@davidbergman

Each year on or around my daughter’s birthday, I make an official “portrait” of her. This started at six months when I took a photo of Amanda trying to eat her own foot (she’s brilliant!). I have all of the photos hanging in chronological order on the wall in my office.

 

Amanda turned four in January and we had a party for her with most of her friends from the pre-k class. It was a busy day (ever try to wrangle a dozen four-year-olds?), so I didn’t really have a chance to set up my lights.

Later that week, the three of us flew to Florida to go on the Barenaked Ladies cruise. It’s awesome when my family can come with me on a job that includes a Caribbean cruise, although they generally don’t see a lot of me during the week.

When we were visiting Grandma’s house in Boynton Beach, I made a photo of Amanda running down the sidewalk after checking out the pool. I was shooting a Nikon D300 with the 17-55 lens and ran backwards as she sprinted down the street. Auto-focus is a wonderful thing in this situation as I wasn’t even looking through the lens.

 

After the trip, I showed Amanda a few different pics that I shot of her and asked which one she wanted to be her “official” four-year-old portrait. This is the one she picked. She’s actually a pretty good photo editor!

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Yesterday I went to Chicago to photograph the band Kill Hannah for Kerrang.

These guys wear quite a bit of makeup and I thought it would be interesting to do a “fish out of water” shoot and bring them on the subway (locals call it “the L”).

We shot “guerilla style” and walked to the train while stopping to snap pics wherever I thought it might look good. I had two people holding lights for me and we only stopped traffic and got honked at about a half dozen times.

It was 20 degrees out, but they braved it without any complaints (except for Elias, who lives in Arizona!).

TRAVEL FUN: O’Hare is my least favorite airport in the US. It’s rare when there aren’t flight delays in Chicago and if you have a connection to catch it always seems that you land at gate A3 and have to get to Z48 in 5 minutes.

Yesterday my inbound flight was delayed, but not because of O’Hare. We were waiting for our flight attendant! Ugh.

I was about an hour late to the shoot, but the guys were still in makeup so no harm done there.

Trying to get out of Chicago was a bit tougher. The last Delta non-stop flight from O’Hare to JFK – two of the biggest airports in the country – is at 5:30pm. As we shot throughout the day, it was becoming apparent that I wasn’t going to make that flight – especially if you factor in the two hours of rush hour traffic.

I found a 7pm flight out of Midway airport that would fly me into LaGuardia. I’m gold medallion on Delta so changing my flight should be no problem, right?

First it took over 30 mins to get our car from the valet. I’m pretty sure they couldn’t find it. I spent the entire car ride on the phone with Delta, getting different answers about their ability to change the ticket and what it would cost. The problem was that my ticket was booked through the client’s travel agency in London.

The Delta rep actually took my number and said she would call me back – which she didn’t.

I wasn’t sure we would make it to the airport in time, but thanks to an illegal u-turn at the last minute, my assistant got me there at 6:25 – right before the 30 minute cut-off to check my bags.

I’ve always had more luck getting things done at the ticket counter rather than on the phone, so I ran inside, went to the counter and changed my ticket for $75. No problem. I even got my complimentary medallion first class upgrade. Whew.

The highlight of the evening – by far – was the incredible view as we approached Manhattan. I love the LaGuardia approach, but visibility can vary. This was a perfectly clear night and I could see the entire island lit up as we flew just east of the city. It was breathtaking.

Yesterday I flew to Charlotte, NC to shoot a portrait of the band Secret Lives of the Freemasons. They’re good guys willing to do just about anything.

The label arranged for us to get a cheap motel room near the airport and we proceeded to trash it for the photos. We stood the mattress up against the wall (mostly to cover the giant mirror) and threw papers and garbage everywhere.

 

Old pizza and beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon!) completed the transformation.

 

And yes, we did clean the room up as best we could before checking out.

TRAVEL FUN: I normally fly Delta (hello gold medallion!), but the client accidentally booked me on US Air for this trip.

Normally, the airlines play pleasant music when you’re boarding, but this plane had this manic, acid-trip, psychedelic, electric guitar music playing. The video monitors were showing random light patterns that seemed like they might induce seizures.

Very bizarre considering it was 7:30 in the morning and most of the passengers were adult businessmen.

Then there was actually an attendant in the bathroom at the Charlotte airport! I’ve never understood the whole bathroom attendant thing. I’m more than willing to get my own paper towel, thanks.

It’s one thing to have an attendant in a fancy Manhattan club, but in the airport??

I was only home for about 14 hours before getting back on yet another plane. Every year during Super Bowl weekend, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas hosts “Drew Carey and the Improv All Stars” and Drew brought me out this year to document the occasion.

 

The flight wasn’t too bad because I slept for 3 of the 6 hours. A friend recently bought me one of those neck pillows and I used it for the first time. While it looks quite goofy, I actually didn’t have any pain in my neck when I woke up!

Many of my friends were in Arizona covering the Super Bowl this weekend, but I got to hang out in Vegas and could legally bet on the game. How about those Giants, huh?

It’s a lot of fun working with Drew. When I landed at McCarran International, I spotted a nice lady with an MGM sign that said “BERGMAN.” She escorted me to a gold limo that would take me to the VIP check-in area at the hotel.

It always feels kind of funny sitting by myself in the back of a limo, but I won’t complain.

There’s a special VIP check-in where they offer you drinks while you sit with a concierge to get your account settled. Nice.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER: How come there are never enough power outlets in hotel rooms? I was in a very nice room on a VIP floor at the MGM Grand and there’s only ONE available plug near the desk. What’s that all about?

Even in hotels that cater to “business travelers,” there are never enough power outlets.

Between my computer and all my battery chargers (cameras, iphone, airport express, etc), I need at least four plugs.

Of course that’s why I travel with a mini power strip made by Monster. One of the best little gadgets ever made.

As for photos, I tried to use the spotlight during Drew’s monologue to make an iconic photo of him.

In addition to the show pics, I also clowned around with Chip Esten backstage. He was pretending to eat a meal that would feed 10, but if you know Chip, you know that he could probably really eat the whole thing by himself.

 
 

I spent last week working with the Barenaked Ladies on their second annual cruise – Ships and Dip III.

In typical BNL fashion, they said that S&D2 could have never lived up to S&D 1, so they skipped 2 and went right to S&D 3.

They also announced next year’s cruise will be, of course, Ships and Dip 5.

About 2,500 of BNL’s best fans spent a lot of money to go cruising with the Ladies. It’s a very intimate environment with bands playing at all hours in all areas of the ship.

I haven’t toured with BNL since February of last year, so it was great to see everyone — the band, managers, crew, Reverb folks, etc. We sailed from Miami and made stops in Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

The BNL guys are always great to work with and I have unlimited access to shoot whatever I want. Just like last year, I’m posting a collection of images on TourPhotographer.com for fans to buy prints.

 

Yes, I shot another naked photo (see last year’s here). This time, we had almost 1,000 people. Ed Robertson let it all hang out right in the middle of the frame and juggler extraordinaire David Aiken somehow managed to get on his unicycle without any clothes on.

 

The band even asked me to do a photo show for the fans. I don’t think anyone anticipated the turnout as it was standing room only in the Black and Red Lounge.