NYC-based freelancer Robert Caplin photographed mayor Mike Bloomberg for the New York Times.

I know I’ve said it before, but what I love about my job is the variety of assignments I get mostly on a moment’s notice. Since I’ve been back in NYC from a week in Ohio shooting for a college, I’ve had a range of assignments each day since I’ve been back: a jazz club, an author’s portrait, a scent museum exhibit, Barbara Cook’s 85th birthday at Carnegie Hall, a dress rehearsal of a Broadway play, and most recently a rare portrait opportunity with NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

It all started with a call around 10:15 AM asking if I could meet the Mayor on the Upper East Side across the park from where I live for a shoot that was still being arranged. It would be at either 11AM or noon. No problem. Quickly, I was told the shoot was at noon, so I thought I had some time to finish editing the previous evening’s shoot. At about 10:35 I get a call saying “change of plans, the mayor wants to meet you at City hall at 11AM. Now, I live on the upper West Side of Manhattan which is quite a trek from City Hall in the first place. To top it all off, I still hadn’t eaten breakfast or really gotten dressed for the day.

So I had to quickly upload the photos I was editing while getting dressed and my gear ready to rush out the door in hopes of getting to City Hall by 11. I already knew the time was not going to work and told my editor as much, but I was their only hope of scrambling someone as the mayor’s schedule shifted. I grabbed a cab which took me to an express Subway station on 72nd Street and I took the 2 Train directly to City Hall. I was above ground right at 11, but after going through the security checkpoint outside City Hall, it was 11:15 by the time I was inside. At that moment I got a call from my editor just as a mayor’s aide said, “Sorry, he’s left!”

Continue reading and see more photos on Robert’s blog.