the curving hip, the soothing shade

Moving on

2012-01-26T00:32:00.013-05:00

A little late in the game on this but I'm jumping over to Tumblr. I'll keep this blogspot up as archive of the last 4 years.

www.thomasprior.tumblr.com

Once my new website is done I'll start trying to post on the regular. I'm also planning on doing some tweaks to the way it looks.

In case your not in the photo world and want to see other stuff here's a list of friends and other folks I was following with the Soybean tumblr:

Adam Golfer http://adamgolfer.tumblr.com/

All The Things We Love http://allthethingswelove.tumblr.com/
Ben Grieme http://blog.bengrieme.com/
Booooooom http://booooooom.tumblr.com/
Bryan Schutmaat http://bryanschutmaat.tumblr.com/
Clarke Tolton http://blog.clarketolton.com/
Covet Arts http://covetarts.tumblr.com/
Daniel Seung Lee http://blog.danielseunglee.com/
Daniel Shea http://danielshea.tumblr.com/
Elizabeth Weinberg http://scrapbook.elizabethweinberg.com/
Emiliano Granado http://quesofrito.tumblr.com/
Geordie Wood http://tumblr.geordiewood.com/
Grant Cornett http://thelivest1.com/
Jake Stangel http://tumblr.jakestangel.com/
Je Suis Perdu http://jesuisperdu.tumblr.com/
Jennilee Marigomen http://jennilee.tumblr.com/
Joao Canziani http://subliminous.com/
Jody Rogac http://blog.jodyrogac.com/
Justin Hollar http://blog.justinhollar.com/
Justin James Reed http://justinjamesreed.tumblr.com/
LPV http://photographsonthebrain.com/
Mark Hartman http://markhartmanphoto.tumblr.com/
Mark Peter Drolet http://mpdrolet.tumblr.com/
Michael Christopher McCraw http://tinytinybirds.tumblr.com/
Mossless http://blog.mosslessmagazine.com/
Myles Little http://mylespictures.tumblr.com/
Noah Kalina http://blog.noahkalina.com/
Paul Octavious http://www.geniusvomit.com/
Peter Nidzgorski http://thisisn'thappiness.com/

Randall Phenning http://blacksheepsquadron.tumblr.com/
Ryan Pfluger http://ryanpfluger.tumblr.com/
Time Magazine Lightbox http://timelightbox.tumblr.com/
Tony Luong http://tonyluong.tumblr.com/
Wayne Bremser http://bremser.tumblr.com/

also...I don't know what happened to the colors of the text on this page but its all messed up

Website update

2012-01-18T18:02:00.003-05:00

Finally got around to putting up the backstage stuff from September

My favorite pictures from makeup and front row are weirdly similar

Bigger versions of the two runway shots I liked

Next step is to redo the website itself...working on that now..

Maine

2012-01-17T11:11:00.004-05:00

A couple of pictures from the end of summer

Splits

New Years

2012-01-17T00:46:00.003-05:00

A picture from New Years day

This year I brought along some boots but ended up going in up to my waist so they didn't do anything but slow me down. My pants, wallet and camera got soaked and a lot of frames were shaky or out of focus from the shivering.
Not the best subway ride home...

7 train

2012-01-16T01:07:00.007-05:00

Down

2012-01-16T01:00:00.003-05:00

TV camera cables in the rain

Seating chart at a fashion show

Balsa wood model of midtown

Details

2012-01-12T01:23:00.004-05:00

So in preparation for putting up a bunch of new pictures I've started the thankless task of redoing my tired website.. First thing was to rescan a few problem negs..

Big detail

very still 4" balanced on a handrail shot

Speaking of details..almost done with these fashion week pics. Here's a big detail from the best front row photo I took

Vitcoria

2012-01-12T01:09:00.005-05:00

Found this outtake from a few years ago

I don't remember where the better version is

Hahn-Bin for Vogue.com

2012-01-11T10:56:00.014-05:00

I photographed violinist Hahn-Bin's pre-show makeup routine a few days ago..

Some of my favorites and some outtakes...

Hahn-Bin was cool..he didn't seem to mind me yammering on or getting really close and popping a flash right in eyes.

The room was small and the existing light was pretty horrendous...The process took some time so I was able to mess around with my little flash quite a bit

Some still lifes

I like these two

Apparently violinists can't take baths before shows or go grocery shopping because it ruins their finger tips

Almost done

Overview of the dressing room

Sound check

I had free rein during sound check

Last minute drink

Last minute touch ups

Last minute warm up

Last minute moves

He went to Julliard at 14 and has been studying under Itzhak Perlman for the last 10 years.

So then I came home and watched some videos of Itzhak Perlman and the last minute of him shredding in this video is one of the greatest thing I've ever seen. I like the old man Cello player smiling behind him at the end..

Dudes

2012-01-09T23:14:00.002-05:00

NYU view

2012-01-09T23:04:00.005-05:00

Looking up 5th ave the other night

Held my point shoot against the 8 floor window for 2 seconds

Backlit outtake II

2012-01-04T13:57:00.002-05:00

Jeans

2012-01-04T10:03:00.008-05:00

Shot a some pictures at Brooklyn Denim for Vogue.com...some of my favorites

Shawn Joswick makes and ages jeans

Tools of the trade

Distressing the pockets and seams

detail

Motel bed

2012-01-03T23:53:00.004-05:00

A motel room out on Long Island

I sold my Leica when I was 25 and now I miss it all the time...check out this detail on a 35mm

October 2000

Wires

2012-01-03T21:08:00.004-05:00

Tokyo and Wisconsin

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T23:29:00.007-05:00

This afternoon down at Coney Island..

NYE randoms

2011-12-31T17:27:00.005-05:00

I bought some new hard drives yesterday...cleaning off the desktop for the new year.

A girl waiting for Luis to take her picture, 2009

Old guys in Ireland, 2009

Summer day, the Englischer Garten in Munich...one of the best inner-city parks I've ever been to

Early outtake corner detail

Nick on the Staten Island ferry

Recliner on a roof, upstate New York

Backlit outtake

2011-12-31T17:25:00.004-05:00

Hands/Feet

2011-12-29T01:48:00.003-05:00

Took a lot of pictures of hands this year..

Burrito

2011-12-29T01:42:00.003-05:00

Times Square burrito wrapper

Exhausted III

2011-12-27T10:52:00.002-05:00

Exhausted II

2011-12-27T01:03:00.003-05:00

detail

Christmas

2011-12-27T00:38:00.007-05:00

Went back to Jersey for a couple of days...

From the train ride home

Poked around in the basement

Dining room window

Turkey juice

Exhausted I

2011-12-24T12:44:00.004-05:00

crispy detail

Cauliflower

2011-12-24T12:27:00.003-05:00

Fighter I

2011-12-23T17:29:00.009-05:00

I spent a few weekends last January shooting these Polish guys at the gym in my neighborhood

The were nice about it and let me shoot pictures of 'em fighting...More later

Face off

2011-12-23T17:23:00.002-05:00

Two guys sparring

detail

Last fitting

2011-12-19T21:21:00.008-05:00

The Merce Cunningham Company is closing its doors in January. I went to shoot the last costume fitting for Vogue.com

Tools

I had about 10 minutes with the dancers..5 minutes for the fitting and then a quick 5 minute stretch. This is the best picture

Sweet view

A couple of stretch outtakes

The studio

I don't really know anything about dance but the vibe in this place was amazing..you could feel the years of creativity in every room.

Vertical outtakes

2011-12-17T23:56:00.008-05:00

Some vertical pictures from September..just sorting through all this stuff now. I didn't post many outtakes in September so I'll do a few of these big posts to get them online.

A dresser holding up a really pink hat

Names written on the ground showing each girl their order before a show starts

Lots of clothes in bags

Fashion columnist Lynn Yaeger

Sofia Coppola got her picture taken a million times

Lots of manicures

Lots of cameras that looked like this

Practice run

Not a practice run

The other frame from this quick encounter

Vera Wang clothing detail

I also had to shoot photos of hairstyles and makeup whenever I got the chance

Buns

2011-12-16T17:53:00.002-05:00

Website update

2011-12-16T14:49:00.005-05:00

Statue

2011-12-15T00:30:00.003-05:00

A student getting ready to pose with a statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno

Dorms

2011-12-14T16:30:00.003-05:00

State College, PA

Contact outtake

2011-12-13T17:15:00.003-05:00

Two frames that were edited out early but have a nice balance on the contact sheet

WTAJ

2011-12-13T17:12:00.001-05:00

Front end of a wrecked news van in State College, PA

WTC

2011-12-04T00:31:00.003-05:00

The new World Trade Center seen from the Staten Island ferry earlier today

One of these days....

2011-11-30T23:09:00.007-05:00

..I'm gonna sit down and sift through/finish all the photos from fashion week and make a section on the website.

Combo of girls in various states of readiness backstage in the tents.

T-shirt

2011-11-29T10:54:00.004-05:00

It was T shirt weather in NY yesterday.
Sun popped out right as I got back to Brooklyn

Sunset over Con Ed

Texas outtakes II

2011-11-27T23:57:00.009-05:00

The Pyro guy checking the explosions

Cheerleaders going through their routine

This guy checks all the seats after the game and told me he finds either a wallet or cell phone in every section

Stadium employees killing time before the gates open

Texas outtakes I

2011-11-26T11:58:00.005-05:00

1st batch of outtakes from a trip to Texas last month for ESPN Magazine..They sent down 10 photographers to capture all aspects of an NFL game. Me and Jake got there pre-dawn and spent a long day roaming the stadium

T shirt toss

Cheerleader warm ups

Parking lot party remnants

More later..

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T11:08:00.006-05:00

I didn't really get any good photos on my trip home for Thanksgiving...Here's a view of Patterson out the blue-tinted NJ Transit train window

Alan chopping up a tree with his pops

Businessweek tear sheet/outtakes

2011-11-22T20:25:00.009-05:00

Some photos of mine in the current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek

Flew out to Arizona a few weeks ago to spend an afternoon photographing private gun dealer Mike Detty

Some outtakes

Stoked on this photo..had the camera prefocused and jumped out of my car just in time.

We drove 45 minutes further south and shot guns in the desert before the sun went down.

ESPN Texans gameday

2011-11-22T11:41:00.004-05:00

My picture of beer bottles after a Texas Texans NFL game made it into this weeks ESPN magazine

I have a bunch of other pictures from this day of roaming around in Texas last month...gonna start sorting through that mess soon

Tomorrow

2011-11-22T00:23:00.002-05:00

...I'm gonna try and finish these new pics up for tomorrow

Up north

2011-11-22T00:19:00.003-05:00

A couple more pics shot for Popular Mechanics...
Hill climb test

A mechanic

Rest stop

2011-11-19T11:53:00.003-05:00

Small graffiti seen at a Pennsylvania rest stop late last night

Popular Mechanics snow tire test

2011-11-14T01:12:00.008-05:00

Some photos I shot for Popular Mechanics documenting a snow tire test last February up in Northern Minnesota

It was -7 degrees Fahrenheit when I took this picture below. The week before saw near record lows of -42 so people were actually stoked that it was -7.

More later

Bull riding

2011-11-11T15:49:00.014-05:00

Some pictures I shot for ESPN magazine that went unpublished

Drove up to Conn. to shoot a bull riding event

First I made a quick stop in Massachusetts to see them load the bulls onto trucks

detail

The bulls

This guy was funny

This whole process was way sketchier than these photos make it out to be

Cowboys waiting at the venue in downtown Hartford

Safe and sound

Looking over the checklist

Opening ceremonies

Army guys

Awesome fire-breathing bull head

detail

Bull blessing

Bull riders at the chute

Raging bull

A quick ride..

Finished for the night

Confetti and hoof prints

Confetti and sawdust

Good times

Marathon

2011-11-07T12:37:00.004-05:00

Some quick point n' shoot video vignettes from yesterday. Shot stills for an assignment so I can't show those yet.

Race leader at mile 13, best voice ever at mile 14, runner on the Queensboro at mile 15

Some outtakes from Germany that have nothing to do with anything..

Got to see 6 sunrises in a row

Heading out west for a few days...

Bored dog

2011-11-04T00:25:00.004-04:00

Sifting through the junk last week...

detail

Banquet

2011-11-02T23:55:00.005-04:00

I bought some frames from Jeff during his moving sale.. Here he is in the elevator a few hours ago when I went to pick them up.

His Grandpa with and without a hat

He has lots of these awesome banquet photos laying around...some cropped in details...

A lot of these were done on 12"x20" negatives so the details are insane

The Shining's last frame is my go-to memory of banquet photos

Blackout

2011-11-02T00:46:00.007-04:00

I went back to visit my Ma the other night. My hometown was in a blackout since Saturday with no heat or light.

There was nothing to do at home so we just drove around and took some snaps..lots of big trees down

Not many trick or treaters..too sketchy with the downed power lines

Early snow

2011-11-02T00:38:00.005-04:00

Snow pile in a parking lot out in Jersey last night

Saw this on the way to dinner

Too early for this shit..

Burning

2011-11-01T17:58:00.002-04:00

Van fire outtake from Kentucky

April 2011

Head splash

2011-10-31T00:06:00.004-04:00

Detail from an outtake

Last week

2011-10-26T11:46:00.003-04:00

A couple of snaps from last week

Art museum

2011-10-25T23:54:00.004-04:00

A quickly worked scan of the Haus Der Kunst in Munich

detail

Porch

2011-10-25T23:39:00.005-04:00

Shot the band Real Estate for the Fader a few months ago...Here's an outtake I like

Drove up to a show in Maine

Scanning time

2011-10-21T12:17:00.005-04:00

Got back from my trip...view out the window of where I was staying

Went to finish a project that I started in June...Haven't been this stoked in a while.

Lots of outtakes to come once I get all this shit scanned and edited.

Outta here

2011-10-13T12:01:00.003-04:00

I'm gone for a week...gonna go work on a project.
Found this Japanese little league photo while transferring hard drives the other day.

The blog has been a little lame lately but I think November will be good...lots of new photos.

Back

2011-10-04T00:07:00.005-04:00

Just got back from a two day trip to Texas..some snaps from the point and shoot

28th floor of the hotel

Parking lot after takeoff

Last bit of blue sky

Back to the crappy weather of New York

Jeff

2011-10-01T00:30:00.012-04:00

My friend Jeff is moving to Germany next month. He's selling off hundreds of his books, frames, and darkroom stuff in Chelsea this weekend.

Didn't really do it justice with these poor snaps..there's a bunch of other stuff all signed and in cases and stacked up.

I went down there earlier today and he let me lurk around behind the curtain where they run Errata Editions...

The view out back

The darkroom

Awesome posters and janky lights

Robert Frank test print

The leaky darkroom sink caught my attention..

This took a minute..not so easy with a little point 'n shoot that doesn't fire when you tell it to.

This one took about 5 minutes

This one was just luck

I'm outta town for a few days... back next week

Curtains

2011-09-30T18:28:00.001-04:00

People trying to get backstage a few weeks ago

Popular Mechanics Nissan Leaf

2011-09-28T00:54:00.007-04:00

Shot this electric car for Popular Mechanics.
Had to get a few static distant shots and some detail shots

detail of stuyvesant town and the FDR

This is where you plug it in..

Designers shaped the lights to cut down wind resistance

Charging up

A few more wide shots

detail of the Empire State

Print Sale II

2011-09-23T16:47:00.005-04:00

A few prints from my Maho Beach project just went up on 20x200.

Thank you so much to all those who bought my Irish photos over the past year and a half. The money went to good use and rest assured that any profit on these will go towards finishing a new project I started this past summer.

Backstage at the Opera

2011-09-23T11:58:00.007-04:00

Got a call last week to shoot a dress rehearsal up at the Met for Vogue.com.

The goal was to try and get photographs of soprano Anna Netrebko in costume. Access and available light were limited but I managed to get a couple of cool snaps. I've never been to an Opera before so the whole experience was awesome..

Here's some outtakes I like..

I did get an escort backstage after this photo and it was insane. It goes back like 5 times deeper than what you can see in the front and there were hundreds of people back there making stuff and rehearsing and goofing off.

Popular Mechanics welding test

2011-09-21T16:31:00.005-04:00

Shot some welding photos for Popular Mechanics a few months ago. This is the one that ran..

The still life stuff proved to be tricky with just one pocket flash in the dark New Jersey warehouse.

There was a couple pieces of white cardboard bounce laying around so that helped..I think they turned out pretty nice.

I like these assignments because I can be nerdy and ask a lot of dumb ass questions and nobody seems to mind.

Phone call

2011-09-20T00:47:00.002-04:00

Backstage last week

Backstage last night IV

2011-09-16T14:44:00.005-04:00

Some photos from last night's Marc Jacobs show. Really tight security with no backstage access allowed..

..but I did manage to hide up next to the stage and camped out there for the 10 minute show...the curtains pulled back and it was pretty awesome.

Booooooom

2011-09-15T13:46:00.004-04:00

Big thanks to Jeff for featuring this project on Booooooom.com

Backstage last night III

2011-09-15T11:35:00.006-04:00

Photos are up from the Proenza Schouler show last night..

Some outtakes..

Backstage last night II

2011-09-14T10:47:00.008-04:00

Some backstage snaps from last night's Narciso Rodriguez show...stoked on the last photo in the slideshow..

few outtakes..

Runway view

Bill Cunningham was doing his thing outside

Oscar De La Renta yesterday

2011-09-13T13:52:00.010-04:00

Shot his preview yesterday for Vogue.com..here's some of my favorites.

again, these preview assignments have a super short turnaround so some may look a little wack..

Monique Pean yesterday

2011-09-13T13:15:00.010-04:00

Shot jewelry designer Monique Pean's preview for Vogue.com

Donna Karan late last night

2011-09-12T11:59:00.005-04:00

Late last night I got 5 minutes with Donna Karan to shoot a one outfit preview of today's show...nerve racking..

Here's some quick outtakes

and a small slideshow up on Vogue's website.

These preview assignments have a 2 hour hi res turnaround which is kinda gnarly but helps me not nitpick too much.

Backstage yesterday

2011-09-12T01:00:00.003-04:00

Some backstage photos from yesterday's DKNY show

More later..so many outtakes from this week..

Backstage last night

2011-09-10T08:51:00.006-04:00

My backstage snaps from last night's Rag and Bone show are up on Vogue.com

Backstage this morning

2011-09-08T21:33:00.009-04:00

I'm deeeep in one of my epic bi-annual mind slumps so getting the chance to shoot backstage snaps for Vogue.com today was a welcome relief.

Some photos from this morning's BCBG Max Azria show are up on their site.

I've never been to a fashion show before so wandering around with full access at Lincoln Center was pretty awesome.

Irene

2011-08-30T23:38:00.006-04:00

I put up a small section of photos from Sunday

I got a car to midtown at 5:30 Sunday morning. There were no other cars on the road and the idea was to shoot people trying to make their way among anonymous office buildings. The wind was mellow so I ended up cabbing it down to South Street to check out the flooding around sunrise.

The whole thing was spooky

Irene I

2011-08-29T10:28:00.005-04:00

Irene was more bark than bite here in the city.

More later

Prepped

2011-08-27T20:48:00.002-04:00

For tomorrow

Stormy times

2011-08-27T14:36:00.003-04:00

A thunderstorm last week in Brooklyn

Tomorrow is going to be interesting..

Shuttle

2011-08-27T12:56:00.002-04:00

detail

Outtakes III

2011-08-21T23:00:00.008-04:00

A few more random outtakes from Florida

Another shot of the crowd

People drove their boats out to this island but NASA swooped in and gave them all the boot

Another version of this scene

Sweet shower wallpaper

People slept in their chairs overnight.

Germany

2011-08-17T17:34:00.005-04:00

I shot a whole project in Germany two months ago but still haven't gotten around to working on it.

Soon enough

Final Launch

2011-08-14T23:52:00.003-04:00

New photos up on my site from a trip last month to watch the last Shuttle launch.

Might mess with the edit a little later..

Outtakes II

2011-08-13T01:44:00.002-04:00

Rockets and Antenna

Icebox II

2011-08-08T11:18:00.004-04:00

detail

Outtakes I

2011-08-07T00:53:00.006-04:00

Couple of outtakes from Florida

This mom and baby were behind me while I was talking to the family below..

Hung out with this family for about an hour, waiting out the rain. I took a bunch of cool photos from this whole scene - one of which will be on my site next week.

Icebox I

2011-08-05T10:26:00.003-04:00

From Kentucky

April 2011

Monitor/Smoke

2011-08-05T01:22:00.003-04:00

Some outtakes

Back from the road

2011-08-03T14:46:00.008-04:00

Got back from the two week cross country trip. It was for an assignment that won't be out till next year so I'll have to wait on showing it for quite a while.

In the meantime...Gonna start working on these Florida photos from last month.
Here's a bunch of crappy first round outtakes.

Shuttle Suite at the Super 8 in Titusville, FL.

Lots of RV's

NPR

Visitor center

Sorting through lots of pictures of people waiting around in crappy weather.

Trying to get this project up on the site in a couple weeks.

Gone for three weeks

2011-07-12T23:51:00.008-04:00

I'm out for a few weeks...
Here's an outtake explosion pic from Kentucky.

Jason photographing his brother last winter

Heading out cross country

Should be able to post up a bunch of new work in August.

4th of July

2011-07-10T19:11:00.005-04:00

Some firework pics from the 4th

Underpass

2011-07-10T18:55:00.002-04:00

An underpass in Jersey on July 4th

Back home

2011-07-10T01:11:00.001-04:00

Couple of snaps from the plane ride home earlier today

Outta here

2011-07-06T11:22:00.004-04:00

I'm outta here till Sunday.

More 4th of July photos later

Small tripod big camera

2011-07-05T01:11:00.004-04:00

Shot a bunch of cool firework pics tonight and some other stuff that I'll try and get through soon..

Leaving town Wednesday so I'm not sure how much I can post before then.

Leash, board, blood...

2011-07-02T15:15:00.004-04:00

Happy 4th.

Gonna take a few days off here and try and get these new photos worked on.
Heading back to Jersey on Monday to watch fireworks.

Tanks

2011-07-02T14:49:00.006-04:00

Shot up propane tanks

detail