over himself, and the photographer who was holding the newspaper dropped his newspaper. The model was wearing a pair of form fitting flattering lingerie. I had a feeling this whole thing was planned out. Anyway, she ended up booking the job. The girl went on to marry a very famous actor. Gee, I wonder how she got him to marry her.

That's all for now. This is B. Nice signing off. Check out my other blog where I talk about the present.

Love, B. Nice

www.briannice.com/mypointofviewproject