My Bodyguard

Friday was a full day of art directing photo shoots. It was a hot, long day carrying equipment and hustling from location to location. I loved it. We had 8 different portraits in 8 different locations in one 8 hour day. It was a challenge, I'm not going to lie. There were a couple of reasons that this day of madness actually went really well and how we managed to sneak in some laughs.

First, our client, Town Green Special Services. We love partnering on projects with our friends at TGSSD. I spent the day with my client, my friend, Daisy. There was nothing that Daisy cannot make happen.

Next, was our photographer Lanny Nagler. Always the professional, always funny, Lanny is so talented and great to partner with.

Lastly - Derek who is Lanny's assistant who managed somehow to stay pleasant all day long while hoofin it with serious pounds of heavy bulky equipment whilst wearing long sleeves and pants. How'd he do it? And Amy Goldberg, Daisy's super assistant extraordinaire who was all over whatever the request of the hour happened to be. Go Team!

Now to explain the image. Lanny set-up for a shot on the green in New Haven. We were getting a bit antsy waiting for the person whose portrait we were taking next. It has been my personal experience (having been a photographer in my earlier career), when folks spot photo equipment, they get curious -and at times, a little nuts. People can't help it.

So, here we are with a a bunch of equipment on the green when the city bus lets out a group of people including this man - dressed all in black and about 10 feet tall with a large medallion roped around his neck. He walks from the bus purposely right over to where Daisy and I were standing on the bench getting our picture taken as the test shot. He strode over as if we had been waiting for him all along.

He stands right in front of us - just as pictured above with arms folded and a serious expression on his face. Lanny takes the picture (what else could he do?) and the dude marches right up to him after the shot. The man looks at Lanny's image on the laptop and proclaims "It looks alright" and strides back to the bus and gets on. That's the last we saw of him. We all stood there, dumbfounded, laughing, looking at one another and muttering "What just happened here"?

My only regret is that we didn't get this cat's model release. I LOVE THIS PICTURE! And look at the size of this guy!? He's a giant! His thigh was as thick as both of us! This guy is almost as tall as us ... and we're standing on a park bench, for pete's sake.

If you ever come across this man in your travels - on the New Haven bus or otherwise - please tell him that a graphic designer named Amy is looking for him.