Second Time Around

It seems that when one starts a story, be it a real story or fiction, there is the dilemma of knowing where to begin. A famous man once told me that when someone starts a journey, or even if they have to restart, the place to begin is where ever they're are at the moment. That man was Sonny Bono, former pop start and US Congressman. And he said that back in the 1970's when he and his then wife, Cher, had to restart a music career. Their location then was in New Jersey. My location now, is Omaha and it is the year 2008.

Back in the 70's, I was a teenager with enough energy to stay up and running for three days and nights straight. Where every unimaginable wild fantasy became a reality in my nightly escapades. Fast forward to 2008. A broken down, crippled and riddled with pain and a mulitude of ailments 52 year old who looks more like 82 and walks like 92.

Amazingly enough, however, a couple of months ago I was still living in the Los Angeles area, in a human dump, but that's another story. I was doing whatever movie extra work I could get to just barely survive. And that was tough because of the writers strike. And secondly, once I went back into Screen Actors Guild, the number of jobs went from plenty to zero. In any event, I was working on this show called "State Of Play," due out sometime in 2009. My energies were lacking at best as I was running on the minimal amount of meds I needed in order to just be able to walk. Plus I had to take five buses and a subway from the extreme north end of the valley down to Culver Studios in Culver City. A six to eight hour round trip extravaganza at best. But the energy one gets from working on a quality production really revs once psyche. I went home to the squalor I was living in and hung a couple pieces of fabric for a backdrop and set up a couple of video lights and finally did some self photography with my camcorder, as I could not afford to pay someone else. This was in hopes of getting more extra work and getting a real agent again. I was formerly with the William Morris Agency, which I had fired, but again, that's another story also!


But the gist of what I was attempting to say, is that the mental psyche one is inspired with by both their inner self and certain others around them, brings out something that makes a broken down old man look half way good. I was surprised to see the outcome, as I had never taken a good picture. In hindsight, I know now that I was not comfortable with whoever was taking the photos, and also their limitations on knowing how to bring the best out in a person, no matter what they look like. I will publish a few of them here, although there really were no bad ones to speak of. Even the lesser looking photos cropped down to something somewhat stunning considering the history I've had in being photographed by high priced photographers and getting crap in return.


My awareness of this factor is what makes me a better photographer of others. I know how to get to their inner psyche, to turn on certain switches that bring out the inner glow of anyone.


I have a lifetime of experience and training in the Hollywood arena, I know the tricks of the trade along with the business sense that goes with hundred million dollar productions down to the shoestring budget of filming a movie with camcorders. And although I'm not currently on a huge set somewhere, that doesn't mean I won't be again. All people have ups and downs. The bigger the ups, the greater the downs. It's because this last down was so very low for so very long that I know the upswing will be even greater than before, and will be lasting because there will be no spouse to hide the funds in a Canadian bank account. And again, that's another story!


* "State Of Play" starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren...Peppi Turco played a Business News Reporter for the Washington Globe, a fictitious Newspaper on the brink of bankruptcy. Lots of visual actions, no lines and no, no credit once again.