Swingin' in the Wind

I have a slight discomfort with heights. It's not debilitating though it just takes me a minute to acclimate to anything over 15 ft,  not to mention 150 ft.  After a while my inner ear cooperates and I'm good.  This was put to the test when shooting print ads for Navy Pier with the agency TwoxFour.

Navy Pier is an amusement park and convention center jutting out into Lake Michigan from Chicago.

The whole project was shot over a couple days at Navy Pier on the rides with some additional shooting around the city for backgrounds.  After many dozens of rotations, have an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of  the Wave Swing and Ferris Wheel.

The view from the Ferris wheel is truly spectacular but let's just say that it's not a good place to be in a freak wind and rain storm at night... 

Agency: TwoxFour
Creatives: Aaron Weinstein, Adam Von Ohlen
Buyer: Ruben Gomez

#landantwin #landantwin2

Hanging out by the East Bank Club pool you might encounter these two entrepreneurial brothers known collectively as the Landan Twins. They're kind of the twin, male, Midwestern version of a Nicole Richie with yellow toe nail polish.  The brothers are scenesters with a dedicated Twitter following who's business is to freshen your lifestyle.

 They were surprisingly energetic and professional arriving with a stack of expensive watches (attended by a security guard),  and their own stash of vodka delivered by liquor messenger. I shot these guys in my studio for the cover of Time Out Chicago as they leapt deftly as miniature gazelles wielding with cocktail glasses. Not a drop of Gray Goose was spilled.

Styling: Heather Brooks
Make up: Morgal Blaul
Retouching: Tim Blokel
Photo Editor: Nicole Radja
On-set art director: Carrie Ferris

Director Anna Shapiro for CS.

I get the opportunity to work with and direct some extremely talented stage actors for magazines and theater marketing. It's less often that I direct the directors, who because of their trade, are even closer to my heart. Great directors clearly communicate their vision to an audience through the performances of their actors, and do it in such a way that the performance may grow and change over time. No two performances are the same. It's the opposite of anything one can do digitally.

One such director is Anna Shapiro, the Tony winning collaborator of Tracy Letts and director of Steppenwolf's August Osage County. She's back at the Steppenwolf collaborating with Letts, directing Chekov's Three Sisters. I shot her for Modern Luxury's CS magazine at Steppenwolf.

Signs of summer

Not much to say here-just summer eye candy. Maybe there's a connection...

Dirty bedtime story

You've had your bed for too many years  and it's seen a LOT of action. You need better support for your night moves so you order a new mattress. It shows-up, gets set-up and the old one is taken away.  Though have you ever wondered where your old stained and tired mattress goes?

I don't have the perfect answer but I do know that there's a thriving secondary market for mattresses. Like, have you ever seen a mattress roped to the outside facade of a dollar store? Or a pile of plastic wrapped twins stacked 12 high for sale at a bodega/ furniture store? These are not new Sealy's.  They've been reconditioned.

 

 I'm not sure if mattress resale is clean a clean and legal business so I won't disclose this location. At the "mattress factory" old mattresses are stripped (I hope) down to their foundations and built back up with new fabrics and foam.  I stopped in yesterday to spend a sweaty hour relishing in pattern, piles and plushes. 

 I've always been attracted to mattresses because of their colorful and gaudy patterning but have been disappointed that all the floral fabric and colors are a thing of the past. But at the mattress factory history lives on, at least for the moments before they go under the knife for another go-round. Personally, I'll pony up for the Serta and pay retail.