Finished mere moments ago shooting a wedding for a boy colleague who got all traditional and such with the big T reigning supreme.
Last night was a flurry of art opening activity which included Albright-Knox's WNY Show, a solid crowd and nothing but cookies (cookies!) for snaxx... yikes.
Shot a bunch of the artists individually and talked to my printing guru about assisting me with coating my screens for the big printing days to come.
Last night, amid the flowing of scotch, someone pointed to a better-known writer type and said... I have photos of him dancing naked. More details followed like that this writer type has red pubic hair and then a full description of the involved, exposed you-know-what. Yet another assembly of fun facts to clog my Oban-soaked mind.
Speaking of such...
don't the people of the sponsoring newspaper know all this? Don't they read epinw? Well, guess snot as I've been named to the 40 Under 40 annual list of overachievers. I was nominated and Annie called to tell me that I'm on the list yesterday AM. A bunch of people congratulated me last night and this AM I panicked that a speech might be involved so I quickly lined up three people* I would have to thank, etc. and then - RELIEF - found out that there's no speechmaking involved only a slide show and fun facts about Your Fav Nancy and the others.
Getting my pop music fix before heading out this afternoon to document the sunny, soon-to-be-sunstroked, culturally-enjoying masses.
Love.


* Tony Bannon, director of Eastman House, Charles Rand-Penney, art collector, and Jamie Moses, publisher of ARTVOICE. Tony + Charlie = ardent supporters of my society page-style column What Has Happened for the past 13 years and helping me see how it fits into Middling City's social/historical context. Jamie = space giver to voice.

This post will read much like the one on July 5th.
Well, it's August 1st and nobody lost any fingers, hair, sanity, etc. at the happening yesterday-at the making of Conflagration by Team A.
Arrived at designated shooting spot @ 5PM with Laura (after AOL deadline, after prop shopping and loading table, chairs, etc. into car), who I asked to come with as she's a great frazzlement antidote.
So we arrive out in the country to find Josh (1/3 of TEAM A) still sanding, compiling, listening to James, cranky and I felt a sweat of panic. A short walk into the middle of an overgrown field, like wading into a body of water, was wonderful and I said to myself You have to make this work, this has to work.
Onwards.
Models arrives with their brother, people trickled in and Josh was still building. Light was still good. As things were being constructed I talked with the twins about what I wanted them to do and we did some practice setups.
Finally all was built and gasoline was sprinkled on the kitchen set and things began.
Two hours or so later my shots were made that I had desired, the kitchen was completely torched, my metal vase of white lilies in the set was trashed, cabinet doors dropped off, the window popped and then broke and the group of us watched the hot fire. It was beautiful. No police showed up. The East Aurora fire department drove by and did not stop. Perfect shoot.
Now these images will be made into black & white 5x7's, scanned, made into 16x20 transparant positives and silkscreened onto sheets of metal and then framed.
Love.

Today is a day of firsts.
But first let me tell you. I am so hooked on my images, so obsessed with the ideas. I will talk privately to my models tonight to tell them my ideas so they are it. It makes a difference.
Firstly it's the premier time I'll be photographing twin six foot girls who are my models and current muses as their brother, I believe an even seven feet, et al (especially boys with heightened interest in my art project after hearing about the twin six footers who are 22) watch.
Second first is that I'll be shooting with such an audience out in the woods as the models do my thing in a burning set. All watchers will be put to good use, be asked to hold reflectors and the like. Thanks to parents (Thanks Joe. Thanks Annette) for making me an eldest = perfect practice for bossing. I told someone today That's why I became a photographer, to be able to boss people around the rest of my life:
SMILE! Look here. Avert gaze there. etc.
Third first is the shooting as the set burns.
Fourth first is the shooting in a set I'm not creating. Secret hope: that Josh is right now ingesting large amounts of caffeine to finish building.
Fifth first is that the shoot will end with 'smores as Josh and I discussed how there'll be huge amounts of fire and then embers and what better thing to make than those little campy treats?
Will my life ever be normal, full of expected happenings and not serendipitous oddities?
Dangblamit, I hope not.
My distracted love. My art-infused and directorial mind says so long.
At all moments ask yourself:
WWJLD*



*What Would John Lennon Do?

It's nearly August and why haven't I been launching my balloon launcher (gift from Kunji) at unsuspecting sweaty people.
Saw beautiful Sarah for first time yesterday as she only emerged from Deb at yesterday's 1AM. I held her warm, breathing and squeezed her a couple of times and then felt a newborn butt rumbling. I looked at Deb and said I think I broke Sarah... or she just pooped. Then it happened again. I can tell Sarah when she's much older that I squeezed, quite literally, the shit out of her when she was brand new.
New silkscreening trails were blazed yesterday by your fav Nancy.
Five hours of my life evaporated in a schoolish time vacuum and the forces of the universe conspired against me and my cell phone was little more than injected plastic and an lcd screen down in the bowels of the art building.
$400 & 1 ink-spattered DMB tshirt later I reconnected with my screening Zen and now feel set for turning tomorrow night's photo shoot/production into twelve photo silkscreens on either steel or anodized aluminum - set lushly into velvet-lined shadowboxes of flaming libido red.
I brought my '93 pre-headlost image of Kurt Cobain (scanned at 400dpi and a 16x20) as a test image and left yesterday with a stack of silkscreened Kurts, one on metal, and must say it's gorgeous.
As, hopefully, gorgeous as two twin 6' models in a burning set deep in the country perhaps ringed with semi-drunken assistants and onlooker pals.
Conflagration.
Love.

The foot was not real.
And I was slightly disappointed.
As I was Middling City returning last night, oh at about 9PM if you need such timeline clarification, from the traditional Greek Orthodox wedding I was hired to socially document (and at which the priest, Fr. Jim - who looks like a 70s rock star - forgot, I mean completely FORGOT, to do two whole portions of the wedding ceremony so that it wasn't legit and the couple, me and the priest had to go back into the church and do a few little maneuvers), I spotted a foot lying in the street.
William Street just under the 190 overpass. I thought OH wow, a foot.
I mean how David Lynch, non?
I turned around onto a deadend and went back and yup, a foot.
Met some people out for drinks and general merriment and said Oh, I saw a foot. And the filmmaker in the bunch (of course) expressed the most amazement.
I returned to the site.
I had my camera.
I parked this time and walked over.
Standing over it I still wasn't sure.
I, of course, took lots of dramatic photos, some showing oncoming traffic up William Street.
I got braver and then touched the foot with my foot.
So plastic.
So bummed.

This week is the artmaking with Team A boys. I have to rustle together my twin girl models and assure them that they will NOT be naked, in peril, and will look great.
I am going today to private silk screen printing lessons.
Wednesday it better not *bleeping* rain.
This week is also Lenny Kravitz. And Pink. And a big photo no to Creed as I think Scott's face is probably as wide as a billboard now and his chest hair is probably overtaking his arms and his J.C. poses are now impossible so therefore no snaps.
Dorota and Jason were in town and that meant that the upstairs rooms were actually occupied, my personal happiness levels were increased and the liver is crying for mercy.
Love.