Yesterday I photographed The Audition on Long Island.
Since I live in Manhattan, I had no idea where we would be shooting. All I knew is that the band’s hotel was near Islip airport – about 60 miles from the city.
I really wanted to shoot the guys near the airport with a plane flying overhead, but after 2 hours driving around trying to find a location where it would work, I gave up.
Since 9/11, it’s tough to get close to the runway!
I did find a NY Department of Transportation site that had some cool visuals (including a large hanger where they keep the salt for the roads) so we did some pics there.
We also called a few pool halls and bowling alleys and finally got one to let us shoot in their place.
 
In the evening, I shot The Mars Volta again, but this time in concert at Terminal 5 in NYC. I delivered a couple of prints from our portrait shoot to the tour manager and shot the show for 10 minutes (all that was allowed!).
These guys show way more emotion in concert than they do for photo shoots.
 
TRAVEL FUN: The cab ride from my apartment to the Hertz rental car place in the morning was the most harrowing I’ve ever taken. The driver was speeding through Manhattan, dodging and weaving through traffic while trying to get through every light he could before it turned red.
When I said, “Hey man, I’m not in a hurry,” he said “Well, I am!” Huh?
The street that Hertz is on runs the opposite direction that most people expect and I gave him very specific instruction on how to get there – which he promptly ignored. When he made the wrong turn and I pointed it out, he said, “Can’t you walk from here?” Uh, yea, but aren’t I paying for a cab because of the cases of equipment I put in the trunk a few minutes ago?
Needless to say, we walked and he got a lousy tip.