Back from Barcelona!!! / Supermodel Sighting

I finally arrived home from Barcelona yesterday.

Phew! It was an amazing trip.

Beautiful sights, EPIC food (we had several Michelin-starred meals), fun fun fun, and wine wine wine.

On my flight home I had Supermodel Christy Turlington and Edward Burns and their kids on my flight sitting three rows behind me.

(I did not take this photo.)

For those who haven't spent years gazing at Vogue, Christy was one of the top 5 supermodels of the 90s (along with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour and Linda Evangelista).



As a photographer, I've WORSHIPPED these ladies and studied their work for years...it was a total A-list sighting in my book.

And it was shocking to Christy as she is now, dressed in unglamorous mom-clothes, her hair in a disheveled bun with her kids scrambling all over her lap. Flying in COACH.

When she got on the plane I did a double-take because I was sitting in the exit row (10B) which is where the boarding door is. She literally stepped on my foot and apologized. And I was like "that looks like an older, incognito version of Christy Turlington..." but it couldn't be...because she brushed by me and walked into economy...but then Ed Burns got on the plane right behind them!

(He also proceeded to get in a verbal argument with another passenger regarding overhead space which drew a even more attention to them.)

Celebrities flying coach. It just feels so wrong, because you imagine they have this incredible glamorous life with no-hassles. Supermodels especially. And I mean, they DO have that life...but they also live in the real world as real humans as well.

Never in my life did I think I'd get to witness a yawny, constantly-adjusting-trying-to-get-comfortable -while-sleeping-upright Christy Turlington!!!

I will leave you with a blast from the past, George Michael's "Freedom 90" starring Christy, Cindy, Linda, and Naomi.



More on Europe very soon!

18 hours in Amsterdam!

I landed in Amsterdam around noon on Saturday.

Got to downtown around 1pm, which left me some time to explore. (I've been here a few times, but the last time was like...wow...I'm just realizing...10 years ago.)

Amsterdam Centraal is probably the easiest major city to get into from its airport. It's just a 15 minute train ride which puts you at the train station which is in the center of everything.

Seeing as I'll be back here in April with Teebags, I didn't wander around too much. Everything still looks as I remember it. I just really needed fooooooood.

Decisions, decisions...

The choice was easy.

Oh god they were so good.

After my snack and a little more exploring. I went back to my hotel, the Barbizon Palace, and crashed.

Woke up at 5am (it was pretty easy...jetlag) and booked it to the airport for my 12 hour flight to South Africa.

Since Delta's partner, KLM, is headquartered here in Amstrydam, the lounge here is pretty awesome. They have a full buffet breakfast with pancakes and donuts and those yummy little deli meats and fresh rolls that European people love to eat for breakfeast.

YUM!

See you in Cape Town!

Merry Christmas to me!!!

This morning I was on my way to Tokyo...but my flight through Seattle was way oversold. So amidst a sea of agitated holiday travelers, I volunteered to give up my seat in exchange for what they were offering: a $400 voucher and a later flight.

Instead, however, they handed me a $600 voucher, an earlier flight through Atlanta that actually got me into Tokyo an hour earlier AND first class upgrades all the way to Japan.

BEST! DAY! EVER!!!!!

Thank you Delta!!! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

----------------------------

Delta Atlanta is rocking a sweet new SkyClub.

Complete with a Beats by Dr. Dre lounge for customers to sample different headphones.

If you've ever flown to Asia, you probably know that they don't just give out upgrades on international flights, for some reason they're only sold, and somehow there are enough businesspeople/rich people who are willing to pay $4K-$10K. Even with my diamond status, I've never gotten an international upgrade. My ticket isn't even "upgrade eligible".

Just 2 days ago I had called Delta just to see how much it would cost to put my ticket in a higher fare-class so that I could use one of my systemwide upgrade vouchers (this weird Delta coupon that lets you automatically upgrade certain tickets that were basically already really expensive to begin with)...so that I'd be eligible for an upgrade... I was quoted a price of $3,400...on top of what I'd already paid for my ticket!

It's nuts!!!!!

But somehow with my travel "disruption" they were able to bypass all the stuff and score me a prime seat on the 14-hour flight from Atlanta.

And I will never be the same.

The new first class seats are individual pods, which look kind of cramped...

But are actually quite spacious! It made the 14-hour an absolute breeze.

I was able to completely stretch out...even had a little ottoman in the corner...

And these chairs come with a million customization options...including various tilts, lifts, supports, or the option to lie down completely flat.

LOVES a little side-table for all my things...

LOVES a desk and workspace and 20-inch monitor...

These private pods are awesome!

For lunch I ordered a japanese lunch set which came with assorted seafood morsels.

And a chicken...

And a noodle-snack. MmmmmmmMmmMMmmmM!!!

I've arrived safely in Tokyo. Now I'm exhausted. More adventures tomorrow!

30 hour layover in NYC

Home sweet NYC...

I popped back into New York around midnight on Monday for two quick photoshoots yesterday and to see my trainer. (She gets really mad at me if I don't see her once every week.)

On my flight into La Guardia from Nola we passed right over midtown and the view was pretty spectacular. I wish I had had my pro-cam on me to take a great night shot.



Shoots went well.

One of my clients, Justin, is this really talented 11-year-old who already been on a ton of stuff like The Wire and Modern Family.

His parents wanted him to have a cute Disney look.



As well as an "urban" look. He took direction amazingly well.



It was POURING out yesterday.

You can't tell though, right?

Normally I would have cancelled the shoot, but he and his parents flew in from South Carolina, so we had to make it work.

Speaking of South Carolina, I'm back at the airport now headed to San Francisco to photograph my buddy Peter Smathers's wedding. (You'll remember him from our Smathers & Branson shoot that we did in South Carolina a few months ago.)

Off to LA again / Atlantic Antic / Celeb sightings

I often forget where I am.

Just now I was walking through JFK and I could have sworn I was at LAX heading home to New York.

Maybe I travel too much.

Maybe I'm sleepy.

Anyway I'm on my way back to LA for a big corporate gig tomorrow (I'm taking pics of 22 lawyers for their new website).

I'm so relieved to have a wonderful new apartment. Last week when I was in LA I was super-stressed about where I was going to end up living. Funny how things can change so quickly.

Last week, right before I flew back to NY we had a group outing to watch The Town (great movie).

When we arrived at the theater, Smileyjohn saw his clothing twin. It was SO funny. We HAD to take a picture...



THEN, Smileyjohn's clothing twin met up with his ladyfriend, who just happened to be Annie's clothing twin. It was unreal!



Maybe you had to be there. Whatever. It was awesome.



So I came back to NY. Found an apartment, lost an apartment, and within 24 hours found a new apartment, still on the Lower East Side.

I love my neighborhood.

I walked up the street the other day to find a throng of people gawking at something.



I shoved my way through the crowd to find myself face-to-face with Rihanna, filming her new video, I assume for "Only Girl in the World". She was just walking around with a pair of drumsticks drumming on walls and doorframes and stuff, soaking up the attention and screaming to everyone, "You're all gonna be in my video!!!!"



This was very exciting to me, since I had just seen her in concert a few months ago.

I was so close to her I could have punched her. But I waited until I was a bit farther away to take pictures.



Anyway, I was on my way to some street festival called Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn, meeting up with my buddies Christian and Sol who I haven't seen since Norway.



There was food and people and drinking everywhere.






And cake!




And fake princesses!



One highlight was a $5 slider from Morton's steakhouse...




$5 also buys you three giant meatballs from a rando Italian stand.




I bumped into my Brown buddy Todd who happened to be performing with his band "Arms".



And then we found delicious pineapple drinks!



Brooklyn, you're neat, but I'm so glad I live in Manhattan!



And now I'm at the aeropuerto about to take off for LA.

I'm actually sitting across from Robin Thicke, can you see his reflection in my sunglasses? Probably not. I'd take a picture but I'm trying to be cool and discreet even though we all know I'm anything but.



Anyway, see y'all on the flip side!