Near the end of March I got an email asking me to be in New York three days later. Excitement ensued but was soon overtaken by the need to organise the trip at such late notice. A bit of re-prioritising combined with a couple late nights and I was soon boarding my flight heading to JFK airport.
I was there to photograph The Big Egg Hunt, a massive charity event where giant eggs were painted by top artists and designers and then put in fantastic locations all around the city. I had worked on the Big Egg Hunt when it was in London two years ago and then when it toured the UK last year, so it was great to get to travel to America for this year's hunt.
Having never been to NYC before this was the best introduction I could have asked for: the job took me 65 stories up in the Rockefeller, got me backstage access on The Today Show, put me in countless yellow taxis, gave me the chance to eat donuts with the local, drink coffee with the expats and generally go all over this wonderful city.
My aim was to produce an image library that encouraged people to go out and find the eggs that were distributed all around the city. These images would be used on social media, in the press and in the auction catalogue to help promote the event and to push auction prices higher. It was pretty amazing to see my images published all over the place including in The New York Times, The Telegraph Online, InStyle online and countless other media outlets I haven't managed to find.
Whilst working I had the honour of meeting the amazing Mark Shand. He tragically died a few weeks later and will be sorely missed by his friends at the Elephant Family. Here he is with his elephant tattoo...
Thanks so much to everyone at the Big Egg Hunt, the Elephant Family and Saatchi NY for making me feel so welcome in New York.
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