Happy Birthweekend

I'm in the air somewhere over New York state now feeling very relaxed and satisfied. A nice empty plane means I can stretch out a little and just chill for a while on the way back to Chicago.

New York was wonderful as always. I think it's my second favorite city after Paris. There's such a great energy here. Very inspiring. I feel so comfortable here as well. I was talking with my friends last night over dinner and I know a lot of people think that NYC is some kind of eat you alive place - don't get me wrong, you do have to have your act together here - but at the same time, if you have talent, drive and ambition, you can feed on the competitiveness. You have to play up to New York. And I like that.

This trip was actually the first time I've been here, with the exception of a few layovers, where I wasn't here to work. Usually I come here and end up doing the daily rush like I live here, but even though I did have a little business with the photo portfolios, it was pretty much all pleasure this time.

After our amazing Saturday of photo exhibits, Central Park, great food and burlesque, we took our time getting up on Sunday. Mark cooked us another delicious breakfast and we headed out for a leisurely walk before Cheree had to be at NBC where she's an editor. It was another nice day and as we walked through one of the public
gardens along the West Side Highway that are maintained by volunteers. One of the guys was working on planting one of the rows and he took a break and took us around and told us what everything was.

That's what I like about days like that. You just never know what you're going to end up doing in NY, Sometimes it's nice to just float downstream.

So I took some photographs of the flowers. Subject matter I haven't photographed in years. Ironic though because my first nude photographs I ever took were of flowers. By this I mean I wanted to make sure before I photographed a nude woman that I was a good enough photographer to do justice to someone who would be so generous with
her body, and so for a whole year, I practiced on flowers and stems. Figuring out lighting and composition and learning the curves of nature.

That was about 15 years ago. And here I was in NY trying to do the same thing again.

After our walk, we took the subway down to 30 Rockefeller and Mark and I decided to be tourists and go to the top of the building and look out over all of Manhattan below. It's funny. I've been coming to NY for something like 15 years and that was the first touristy thing I've ever done. But it was fun and I took a lot of pictures up there as well. And even though it might seem like going to the top of 30 Rock is not as cool as going to the top of the Empire State Building, much like being in Paris, if you're on top of the Eiffel Tower, you can't see the Eiffel Tower. So I got some nice pictures of the Empire State Building from half way up it's length.

After that we headed out and had a little dinner at Toast on Broadway near 125th on the Columbia campus. Nice little college bar/restaurant. Perfect and casual.

This morning it was pretty much back to reality for all of us. Mark headed to midtown to Madoff Productions, where he edits for a great director, doing a lot of work for Ralph Lauren and Victoria's Secret among other clients. I proceeded a little further south to Lois Greenfield's studio where we got to spend more time catching up with her and Jack. Her studio is one of those places where the positive energy is so inspiring, you can't help leave with the smile on your face and new ideas in your head.

I got a chance to show her my new book before dropping it off and everyone really liked it. It's a very different book than I've ever made before. It's a very broad stroke of my work. Fashion, nudes, travel, and as I mentioned before, my writing as well to give it more of a flavor of who Billy Sheahan is. There are so many photographers out here trying to get their books noticed that it seems the more I
can Billy-ize mine, the more noticeable I will be. We'll find out soon enough.

It always interesting to have Lois look at my work. Her eye is so good and she sees things that sometimes I don't even see in my work. One of the things she loved in the fashion section was my use of shadows. And we talked about how to create new work using only shadows. It was a great inspiring moment.

She loved the nude work as well. She thought it had a glamour to it that might attract the eye of a magazine like Vogue. I felt the same way, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

But the travel work elicited perhaps the most interesting comment of all. She said, you know, you're not a somber person, but your travel work has really got a sadness to it. Looking at it after she said that, only then was it obvious how right she was. I'd never noticed that before, but it's true that a great deal of my travel work has a sense of isolation or a feeling of a single individual alone in a larger world around them. I never considered my travel work to have such serious overtones to it, but the images I selected for this book do seem to have that sense about them.

I wonder what that says, both about where I was when I created those photographs and even now having selected them for this book. Traveling is such a joyful experience for me. In fact any time I'm creating a photograph, whether traveling or in my studio is when I'm at my most happy. Fascinating.

It was a rare opportunity to talk about my work with a photographer who has been an inspiration to me for about two decades. She's a great friend, as is Jack, and our friendship and her advice and guidance mean the world to me.

A retrospective of her work is in the beginning stages of a museum tour after a great opening in Florida over the winter, and I hope she gets to exhibit in Chicago and I can host her for a change.

As always, with every trip I take, I learn as much about myself as the places and people I meet and visit with. Combining that with my birthweek this year made it even more special. In one of my carry on bags is packed the single candle that Candle 79 put on my desert on Saturday night. I have felt this year has been a bit of a rebirth for me in a lot of ways. So maybe I was celebrating a first birthday of sorts this April 29th.

Many more to come.

Sparkles McTitsy

Well tough stuff first. Although it seems to be good news. Looks like Mom is being moved out of the neurosurgery floor of the hospital and onto I guess a more normal floor. I'm in NY now so my communication with my mom and dad has had to be by phone the last couple of days. But mom sounded better on Friday. Much better. Voice was strong. Saturday she sounded a little more tired, but still, pretty good considering.

So slowing improving. We're all optimistic and hoping for the best.

Now the fun stuff. I finally did make it to Manhattan, in seven hours instead of two because of the weather, but I got bumped up to first class for my trouble, so that make things a little more reasonable.

Mark and Cheree had a delicious dinner on the stove for me and we ate and drank and caught up in their upper west side apartment before turning in. Perfect way to arrive in NY.

Saturday was really pretty spectacular. Mark started us off with a plate full of pancakes and we jumped on the subway to see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the International Center of Photography. It was really everything I hoped it would be.

Before we made it to the lower level to see the Cartier-Bresson work, we walked through the Martin Munkacsi gallery. I was very familiar with one of his images of a group of African Boys running into the waves, but I didn't know who the photographer was until yesterday. Ironically, that image was the one that inspired Cartier-Bresson to see how powerful a moment of photography could be. That's when he began his style that became known as the decisive moment.

It is always a rare treat to see prints handmade by one of my most major influences, and the Cartier-Bresson gallery was full of smallish prints that were part of a scrapbook he made in the 1940's to help narrow down the photographs he would exhibit at a MoMA show in New York in 1947. And since I am an Air France frequent flyer, I was able to show my Flying Blue card, and get into exhibit for free since Air France was one of the major sponsors of the exhibition.

In addition to seeing the beautiful prints, there was a video playing with his images and the only soundtrack was his own voice. Talking about his philosophy, how he shoots and why and I only wish I could remember his exact wording. It was like he was expressing so much of what I feel when I shoot, but haven't been able to articulate nearly as well up to this point.

Then we went to my dear friend Lois Greenfield's studio in midtown where she was teaching a seminar on shooting dancers. We hung out with her for a while and it was great to catch up with her. It's been about a year since I've seen her, and she is always so welcoming and warm whenever I visit.

I'm going to see her again on Monday morning before I drop my new books off to Vogue and Vanity Fair. Very exciting. We'll see what happens.

After visiting Lois, we walked through Central Park and headed to a beautiful vegan restaurant near 5th and 79th called Candle 79. Delicious food, a lovely bottle of French Shiraz and yummy desert. Oh and Woody Harrelson was sitting at the table next to us. Pretty funny.

Oh, and they even put a birthday candle on my vegan desert... of course.

Then Cheree got this great idea that we should go find a burlesque show to celebrate my birthday in true Billy style. So we headed to the 24 hour Apple store with the glass cube entrance so we could look up the address. (I'm pretty sure Steve Jobs was trying to create the Louvre on 59th street as you enter it at street level and then go below street level to get into the store.) We used one of their computers to look up the Slipper Room and jumped in a cab and headed to the lower east side.

It was great. Let me see if I can remember all the names. Runaround Sue, Svetlana Satin and my personal favorite Sparkles McTitsy. Cheree grabbed her at one point and introduced me to her because we both happened to be celebrating our birthday that night. She told us she was from Rhode Island. She was great. Lots of fun.

I think it was 3am by the time we got home. A great night.

More later.

Bonne anniversaire

Well Birthweek kicked off last night and it looks like it's going to be going for a while. It's been a tough week with my mom and I think I needed to blow off some steam. She's really still pretty sick and we're all worried about her, but doing the best we can.

So some friends of mine took me out for my birthday last night to get my mind off of everything and it was nice to just have a good time and laugh and have a few drinks. Nice cards and Katie bought me a beautiful Henri Cartier-Bresson photography book since she knew I was going to see his exhibit this weekend. Most thoughtful of her.

It was great fun and I'm fortunate to have a great group of friends like this.

Well there's a big storm in NY today, so instead of arriving this afternoon, I'm going to be flying to Atlanta and hopefully on to NY by sometime this evening. These things happen. I'm not really too upset about it. I guess if I get stuck in Atlanta, I can see if my model friend Melissa is in town and maybe have a little surprise visit!

I showed my new book to a few people last night and everyone was blown away. It confirms my feeling that it's the best book I've ever put together. It's really been exciting to watch everyone turn the pages and watch their faces.

Onto NY!

Waiting

Well I didn't fall out of bed once last night. Those twin beds are like sleeping on a rail sometimes. But I did pretty well. My old room feels smaller than I remember, but it was still very familiar.

I'm sitting at the hospital now while my mom sleeps. I got here this morning at 8, when visiting hours began, and we'd been talking pretty much all morning which is really a relief. We're still not exactly sure what happened. Again, this is not the forum to get into specifics of such a personal nature so that's all I'll say.

But we all had a bit of a scare and right now we're in the will life return to normal in a few days or is life going to be different forever question. It's a little odd to start thinking in those terms. Everyone goes through this, so I know I'm not feeling anything new. But I just feel a little adrift. And more than a little helpless.

My sister is using internet to access the vast wealth of medical information out there. She's feeding it all to me faster than I can comprehend it. But I'm trying. There is so much information out there. What applies and what is just a symptomatic coincidence?

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon two days ago. Not a care in the world. My friend Justine and I were sitting on my roof enjoying the beautiful sky and city views. Having a mid-afternoon cocktail. Talking, laughing.

And then a phone call changes everything.

I'm glad she was there. I just started talking about I have no idea what. But it felt good to ramble while I waited for the next phone call with more details. She's a good listener.

I had been working on my new photo portfolio this weekend to take to New York at the end of the week, a trip that looks like it may not happen now. The portfolio is good. One of my best in a long time. It feels like me. As I was laying it out, I realized I had way too many images selected on the first round. So some pairing down was in order.

Maybe I'll put some samples up at some point when life rights itself.... hopefully soon.

But it's a good book. I'm very happy with it and I'm glad I finished it before life had to pause.

From my old room

I'm just about ready to get into a bed I probably haven't been on in maybe 15 years. I'm writing this from my old bedroom in my parents house. The sad news is that Mom is in the hospital. One of those things that causes you to drop whatever it was that you thought was important the minute before you get the phone call, and you come running.

I'm not going to get into personal details at this point. Except that I brought enough clothes to stay for a while. It's odd to just detach from life in times like these. Everyone goes through it, but we're never prepared.

I hope I don't fall out of my little twin bed tonight.

Writing for the new portfolio

I'll be heading to New York in a little over a week, armed with a photo portfolio of new work to drop off at Vogue and Vanity Fair while I'm there. It's always an exciting process to put a new book together.

Tonight I was visiting my friend Justine at a bar downtown that she works at, and over a few Effen Black Cherry drinks and a half a pack of cigarettes I wrote most of the text for the new book.

Text for a photo portfolio, you say?


Well yes. I've found that people enjoy my writing about my photographs as much as the photographs themselves. And in a world where hundreds of portfolios are dropped off every day at magazines like this, you've got to try to stand out in some way. The photography is good, but sometimes you need a little edge.

So I write. And I find sometimes the best way for me to do it is to for me to get away from my computer and write on the road. A pad of paper and a pencil. I've been doing that for years. All over the world. Cafe Adler in Berlin. A street side café in Bologna. A courtyard in Paris. A breakfast table in Santorini. And tonight, an Irish pub in Chicago.

I think I'm going to scan the handwritten pages rather than transcribe them and use my own handwriting in this book. It felt good tonight and I know when to follow a feeling.

And speaking of following a feeling. I photographed Lynn again last night. It was a great shoot. She's such an amazing collaborator and one of the reasons I have so much new work for my book this year. The image you see here is from that shoot. She wanted to watch one of her favorite TV shows, so I set her up on my sofa and lit her and we just did our thing.

I love New York in... April

Well it's official. I'm going to be celebrating my birthday in New York this year. I love the energy there. I really do think it's the center of the universe.

There is a photography exhibit that I was hoping I'd get to see before it closed and I'll just be making it. It's a special exhibit of the work of one of my favorite Parisien photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson. His work has always been inspiring to me and there is nothing like getting to see original prints that he made with his own hands.

New York is the only place it will be showing in the US and so it's a very special treat to see his work like this. And even better, since I'm an Air France Flying Blue member, I get to see it for free!

Plus I'll get to spend time with two of my best friends, Mark and Cheree who are, at once, wonderful, generous and creative.

I'll take my latest portfolio full of new work and show it to a few people I've been wanting to take it to as well. It's going to be a great, great trip.

This image today is more of the new work I recently made with Stella who has beautifully long legs and a wonderful sense of herself in front of the camera. A pleasure to create with!

Out of gas

I was just telling someone the other day that everyone is allowed one "running out of gas" story per car. Sometimes you want to check to see how far below the E you can go before you're really out of gas.

But if you run out of gas more than once, you're just kind of an idiot.

But you can run out of gas in other ways too and as my friend Jillian can now attest to, it sometimes happens in the funniest of ways.

Twice this past week I pulled all-nighters with my model friend Lynn. There comes a point about 3 or 4 in the morning that you just decide it's best to keep going than to try to crawl into bed for a couple of hours and so on two occasions, we decided just to keep going.

It was fun. Great talks, going over all the shoots we've had since January. A perfect mix of productive and silly.

But when Thursday night came around and I should have been heading home to try to catch up on a little sleep, Katie and a few friends decided we should all go to Debonaire. I think I was home by 1am, but still it was a long day.

Jillian called about 2am and we caught up on a lot of things but I was struggling to stay awake.

And then it happened.

I heard this little "beep."

I wasn't quite sure where I was but as I opened my eyes, I saw my phone lying on my chest, still open. The beep was my low battery indicator.

I should have had one for me too!

I really couldn't remember saying goodbye to Jillian, so I was pretty sure I just fell asleep while she was talking. I texted her the next morning to find out. Sure enough, "Hi there sleepy!" was her response.

Well at least I know how far past E I can go now before running out of gas.

This is one of the first pictures I made with Stella this year. I love the dark texture. She's been wonderful to shoot.

Billy Sheahan April Postcard

It's my birthday month this month. I really enjoy my birthday. Years ago I sort of pioneered the concept of birth week. Meaning that sometimes, one day to celebrate is simply not enough!

I just got off the phone will my great friend Jillian Ann, who is featured on this month's postcard. We made plans for her to come into town for a week so we can make more wonderful photos. We're both in an interesting place creatively at the moment and that usually results in some amazing images. I'm sure this time will be no different.

I've been meeting and working with lots of new models this year and it's been a very rewarding experience artistically. But I've been photographing Jillian for about six years now and every time we work together it's like picking up where we left off. We've both been through a lot in those six years and it usually finds it's way into our art in one way or another. To look at our work over the years really is an interesting progression.

And I guess that's what life is all about. Progression.

So as I celebrate my birthweek this April, it's not about what has been, but life as we all progress forward!

Raise a glass!


_________

Welcome to the April Billy Sheahan Photography email postcard. You can receive this postcard in your email inbox every month by signing up here.
You can unsubscribe at any time at the same link.

In addition, if you prefer, I'm still offering the traditional monthly postcards, mailed to your postal address for $25 for 12 months. You can purchase a 12 month postcard subscription or larger prints of my photography here.

You can see more of my photography at billysheahan.com.

Feel free to pass this along to anyone you think might enjoy it.

Thank your for all your support and I hope you continue to enjoy my work.

Billy

Framing Pictures

It's funny how little things that seem obvious in hindsight are elusive to me in the moment.

You would imagine that I have lots of my photographs hanging in my studio and you'd be correct in that guess. But there are some frames that I managed to get up on the walls, or at least near the spot they would eventually hang but I hadn't figured out what photographs to put in them.

Two in the main bathroom have literally been hanging on the wall with nothing in them for more than a year. Until this past weekend. Now they, and many other previously empty frames, have new work in them.

I should explain that much like anyone would take great care in what they hang on their walls, I know I have to live with something I take the time to print and frame for a long time. And for some reason, even though I was shooting a lot last year, I wasn't ready to commit to putting any of that work in those frames.

But over the weekend I began going through work from the last three months. I began making some prints. And I really liked them. And I looked at the empty frames. And I filled them.

And I guess the obvious thing I was saying at the beginning of all of this, is that for the first time in a long time, maybe a few years, I really really like the images I'm creating. They really represent me in a way I'm very happy with.

So it's nice to walk around my studio and see the new stuff up.

This image is one of the new ones I did with Lynn. She's been very inspiring and generous in the most amazing way. We'll be making a lot more in months to come.