Any time I get a call from Erin Halley Productions, I know I’m in for an amazing assignment. This past November, I got the call to photography the International Crisis Group’s annual award ceremony, and this year the event would be featuring both former-President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The security was tight and I was going to be the only photographer allowed to roam the floor. These are the types of high-stress, over-the-top gigs I love to shoot when I’m not working weddings. Oddly enough this was also the third time I was photographing Bill Clinton in the space of three years, which is absolutely crazy and awesome. Erin Halley put on a stunning production at Chelsea Piers featuring a music performance by Sara McLaughlin and a wonderful array of speeches and awards presentations MC’d by the one and only Wolf Blitzer. A big thank you to Alexander Meseguer for second shooting and capturing some amazing candid photos.

Here are a few shots from Saturday’s show.

This shot is so meta it hurts

Last Thursday, I spent the evening surrounded by people 10 to 100 times smarter then me. The event was the NYC Big Apps Awards and the players were all phone application developers vying for the prestigious prize of being known as the best app maker in New York (there was some cash involved too).

Here’s the low down: Mayor Bloomberg basically made a call to geeks around the world to create applications for mobile phones that would better NYC life. The apps presented at the awards ceremony did not let me down. Taxihack allows users to report crappy taxi drivers, another allows parents to view the different schools in NYC based on their offerings, while my favorite App, Wayfinder offers dead easy directions to the local subway or PATH train with GPS. All the apps were pretty awesome, but I was left pondering why we really need an app that tells us where every tree in New York is? I guess some people do because it got an honorable mention.

The Mayor appeared for a minutes to thank everyone for their submissions and posed for a number of photos with the winners. The event was coordinated by the fantastic Erin Halley, who put a Big Apple spin on everything from the decor to the drinks.

Apps We Love
So I figured this would be a good post to list our current favorite non-NYC related applications. I’ve only had an iPhone for a few months, but I’ve come to rely on those little plug-ins more than the actual phone. Allison has had the phone attached to her since she got it in June as had no problem mocking me for being sans iPhone for so long. So in no particular order, here’s our favorites:

George’s Favorite Apps:

1. The Kindle App – I can basically pick up wherever I leave off on my Kindle right on the iPhone. While the backlighting doesn’t lend itself to long reading stretches, it’s a wonderful way to keep occupied in cramped quarters (like the NYC subway) or when I forget my Kindle or headphones.

2. Dunkin Donutz Locator – I run on Dunkin. What else do you need to know?

3. Amazon.com – The whole store in a very easy to navigate app. I love the Amazon remembers feature where you can photograph anything and someone in some far off land finds it and puts it in your wish list. Talk about useful outsourcing.

4. Mint – All my money, updated all the time, in one easy to view program. Unless I have to actually move the cash, this is the one stop shop for all my financial inquiries. A perfect replacement for Microsoft Money.

5. TweetDeck – I think I really just love apps that do multiple things from one source. This one allows me to Tweet, update Facebook status, and do whatever LinkedIn is supposed to do, all from one little app. Sure, it doesn’t chirp like Twitterific, but it is so simple to use.

Allison’s Favorite Apps:

1. Facebook: I don’t even need to use a computer anymore.

2. Where’s Waldo – I grew up loving the books and I think the translation to app form is perfect. It’s just like the book version, but tougher and cooler.

3. TMZ – I need to keep up to date with my celeb news.

4. Freecell – I’m obsessed with card games. This one is the best. Hands down.

5. I Can Has Cheezburger – There’s a multitude of reasons why I love this. Funny captions + Kittens = the cure to all that’s evil.

So, what are some of your favorite apps? We don’t care if they are free or cost a buck or two, we just want more cool things to play with. Post your favs in the comment section or on the Facebook page.

I got a call a few months back from Erin Halley, a great client who puts on amazing parties, celebrations, and fundraisers. It’s hard to turn her down because her galas are remarkable, and she rocks events with the same tenacity that I shoot photos. She said she had a fundraiser for me with some pretty big speakers. Would I be up for the job? I said “sure,” and two weeks later I’m being asked by Secret Service for my legal name, date of birth, and social security number.

Originally, the coverage called for me to simply shoot room photos and podium shots of the speakers. The night before I get the call to bring in big strobes for a step-and-repeat and grin-and-greet with the President. For those not in the know, a step-and-repeat is a term for those red carpet pens where VIPs stand and have their photos taken by the paparazzi for a few minutes. A grin-and-greet is a not so fancy term for “line up the important guests and photograph them shaking a celebrity’s hand.” Cake, right? Typically, yes, but not so much when a fleet of secret service guys are giving you hard looks and you are about to photograph a President of the USA.

After switching the location of the grin-and-greet twice, I finally settled on a spot to set up my Alien Bees, umbrellas, and wireless do-dads. The big trouble was that I wasn’t allowed to bring an assistant and I was specifically told by Clinton’s people that I was to be the only photographer anywhere near the President. Then I got the news that the President was running late.

So there I stood, staring at a wall and counting all the ways my gear was going to fail. I had a vivid day dream of one of my Alien Bees catching on fire and landing on my cameras, setting everything up in a blaze of glory. I was even humming the Bon Jovi tune of the same name from the movie of the same name. Seriously, my nerves were shot.

Fifteen minutes later, President Clinton just walks through the door, comes right up to us, says hi and just starts talking and posing with the guests that were lined up for photographs. I picked up my camera (preset to f/11 for zero chance of soft photos) and started chimping away.

“One photo per guest,” a beefy guy with a fancy pin told me. “But what if someone blinks?,” I replied in fear. “I don’t care,” he stared and I shuddered.

Twelve shots later and I was done with the tough part of the evening. The rest of the night I did my thing and documented the guests, the awards, and Clinton’s amazing speech about the difficult decision one faces when choosing to go to war.

My nervousness soon turned to excitement and joy at the realization that I just photographed one of the most important men in the world. After the meet-and-greet, I watched as Clinton walked over and shook the hand of all the important people around me (as well as the hotel staff). He passed by me. Stopped. Turned around and shook my hand while thanking me for photographing him. I just stood there, in complete awe, praying to God that he didn’t trip over the Alien Bee with the faulty cable.

During his book signing, I noticed that he had an interesting way of signing his name. He used a paint marker to wet the sole of his custom shoes and then just stamp the book under foot. The goal was to get a shot of him kicking at me to get the stamp and his foot in one shot. What I wasn’t aware was or didn’t forsee was Invaders lack of flexibility. Not that I could give a straight kick to the face if I tried, but I had to come up with something just as interesting.

I decided to lie on the ground and photograph him stomping down on me. The goal was to get as little of the white ceiling in the shot and focus 100 percent on the shoe while letting the background blur out. After a few attempts, I managed to score something publishable. Invader had one last surprise for me—I got to recreate the Darth Vader unmasking in Jedi, and I must say, Invader is a much prettier man then the pasty guy in Star Wars.

The show runs through July 25. Check out shots from the opening at Juxtapoz.com.

On Saturday, I got the chance to photograph a slightly different type of house party.

m650 Flats is a condo project by Brunelleschi Construction designed to give new life to an old Jersey City chemical factory. The fully renovated building now sports 22 modern condos with floor-to-ceiling windows and some stunning views of the surrounding city.

The best part is that a good chunk of building was designed using environmentally-friendly materials, including bamboo flooring and tankless water heaters. That’s on top of the fact that the crew chose to reuse an existing building rather than simply knock it down and start from scratch.

Brunelleschi  and company decided to celebrate in style with a party that gave Jersey City residents the chance to see the m650 for themselves and to raise money for the UNICO fund, a charity for the earthquake victims in Italy. Artist Duda Penteado got the opportunity to show off his latest work with an art exhibition that ran through most of the building. Hundreds of people ignored the rain and came for the event and, more importantly, tons of money was raised for charity. Here a few of my favorite photos from the party.

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of photographing the second annual iHUG Gala event at the National Arts Club in Manhattan. For those not in the know, iHUG is an acronym for I Help Uganda Grow, a grassroots organization that has not only helped erect a school for impoverished African children in the village of Kabalagala, but does everything it can to ensure that its students are properly nourished, dressed, and healthy.

The event was packed, with hundreds of people giving up their time and money to help support the organization. My only obligation was to make sure I got a photo of iHUG’s three founding members. Supposedly, they’ve never been photographed together, which isn’t a surprise as they all pretty much live thousands of miles apart, yet manage to run an amazing charity. Paddy Luzige (left) is the founder of the New Life Church in Uganda, Joanna Breistein (middle) is a New York-based healthcare reporter who runs most of iHUG’s fundraising in the United States, and Jane Dicker (right) is the principal of the school in Kabalagala.

The three rarely meet or hangout, but in the three years since iHUG was conceived these three individuals have changed (and possibly saved) the lives of so many kids in Uganda. It was my pleasure to photograph them together.

Take advantage of the nice New York weather and head over to Jonathan Levine Gallery to check out the final week of Gary Taxali’s solo show “Hindi Love Song.” Nine out of ten times, when I ask an artist to do something silly in front of the camera I’m dealt a cold stare and told to walk away. Not Gary. I had a blast photographing his show and shooting pictures of the artist with his family. He truly seemed  overjoyed and humbled by the huge turnout at the opening reception. I wish him the best of luck on his art and toys. Next time he comes around, I’ll make sure to interview him.

Check out the full photolog at Juxtapoz.com

Well after almost a year on hiatus, I thought it was time to bring back my photography blog. For a while I thought it was possible to merge this and my Rock & Roll web magazine into one blog, but alas, I just can’t get away with posting photos of pretty people on the same page with pictures of drunken punk rockers. I’m sure they’ll be some overlap, but for the time being I’m going to run this site separate from Life In A Bungalo.

The photo above was taken a few weeks ago at a fundraiser for the Nanubhai Education Foundation. I had never heard of them prior to the event, but was left awestruck by the amount of outreach and support the organization received. Basically, the Nanubhai folks help establish better schools in India by providing much needed funds and overseas educational staff.

The event was packed with tons of friends and celebrities, but the high point for me was getting the chance to photograph a troupe of traditional Indian dancers. Of shot plenty or rock bands in my career, but this was something magical. The shot above was taken prior to the performance. The girls were chatting with each other and going over their show. I got them in the hallway and was able to get a really narrow depth of field to capture the lady in the center’s sheer excitement and anticipation.

I’ll post some dancing photos when I get a chance. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the Nanubhai Education Foundation, visit their Web site at www.nanubhai.org.

Jonathan LeVine hosted Tim Biskup and Titi Freak. Both artists are great on their own, but its cool to see contrasting styles under one roof. Often, gallery owners try ganging similar artists together, but in this case, Biskup and Titi’s work provided an escape from each other. That makes no sense, but roll with it.

Biskup’s work, in particular, was so different from the prints and toys I used to buy from him a few years back. It was great to see his stature rise in such a small amount of time. I also had a blast photographing him against the giant dead dragon in the middle of the room. Titi Freak spun some great yo-yo tricks earlier in the evening for video and was kind enough to oblige me with a series of shots of him in action. We set it up so that he would throw yo-yo out at me without hitting the lens and even did a dry run to make sure he wouldn’t hit it. The shot came out great, and the lens is still okay.