Day 62: Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen

2026-04-09

Hello! Well, this is something.

Last month, I got in contact with WikiPortraits, an international organization that captures photos of people for Wikipedia and its sister projects. They let me go to the New Directors / New Films opening night in New York to take photos, and let me just say: oh my god i have no idea what i'm doing.

I've worked as an event photographer before — both paid (summer job with kids) and volunteer (school) — but this time I knew no one and felt thoroughly fish-out-of-water. It was great!

Outside of photography, I volunteer as an usher for a theater and auditorium, and each time they onboard someone new, the staff's go-to process is to "throw them in the middle of the duck pond" — which I have heard no one else say! The more conventional version, I guess, is to "plunge in the deep end". Do something challenging first, and learn quickly under pressure. It doesn't work for everyone, but that's how I like to do things.

So it makes sense that I signed up for my first assignment with WikiPortraits less than 24 hours after joining the organization. World moves quick, man. I think I set up WhatsApp wrong.

This was a red carpet event in formal attire in New York City. I took so many photos, and I'll license the good ones; you'll see my uploads eventually at Wikimedia Commons. So far, there's only one photo — this one — because it's funny.

Update 2026-04-10: I have licensed all images from the event and uploaded them to Wikimedia Commons.

Working with organizations and sending emails is still a bit beyond me; Jennifer Lee connected me in the first place (thank you!... and sorry for all the newbie questions!).

This is only my second Creative Commons-licensed photo on this blog; I thought I would have done more. The first photo was from February, where I submitted something for a competition.

Finally, Stephen Wan's city guide for New York City. I don't know how the hell I found this — especially since he works at an AI company, and I tend to steer away from that — but this city guide seems intimate and personal, and I figured it would be worth exploring. I only went to New York exclusively for the film festival, but if I ever get some free hours next time, I'll try following this guide.

Cheers,
David