max s. gerber(the latest shot)

adrian tomine is a graphic novelist, but if you hear him talk about it he uses the word “cartoonist” instead. he was in town to promote his new book, shortcomings. adrian started publishing his comics when he was a teenager, and you can occasionally see his work in the new yorker, too. he was giving a talk and doing a Q+A at skylight books later that night (Q+A session moderated by our very own bill smith) and i was initially told by his publicist not to ask him to draw anything or have him pretend to be reading and/or shopping for books. honestly that hadn’t occurred to me until she mentioned it. i get the feeling that photographers ask cartoonists to draw things a lot.

this was shot across the street from fred 62. fred 62 is a hipster diner in los feliz where young hollywood actresses meet out of town reporters for interviews. everything at fred 62 is too expensive and the only good thing about it is that my buddy dana had his first date with his wife there. other than that i’ve often found the place reprehensible. but since i was causing all this commotion across the street it was kind of fun to watch the people dining outside at fred 62 try to first figure out what the hell i was setting up and then whether or not adrian was anyone famous enough that they should be interested. there was also another photographer walking up and down vermont avenue taking pictures of what seemed like the tops of buildings. she walked by my backdrop, stood next to adrian, took a picture of me and then pointed at the wall and said “good idea.” thanks, mystery photographer.

thanks to natalie nichols for being patient.