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Well it was another amazing year at the Time 100 Gala in NYC  for the Time 100 Most Influential People last Thursday evening.  This is my third year shooting the honorees and their Swarovski award and it is such a privilege to cover this event.  Here are a few highlights….

Robert Downey Jr.…my brother saw Iron Man and said it was great:

Lance Armstrong:

The incredibly warm and funny Suze Orman (she did pick up this super heavy award!)  I highly recommend her books and have bought The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke for everyone I know who is leaving college and starting their career!

Ambassador Nancy Goodman Brinker, the founder of the Susan G. Koman for the Cure organization.  She is the sister of Susan Koman.  What she’s done with Race for the Cure is amazing to me.

The lovely Senator John McCain.  His character is just oozing out of him.  I photographed him first in 2006 and it was so interesting to see the change just two years later – everyone cheered when he came in, Secret Service is now with him full time and were there as early (or earlier maybe) as we were:

One of the Swarovski sponsors, Kim, with the Senator:

Thanks so much to James from Access Hollywood for picking up my back-up camera to take a photo of me shooting him.  For those interested in the gear, I shoot this kind of job with my Canon 5D, a 24-70mm, a bracket, my 580 Speedlite flash, and a Canon flash battery on my waist to improve my flash recycle time.  I’m bouncing off the ceiling and Time has already set up two big hot lights on either side of me.  While the honorees eat dinner, I edit the pics on my laptop and provide them to Time and Swarovski that night.  I’m then able to go to the last 1-2 hours of the party which is really nice!:

Herbie Hancock performed at the event:

I  had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat, Pray, Love among many other things as well as her charming father and Uncle Nick (not pictured).  She just gave me her website address and I encourage anyone thinking about writing, or photography for that matter, to read her thoughts on writing…the link is here.  I have often said "why not me".   

Senator George Mitchell and his wife:

Lorne Michaels from SNL – the SNL crew performed a skit that night:

Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy created Guitar Hero for Playstation and more – if you are a mom and haven’t heard of this yet…get ready!  My best friend Robin tells me she’s the drummer when she plays with her kids!

Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo…incredible woman:

Rupert Murdoch:

The only man who has made me cry I was laughing so hard lately…thank you Judd Apatow for 40-Year Old Virgin!:

Judd, Chris Rock and Gayle King at the party:

Mariah performing:

Great working with these guys year after year and meeting new people.  Hi to Steve and Burl from CNN, James from Access Hollywood, Peter and Talia from Rubenstein, Jamel from wireimage.com, Scott from the Secret Service, and all the Time people (especially Cindy and Greg!),  and of course the wonderful Swarovski sponsors, Kim and Erin.  Here’s a few pics pre-event:

Greg Galant from Time Inc who covered the party for Time:

Cindy Murphy from Time and Bill Shauck, the hit of the night!:

Kim and Erin from Swarovski:

I’ll end on just a couple of personal notes about NY – a city that I’m utterly in love with, partly because lovely unexpected things always happen there.  Post-party I’m piled in a cab with a bunch of Time people headed back to the hotel for the after-party and I sneeze like 8 times in a row.  Everyone says bless-you but I hear a "bless you" from outside the cab — I stick my head out and it’s the cab driver in the cab next to us as we are stopped at a light.  Then I take a bus home to Hartford and at the end (11 pm Friday night), the driver comes on and says in a very soft voice "I just want to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day…and if you are not a mother I still want to say that to all the women because you are all our mothers – the mothers of earth"…and the bus clapped and it was a very sweet moment.

Last week I had the photographer’s dream job – to photograph Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People with their crystal Swarovski award at their annual gala in New York City.  It’s held at an amazing place, The Jazz at Lincoln Center, which has a wall of windows overlooking the skyline.  This is the second year I’ve done it, and it was a truly amazing evening…

Here’s a few faces you might recognize:

Kate Blanchett:

Michael J. Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan:

America Ferrera (Ugly Betty):

John Mayer, who was an honoree, performed that night:

A behind the scenes look into our shooting room – John and America:

Mayor Bloomberg, the Mayor of NYC:

Brian Williams:

Matt Lauer and his wife, Annette:

Richard Branson and his wife, Joan:

Crouching Tiger star, Ziyi Zhang:

SNL’s Tina Fey:

Senator John Edwards and his wife, the honoree, Elizabeth Edwards:

Craig of Craig’s List!

Wesley Autrey (the subway hero):

Arianna Huffington:

Rhonda Byrne, author of "The Secret":

Youssou N’Dour, an honoree, also performed live:

Simon Fuller (creator of American Idol):

You probably recognize these famous faces right away… Jane and Cindy Shauck.  Photo by Greg Gallant who works for Time.

A shot I took of the cocktail party.

Overall, AMAZING evening!