Here are PAPER/PAPERMAG.com nightlife photographer Zac Sebastian's top five moments of 2011 wherein he stopped, looked around, and thought, "Wow, I love this job."
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1. The launch party for Julia Restoin's lingerie line with Kiki de Montparnasse
My job is great... Need I say more? OK, I will. I shot this on my birthday. Usually people would complain about having to work on their birthday...
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2. Penn Badgley, Zoe Kravitz, Alexa Chung and More Host "Occupy" at Bowery Hotel
Discussing income inequality in the Bowery Hotel with a plethora of downtown It kids and the creative media elite. Mos Def read a letter from prison for a solid 45 minutes and the drinks were still 20 bucks. Who said equality came cheap?
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3. Mick Rock's "Rocked" opening at the W Hotel Downtown
That's the man himself shooting Phantagram killing it onstage right before Mark Ronson took to the decks. A legend worth celebrating in my opinion. And celebrate we did with a collection of pretty people, Miss Karen O and the rest of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and two-thirds of the Gossip Girl man cast. A blowout indeed.
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4. The Florence and the Machine x Interview party at the Boom Boom Room
You can have all the staging and theatrics you want, but when you have a voice like this all you need is a mic and breathing room. I'm pretty sure the Boom Boom Room was at capacity, but Florence sang four new songs that I'd never heard from her then unreleased album, and it was amazing. The dog days truly are over.
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5. The T-Mobile party featuring The Black Keys
So as you can imagine, that was a really loud moment. And even if I end up basically deaf as as an old man, I can say for sure that watching one of the greatest bands of our time rock the shit out of some ridiculously chosen uptown venue with sub par spacing but creative hors d'oeuvres... was totally worth it. Who can say no to fantastic egg rolls and fucking awesome music?
1. The launch party for Julia Restoin's lingerie line with Kiki de MontparnasseMy job is great... Need I say more? OK, I will. I shot this on my birthday. Usually people would complain about having to work on their birthday...
2. Penn Badgley, Zoe Kravitz, Alexa Chung and More Host "Occupy" at Bowery Hotel
Discussing income inequality in the Bowery Hotel with a plethora of downtown It kids and the creative media elite. Mos Def read a letter from prison for a solid 45 minutes and the drinks were still 20 bucks. Who said equality came cheap?
3. Mick Rock's "Rocked" opening at the W Hotel DowntownThat's the man himself shooting Phantagram killing it onstage right before Mark Ronson took to the decks. A legend worth celebrating in my opinion. And celebrate we did with a collection of pretty people, Miss Karen O and the rest of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and two-thirds of the Gossip Girl man cast. A blowout indeed.
4. The Florence and the Machine x Interview party at the Boom Boom RoomYou can have all the staging and theatrics you want, but when you have a voice like this all you need is a mic and breathing room. I'm pretty sure the Boom Boom Room was at capacity, but Florence sang four new songs that I'd never heard from her then unreleased album, and it was amazing. The dog days truly are over.
5. The T-Mobile party featuring The Black KeysSo as you can imagine, that was a really loud moment. And even if I end up basically deaf as as an old man, I can say for sure that watching one of the greatest bands of our time rock the shit out of some ridiculously chosen uptown venue with sub par spacing but creative hors d'oeuvres... was totally worth it. Who can say no to fantastic egg rolls and fucking awesome music?
