The fat lady is warming up!

Whelp as it is said all good things must come to an end. Such is my time here in New York. Seven days and counting down and I have really begun to look back and reminisce of my time here. If you were to sit me down a year ago today ( most likely it would have been in Meijer as I sat in the back room contemplating just walking out of the store and not coming back just to see what would happen) and ask me where do you think you will be a year from now? I would have most likely responded to you with a laugh and response something close to working at a golf course or anywhere as long as it wasent "Meijer or Sylvan Lake Rec"- the two worst jobs I have EVER had. Any who I am very pleased and happy with my first round in the Big Apple. As i have been told " if you can make it there you can make it anywhere" if thats true than the sky's the limit for me because as I have seen I have done very well in the time I was given (especially compared to a LOT of people I have met out here).

What I have been up to over the last few weeks:

Well i have been working a ton lately, whether it is with Phear or Assisting with Chris it has been go go go. Phear has been pretty slow lately with me only shooting stills for a infomercial they were hired to do. They say they hate doing that kind of crap because there is not artistic way to do it but they say it pays the bills so win some lose some. Other than that i haven't done much with Phear other than a little post work in editing and errands.

However Chris has been the opposite, i have had several shoots with him over the last few weeks. To give you an idea what i do is when i started for him i was an intern. After just a couple of weeks they promoted me to 2nd assistant. and even more recently i had a shoot as first assistant. Basically the differences are, as second you assist the first and do a lot of the labor work, moving lights, making sure everything runs smoothly, and that the photographer has everything he needs. As first however you have a lot more control. You decide where the lights go the composition of the photo, you work closely with the photographer and digital tech. Also your main job is making sure everyone else is doing their job and the shoot is running smoothly. So basically AKA- I GOT TO TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO. ahaha less than 4 months in NYC and i was running a photo shoot, it was so cool. Don't get me wrong i was nervous as hell, but Chris said i did fine and he was extremely happy with how the shoot turned out especially since it was my first time being first. But other than that just a few other shoots here and there including one tomorrow. Also i have just been told i have a shoot with Phear for the Johnny Cash work we are doing on Thursday so that will be a great way to end the internship. The parental units with younger sibling in tow will be out here on Friday to pick me up. The plan is to enjoy a few days out here before heading back, so guess who is playing tour guide lol.

A cool note of interest i was contacted by Humble Bob who is in the Coney island photos below in the hot dog eating contest
(The one with the glasses) saying he found my blog and absolutely loved the photo and was wondering if he could use it on his blog. I was so excited not so much because he liked it but becaise some one outside of family and friends was checking out the blog and liked my stuff. So the photo is up there and he gives me some pretty good props on it so that was awesome thanks to him for asking and doing. Check out the photo on his website on the link below.

Humble BoB website

Aside from work i have pretty much just been hanging out and trying to enjoy myself as much as i can before leaving the city. going to different bars and restaurants. Speaking of restaurants, i was lucky enough to have my really good friends from D Chi at Central Mark Garland come out to NYC with his dad for a short stay out here. both him and i went to some of the best restaurants in the city with the Park Avenue Summer on Thursday night and Nobu on Friday night. Two amazing nights that i was so fortunate to have and a great way to get sent off in my last weekend on my own in the big City. As far as everything else goes i have pretty much accomplished everything i have wanted to do through my tenure here, which is super gratifying. So with one week left to go in the Big City all i care about is wrapping up work tying down some contacts and making sure the family has a good time. I have thrown some pics up from various places i have been going and different things i have been doing. So enjoy and i will see you all soon, and thanks for keeping up with the blog!

Note: most of the phots were just for fun from a point and shoot dont judge lol.




My buddy Kevin and I outside McSorley's bar. A straight Irish bar that happens to be the oldest bar in all of NYC. You walk into this place and can just feel the history there its sooooo cool.




Saw these guys out by Harlem somewhere. They were pretty nice. haha




"Hello dum dum!" he was soo cool.

MOre to come

The greatest spectacle on TV ( and my favorite thing to watch on TV)

In my opinion football, baseball, hockey, and basketball, are all well and good. However in my opinion there is nothing truly like the spectacle that is the X Games! All my life I have just been fascinated with both the summer and winter competitions that showcase double back flips on a dirt-bike and 1260 rotations on skis. With the up and coming summer games this weekend I figured I would show some of what you might see if you care to watch one of the most entertaining things on television.

There are really two huge stories in the 2008 X Games preview. One the fact that Jake Brown (mega-ramp skateboarder competitor) who fell more than 45 feet to the ground ( see link below) will be competing in this years competition. This may not seem like a big deal until you watch a video if you have not already seen it.

Jake Brown video: (Catching up with Jake brown)

The next big story of the 2008 games is the extreme progression of motocross best trick. it truly seems that every year someone or some people show up to the competition with some outrageous trick. The bar was drastically raised with the introduction of the back flip ( yes a back flip on a dirt-bike). Then it became who had the better variation of backflip whether it had a grab or what not. Then just a couple of years since the backflip came to be the standard, out of no where Travis Pastrana comes out and lands a double back flip on a dirt-bike!!! Now this year there are a lot of rumors going on about new wild tricks people are hoping to throw down. Check the link below to get a sneak peek and some of the tricks you might be able to see in Moto X Best trick in 2008.


Whisper tricks: rumors in Moto X for 2008

Less than one month to go!

In the front row having an awesome time.

Living in New York City for the summer I was fortunate enough to see one of the most beautiful Fourth of July spectacles in the Country. The Nathans Fourth of July Hotdog eating contest. For those of you who are not aware Nathans is a world famous Coney Island which has been on the corner of Surf and Stillwell serving hotdogs for years. Every year on the 4th of July they have a hotdog-eating contest that brings out the best eating competitors in the world. However the real and only story is the battle between Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi who has won the contest easily for seven or so years was de-throne last year by Chestnut. Reports say he had a jaw injury so this year was being talked up like it was Ali Fraser II. Also they lowered the time limit from 12 min to 10, this was going to be a factor in favor of Chestnut as he starts of big and Kobayashi tends to end strong.
A break in the action and let me tell you my cool story about my day there. I wanted to bring my big camera down their in hopes to get some cool photos for the blog. So I woke up early at about 8 and met my friend Kevin who would be joining me for the day. It takes about one hour on the subway to get to Coney Island from where my apt is. Not a bad train ride if the sub is not packed. We left so early because we wanted to get as close as we could to have good spots. However upon our arrival merely 2 hours before the show begins it was already packed. I have certain techniques that I have learned that I use to get into events or places with my camera that normally I would not be aloud access to. I was hoping to put those to the test there. Once getting there I went into sneaky mode and successfully attained a media pass for the contest. On top of that I was also able to acquire a VIP pass for my friend Kevin. So already the day was going very well. I shot like crazy in the just 3 hours we were there and was very satisfied after I was all done. Although a lot of the photos you see below are some of the best I had a hard time editing, really what problem every photographer loves to have. Accordingly I didn’t want to put everything up here so if you like what you see and want to see more get with me I have a ton.
So Chestnut and Kobayashi ended up in a tie at the end of the 10 minutes with both eating an astounding 59 hotdogs (YES I know 59 hotdogs with the buns in 10 MINS). So in the first time in the contests history the contest went into a 5 dog first one done wins overtime. In the end Chestnut pulled out the W keeping the title and the mustard colored belt in the USA for a second consecutive year. I believe the photos tell the story and I had an amazing time there. So many years have I bet on this with my older brother Tom and to finally see history in the making in person was an awesome 4 of July experience.

Whelp less than A MONTH to go here in NYC then its back home to chill for a lil bit. Then on my birthday I will be seeing an AMAZING concert with a bunch of the guys and then the very next day, very early I have to drive to Petoskey MI for Camp Quality. One month left in NYC and I am surely feeling the money pinch. I want to leave with some money because I have so much to pay for once I get back to school. However I don’t want to short change myself for my last month. I truly feel I have really pushed myself to get out there and explore the city and I am very happy about that. So one month left keep coming back for updates and I will try to keep the blog as fresh as possible.
CYA BYE
PS





The most coveted award in all of Major League Eating, the mustard colored bet!



He is a machine




The Tsunami



Thought this one was really cool.




This is George, he is the MC for the event and he truly is the heart and soul of the Nathans Hot-dog eating contest. Basically he does a lot of shtick in between and before the contest, "hes a hype man".




Pat Berttoliti "SP" was one of the main contenders, he used koolaid to get his buns wet to consume them easier. I got some on my shirt i was mad.



There was one part where Kobi had taken the lead and Chestnut looked over and knew he had to turn up the heat. He went nuts and came from 2 and a half down to tie it up in the last secs.



History in the making the first time ever the contest went into a five dog over time and Chestnut pulled it out in a photo finish.



There can only be one! USA USA USA!!!










All photos property of Patrick Siller
Ok thats all for now I am tired of uploading hope you like them.