We spent four hours ripping up New York City with two of our favorite people, Ashley and Bill. Ashley had one request, she wanted some funky, different photos. We gladly obliged. I’ll have some more photos once we’ve recovered.

I was recently asked who I’ve photographed the most. The person asking was more than likely referring to what band I’ve photographed the most, which isn’t too hard of a question. It’s either Bad Religion, H2O, or the Bouncing Souls. Though I think the Koffin Kats are edging higher and higher on the list.

But the person that I’ve actually photographed the most in the past few years is Jonathan LeVine, owner of the contemporary art gallery in Chelsea bearing his name. Juxtapoz reached out to me about five years ago to start photographing his art openings and I’ve been a fixture at the gallery ever since. I did a short search though my archive and found close to 50 photos of the man, below are a few of the decent ones as well as a short piece I wrote for Juxtapoz about the anniversary show. Click here to check out the photos from the gallery opening.

Above is a quickie portrait of Jonathan that I nabbed about five minutes before the doors opened for his latest exhibit. I think I nailed that one and a close up with two minutes to spare. Stressful? Nah.

I spent the first half of the decade seeing ads for Tin Man Gallery in the Philly area and swearing thatI was going to make the pilgrimage. When I finally had a critical mass of friends in the City of Brotherly Love to give me a reason to head down past exit 130 on the GSP, I realized it was too late. Tin Man Gallery was gone.

To say I was a bit excited to hear that Jonathan LeVine was opening a gallery consisting primarily of artists I loved was an understatement right in New York City would have been an understatement. Manhattan was in dire need of a low brow make over and Jonathan was the one that was going to bring cool art work to a city that seems more concerned with hopping onto the latest hip style and riding it to the ground.

LeVine came and kicked ass. Providing an outlet for both established artists like Shag and Camille Rose Garcia, and introducing the world to up and younger masters that I would never have heard of before. Five years in and LeVine hasn’t compromised his beliefs nor has he been swayed by trends.

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.

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.