New York NYC November Meet-Up

So Maggie's experience with "Uncle Terry" was pleasant. According to Maggie this was a crazy big production involving a huge luxury brand, and for her it is entrance into the big-time.

A coffee shop was uses as a public staging area for all the talent and the waiting area. When It was Maggie's turn A P.A. handled and escorted her to the studio for some video production.

It also seems that there is always some kinda street photographer getting and documenting the event getting the behind the scenes shots. Anyways this is what is interesting to me.

Then Maggie had her turn with Uncle Terry, the principle photographer. They went out to the street, and it was reported that Uncle Terry took a lot of shots and seemed very pleased. I asked Maggie what kinda camera was he using, but got, "I don't know," as a response. LOL.

It also happens that it wasn't until 3:00 PM Friday that Maggie found out the location. All she knew was the call was for 5:00 PM and she had to call to find out the location.

************************

So Friday night I'm packing up my Paul Smith wardrobe that includes suits as well as causual wear, as well as my loud sneaker collection for Saturday's 8:30 call. One of my shopping bag's handles tears off so early on while getting into a cab I'm already experiencing a wardrobe malfunction around 7:30 AM in the morning.

So the address is on West Street in Greenpoint which is basically the Greenpoint Termial Warhouse, and the studio is on the 5th floor. To me it is a big crew because Chris, the principle photographer, has three camera assistants. The Stylist was from Holland, and Maggie tells me that the hair and make-up artists are at a level where they have agents. On top of this is this young hipster videographer who was ultra cool with a Sony A7 rigged out with de-clicked Leica "R" glass all set up with follow focus mechanisms. Boy was this rig cool and compact.

So I was really surprised on how organized everything was. It seemed that the crew did not have to talk or communicate. Also all these creatives had personality and were interesting people, not at all like the boring scientists, Medical Doctors, and over-all nerds that I'm forced to work with in a hospital/research enviornment. Anyways now I hate my day-job more than ever.

So Chris moves the crew outside after hair, make-up and the stylist have all had their way with us, and I am introduce to a vintage Mercedes 580 SL that is going to be my car. A 580 SL is the like a 450 SL or 300D SL two seater hardtop/convertable except it has a bigger engine and is kinda rare and collectable. Anyways this car had my style, even though I can't afford it. LOL.

So when the crew got organized, basically we were told to kiss so the shooting could begin. I know I'm a bold exhibitionist, but having all these people watching me make the moves on my gal in public was kinda like being a porn star who had to remain professional. Anyways at one point I'm kissing Maggie and the Hair Artist is fixing my hair. LOL.

I brought my Leica Monochrom as a prop, so it came in handy for the next shoot which took place on a pier that extended into the East River with Madhattan in the background. Maggie and I were staged inside a minivan, with hair, make-up and the stylist fussing us up. We stayed warm while the crew got set up with the Production Manager. Meanwhile a P.A. had us select from two menus on her cell phone to get lunch.

So the next shot was more or less me shooting Maggie for her blog, and being shot doing what we normally do every weekend: travel to some part of the city; and shoot fashion in a street like style that reflects big-time urban living in NYC.

After some shooting, we were about to move to shoot again, but I kinda suggested a shot that also captures what we do, chimp pictures. At times I hold my Monochrom chimping with two hand while also hugging Maggie from behind; and when I showed Chris how we chimp the camera while embraced he wanted to do the shot.

Lunch was relaxing, and I talked with the Stylist, Linda, who is from Holland. I really got to know people, and it was not all work. I also had the opportunity to exploit the situation and shoot behind the scenes. Mike the Make-Up Artist seemed more like a creature from the theater and was a great subject to shoot street style with a 28 Cron. I ended up catching a wonderful shot of Mike and Maggie engaged in a flirty conversation that was dynamic and apparent in the shot. I wasn't expecting such interesting shooting.

The studio had the neon that had the quote "Love me tender" except the word "Love" was crossed out and the word "FXXX" was its replacement." Chris decided to do a shot on the couch to exploit this sign.

A fourth shooting took place in a balcony within the studio, and I was handed a Bolex movie camera to use as a prop to pose filming her.

It was around 4:30 PM when were were done, but somehow I was tired from the intensity and stimulation, even though I never exerted myself.

I was told it might take perhaps two years before the book gets published, but since he already has several books published already, and also already has publishers interested everything could be accelerated.

I think the thing that I learned the most was from the interview that was videotaped. We were both miked with wireless lavs, but the primary mike was a boomed shotgun mike.

First we were asked about how we met, and when we fell in love.

The we were asked what we had in common. This is something I never-ever thought about, but I was surprise to find that we had very little in common, except that we were both once married, were divorced, and after our divorces we spent about 5 years without any relationships to discover who we really are, and what we needed to be happy.

When we were asked about our most treasured moment, neither of us could respond. It was much later that I discovered the reason why we both could not answer is that there is no single best most treasured moment, that there are to many to compare to make any one decisive, and what got elaborated later in the interview is that passion, romance, and "mature" love has a much more enduring and lasting amount of pleasure that is much more enduring that an orgasm from sex.

I was surprised by all that I learned. It was a great experience.

************************

Next Friday is some Gala awards Sara-Moan-EE, and I'll be an escort for Maggie. Anyways a slob like me is getting dragged into the world of fashion, and somehow I am getting widely known.

Cal
 
I have been sidelined and distracted lately. I visted some friends out on Long Island and got involved in guitar mania again. I came home with a brown 1960 Fender Super guitar amp that one of my friends has been warehousing for me with a truckload of other guitars, cases, and amps.

So Leo Fender back in the day did a lot of undocumented things, and to compound that my amp seems to be a transitional amp that has the tweedy tone of an earlier amp via the pre-amp and output section, but with the super swampy later vibrato that has an extra tube for the best sounding vibrato ever made. The vibrato effect is so strong that it can make you dizzy. LOL.

I bought this amp as a project, and the previous owner dropped a lot of money into a repo cabinet, new Jenson speakers and new Mercry Magnetics xformers. For the most part it is a time capsule with all the original caps, even all the electrolytics that need to be changed so that it does not perform a "smoke test" one day.

So doing the forensics is like a murder/mystery because my amp does not match the readily available schematics and layout diagrams for the two well documented versions, but yesterday in my data mining I discovered that my amp is a "spackle job" that uses the layout of the legendary "Blonde Twin" and the missing part of the puzzle is the tone circuit that has been lifted off the 1961 first version of the Blonde Twin.

So I decide to straddle the two versions of the Super amp, where the "Normal" channel uses the earlier more "Tweedy" tone circuit, and the Vibrato uses the more "Brown Sound" tone controls, to have both versions in one amp. For my style of music, Jazz and Blues this should be the most ultimate amp for a Tele player like me.

Also my custom Mirabella archtop seems like it might get built soon. I first ordered this guitar back in 2004-2005, paid it off over a decade ago, and I have been waiting a long time for this guitar. Know that at the very high end of archtop building that longs waits are the norm with the elite builders.

So 17 inch wide Mirabella Archtops cost $30K-$35K, and the guitar I ordered is an 18 inch (Calzone Factor) and will be a prototype/custom guitar that will be known as "Jane" after Jayne Mansfield because it will be a big "Blonde" (natural maple finish). Part of the delay was getting cello wood that was highly figured maple wide enough that the back would be only two bookmatched pieces. I am told the figure looks like shattered glass and the European spruce top is riddled with "Bear Claw" figure.

Anyways this guitar will surely be a show stopper and actually will feature "trap doors" on the two side sound holds that has been developed on the 17 inch archtops. The engineering challenge for my friend Cris is to make the guitar weigh under 7 1/2 pounds for responsiveness. In the end this is about a $50K guitar. This guitar will likely be famous because it will attend all the big north American guitar shows. It purposely has been built to be a show stopper.

Anyways, how does this link back to photography? Sometimes I get at a point where I need to refresh and regroup. Soon I will be challenged by a new Piezography printing system when it gets released later this month. Sometimes I get saturated by my photography, a break is due for a renewal, and artistic inspiration can come from many places.

BTW I already own a Mirabella, an early one from 2004 that is a prototype of an electric Jazz guitar that features just a neck pick-up. With this guitar I had the shortest wait because of a fickle owner who immediately wanted to modify his new guitar so drastically that Cris told the owner, "Cal likes the guitar as is, and it would be less work to just build you a new one." I basically got my guitar after a one week wait. LOL. Now Steve, the original owner, has big remorse.

Another Mirabella (flat-top) base on a 1930's Gibson "Bone Crusher" which is another big acoustic guitar. Because I have narrow shoulders and long arms these guitars suit me. For many these guitars are just too big. LOL.

Cal
 
I'm back from SF, so I should finally be able to make this one. I may bring my brother. Cal can talk guitars with him. He has a small Gretsch collection.
 
dshfoto said:
"all the big north American guitar shows" -- When & where is the NYC guitar show? Will it be there?
Click to expand...

Steve,

The New York Guitar Show is no more. Use to be in the Lower Eastside in the basement of a church, and it really was a benefit for children with AIDS. After that one, a new NYC Guitar Show started up in Midtown on the Westside.

The only big New York Show now is in Woodstock in the fall. Cris reports that he received 2 firm orders and possibly a third recently from the Woodstock show.

The guitars kinda sell themselves. Monteleone is about 70 years old and Cris is next in line to be "the Man." To be the "Man" one must be an Italian New York guitar builder, all others don't seem to count. The legacy is John D'Angelico, Jimmy D'Aquisto, John Monteleone, and then Cris Mirabella.

The neck wood for "Jane" comes from Jimmy D'Aquisto's shop via someone who got it from Jimmy's estate. Jimmy D'Aquisto was John D'Angelico's apprentace. D'Angelico made a little more than 1,000 guitars in his lifetime; D'Aquisto only about 800; Monteleone has two waiting lists, the short one is reported to be 7 years (at that time a deposit of 50% is required) and many customers are afraid they might not get a completed guitar because of Monteleone's advanced age. In fact Monteleone sends customers to Cris for both repairs and for new guitars so he can just concentrate on building.

I know Cris for a long time from back in the day when I worked in a guitar shop, and in 2004 at the Long Island Guitar Show I clearly saw how Cris was being groomed by Monteleone and Larry Wexler, a high-end guitar dealer, to be the continuation of the legacy. It was back then that I became a guitar speculator, and I secured a pre-pay deal and locked in a price.

In a way I went back into the time of the Renesance by being a patron because I gave Cris the money and just told him to build me a guitar, but I let him know that it was going to be a rare opportunity where he could build the guitar he wanted, not what I wanted. I told him to make a show guitar, and that he could borrow it for extended periods of time, knowing that this was in my best interest.

Cris in the meantime developed his art and came out with these trap doors that tune an acoustic archtop guitar. My friend Dave advised me, the longer I patiently wait the more my guitar will evolve.

The last two 17 inch trap door guitars were in the recent Woodstock show and were made for some Japanese dealers. I believe one is already reserved by some buyer, and the guitar isn't even in Japan. The trade-mark trap-door was developed because of my commissioning of Jane.

One of the big shows for Cris is the Heraldsburg Guitar Festival in California, which is basically a guitar show for boutique builders.

Anyways, I think you can understand why I am so excited...

Cal
 
rajmohan-fotograf said:
I'm in town, but on-call for work; if things are quiet on the work front, I'll be there. 🙂
Click to expand...

Raj,

Hope to see you.

My new SL is my favorite camera. I might stop by B&H early and pick up that Novoflex adapter for F-mount to R. The 58/1.2 Noct-Nikkor works extremely well on the SL. The extra 8mm reach and F1.2 is very dreamy and creamy as a portrait lens.

Cal
 
Hi Guy's It's been awhile, Been bizzy at work and working on other projects, like Cal
I've like guitars and amps and just got off ebay a Epiphone Galaxie all tube amp, it's
a mess (good price) and did a little work on it like new caps and a few mods plus
have to get a new power transformer for it it's pretty much dead, so I just ordered
that and see how it goes. Nothing much new on the camera front just using my
little Lumix.
 
Range-rover said:
Hi Guy's It's been awhile, Been bizzy at work and working on other projects, like Cal
I've like guitars and amps and just got off ebay a Epiphone Galaxie all tube amp, it's
a mess (good price) and did a little work on it like new caps and a few mods plus
have to get a new power transformer for it it's pretty much dead, so I just ordered
that and see how it goes. Nothing much new on the camera front just using my
little Lumix.
Click to expand...

Bob,

There's more to life than cameras. LOL.

I have a few amp projects. Another one is a 4 6L6 Portaflex to create a Portaflex with double the power as a head. I'm using a Blond Twin output tranny from Mercury Magnetics that I bartered from a friend, and the Power tranny is surplus from a Matchless Chief. At this point I have the chassis laid out and all these NOS parts from Grumman. I also have a CNC'ed "Grumman Logo" that I will use on this amp, or another I have kitted up for a 5E5 Fender Pro because all the parts are from when I downsized Grumman. Know that I have built electronics for aircraft and are mostly mil-spec. Only the best for me. LOL.

The Fender Pro will have a 4 ohm tap to drive this rare Marshal 4-10 with 10 inch Greenbacks for mucho tight bass, and this amp I will make my touch sensitive blues amp with a vocal quality. Low plate voltages, Cathode bias, and no feedback. The circuit looks like a tweed Deluxe, but 6L6 output for more power. If I want more of a brown rolled off top end like a 6V6 I use 5881's for output tubes.

Oh what fun. Too bad if my neighbors don't like it. LOL.

Cal
 
Had to order a new transformer for the Gibson, should have it in a 2-3 weeks. In the mean time
I'm redoing some of the capacitors and resistors and a bit of cleaning.
 
Wow, you jumped to the SL!?

How do you feel about the weight vs M?
Are you shooting with the SL lenses, or EVF focussing M lenses?

I find it very tempting except it's all about 20% heavier than I want it to be...
Maybe I need to wait for them to release some f2.0 primes..

Right now I love love love my Q for 6 months, and just want a Leica as snappy to use for 50-75mm range...

Calzone said:
Raj,

Hope to see you.

My new SL is my favorite camera. I might stop by B&H early and pick up that Novoflex adapter for F-mount to R. The 58/1.2 Noct-Nikkor works extremely well on the SL. The extra 8mm reach and F1.2 is very dreamy and creamy as a portrait lens.

Cal
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
New York Annual NYC Camera Beauty Contest 2026 (early 2026)
Replies
14
Views
829
Calzone
C
C
New York November NYC Meet-UP
2 3
Replies
48
Views
4K
Calzone
C
C
New York October NYC Meet-Up
2 3 4
Replies
72
Views
7K
Calzone
C
C
New York Sunday November 13th MEET-UP
Replies
5
Views
1K
Calzone
C
C
New York July NYC Meet-Up
Replies
13
Views
2K
Calzone
C
Back
Top Bottom