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Feb
07
Is there a direct relationship with torment and seeking the will to create art? or are we creative first, and then tormented as our demons seek to destroy us?
I’ve always enjoyed what Francis Bacon paintings do to me (the Irish one). The first time I saw an exhibition I had to sit down right away – I couldn’t move. Time stopped. The paintings pulled me apart. I felt similarly when first seeing some of Francesca Woodman’s photographs. To me, Francesca Woodman is to photography as Francis Bacon is to painting – seems logical in perhaps an obvious academic comparison. Well, whatever I don’t know about them I’ve fallen for the capture of motion in their dark worlds. The ability to capture time at a slower rate than it passes is one of the more useful tools a camera can offer up. I’ve felt like describing my profession this way many times – stopping time for a living.
So, what to do when you want to take a portrait of a friend and gear and lighting is limited? You slow down time over and over and see what happens and do everything you told your students never to do – copy Francesca Woodman. Now I think about it, does it matter anymore if it’s right for whom you are photographing at that moment?
My friend, a New York artist, has survived many harrowing times – I’ve learned over the years, and layers of personal data is embedded into our friendship. Even if these images parallel or are influenced by Woodman and, or Bacon, if you can’t exercise demons through art, then how would you?
Dec
11
One of my all time favorite photography assignments this year was documenting a series of concerts at the Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus. The plan was a really good one. The artist, Marsha Levin-Rojer was commissioned to make a series of sculptures that would hang above the stage over the performers – and, the audience seating was on the stage! Creating this dynamic and intimate experience of connecting the audience with the performers and the art. It worked very well. All the shows sold out. And, the art was very beautiful.
The final of the three performances was magical beyond my words could ever describe. David Greilsammer had flown in that day from Switzerland to perform ‘Scarlatti/Cage Sonatas: Journey Between Two Worlds’ – two Steinways facing each other, but one filled with screws, bolts, erasers and bits between the piano strings. The modification gave it a dulled but percussive sound – was amazing.
Photographically it’s a challenging project – very low light, long exposures, only tripod work. Lucky for me I could sit in the on the rehearsals and capture the majority of images needed before the audience was seated, and then retreat to the balcony – only able to move or shoot when there was applause. And, most frequently and in this case it was at the end only. You basically have to be a photo ninja to not disturb anything during the performance – moving step by step on old creaky floorboards. They would hear the shutter click from up there and it would ruin the quiet moments of the performance. Advised discretion.
During the rehearsal David had a few requests – lower the lights (oh no I thought) and turn up the heat a bit – which meant tuning the piano again right before the performance. Lower light I thought – oh well, he wants it dark – dark it will be. I switched over to black and white and underexposed many of my shots to make them as moody as I could. During these final stage edits everyone had left to prepare for the show. I sat nearby and watched David play the pianos forever and took the occasional shot so as not to disturb him. It was just me and him.
I travelled that journey between two worlds – twice, and I highly recommend looking up his schedule and going to a performance. Not only was the Cage part elevating – the whole experience opened my creative envelope never to be sealed again. I love what I do for moments such as these.
Oct
28
Did you ever read the story about Edward Weston and his best-known photograph of Pepper No. 30? I hope you do. So much intellectualizing over the emotional relationship to a vegetable. As well as the Wikipedia entry (which I encourage you to review), I have heard accounts from some of my senior photography contemporaries – perhaps a more detailed account about the reality of that day with that very special pepper. It’s a lesson in try, try and try again – or – never, never, never give up.
My day was a classic disaster. With photography, many times as the scene changes – you have to adapt and perhaps revisit what your plan may have been. The planned shoot was a failure, but I did have a back up pepper. Much like a writer would be disciplined to rewrite, a photographer must be disciplined to reshoot – until it’s right the way it should be, and consciously continuing to experiment. Only you know what is right and why.
During my comparison of creating a forgery, I found a Sotheby’s web page – Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 sold for $341,000. Here’s the link if you have feelings to see it with your own eyes. Sotherby’s.
So the pepper I happened to have handy was from a local farmer where I have a share, hence its real smile. Peppers in the supermarket are grown to spec without personality, and those peppers will likely never be photographed as an object of beauty.
Sep
05
“There’s a person sleeping over there,” the realtor said over her shoulder as we walked through the upper floor of the abandoned Trenton Times building. “Oof,” was all I could offer in response as I picked my way around debris and wondered how he had managed to get from one side of the open stairwell to the perch where he was currently slumped high above the ground across the way.
Quite often I am given a key or access to a venue to photograph and left to wander through, gauging ideal lighting and other technical negotiations the client is too busy to witness. In Trenton, this sometimes means trekking through dilapidated structures or rough neighborhoods. I am never excited about rummaging around inside the sad abandoned buildings of a broken city – especially when you run the risk of surprising people that might be living there temporarily – but this assignment has a lining of hope.
My task was to document everything for the buyer that is renovating the site into a Charter School. This part of the story makes it great. The future of this building is seemingly secure.
The first floor is completely boarded up – so no not much light to work with. I knew this ahead of time so I did multiple HDR shots from a tripod and had a hand held continuous light. It was great to finally get up on the roofs and discover that there are in fact two Trenton Times neon signs (in decent shape) one facing Perry St., the other Rt. 1 South – who knew?
The typography of the signage set against urban decay is of visual interest to me, telling the story of a bustling newspaper that has now moved on to bigger and brighter spaces, but knowing it will be a place where children learn and play is most interesting of all.
Aug
05
One of my favorite things about Monopoly more than the game itself is the tokens. Since childhood I remember my whole family used to play quite bit, or just me and my sisters. I don’t ever remember winning much, but I always enjoyed playing and think that the Top hat was my first choice token, race car, then Scottie dog.
There’s a vast Wikipedia entry on Monopoly and I find it very interesting that over time certain tokens are retired. I know there’s a few missing from this batch I bought on ebay – the iron, and sack of money. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the lantern, purse or rocking horse. In 2013 new tokens include a robot, guitar and cat, and the locomotive comes with a special edition.
Since the tokens are quite small, I had to use a 100 mm macro lens. I set up one light (beauty dish) with the diffuser at 375 watts (above the scene pointing down) and bounced the light to an angled white reflector. I moved the camera around quite a bit and shot many angles – some shots I had the lens on the white table as low as I could go. The results to me are pleasing, being able to see the detail in the casting in an object known to be so small.
One of the things that I really enjoy is how iconic these random objects are – we know what they are from just seeing one or two and the rest falls into place – thanks to memory. I’m pretty sure that Monopoly is rather tight with its licensing – you just can’t exploit someone else’s intellectual property – so these images are for vanity only, unless they can be changed somehow for the context of fine art.
Jul
20
Distorted self portraits is a project I have been thinking about for a while – perhaps it’s a reaction to the massive amount of selfies I see, and then perhaps my images become the anti-selfie. I have an Art Photography class coming up that I’ll be teaching and this is one of the assignments. Students are challenged to take their self portrait, (with the camera on timer), and they must distort their portrait photographically, not digitally. They can obstruct their face and get creative with lighting and angles.
At my studio I have lots of masks that I’ve collected – really for no reason other than an impulse buy when I’m at my favorite dollar store around the corner. For this assignment I felt I could finally employ some masks. The set up is an easy one – one light front right and high up, camera on a tripod and connected to a laptop so I can see the screen in preview mode, and shallow DOF, f/1.4 – the focus is though part.
One of my favorite examples of photographer as subject is the series Untitled Film Stills by Cindy Sherman – it still resonates with me – I have loved that series of images for so many years. Photographers Diane Arbus and Ralph Eugene Meatyard have several photographs where the subject wears a mask. Although their images are memorable to me – they are not so much of an influence on my work.
Some photographers as artists have to be the subject – and I don’t think that’s out of ego or narcissism, just a practicality. And, other photographers have no interest in being their own subject – I understand that too. Distorted self portraits is a useful exercise that enables the photographer as subject to take creative liberties.
Jun
18
I have photographed for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (Hamilton, NJ) for four years now – over 24 shoots (!). We have a great working relationship and work very hard to make the subject feel comfortable during the photo sessions. We scout locations, do test shoots – schedule permitting – and make sure we have a good plan and efficient use of everyone’s time.
The images are used primarily for their quarterly Health Check magazine, as well as ads in the Trenton Times on Sunday. This series of images were used to create a series of posters for the hallways of the hospital.
It’s great to see a collection of your work like this. The graphic design is always strong and helps support the overall goal – these people are just like you and me, and they have a story to tell.
Apr
21
Mud larking is my new favorite passion. I knew it would be since I heard about it. I went to the UK for a quick visit recently – and had to make sure I had a go. Lucky for me the day I went to London the tide was out, but turning back on the shores of the River Thames. I only had a couple of hours before I’d have to hoof it out.
Mud Larkers dig and wade in the mud, silt, stones when the Thames is out to unearth the most amazing treasures of years gone by. The mud is anaerobic – without oxygen – so preserves just about anything. So, it’s not uncommon to find combs made of bone, Victorian pottery, coins, clay pipes, animal bones, etc. I am told that the blue glass in a little ribbed bottle would have been a poison bottle – how about that.
As I was walking I’d just sift the stones and see dozens of broken clay pipes and pottery – everywhere you looked.
You are supposed to get permission from the Port Authority of London if you dig below the the surface – and if you find something incredible ‘share it’ with the Museum of London – anyway since their web site was down I took my chances and scaled the wall down by the OXO Tower and trolled up to The Globe Theatre (Shakespeare’s Globe) opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral. A very friendly veteran Mud Larker looked at my loot (no better than the Hatton Garden diamond heist), and gave me the bottle stopper. She had found a King George coin and dice made of bone the week before.
It might look like a pile of junk – but shoplifting off the shores of the Thames is finders keepers – unless you find something the Museum of London doesn’t have in its collection.
Mar
03
Finally, I got to work with Bai Drinks – I wanted to for ages. This shot was for an assignment for Princeton Magazine. Typically CEO’s really don’t have too much time to dedicate to photo shoots – but, these two were fantastic to work with and fit me in between meetings. Both Ben and Danna were awesome, creative and enthusiastic to work with, and Carolynn who organized, arranged, styled – and everything else. Bai Drinks is a company to envy. Their culture, and offices are beautiful – so well designed and the people who work there are happy!
Ben and Danna’s office is more like a cool, well designed living room – something you might find in a high end hotel. The light from the floor to ceiling wall of windows cast such a beautiful light – all I needed was a remote flash on a stand, high up and bouncing back. And boom – I could not believe the colors, the expressions, the poses – oh my. If anyone ever made my job as a photographer easy it was these two.
In this shot, there were some wall graphics that needed to be removed for the sake of the article, my good friend, Jorge Naranjo, the most talented graphic designer around took care of that – so, he is credited with photo re-touching, however, his layout designs are noticeably superb.
You have to check out their web site and try their drinks if you haven’t already – their aesthetic is simply amazing and all the drinks are good, really good. http://www.drinkbai.com/
Dec
19
One of my favorite client portraits of the year is of Asim. He is a Doctor of Dental Surgery in Red Bank, NJ. We talked on the phone a bit about what he needed, and it was as I expected, the dentist in a white lab coat shot as well as few semi-formal photos in a suit – for speaking engagements. We were wondering if his suit was tailored as it fit so well, but no – he said, whenever he gets a suit, they just fit well!
At the end of these sessions I’ve been adding what I call a concept shot for my portfolio as long as the client is comfortable with it. We staged this shot of Asim balancing a feather. I was hoping that he wouldn’t find it too strange and see the connection with the prop the same way I did. Using my favorite flat black backdrop and only two lights on continuous (but low), I wanted the light to spill onto the background as I needed separation with his dark suit – but directed on the feather.
His gesture and expression, the tonality of image and contrast of the white feather against all the dark tones are what makes this my favorite client portrait of the year.
