At the close of 2012 I thought it might be fun to do one of those photo-a-month retrospectives, so I pulled my favorite photo from each month of the year and posted it on Facebook and Tumblr. Maybe Twitter too, I can't keep it all straight. But as this is my site I can elaborate on my choices a bit.
January's photo was shot to pimp my buddy Ginger V's new line of tees for his band. He had a few designs but this was the one I liked best, mostly because it's nice to look down and see inspirational words sprawled across my chest instead of a pile of assorted profanity. Sometimes.
February was the opening of a club called XL, the centerpiece of a gay multiplex near Times Square. My friends the Zand Collective were making an appearance and as it was one of those rare times when I was housesitting on the UWS I didn't feel too uncomfortable about going in full drag. The dress was a hit, unsurprisingly, though I don't think I've worn it since.
March's photo quickly became one of those photos of mine that people will remember for a long time, a trio of my primary incarnations shot on the spur of the moment in my kitchen in Brooklyn. Hell yes for whomever invented the camera timer.
April goes to one of my outings with my beloved Fische who came to visit me during one of my stays in Williamsburg. I think we were on our way into the city to shop and have sushi with bubble tea. It's kind of our thing.
May's photo comes from the spring leg of Manson's Hey, Cruel World tour. This shot was taken at the afterparty with Laney and Twiggy in Atlantic City, NJ after the show at the House of Blues. HoB is always an amazing show. Great sound, great ambience, small enough to get the crowd frenzied, and the Foundation Room afterward is super swank. Love it.
June sprang from my fascination with the tile in the bathroom back in Williamsburg. Also I'd just grabbed this dress from Beacon's Closet and had just enough time to grab this shot before I left for the Zands' Marilyn Is Dead monthly burlesque gig.
July brought NC Shuva's blog launch party. He's the singer of PUi, a really great band for which I have no good description other than "fantastic". And he's pretty much gorgeous, so of course I showed up at the party. The handsome fellow with me is George, another regular on the flight to Planet Krunk at The Box on Friday nights. I think the Zands are responsible for a good 75% of the occasions I dress up for.
August marked the period when I went from "I really want to fix up the place" to "that's it, I'm fixing up the place". This started a 2-3 week time period of basic home improvement that naturally took place in the dead of summer when it was too hot to move, because my brain seems to be wired to take the path of most resistance. Obviously me painting in tiny shorts screamed photo op, and here we are.
September I cheated with a bit as this was shot in July for Krashcity Magazine but I honestly don't think I took a single decent photo in September. :( BAD MANZIN. NO BISCUIT.
October comes from the always Halloween-y Laura Dark's editorial for Auxiliary Magazine in which I portrayed the very excellent Sweeney Todd and was forced to spend the day being primped and fussed over by a full team while being able to play with a lovely straight razor. My life, I swear. Wouldn't wish it on anyone. Ha!
November found me in Ohio, stranded at my parents' house after what was supposed to be an overnight nap turned into over a week's stay due to a deer kamikaze-ing itself into the side of my car on Rt 80 on my way home from NYC. $2800 damage to a `98 Dodge spells "totaled" and as it took me awhile to get all of that ironed out, I had lots of time to shoot something. Initially I was going to redo a shot I'd taken several years back when this wall was half-painted. Had the name picked out and everything, but it just wasn't coming together the way I wanted. I ended up slumped on the mantle trying to figure out what to shoot instead when I thought "shit, might as well just shoot this" and here we are. The bandage is because my nails were super long at the time and my index finger was starting to split. I was trying to keep it bandaged until I could get it repaired, which I did though it broke again not four hours later and eventually I lost the nail.
December closes out the year with a photo taken before my birthday dinner, safe and sound in Detroit. And with a new pair of Jeffrey Campbells I'd snagged at the Solestruck Black Friday sale.