So JT is lining up a couple of adventures starting with Vegas in June. Men's Health want us to do a piece on learning to play pro poker and entering a game. Betting Jon's money. I'm no gambler so am glad to just be taking pictures on this one, we will also be bungee jumping out of a helicopter over the grand canyon... So the usual slight crazy antics are predicted. However the sticking point at the moment i that the PR company are moaning about having to pay for my flight. These people really want something for nothing. A five page spread in MH is worth about £75k in advertising revenue and we'll be doing two of them, I would have thought that would be worth a couple of flights and a week at a kitch hotel in any currency?
I've been looking at William Eggleston recently as I might be writing an essay on his influence for my Masters and the stuff he has done in Vegas is an inspiration. I'll definitely be taking the old medium format along...
Panama isn't quite as sorted yet but the idea is to paddle down the canal, trying to avoid the very big tankers and stuff I guess?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Russia in an afternoon
Comrade J. Thomski called me up with a last minute mission to be completed on a very sunny Sunday in London last weekend. London Lite wanted us to do a piece on bringing a little piece of Russia to London for all those footie fans who won't be able to make it to Moscow for the Champions League final. So off we went to Queensway where a very friendly bloke called Boris completely sorted us out, he gave us the advice on food and drink that we needed; fed us in his little cafe while we were serenaded by husband and wife combo Anna and Vlad and we were given a load of Russian dolls as part of the bargain. Next stop was Soho where we were meeting Neil JT's barrister mate who has a flat filled with funky modern art and he had agreed we could stage our party at his pad for the photo's. Another friend Simon brought along two Russian beauties to a bar called Revolution where we staged a few pics that involved brightly coloured vodka shots. Then it was back to Neil's place where we laid out our produce of pickles, Russian dolls, caviar, vodka and beer etc and posed up a few more party pics. JT, his girlfriend Annabelle (who had been Anja for the day) and I then left the others in order to get the feature in by the morning. Neil and Simon had other ideas and polished off all the booze with the real Russians before Simon passed out in all his clothes on the floor and Neil went to his love nest with a blond whom he couldn't remember the name of. A text to JT the next morning resolved that potential embarrassment. So we go the piece in by 10am and cleaned our hands of it, I did insist on a credit this time as the last two pieces have run without my bi-line. JT should have insisted that they don't fuck with his carefully crafted words. The piece came out today with a good pic apparently(I forgot to pick up a copy) but JT's piece consisted of the original intro and the rest was butchered into a list of shops and bars. Not quite what we had been asked to do and he needn't have stayed up until 1am writing. But then again if we knew then what we know now, Neil might not have got to finish the caviar off of his nubile foreign platter and Simon wouldn't have had to call in sick.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
landing with a bump
We've been back home from our trip to Utah for a few weeks now and after going for a drink with some of the old Independent Sports Active team I realized that I hadn't finished this little tail.
After JT did his first day's training which consisted of practicing the inline pose several times crouching down in the middle of the Olympic museum beneath a photo of the Olympic torch, and then leaping into the air like a rabbit that has just stepped on dynamite. A few days later the weather was clear and JT's confidence was high, about 40 meters high by the end of the day but more of that later. He started with the junior jumps of 5m and 10m before progressing fairly rapidly to the 20m jump. They measure the jump from the lip of the jump to the point where you land. JT was doing well managing to get a little air and even being able to snow plow the over sized jumping skis at the bottom of the slope. Only once did he end up careering on into the carpark without making the turn back toward the slow turning ski lift. JT was focused and even though I told him that I could fake the picture a bit to make it look bigger than it really was by using fish eye lenses and low angles he was focused on his goal which was the 40m jump which loomed at the edge of the practice area. I've known JT a long time and I knew he would have a go but after he sailed down the well cut tracks and dropped into the well rehearsed inline position my concentration was almost as focused as I thought to myself, I only have one shot at this, so I checked my exposure and focus countless times before he finally reached the point of no return. While he was in the air I was thinking, wow, I think he's done it and he could eve land it. But as he came back down on the slope his weight was too far back and the tips of his giant skis crossed and he buckled into a twisted pile. Every one winced and the PR ran over to make sure JT was OK, I suppose he was concerned for Jon and not the fact that the story may have taken a trist in the wrong direction right in front of his eyes and he may not have the happy ending he had banked on. Anyway JT got up and dusted down his all in one jump suit before declaring he would have another go. So off he went to the lift and ten minutes later he was back at the top of the jump saying his prayers and repeating the rehearsal mantra, skis straight, inline, focus, jump... I don't think I heard him mention the landing. The second jump was almost a mirror of the first and unfortunately the landing was even more painful looking and JT landed again on his tail bone. He didn't get up quite as quick this time and while I didn't think the damage was permanent. So I packed my camera in its bag and made my way down the hill occasionally sinknig to my knee in deep snow at the edge of the landing slope. I got to the bottom a little slower than JT had but he was stood in his blue jump suit with a grimace on his face. "I'm having another go" he told me, "I'm going to nail this fucker". I was amazed, concerned and slightly sickened all at once, my butt cheeks clenched involuntarily as I saw JT hobble once again toward the ski lift. Maybe it was the adrenalin or the pig headed unwillingness to be beaten but I would have opted for a pain killer and a hot chocolate. Once again JT was at the top of the 40m jump looking down toward the instructor and the PR who waited to scrape him up once more and off he went, like a falling tree, he started so slowly before quickly gathering pace and I could hear him repeating the mantra as he reached the end of the jump... then he hit the hill again right on his coccyx, for a third and final time. There was no fourth effort as he was in way too much pain, he went to get changed and count his bruises. The next day we flew back to London which is a long way to fly. In economy. With a bruised arse and fast running out of Neurofen. After we landed I took Jon's ski boots and he went to his local hospital for an x-ray. He has thankfully survived and the story will go into Men's Health in the next few months and he was only in pain for a few weeks. Only!
And all for the sake of the story, he's either a pro or a lunatic.
After JT did his first day's training which consisted of practicing the inline pose several times crouching down in the middle of the Olympic museum beneath a photo of the Olympic torch, and then leaping into the air like a rabbit that has just stepped on dynamite. A few days later the weather was clear and JT's confidence was high, about 40 meters high by the end of the day but more of that later. He started with the junior jumps of 5m and 10m before progressing fairly rapidly to the 20m jump. They measure the jump from the lip of the jump to the point where you land. JT was doing well managing to get a little air and even being able to snow plow the over sized jumping skis at the bottom of the slope. Only once did he end up careering on into the carpark without making the turn back toward the slow turning ski lift. JT was focused and even though I told him that I could fake the picture a bit to make it look bigger than it really was by using fish eye lenses and low angles he was focused on his goal which was the 40m jump which loomed at the edge of the practice area. I've known JT a long time and I knew he would have a go but after he sailed down the well cut tracks and dropped into the well rehearsed inline position my concentration was almost as focused as I thought to myself, I only have one shot at this, so I checked my exposure and focus countless times before he finally reached the point of no return. While he was in the air I was thinking, wow, I think he's done it and he could eve land it. But as he came back down on the slope his weight was too far back and the tips of his giant skis crossed and he buckled into a twisted pile. Every one winced and the PR ran over to make sure JT was OK, I suppose he was concerned for Jon and not the fact that the story may have taken a trist in the wrong direction right in front of his eyes and he may not have the happy ending he had banked on. Anyway JT got up and dusted down his all in one jump suit before declaring he would have another go. So off he went to the lift and ten minutes later he was back at the top of the jump saying his prayers and repeating the rehearsal mantra, skis straight, inline, focus, jump... I don't think I heard him mention the landing. The second jump was almost a mirror of the first and unfortunately the landing was even more painful looking and JT landed again on his tail bone. He didn't get up quite as quick this time and while I didn't think the damage was permanent. So I packed my camera in its bag and made my way down the hill occasionally sinknig to my knee in deep snow at the edge of the landing slope. I got to the bottom a little slower than JT had but he was stood in his blue jump suit with a grimace on his face. "I'm having another go" he told me, "I'm going to nail this fucker". I was amazed, concerned and slightly sickened all at once, my butt cheeks clenched involuntarily as I saw JT hobble once again toward the ski lift. Maybe it was the adrenalin or the pig headed unwillingness to be beaten but I would have opted for a pain killer and a hot chocolate. Once again JT was at the top of the 40m jump looking down toward the instructor and the PR who waited to scrape him up once more and off he went, like a falling tree, he started so slowly before quickly gathering pace and I could hear him repeating the mantra as he reached the end of the jump... then he hit the hill again right on his coccyx, for a third and final time. There was no fourth effort as he was in way too much pain, he went to get changed and count his bruises. The next day we flew back to London which is a long way to fly. In economy. With a bruised arse and fast running out of Neurofen. After we landed I took Jon's ski boots and he went to his local hospital for an x-ray. He has thankfully survived and the story will go into Men's Health in the next few months and he was only in pain for a few weeks. Only!
And all for the sake of the story, he's either a pro or a lunatic.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
will ski jumping get off the ground?
JT and I are getting worried about the ski jumping story in Utah, not for fear of injury but fear of PRB. (PR bullshit). Apparently an itinerary has been put together and the PR was going to email it to me yesterday but it didn't arrive. This itinerary hasn't been seen by me or JT for discussion and my worry is that we are being fobbed off in order to do some kind of resort review instead of trying to pull off a six page feature on ski jumping. They have organized only one day at the jump school which I was trying to extend but the PR hasn't been back in touch so I don't know if we'll get more days. JT is on holiday next week so it will be down to be to grab this bull by the horns and nail down a more realistic itinerary otherwise Morgan, the editor at Men's Health might pull the plug on the whole thing.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Flying high in Utah
JT and I are due to head out to Utah for another snowy adventure later this month for Men's Health. We are at the moment trying to organize ski jumping school, Eddie the Eagle style, I will of course be encouraging JT to be as brave and stylish as Eddie as this will be a very image led story and I'll need him to soar like a bird to make the opening spread a winner.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, December 29, 2007
surfing Swedish slush
The Swedish trip was generally felt to be a success by JT and myself, it was a story revisited but this time I hoped for a bit more wind.. We met with Peter Bramwell in the foyer of our hotel The Holiday Club and his first words were, "I think we need a real windsurf today". Not very encouraging as we were in Are for one reason and that was to Ice surf or Snowfer and as the temperature was a few degrees above freezing and everything was melting we had to work fast. We went down to the lake which was slowly turning to slush and did our best to photograph both JT and Peter having a go first in a field then on the slushy but frozen river. While I felt that some of these first efforts were fairly successful after going over the pictures later that night I decided that there were some pictures that I needed to capture. I needed something more landscape showing more of the amazing environment and so rather reluctantly Peter took us up the mountain with his Snowfer to a Tepee that he had just built to serve hot drinks and snacks to Are's skiers. There we managed to get the extra shots that I hope will offer the picture editor a few more options for the feature both at Men's Health and Live magazine.
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