Chapter 119 - December 18, 2013 - Way Back When

Hi everybody. I'll call this blog, Way Back When. I guess I call this blog way back when, but it kind of applies to how I am now. You see, I've got to adapt. I'll talk about that in a minute.

Let me tell you about a fashion confession first. When I was shooting in Australia, I got a job to shoot on a sailboat. We went to the Wit Sunday Islands, just north of Brisbane. I carefully picked out a crew of people to go on the shoot. I say "carefully" because I had to spend a week with these people on a 31 foot boat. Check all weapons at the door. Anyway, it was a great shoot. We spent a week on the boat. I slept on the deck, under the stars. It was a great shoot. At one point I remember we were trolling for fish. I caught a Spanish Mackerel. We pulled it in, the captain dressed the fish and we cooked it right there on the grill. You can't get fresher than that. Another time, I went scuba diving with the captain. We were scuba diving and spear fishing. I was in charge of all the fish and lobster we caught. The bag of fish I had was on a long tethered line, and I looked back and I saw the blood coming out of the bag and then I saw a big shark following me. Well, I decided to drop the bag. When we got back to the boat, the captain said, "Where's our catch?" I told him what happened and he went back for the catch. Funny, I never did see him again... just kidding. He got back and we had a great meal. Oh yeah, that reminds me. One time I was scuba diving from the boat. I looked down real deep into the abyss and there was some shimmering light coming out of the darkness to me. It must have been a big school of fish angling their bodies to look at me. The sunlight was glimmering off of them. Very cool. 

I guess my shoots always introduce me to some animals at one point. I remember once, I was horseback riding. I got off to have some lunch, sat down on a dead tree and started to have my lunch, and all of a sudden these animals came out of nowhere. Like squirrels, chipmunks, they were all over me. I guess they weren't used to seeing humans. Pretty crazy. I felt like Dr. Doolittle. Another time I was looking for locations and I looked up. There was a bald eagle nest right above me. A feather came down and landed right at my feet. That was pretty cool. Another time I was horseback riding and my horse was really nervous. I looked over to my left and there was a giant bear standing up smelling the air. I got the hell out of there pretty quick. The point is, it always was an adventure shooting. I never knew what to expect.

Before I mentioned about adapting. One time I was on a photo shoot with a famous model and she took a sweet ass time getting ready. Well, by the time she was ready it was dark. So I said, what the hell am I gonna do. I talked to the fashion stylist and she went to look at the clothes. This is when you know you have a good fashion stylist. So check this out. I was supposed to do swimwear on the beach. The stylist changed the whole story real quick. She pulled out all the black swimwear and we went down to the beach and we shot everything at night with a strobe. It looked real cool. So, you see, you can't freak out, you have to adapt.

You know, it's just like what I'm going through now. I just have to adapt, not freak out. Easier said than done, right? Lately I've been kind of depressed. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't be after everything I've gone through? Anyway, I have to remind myself to think about the future and positive things. My friend here who's writing this for me brought over another DVD of images and seeing them makes me happy. They are images from the trip we took. Anyway, this is B. Nice signing off. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice