Gallery 3
Celebrity Photographs
Lee Ermey is now an actor and TV personality, but that has not always been the case. From 1961-1972, Ronald Lee Ermey was in the United States Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of E-7. After serving as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor and two tours in Viet Nam, Ermey was medically discharged due to injuries he received in South East Asia.
Upon discharge Ermey used the GI Bill, to enroll in the University of Manila where he studied Acting. Throughout the years, he has starred in more than 40 movies, but his most notable role was that of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick film "Full Metal Jacket".
After viewing that movie years ago, I remember telling my wife Bonnie that the Boot Camp scenes and Ermey's "performance" as a Senior Drill Instructor, was the most true to life portrayal that I had ever seen. The man simply was Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
Ermey is also the host of The History Channel's program, Mail Call and the official spokesperson for the V.F.W.'s Unmet Needs foundation.
It was my pleasure to meet "Gunny" when he was in New York recently, promoting another one of his films, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006".
Looking at the man up close, he could still be a "DI" today.
Semper Fi
More information about the V.F.W. Foundation can be found on the "Links" page.
Audio Clip from Full Metal Jacket
(Adults Only)
King Kong
Working in the entertainment industry, I've gotten to meet some strange and interesting folks along the way. In the fall of 2005 I met up with the strangest of them all, King Kong. Actually, I worked with his two creators, Joe Letteri, and Richard Taylor, neither of whom were strange.
This is one of the heads created by the New Zealand special effects company WETA, for the Universal Studios movie King Kong. The head was every bit as real in person as it appears here in this photograph. At approximately 2 feet in length, and quite heavy, the Kong head was shipped from it's New Zealand home to New York to help promote the film.
In the Fall of 2005 the film's director Peter Jackson and the entire cast of the King Kong film assembled in New York for the movie's premiere. The film was the first serious remake of the 1933 classic. Joe Letteri and Richard Taylor later won Oscars for Best Visual Effects at the 2006 Oscar presentations in Hollywood.
Hear I am posing with my buddy Kong. Some of my friends call this the "Separated At Birth" photo. I think they're just jealous.
Below from left to right, Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts and Jack Black took part in several Press Conferences to promote the movie King Kong. December 4, 2005.
Howard Cosell
Truly a Broadcast industry legend, Howard Cosell was not always the easiest guy to work for. Here he is checking out, my LAV microphone placement on his tie.
These photos were taken in 1988, at the West Point Military Academy with my camera, by Eric Duke of New York's All Mobile Video.
1988 was the 20th anniversary of the Viet Nam era Tet Offensive. At the time, Howard who was mainly known for his sports commentary and Monday Night Football, was doing a TV show called "Speaking of Everything".
Cosell used the West Point setting to video tape an interview with retired Army General, William Westmorland on his recollections of that event.
Honestly, what I remember most about that taping was setting up our equipment after a heavy snowfall the night before. Luckily the show's producer (who was also Howard's daughter) decided to bring the entire crew up to West Point a day early or the taping might not have have happened. We spent the night in relative Military Splendor at West Point's Thayer Hall.
Sammy Davis Jr.
One of the nicest people in Show business was the late Sammy Davis Jr. I was only lucky enough to work with him on two occasions. Once, was in the early 1980s for the opening of an Atlantic City casino. The second time was in 1989 while he was promoting the movie "TAP".
Here is Sammy, Me (no gray hair) and my good friend Bill Finley in this January 1989 keeper photo.
Only several months before this photo was taken Sammy Davis had undergone a total hip replacement. Needless to say, after two long days shooting movie interviews, Sammy was in a fair amount of pain. But being the performer he was, he kept on going. As the shooting schedule came near the end, I asked Sammy's assistant if we could take a quick photo with him. Her answer was, "Ask Sammy". So, I did!
Sammy was not only gracious enough to say "Yes" to the photo, but after the first frame was snapped, he said, "Go ahead and take another. I think I blinked". Sure enough, when the photos were developed, the second picture was a better photo. What a class act.
A little over a year after this photo was taken, in May of 1990, Sammy Davis who was a life long cigarette smoker, died of lung cancer. He was only 64 years of age.
While preparing this section of the website, I found a long forgotten audio cassette that I made during the Television interviews. Unfortunately, the identity of the Network Interviewer is unknown.
Here is a 3:41 excerpt of Sammy Davis Jr. talking about his health, Frank, Liza, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the movie TAP.
from the Morningstar archive
January 19, 1989
The Children's Television Workshop
This photo of Big Bird and Snuffy, (I called him "Snuffy" because I couldn't spell Snufflepagus) was taken in New York City's Central Park during the1990 video taping of the PBS special "Big Birds Birthday".
During the taping, Video from a "wide-shot" camera is fed to an RF modulator which is tuned to an unused local television channel. Then, the actors who play each character watch the performance on a small battery powered television receiver which is mounted inside of their costumes. That way, each player knows what the other is doing on the set and can react accordingly. Wireless microphones from inside the heavy costumes, provide the voice track.
This photograph was taken in August and temperature outside of the costumes were in the high 80 degree range. Scenes were kept short as temperatures inside the outfits approached 100 degrees with no ventilation.
Throughout the taping, the wireless microphones I had at the time, kept dieing due to moisture and heat. I can only imagine how the performers felt.
Luciano Pavarotti
Also taken in Central Park was this photo of Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti, was rehearsing his long awaited open air concert which would be broadcast via satellite to more than a dozen countries throughout the world and shown in the US on the PBS television network. My job was to provide the international audio feeds and handle press conference facilities.
On the day of the concert, nearly 1 million people crammed into the Central Park Sheep's Meadow to hear the event. My daughter Gretchen was one of those million, only she had a front row seat. Just prior to the start of the concert I walked Gretchen out to a small area which was only feet from the stage and told her to "sit here". She was seated on an equipment case right next to one of the stage cameramen with 1 million of the Pavarotti faithful behind her.
Mary Chapin Carpenter
I never worked with Mary Chapin Carpenter, but I've been in love with her music for years. Bonnie and I recently saw her perform in concert, at a terrible local venue. After the evening was over, we vowed to see her again sometime... somewhere else.
In June of 2005 Mary was scheduled to appear at a local facility near our home, so we thought it would make a nice evening out. Little did we know, that the "theater" was less than adequate for a performer of Mary's caliber. To put it kindly, the sound was terrible and the actions of some in the crowd was worse. All of which made it a less than enjoyable evening for Bonnie and I, and probably for Mary too.
Knowing something about the audio business, I could tell that the poor quality of the sound was mainly due to the halls poor acoustics rather than the engineering provided by the crew or the performance on stage. Quiet songs came across OK, but once the band started belting out the music, everything bounced around the room like you were inside of a big drum. Mary was basically performing in a gymnasium trying to pass itself off as a concert hall. She even joked about it when she first came out on stage. Saying something like... "This is the first time I've performed in a Gymnasium since I was in High School", the crowd laughed. But I knew this, had to be a low moment in the Carpenter career.
Adding to the evenings discomfort, was the flash photography which was
disturbing and down right rude at times. Mary seemed shaken by the flashes
and looked as though she was on the verge of saying something to the crowd.
But being a professional, she just kept on singing. The audience had been
asked several times to refrain from taking flash photos but about a dozen people
went right on taking their pictures anyway.
I'll never understand why people try to use point and shoot or worse yet, single use cameras at a venue like this anyway? Unless you're in the first few rows, the person on stage probably looks like a spec of dust in the frame. The flashes don't work at longer distances and they just serve to annoy the performers. All of that makes it bad for anyone who enjoys the hobby of Photography and tries to discretely take a few quality images.
These shots were taken (without flash) from the back of the room, near the sound board, using a 560 mm imaged stabilized lens, which was mounted on a Monopod. With that kind of photo rig, I probably stuck out like a sore thumb, because at one point, someone from the house, who was obviously frustrated by the flashes, came over to me and said "No more Photos!" Even though I wasn't using a flash, I stopped shooting anyway rather than get into an argument. Besides, as you can see, I had already gotten some good images.
After the concert was over, I briefly talked to the sound engineer about flash photography and the room's poor acoustics. He told me that my shooting wasn't a problem, but Mary gets rattled by the flashes. As a result, she often sings with her eyes closed.
I didn't let on that I also work as an audio engineer in the entertainment industry. I just thanked him for doing the best job he could under such difficult conditions. He responded that we should come to see Mary again, only this time at a "real" concert venue. We'd like to do that.
Dave Stewart and Mick Jagger
I'll admit that this probably isn't the best photograph ever taken of Dave Stewart and Mick Jagger, but I thought I'd include it here anyway. Actually, it's a cropped portion of a much larger image that was shot from the back row of a press conference which was held in New York City. Stewart and Jagger collaborated on the music for the Paramount Pictures 2004 remake of the movie Alfie and naturally, they needed to do publicity to promote the film. I was lucky enough to be called in for the press conferences and to supply the audio equipment for the TV interviews.
Sometimes, it's politically tricky to get off a few photos like these while you're supposed to be mixing audio for a press event. At all times, it's best to maintain a sense of professionalism without being "star struck". But at this conference taking a quick photo wasn't a problem. Nearly everyone, even several members of the Paramount staff, either took a photo or asked Mick for his autograph. Not to slight Dave Stewart, but it's not very often that you get to see a rock and roll legend like Mick Jagger up close. I only wish that I had brought the Digital SLR instead of the little point and shoot. Oh well.
Stewart / Jagger Alfie Excerpt
Audio Clip
Gallery 1 Gallery 2 Gallery 3 Gallery 4 Gallery 5 Gallery 6
Gallery 7 Gallery 8 Gallery 9 Gallery 10 Gallery 11 Gallery 12
Create a Photoshop Custom Brush for Copyrighting your Photos
© 2006