Nicholas J Reid Photography

I love New York! There was a time when I was thinking of living there. After living in LA for five years now I don't think I could handle the seasons. But I would love to live there for the photography, not only can you soot without a permit but you can take power off the street too. I was there for a couple days in June on my way up to Maine. While I was there i saw photo opportunities around every corner. It is the time of the year when the sun lines up with the streets creating amazing light. I was kicking myself for not organizing a shoot. But then I met Silja Ahonen a Finnish Rhythmic Gymnastics champion in New York for a couple of days. Why she trusted me who knows, what matters is that we got some really great shots. We almost missed the sun, but we got there just in time to get the golden light and long shadows. After we lost the sun we went to Times Square where we did some shots in the crowds. Then we went into the center of Times Square, The scene was Insane! Being in times square at 8:30 pm was really intense we had easily 200 people around us in a tight circle and everyone was taking pictures of us or her rather. So my background was pretty limited, I decide to throw on the 70-200 and work with all of the lights that were there. I am really happy with how they turned out. Considering there was a couple wearing duck camouflage hats, cut off flannel shirts and both with a cheek full of tobacco directly behind her.

When Elinore of Urban Lily Yoga (www.urbanlilyyoga.com) came to me and said she wanted to shoot her entire roster of teachers I was excited about the opportunity to shoot so much talent at one time. The theme? Flash dance! Awesome! I thought, a bunch of wet yoga teachers. But that idea was scratched, for obvious reasons, and because there was only one iyengar yoga teacher (they use props like chairs).  We went with a little more realistic scenario.

We kept the dramatic lighting, leggings and attitude. I went with a dark background to emphasize the highlights. A wooden floor without mats because the reflections of color were so nice. The clothes were supplied by Chakras by Didi (http://www.chakrasbydidi.com), a local yoga clothing designed. We shot two nights in a row and everyone showed up on time and were amazing. We did three poses per girl for a total of 5-7 minutes per girl so we were shooting pretty fast. We managed to get everyone shot but we were easily staying till 11pm each night. It was so worth it I had a blast and the girls got some great shots.

This shot was taken in Denver Colorado at a bar called the Skylark. I was friends with the owner and he let me shoot there on a Wednesday when it was slow. It was about 8 at night and we were just setting up getting ready to shoot. Malcolm, an actor at heart was trying to get into character, (which was a down trodden business man). To make things more believable I ordered him a drink. Now Malcolm was not much of a drinker, so while waiting for him I ordered myself one as well.

While we were sitting there discussing why Malcolms characters girlfriend had left him. A man walked in the front door. Normally I wouldnt have paid him much attention, but when he walked in he had the look and feel of someone who had or was about to do something bad. I instinctively reached for my camera case to make sure he wouldn't just dash with it.  Everybody in the bar was watching this guy, he looked that suspicious. He walked straight in the front door and made a direct line around the bar to the back door. As he reached the back door a young woman came in the front door. Her clothes were ripped and a looked a shaky and scared. She scanned the bar and saw the man leaving out the back door. With one arm holding up her bra and torn shirt she pointed with her other at the man. Then she yelled, "STOP THAT BASTARD HE TRIED TO RAPE ME!" Malcolm and I without a second thought jumped off our stools and raced after the man, who, upon hearing the girl was now running. I caught up to the guy in the parking lot of the bar. I grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt, which was made of polyester so it didn't tear even after the struggle that he put up. After a few attempts of trying to get away. The guy changed tactics and tried to convince us of his innocence, claiming the "bitch was lying". I still held on to his shirt. Malcolm was there standing by, if the guy decided to run.

As this guy was professing his innocence, the girl came out the back door of the bar. As she was approaching she was holding something low and shaking it vigorously. The man was still claiming his innocence loudly to anyone that would listen. When all of a sudden the girl was upon him still shaking the mystery object. To late did I figure out it was mace. She started to spray the man in the face, with me still holding on, all the while still shaking the mace. He started to try and get away which pulled me into the expanding cloud of burning gas. With me still holding on to this guys collar and him trying to get away we started to spin around in a circle. By this time a crowd of people had surrounded us, we must of looked a little like a strange dance duo performing. As were spinning, I'm coughing trying to use my jacket as a filter to get a clean breath of air. I can see through watery eyes that there is a group of people surrounding us and that this guy isn't going anywhere. I let go and move to the perimeter of the cloud. This guy is writhing in pain but is still trying to profess his innocence, all the time the girl is yelling back at him his guilt. A few choice word were exchanged and things start to calm down.

Someone says they've called the police. Upon hearing this the guy makes a run for it. Breaking through the ring of people, he makes an olympic sprint for freedom.  Everyone is chasing him but he is pulling away. He runs out the gate of the lot which is surrounded by an eight foot chain-link fence.  He is out, and making a mad dash for freedom. Malcolm is running to head the guy off but the problem is that there is a chain-link fence between the two. This doesn't seem to concern Malcolm. Malcolm reaches the fence, and without breaking his stride is on top of the fence in two "steps". From the top Malcolm pulls a signature wrestler move, jumps, landing on top of the guy, tackling him to the ground. Malcolm pins the guy to the pavement by putting his knee in the back of the guys neck and holding his arm behind his back. And that is where the guy stayed, until the police showed up and arrested him.

After things calmed down, and everybody left, Malcolm and I went back into the bar and finished our photo shoot. Except he was no longer in the character of downtrodden businessman, so I shot him in his new one... a bad ass mofo.

This shot was taken at El Matador Beach near Malibu California. We shot on a Tuesday to avoid crowds and gawkers. The original concept was a shipwreck. We had several different looks using netting and seaweed and large pieces of fabric. For this shot were were going to make the fabric into a full dress and make it look like the sail of a ship.

When my stylist Freya was wrapping up Lauren a section go away and started flapping in the winds that were starting to pick up. I loved the way it looked. So Lauren was re-wrapped and so that there was a long section of fabric trailing behind her. We tried a few shots but the wind was becoming difficult and making the fabric twist and bunch, not very flattering. So I had my assistant, James hold onto the fabric and on my signal he was going to let it go. The wind was supposed to pick it up and it would have a very flowy clean feel. I was getting ready to shout the cue (which is when I snapped this shot), and half a second later it happened.

James was really holding on tight because the winds were already strong.  Suddenly a huge gust of wind came up.  The wind was so strong that James started to get pulled then Lauren started to get pulled, then to spin, and then she looked like a roll of toilet paper unrolling. And all of s sudden there was Lauren totally naked on the beach. With a huge white banner flapping in the wind attracting everyone's attention. Freya acting quickly wrapped Lauren a silver reflector.

Lauren was a good sport about the whole thing and we got some really great shots. I'm not sure why Lauren wasn't wearing underwear maybe we were concerned about pantie lines or something. But as much as I like this shot, I like the one I took one second later.