Years ago, when i was 26 and just moved to NYC, I met a Manchester girl named Sarah at a 4th of July party. We were somewhere in Greenport, NY (Breezy Shores), battling on a trampoline in a game to see who could make the other crash first. She won, and I left with the right side of my face bloody and a giant scab for a week. We still laugh about that one… Years later, I took some pictures for her first solo piece at PS 122 in NYC. Then, in 2002 she asked me to collaborate creating images for The Experts, a dance commissioned by Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, performed at BAM on her international tour (along with her longtime friend, Parker Lutz). Flash forward to 2012, and Sarah has a received a Guggenheim Fellowship, 3 Bessie awards, a NYC Foundation for the Arts Grant, and is now in the Whitney Biennial.

Here are some of the images from the PS 122 series. We made a T-Shirt out of one of the images. Some lucky person bought it at a benefit back in 2002 @ Galapagos in Brooklyn (”Enter the Scene” w/ Miguel Gutierrez). If you’re that person, hold on to it! You have a treasure..:)
Go see Sarah Mitchelson’s and also Michael Clark’s work at the Whitney Biennial. It’s worth it. Here’s the NY Times link..
**Special Thanks to Jen Rodewald for helping me remember why i was in Breezy Shores to begin with..:)

Almost one year ago to the date, I photographed Chris Thile and Michael Daves for Nonesuch Records.
I’m just now getting around to blogging about it. Better late than never. Here are some of the images and the cover…Finally, last week, they were mentioned in the “Approval Matrix” (highbrow to brilliant) in NY Magazine. If you like Bluegrass, you probably already know their names. Thank you Evan G. for making it happen.

In July I had the pleasure of photographing Michael Shannon. If you didn’t know Michael Shannon before this year, you most certainly do now. His face is plastered on every bus, train station and billboard in NYC this fall. Since his Academy Award nomination for “Revolutionary Road,” he’s shot to the top with his first film lead in “Take Shelter” and a continuing role in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” If that wasn’t enough, he’s got the infamous role of General Zod in the new Superman movie “Man of Steel” (not an easy roll to reshape, in my opinion). Shannon was one of the nicest actors I’ve worked with in quite awhile.  He strolled up all by himself without an entourage, and when I asked him to climb up into the old New York City trolley car in Red Hook, Brooklyn, he did it without hesitation – and with a smile on his face.  Although we only had 45 minutes to work with, we managed to cover a lot of ground thanks to his flexibility and cool demeanor. Before I knew it, it was a rap, and I knew I had everything I needed.  And to think this shoot almost didn’t happen due to scheduling conflicts. I’m so glad it did.  You can read the interview and story for Complex Magazine here . Thank you, GG for all your work and support behind the scenes.

The day before Hurricane Irene rolled in and flooded my little town upstate, I was standing in a window at Bergdorf Goodman, photographing the charming Lypsinka for my friends over at Dirty Magazine. Over the years, I’ve seen Lypsinka (aka: John Epperson) perform many times, both in NYC and in SF…so it was a honor to meet the great talent up close and personal. John is a true professional: On time, and always on the mark. Thank you, Lypsinka. The pleasure was all mine. I look forward to seeing what the “Lyp” is up to next.

Your presence was wiped clean from our family tree long before I was born; photos destroyed, lips sealed by an uneducated shame. I found you simply by accident while in art school, rehashing my families negatives and expanding my photo darkroom skills. It seems a stigma of a generation took you from us before I had the chance to know my mother’s “favorite aunt.” You were funny, “smart as a whip,” and took risks when others didn’t. This I can only imagine: What was it like that night when you decided it wasn’t worth your life to live with the humiliation and pain of pregnancy out of wedlock.? Especially in the South -in Central Texas- on the plains of nowhere. Here’s to you too, Aunt Frankie. As you raise that glass of red wine and sleeping pills -I’m here with you- under new stigmas, but unfortunately the same uneducated idiots. I’ll remember you, Aunt Frankie. I only wish you were around to laugh with me now.

This image hangs in my mother’s house now and I sleep under it every night when I go home to Brownwood. It gives me strength. Frankie watches over me.

Thank You, Mickey B, Kim, David at Paper Magazine…and Thank You, Micheal K of DListed.com and Jared Eng of JustJared.com for having me in your home. This shoot is dedicated to Elvie (Michael’s furry friend.)

A few months ago I was asked to go to Washington, DC to photograph the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, for the June issue of Runner’s World Magazine (You can see the entire story here, and the video of me photographing the story here.) It was such an honor to meet her. In my opinion, I think she’s doing one hell of a job and it took everything I had not to gush my political love for all she’s done while in office. Although I only had 30 minutes with her, I was sure to express my appreciation for her tireless effort to uphold funding for Stem Cell Research, HIV/AIDS housing and drug assistance programs, and the never ending battle to secure health care rights across the board – not to mention her staunch belief in a woman’s right to choose (Kathleen Sebelius even faced down her own church and was refused communion because of her pro-choice beliefs.) Needless to say, I have huge respect for her. Thank you Runner’s World for making it happen.

Last March, A&E Network called me home to Austin for a long term  project. They were starting production on a reality show that would follow the journey of nine people as they lost weight. The job sounded simple  enough: Document the progress of weight-loss in formal portraits – all on white – and a few days shooting “unit,” or on set.

Half studio, half documentary – this was the project I had been waiting for all year. From the moment I met the cast and crew, I became deeply  invested in the project and in their psychological and physical transformation. I felt honored to be a part of it. Every other month, I would fly home and spend a week on set with the cast and crew. It’s a wonderful feeling when you’re lucky enough to have a project that continues longer than a few hours, let alone 6 months. Being able to spend time with my family afterward was an added perk.

During the filming/shooting of the last day, when the final weight loss numbers were being called out, I couldn’t help but cheer with each and every cast member. Without turning it into a competition of  elimination, A&E managed – at least I think – to create a very strong and moving legitimate documentary, while hiding it behind the mask of a reality show.

I’d like to thank: Ricky Wayne, Tom, Jessica, Sharon, Kevin, Lindy, Flor, Ashley and Travis for trusting me on set and with representing them. Here are some of the images from the “before” series.
I’ll post some “after” pics next week.

Marc Ecko  NYC.
Photographed on Oct 27th, 2010.
Photo Director: Greg Garry
Contributor images for Complex Magazine.

It’s not often that I get a chance to photograph without a team of people standing over me. I do love my team, but sometimes less is more. On this particular shoot it was just me, Greg, Marc, and my assistant. It was so nice to have such an intimate low-key setting, where everyone could take their time, focus, and make the best possible images. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fly-by-your-pants-15-minutes-challenge, but this time I appreciated the room and mental space to get to know my subject. Both Greg and Marc requested this, and I think it was a wise choice. Thank you, Greg and Marc for such a fun job.

In October of last year, before the holidays, I had the pleasure of photographing some amazing performers during a re-staging of THEM at PS 122 . I’m lucky enough to be friends with the legendary Ishmael Houston-Jones, and after doing a little leg work, I was given permission to photograph opening night during dress rehearsal. The images ran in the 3rd Anniversary Issue of Spank Magazine. Thank you to Ishmael, Chris, Dennis, and their performers for trusting me with their image. I was truly touched by the work. Special Thanks to Ben Pryor and Christy Pessago (for helping a boy out.) And to Sean B, Will, and Jason for publishing it.

“Ishmael Houston-Jones, whose intensely physical improvisations have been a staple of New York’s contemporary dance scene for over three decades, sparked controversy in 1986 at Performance Space 122 with THEM. Made in collaboration with Dennis Cooper (text) and Chris Cochrane (music), this incendiary work addressed some of the many ways men could be with men. After a successful run of the work-in-progress at PS122 in 1985 the creators of THEM felt that the urgency of the AIDS epidemic demanded a presence in this piece about men with men. In the 1986 premier of the full-length version for six male dancers at PS122 Cooper read his own provocative words, and Cochrane played cacophonous electric guitar live; frequently violent and exhausting dance sequences, culminated in a horrific duet between Houston-Jones and an animal carcass on a dusty mattress. The production almost got PS122 shut down.

Through a reconstruction residency at The New Museum, the three creators have recast THEM with a new generation of male performers. Rehearsals of THEM at the New Museum culminate in a series of programs collectively titled THEM AND NOW, exploring the artistic impulses that propelled the creation of this “aggressive and vital” (Village Voice) performance work and its reconstruction 25 years later.

As part of PS122’s 30th Anniversary Season, this ground-breaking piece is back and investigating its continuing relevance to dance and to social discourse in 2010.

2010 Cast: Joey Cannizzaro, Felix Cruz, Jeremy Pheiffer, Niall Noel, Jacob Slominski, Arturo Vidich, Enrico D. Wey
Lighting designer: Joe Levasseur” —-PS 122 Bio/ Website

THEM was originally conceived by Ishmael Houston-Jones, Chris Cochrane, and Dennis Cooper with the collaboration of Donald Fleming and Jonathan Walker, who’s first “work in progress” was shown on May 10th, 1985 at PS122. The complete version premiered at PS 122 in November of 86′, with Cochrane/ Cooper/ Houston-Jones…and Barry Crooks, Donald Fleming, Julyen Hamilton, Daniel McIntosh, and David Zambrano.