Threading The Neeleman

“I don’t think you understand, we will be packing up the equipment to leave by the time he gets here.“ I was talking on the phone with David Neeleman’s assistant, our subject for today’s shoot, from the top of São Paulo, Brazil‘s famous Edifício Itália. She told me that Mr. Needleman might be late, as he’s running some errands on his way to our early AM shoot for Conde Nast Portfolio. We had a tight window of opportunity, from when the building management would let us load in, to when the rooftop restaurant needed to prepare for lunch service.

After multiple conversations (in Portuguese and English) we were able to wrangle this prestigious location, and now it was slipping through our fingers. I had flown down to Brazil for this unique shoot with American entrepreneur David Neeleman (he had founded Jet Blue, and now was launching Azul Airlines in South America), using a combined São Paulo and New York crew we had everything set up: stands, strobe lights, reflectors, ladders, etc.

In fact, I wasn’t worried. With many years of experience with crazy (and impossible) shoots little could faze me. Plus, having shot with many Rock and Hip Hop stars, hours of delay was a familiar narrative. So, while keeping the magazine’s photo team in the US in the loop, we packed up as planned and rescheduled the session for the next day.

We returned early the following morning, and set up again, this time with a subject on hand. He was positively electric, and we got some great photographs.

I write about this now as I recently had a reunion with Mr. Neeleman, this time promoting the new Breeze Airlines for Bloomberg Businessweek, shooting at Ise Airport on Long Island, NY. Once again, some dynamic portraiture, but this time he showed up on the appointed day.

Top Image: David Neeleman on top of Edifício Itália, 46-story skyscraper located in of São Paulo, Brazil. Built from 1956 to 1965, it has a fine dining restaurant, and a rooftop observation deck open for tourists.

Second Image: Chris and his wife Michelle Golden headed to Rio de Janeiro after the shoot. On the train up to the iconic Cristo overlooking the city they were affectionately ambushed by teenagers on a school trip.

Bottom Images: Key shots from the March 2021 shoot with David Neeleman at Ise Airport on Long Island. Thank you to Photo Editor Donna Cohen!