My life changes forever today. / David LaChapelle

There are moments in life when you know that you'll never ever be the same.

This happened for me last night.

It was going to be a great night either way, but around 3pm I got a Facebook message from roommate Kayvon that David LaChapelle was going to be speaking at the event space in his office building in Soho.



I was SO excited.

I've never stated this publicly, probably because I don't have that many artist/creative friends, but I WORSHIP David LaChapelle.

He is the most brilliant photographer IN THE WORLD. Not an exaggeration.

You may not know him by name, but unless you live in a hole, you have seen his work. He's taken some of the most provocative, incredible, ICONIC pictures of the most famous people ever. No body of work will ever compare to his.

Michael...



Becks...



Angie...



Britney...




Madonna...



Lady Gaga...



Mariah...



Kanye...



Hot Dog...



Pam...



Paris....



Jesus...



Even Whitney...





In my mind, he is even more famous than the celebrities he photographs. You aren't a celebrity UNTIL you've had your picture taken by David LaChapelle. THAT is when you know you've made it.

You may remember that he sued Rihanna last year for ripping off his images to make her video for S&M.




Yup. He is THE BEST. Incomparable.

I WORSHIP him.

So he gave an incredible talk to a packed gallery. He showed some of his work. Talked about how he got his start (working for Andy Warhol), his struggles as a young artist, his struggles as a super famous artist. He talked about his process, his life, living in the East Village, how friends dying of AIDS in the 80's and 90's really influenced his work.... he shared his views on religion and celebrity and life and it was just really really captivating and candid.



One of his early and funniest anecdotes was about a shoot he did for Tupac.

Basically Tupac had arrived early for his shoot, "rappers are NEVER early", and he was still naked in bed with his boyfriend at the hotel but Tupac just came into his room sat on his bed and was completely unfazed and was like, "So what are we doing today?"

David explained how he'd read about rap originating in the fields, etc etc etc and Tupac interrupted him and was like "You want to shoot me....as a SLAVE?"

And David's like "Yeah, basically."

And Tupac's like, "I'm cool with that."



Anyway the takeaway from that was that Tupac was at his core just an amazing artist and that over his years as a celebrity photographer he's learned never to judge a person by their public image or whatever because everyone is different, everyone is human, everyone's an artist, and people can surprise you. Or they can be awful bitches.

Anyway...it was SUCH an inspiring talk.

And I've never told anyone this, but during Q&A after his presentation, I asked him two questions.

A: Would he sign my book?

and B:, well B: isn't really a question, but I was worried that I might not have time to talk to him after so I just wanted to make sure he heard what I had to say. Which is that back when I was a "starving artist"...back when I charged like $100 for a headshot and was collecting unemployment and didn't buy clothes for a year and a half and ate exclusively off the Dollar Menu at McDonald's and questioned almost daily whether or not I should be looking for a "real job"... I bought my first photography book.

It was his book "Heaven To Hell".



It was $120. Which in my mind was SO MUCH MONEY back then. It was like a week's worth of photography income. But the book has always sat on my shelf. It's a monstrosity...it weighs like 20 pounds. And it has always inspired me to keep doing what I'm doing.

Anyway. He was so nice. And he had actually planned to speak about the cover image of the book for a good half hour and even showed a behind-the-scenes video of Courtney Love being a superpsychobitch. It was a definite sign. And for the rest of Q&A he looked directly at me when he was answering questions about photography as a career and stuff.

I was the ONLY person in the audience who had brought one of his books with me. (I think in NYC people are way too cool to bring a book or ask for a person's autograph or photo, but I'm not!)

I was giddy. I almost wanted to cry. I felt like a silly teenage fanboy.

Literally I was so nervous attending the event. I had even written a letter to him (in case I didn't get the courage to speak) which I gave to him afterwards anyway.

Nervous because he is SO FAMOUS and successful and I was scared he might be cocky and mean (he did sue Rihanna, after all) and look down on me because all I do is take stupid headshots and stupid weddings (which when you compare it to his ART, is just...well silly). But he was the exact opposite. He was so kind. And he talked about how he used to shoot weddings as well. And it was like...he just understood.

And in that moment I realized duh....he's been through it all too. And all superfamous super successful people start somewhere. And they understand the struggle.

And in my letter to David I told him some really nice things and asked him to think of me if he should ever need an extra hand on any set, or to take behind-the-scenes photos, or party pictures, or whatever. I'd fly anywhere and do anything to work with him. For free.

Anyway. One thing I've learned in life is to never underestimate the power of a really nicely-worded letter. I got my life-changing job with Bjoern due to an unsolicited letter. And if there's anything I took away from going to Brown, it's how to craft a really good letter...or apology email.

So regardless of whether or not Mr. LaChapelle does ever contact me, he has changed my life.

Forever.




Oh, Marky is staying with me this weekend and he took a picture too and then gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned bright red. (Mark did, not David)



Marky then proceeded to make friends with some of David's friends. Other super successful jetsetting artists.



Wanna see what David wrote in my book?????



The crown on my growing collection of beautiful photo books!



Phew. Very therapeutic. Thanks for reading. Have not stopped thinking about how awesome it was and it's nice to get it written down and out there.

SO happy right now. Literally I've been on the giddy verge of tears for the past 18 hours. I will look back on this day fondly forever.

Maybe I'll go buy a lottery ticket.

I love New York!