The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Cool hair makes for cool photos.  Got a mohawk?  I’ll take your photo.  Bright green hair?  I’ll take your photo?  Got myspace hair and look like you are in a shitty Warped Tour band?  I will probably avoid you like the plague.   Honestly I really appreciate bad hair cuts, and outrageous hair cuts.  You are talking to a guy who once had an orange mullet, but your awful scene-hair has to go.  You look like an asshole.  I saw a guy yesterday with absolutely the most douche bag looking hair cut and I went up to him and said “You look like you are in a band… that I would hate.”  In reality the crazier your hair is the more likely I will have a reason to take your photo, but is that so important?  Do you really need to get mocked on Blue States Lose again?  Do you need the attention that badly? Wouldn’t you just rather not look like an asshole?  Cut your hair, seriously.

PS. Ashely has amazing hair.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

My biggest fear is that one day I am going to take some naked photos of an underage girl. Then I am going to go to jail and have to register as a sex offender. I keep meeting people all the time who are like “yeah I have been partying here since I was 14”. You know how scary that is? You have any idea how much trouble I could get into if I put up the wrong photo? I meet people in bars who are under 21 all the time, most of them are in college, but I am sure that high school kids are getting in too. Jesus that is scary. As a photoblogger you have to be insanely careful about these things. Check IDs maybe? How can you tell if bouncers can’t. If you find out you took some photos, DELETE THEM IMMEDIATELY. If rumors get out that you have photos your computer could get seized and you will go to jail even if you don’t put them up. I am not a lawyer and maybe you would get cut some slack since you took the photos in a bar, but yikes. Anyway, if you are under age, please, please pretty please, keep your clothes on, no matter how much we beg you to get naked in a bathroom. Thanks.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

When I first started taking pictures at parties I took a photo every time I saw people making out.  At some point I was working on a zine (which I still might do) and I was organizing photos and I found nearly 100 kissing photos in like 2 or 3 months.  That is insane.  Recently I have realized I never take that shot.  Although most people don’t mind you taking it, and some people love it, once out of every 10 couples you catch, absolutely flip out.  I do not come to parties to piss people off.  I come to parties to have fun.  If someone yells at me for taking their photo I almost always ruins my night.  I stop shooting well as soon as it happens.  I like kissing photos a lot but that is a dangerous shot to take.  Whenever I do take one, if it seems really appealing I immediately talk to the people, telling them how adorable I look and ask them to take another photo.  This way if they don’t want the photo up they have the chance to tell me without getting upset.  My favorite making out story was  when this guy came up to me and asked me to take a photo of his male friend.  He had this thick French accent and he said “Take a photo of my friend. We are not homosexuals, but sort of.” And then he proceeded to make out with his friend.  So, in summary, making out is good, pissing people off is bad.  Lesson learned.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I have never been much of a leg man myself, but for some reason I take a lot of pictures of girls legs.  Also, while I am completely freaked out by feet, I find myself shooting people’s shoes a lot.  Mostly rad sneakers or high heels.  I am not sure why that is, I guess it just makes for good photos.  Legs are sexy, and it is way creepier to snap someone’s stems, so to speak, than it is to shoot close up shots of their boobs or something.  Short skirts and even shorter shorts seem to be all the rage these days and it makes for quite a scene.  Dig it man.  Legs are where it’s at.  Unfortunately, it’s November and we are probably going to have to wait a few months before we get back to it.  Stockings just don’t cut it.   But if you do decide to brave the cold, just make sure someone with a camera notices, so you don’t freeze your ass off without even getting a myspace picture out of it.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

When I moved to New York I had this sweet pencil thin mustache. The only problem was when I got here I realized that every single person in Williamsburg had one. I eventually cut it off and moved on with my life. I still miss it a little bit every day. The thing is, I party in Manhattan mostly and there are way less Mustaches to contend with. And since I still love a good ‘stache I love photographing them. If you look like Tom Selleck, John Waters, that dude from Gogol Bordello or that Hitler guy, I will take your photo. Mustaches make for great photos and great entertainment for all. Q: Who doesn’t want to see photos of mustaches? A: No one.

As a bonus treat, please download the greatest song ever written about Mustaches ever: Moustache by Sparks off their classic Angst In My Pants album.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

This was covered in X Is For X-Rated, but lets be reasonable, it is about a 50/50 shot that you are at my website because of the naked girls.  Other than parties or naked girls I can’t really think of anything to take photos of, so naked girls at parties are pretty much top shelf around here.  I will shoot a party just because someone is probably going to get naked and I want content.  I will shoot pretty much any one naked, no matter what they look like, what sex they are or how much they weigh (naked fat people = comic gold).  Be it drunk frat boys with their shirts off or go-go dancers in their underwear nudity makes for good photos.  I promise that if you want to be on the internet, the quickest way to do that is to get on the internet naked and everyone knows being naked on the internet is good for your social standing.  Just when you get drunk and show me your boobs, try not to email me telling me to take it down, that’s just depressing. Don’t get naked in the first place, I just can’t take the disappointment anymore.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

It seems that at nearly every party I go to there is one guy who is just far too old to be at a party, and I am not talking about Joey Nova.  I am not sure where they come from or what there deal is, but I rarely see them ever talking to anyone.  They just sip their drinks and hold up the wall.  I mean I am sure I am going to be 50 and at a bar, but at least I’ll still be hitting on 18 year old girls.  I always photograph these guys because it adds a different element to a party and I never get the chance to take photos of people over 30 so it is fun to get these old, some times creepy, guys.  I like them, and I’m glad they are around… Especially Old Joe who is constantly at Trash and a fan of my site and the old biker dude with the beard cause he never stop dances and you have to respect the hell out of that.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

If the party you are shooting has a sponsor you need to get lovely shots of people with that product.  People drinking delicious Dewars, people partying next to a Motorola banner or people rocking whatever free giveaway some sponsor wants hipsters to have.  Doing this is sort of bullshit, I mean, I don’t really instinctively think of photography on those terms.  The thing is, when you get those good product shots, you get hired back, and you get better paying gigs.  It is the difference between getting $50 from a DJ to shoot his party to getting $750 from Absolut to shoot their exclusive event.  Plus there is an art to making products look amazing.  Try to think of it that way and maybe you won’t feel like the sell out you are.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Drag queens are the best. The always look awesome and they love getting their photo taken. And if you are on their good side they are the nicest and most optimistic people you can possibly meet. That being said… DON’T post a bad picture of one… they will hunt you down! Okay, maybe not, but it is not a good idea to piss off a drag queen… they will sass the hell out of you and you don’t want to get sassed… trust me on that one. Anyway, they have the best make up, the best outfits and the best poses… shoot them well, they deserve it.

I do have one question though… why are drag queens always so fucking tall?  Aren’t there any men below 6″ tall who want to feel like a lady once in a while?   What gives?