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Hello Everybody & Happy Y2K!
I am home from all my holiday travels & faced with reality & a bunch of unwanted
bills. It looks like I will be leaving the Hollywood scene, so that I can venture deep
into the heart of photography. It'll be a big cut on the income for awhile, but oh well. It's
a new year, new Millennium, so why not go out on a few limbs. In a true tale about life, a wise old man once said:
"What the Caterpillar thought was the
end...
The Butterfly saw as a new beginning."
A lot of changes are gonna occur in my life.
for starters, this will be my last group email on certified PHOTOhype adventure trips. Not
saying that I won't send out any more group emails, because I have one planned for
Valentine's Day.
The killer stories, awesome adventure trips & Tales of The PHOTOhype will most
definitely continue, but on a future website, somewhere in cyberspace... [
www.PHOTOhype.com ]
The Alaska trip was pretty much successful! My biggest challenge was introducing The PHOTOhype
to the life of The Hype. Not sure if I
gave it my best shot, but I can't tell a lie. It failed. Establishing The
PHOTOhype to an untouchable lifestyle that I left five years. ago was just to powerful
to overcome.
34 out of 39 rolls of film were developed down here in California, so maybe after my
Alaskan friends see the end results, maybe they'll think otherwise about The
PHOTOhype.
I doubt it. Those Alaskans didn't want to be photographed. Most of them aren't even online.
Before I begin this group email, I want to take the time out to thank everybody for
a
brilliant year in 1999 (whether or not you continue to send me e-mails containing the
sentence "I am not sure if you remember me or not...").
In Alaska, I was running into people from 1995, 1992 & as far back as 1989!
I see, hear & remember more than you think. Anyway, good luck on your future endeavors & hopefully, if time permits, we'll meet
again.
Tales of The PHOTOhype presents:
"Alaska:
The Millennium hype-crusade"
I spent my first ten days in a town called Wasilla, Alaska. After the music store
closed at 7pm, there wasn't a damn thing to do in that town, except flirt with the cute
girls at Blockbuster Video. I actually wake up in a cold sweat, just thinking about the
night I went to bed at 8pm! Ironically, I got all the photographs (except one) that was needed
to complete the trip to Wasilla, Alaska. Lucky for me, I met Shannon, Roxy & Lauren. We all hung out,
talked, partied & shot a ton of great photographs! The hidden agenda for
this trip
was the theme "Girls in Snow". The new GHP-2000
line of photography will feature more models, actors & fashion shots than ever before.
New Year's Eve - All the single guys at our party were too
drunk to kiss any girls into the new year. My friends bought a ton of alcohol, mixed drinks & chips
to wash it all down.
It's a good thing that I don't drink, otherwise there wouldn't have been nobody to
take the
pictures! My last 5 days were spent in Anchorage (my hometown &
birth
place of The Hype). Man oh man, it felt like one big class & childhood
reunion...
Chilkoot Charlie's - It sucks that to everybody else, it was your typical
night out at Alaska's No. 1 rated party spot. I pretty much knew everybody in the place!
From the ex-flirt friend turned waitress to Niels Green from 1989. The summer of 1989 - was the last time that I saw
Niels. Good friend, Mark
Jack & I got Niels into paint guns & BB guns. One day enroute to
Mark's
house, a squirrel ran across the bike path & caused Niels to crash into a bunch of
trees. Bruised, battered & with a line of blood dripping from his forehead, Niels
pulls out his hand held BB gun & went Postal on that squirrel. It was the first time
that I have ever seen Niels like that.
January, 2000 - Mr. Niels Green gives me a hug &
hands me his business card which reads: Gunrunners
"If we don't have it, we can get it.
If we can't get it, you don't want it". On the reverse side was his
second shop, The Combat Cafe, which
stands adjacent to his gun shop.
That is pretty much how I spent two fun filled photographic nights at Chilkoot Charlie's.
The Hype is a lifestyle that pretty much works like a puzzle. Koot's was the
perfect example of what happens when the pieces of the puzzle comes together.
Man, a lot of stuff happened within
a short 5 day stay. I had dinner with hype-crusader,
Doug White. I saw a new born baby
& took my first solo picture with my father since 1976.
Performed my first guest speaker lecture on photography in front of a class of students
from all over the city of Anchorage. It was an eye opening experience. It went well, but I
realized how unconnected I really was in PHOTOworld. (King Career Center
| Dean Paulson, teacher). New Year's Resolution: Get myself connected, take a
photography class & "focus".
Downtown Anchorage.
Is such a beautiful & peaceful
place to be. Ironically, downtown Anchorage is where the dramatic tale: Fall of The
Hype! (Summer of '96) was concluded. I walked into a PHOTOshow reception. There, I met Sarah, a
girl from my past, who took me to another PHOTOshow reception, which followed up with
an ARTshow & ended at some looking funky house turned deli turned relaxing smoked filled bar
called Barney's. The GHP mini portfolio got passed around there. A job offer,
two models
& three Red Bull energy drinks later, I was back at Chilkoot Charlie's!
The Hype was flowing hard that weekend & I didn't feel like hoping on that red eye
flight back to Los Angeles. I sweet talked my way out of a $75 dollar change fee
to hang out
with Robinson-Mack, Club Millennium
& The Garcia family of Colombian descent.
Tango una cita con Anita.
Is the only Spanish sentence I know,
but I always manage to have a blast partying with The Garcia family. Mrs. Garcia loves
to stuff my face with her special Colombian desserts & the others simply treat The Hype
as one of their own. Although, I do it all the time, I've never been an expert at saying good-bye...
The party didn't stop at Anchorage. Nope. The PHOTOhype came alive & in full effect
about 30,000 feet in the air around two o'clock in the morning. I kid you not, I have never
seen so many beautiful women on one airplane. It was the red eye flight, so I basically had
to wake people up.
I sat next to a father
who's connection with his daughter was so spectacular that I had to photograph it.
Met a talented Alaskan artist who fell in love with Yuki of
Brazil's photograph, so he drew it. Met an Alaskan girl from DJ GEOhype's Rave days.
Met a Californian photographer/father who's son, when awake, was
an endless ball of energy. Met to wonderful Seattle flight attendants.
Met a cool guy named Jason & a beautiful (inside & out)
Alaskan girl named Linnzi. Linnzi was kinda shy &
nervous, but she did some fun modeling for GHP, right there in the airplane along isles 15
& 16F. We shot a little bit of this & that. A smile here. A smile there. Linnzi
even volunteered to hop into the garbage can during our 1 hour lay-over in Seattle! How
cool is that? Nothing but certified coolness!
Jason was heading back to school in Tucson, Arizona.
Tucson, I thought out loud;
"Hey,
I have a girl in Tucson who I'm trying to avoid,
because I fell in love with her. I walked out of her life four long
years ago. I did what I had to do, to keep my mind in focus."
As a true crusader for the glory of The Hype, I don't
have time for a girlfriend, long term
relationships or anything of that sort. My life isn't about finding that special someone. My life, right now, is about crusading
for the glory of The Hype, the so-called PHOTOhype. I know that's a huge f-ing gamble, because
there's a chance that I might fail and end my career with The PHOTOhype, stranded in a
room full of photographs. Aging with sorrow. Single. Lonely. Bored off my ass. Dying in an
empty house, with not one true love to claim as my own. (out-take: Tales
of The Hype, Year 6 Chapter 2)
Yips! That sounds pretty scary. Anyway, Jason later told me that his sister in Tucson knows a guy named
Geo! from Alaska
(NOTE: there isn't that many Geo's running around Alaska). How ironic is this starting
to look? How ironic is it that Jason's sister would be the Allison I was
speaking about?
(2001: Allison's Wedding Party).
In 1995, during the greatest solo road trip ever, I found myself in
Pennsylvania burning a necklace charm over a cozy little backyard fire. It was there that
I came up with the phrase: "When you become one with The Hype, you will know, because it will follow you
were ever you may go!"
Jason's five hour layover was spent with me in Hermosa Beach.
He checked out my photo gallery & had lunch with my international
friends. 34 rolls of shot photography returned from this trip. I came back
to reality & to a bunch of unwanted bills. It looks like I will be leaving
the Hollywood scene, so that I can venture deep into the heart of
photography.
Oh well, it is a new millennium, right?
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