Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper At National Board Of Review Awards 2019

Last night was the first big event this awards season in New York City — the National Board Of Review Annual Awards Gala 2019 — and I was totally amped up! From Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper to Viggo Mortensen and many more celebs, the NBR red carpet was star-studded to say the least.

Check out red carpet highlights from the National Board of Review Awards from Daniela's Lens:

4:45 p.m.
I arrive at Cipriani, and there is already a long line of photographers and tv crews. Every event photographer working the celebrity beat in New York City is here.

The check-in includes a full body metal detector scanner and a dog sniffing our equipment for explosives. Each time one of the photographers walks through the scanner it lights up and makes an earsplitting beep that can be heard all the way in Grand Central Station.

It's as useless as it can be when there are 60 people armed to the teeth with backpacks and cases full of metal adding up to a total of an estimated $150,000 of equipment. It's like they are trying to metal scan a unit of the US Army Special Forces about to go into combat. And actually, we are going into combat.

"I often smoke before a big crazy carpet." says one of the photographers walking in. "I get so amped-up and anxious. Just to cool me down, you know, just to calm down a little bit before the fight."

I walk through the scanner. BEEEEP!!! BEEEEEEEPPPPP!!!

The security woman looks up and down at me. "Jesus!" she says when she sees all the battery packs strapped around my waist. Then she shrugs and lets me pass.

The National Board Of Review Award Gala is the annual event dedicated to the support of cinema as both art and entertainment. Each year, this a select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers and professionals watch over 250 films before announcing the best work of the year.

Lady Gaga (Best Actress), Regina King (Best Supporting Actress), Bradley Cooper (Best Director) and Sam Elliott (Best Supporting Actor) are some of the winners of this year's event.

6:05 p.m.

Thomasin is first on the carpet and her purse is shaped like a cute little bunny!

6:11 p.m.

The photographers are still fighting over the best position in the tight carpet space.

"I will never forgive you that!!" says one of them when another one won't move half an inch to the right.

"GRRRR!!!"

6:12 p.m.

6:13 p.m.

The spots on the red carpet are marked upfront by the PR team, and it's a hierarchy. The best spots go to the biggest agencies and the most prestigious magazines. I'm not working for a billion dollar agency, and I'm not working for Vogue. Therefore, I'm nobody in this ranking system, and they probably picked all the spots for everybody else, and then they threw the piece of paper with my name somewhere in the back. I'm actually surprised my name is printed and not handwritten on a post-it note.

Speaking in terms of class, in the event photographer hierarchy, I'm from the South Bronx projects whereas the billion-dollar agency photographers are the Upper East Siders who grew up rich. We do not start from the same position. That's for sure. It's almost impossible for me to get a decent full-length fashion shot through the wall of cameras.

But, well, I'm in, and I make it work.

6:15 p.m.
Actress Regina King looks great and is all smiles. She receives the 'Best Supporting Actress' award tonight.

6:18 p.m.
Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal are very much in love!

6:19 p.m.
And then my equipment starts falling apart. First, the cover glass on my long lens falls off and disappears without a trace. "I've never seen anything like this." says one of the veteran photographers with amazement and shock.

6:20 p.m.
Olivia Wilde poses for us.

6:21 p.m.
"Over here, Olivia!"

Then one of my cameras stops working and displays ERRR!!! In the middle of an A-list shoot! I screw off the bracket and flash frame, chip all my nails off while doing so, pop out the battery and restart the whole thing. I'll do this four more times tonight.

6:25 p.m.
Then the screws of the flash frame are suddenly loose, and I have to take it off and push the flash straight onto the camera. Every five minutes I'm throwing another piece of my equipment over the heads of the photographer wall onto the pile of jackets and bags in the back. I'm a wannabe mixture of the A-Team and McGyver but without the skills.

6:28 p.m.
Viggo Mortensen!

At this point, I'm only holding a skeleton in my hand instead of a fully functioning red carpet camera.

6:32 p.m.
Bradley Cooper is here.

6:35 p.m.
Uh oh, he is handsome. He is very, very handsome.

And because you wouldn't otherwise believe it when I say he has the most awesome blue eyes I have ever seen, I zoomed all the way in for you:

6:41 p.m.
While I'm taking photos of Bradley, I see Richard Gere hopping on the carpet. He speeds down a few feet, waves, turns around and disappears.

6:43 p.m.
Back to Bradley Cooper.

6:44 p.m.
He is in a good mood tonight!

6:45 p.m.
Bradley takes all the time giving interviews to the international press.

6:47 p.m.
Uh oh, he is looking at me!!!

6:52 p.m.
Lady Gaga is here! And she poses as if her life depends on it. She is giving us every pose we could ever want. Everything she does is fun, sexy, interesting, glamorous and edgy at the same time.
In the everyday red carpet world, a black dress always looks boring, and it's never a good idea to wear too much black. But this is Gaga world and in Gaga world rules don't apply. She is working the dress to perfection, and it's almost outrageous how good she is at it. The craziest drag queen outfit with blinking light bulbs wrapped around it wouldn't draw more attention than this almost simple dress 'worn by Gaga TM'.

The entire room is in awe.

6:53 p.m.
Hi, there!

7:04 p.m.
One more look, please!

7:06 p.m.
And then she is off to give some interviews.

7:08 p.m.
I crawl on my hands and knees, not literally, but with the same amount of effort, through the mess of reporters, cables, cameras, microphones bumping into me left and right like lianas in a jungle. I climb and weasel over and around huge bags, cases and backpacks, holding my camera tight and the target in focus. There she is. And there is my moment. Lady Gaga adjusts her dress in a quick dance move that looks like she is Marilyn Monroe in the famous picture where her skirt blows up. Bang! Bang! Bang! That's the money shot. It will be the top featured photo of this event in the Daily Mail, outdoing every one of the 2,000 other photos posted to agencies tonight.

7:09 p.m.
And one more of her, because there are never enough Lady Gaga photos, right?

Daniela Kirsch is an entertainment photographer and founder of NameFace— an event photo agency based in New York City. Through her creative expertise and unique visual style, Kirsch not only knows more than a thing or two about photographing A-list events, but is forever changing the way we interact with the entertainment industry. In June 2018, Kirsch teamed up with Patch to launch the photo series Daniela's Lens, offering weekly features from local events to red carpet magic.

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