Sunshine

This image of Stephanie was created a little while back. We were shooting on a porch deck and she moved closer to the house. The roof line just cut the sun off part of her face. And, she closed her eyes against the glare. Click!

Real People Portraits

This is another portrait from the Reflections at the Footlight project I did a while back.

Tonee was the stage manager during that project, so we found an interesting piece of the backstage area to set up her portrait.

We lit her with a large octabank in the front and an umbrella from behind.

She walked onto our set and we had our image in no time. On to the next set up!

Power Lunch- Redefined

Ah, kids.

Brian Heil, over at Hue Brand Group, creative directed this project, for a non-profit reading program. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids and they, I think, had a lot of fun with us.

The challenge, as always, is to keep their attention span. Or, at least, direct their attention to what we need to accomplish.

I learned a lot from this shoot. One of the kids taught me some of the worst knock knock jokes ever!

Izzi's in the House!

It is amazing to me to watch kids work at things that excite them.

They bring so much passion to a project. Sometimes they bring a little chaos as well, but not so here.

Izzi, who's parents are involved in productions at the Footlight Club, came to the shoot fully prepared. In fact, she asked Joy, my stylist and make up person on set, about where paint should be placed on her shirt to make it more effective and authentic.

She was fully engaged in her portrait and a great collaborator!

A Stock Conversation

Last week, I was in a meeting with a medium sized ad agency art buyer, showing her samples of my black and white work. She got enthusiastic about the work and started rattling off projects where this work would be appropriate.

As I watched, her face fell a bit when she tagged the conversation with, "But, we are having a hard time getting them away from royalty free stock images. Despite the fact that the images they choose keep showing up in [their competition's] collateral and ads."

I had another conversation over the phone with a head of a small design agency. She said that they used royalty free stock all the time. Yes, the images would show up in other companies' marketing materials. But, none of her clients were national, so it didn't really matter.

During a coffee conversation with an art director, he lamented that he was spending hours retouching and repurposing stock images to fit marketing concepts. By the time he was finished, he was billing as much in retouching fees as a custom shoot would have cost. And, the image still looked enough like the original that 5000 brochures were recycled when it showed up as the back wall of the competition's booth at a trade show.

I am not one to jump up and down and try to convince you that stock is bad and evil. It isn't. And, in some places, it is very appropriate. Even the royalty free stuff. Sometimes.

However, if you are working hard, spending lots of money and energy, trying to differentiate yourself - your company - from everyone else within your market, what is going to happen when the big national financial firm across the street is using the same image for their brochures that you have for yours?

Original marketing photography, like every other element of a company, is an investment. There is no get rich quick scheme. There is no short cut. There is no silver bullet.

And, in marketing, the payoff is directly related to your investment.

Great, original work will get you recognized. Great, copycat work... will get the other folks recognized...

The original image above was created to promote a production of "Anything Cole".

Sitting in Traffic

Have you ever stopped at a stop light and looked at the people in the cars around you?

Each one is the center of their own world. Each one is the ruler of all they survey from within their mobile glass and steel microcosm. They can exert total control over this little world, directing where it goes and even how warm or cold it is inside.

And, within that bubble, anything they do is justified. After all, they are the center of that little universe, with God-like powers.

Or, maybe I am projecting a bit...

Have you ever sat at a stop light and realized that someone was watching you from the next car?

The image above was created a few years ago, based on an actual event. I was the little boy in the window in the background...

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I had to get a few more in before Halloween hits.

This series has been complete for a while now. Or, atleast as complete as I can make it until my kids are old enough to not want to go trick or treating or want to go with me to NYC.

But, I still love Halloween and want to do something photographic for it. Now the question is, what should I do next?

Blondie in the Village

Can't believe I am running out things to say about this event. Well, not so much running out as having other things going on.

Between clients, the Jamaica Plain Arts Council, which I am a co-president and web dude, and now Jury Duty, it is hard to keep on track on the blog.

So here is just a couple more cool pics from that series.

A Night in the Village Remembering

This image was created on Halloween 2001. We followed this couple for about 7 blocks.

There was plenty of cheering and not a few tears from passers by and fellow costumed characters.

Night in the Village

The RED SOX WON!

Yay, Sox!

Halloween In Greenwich Village

People are amazing. As a photographer who is called upon to create portraits for marketing and the occasional editorial project, I often come across subjects who are reluctant and hesitant.

And, that's okay. That is part of the challenge. To help them understand that their 15 minutes is here and that they can trust me to create an image that they will be proud to be associated with.

In stark contrast, everyone at these events in the Village have almost no reluctance. Only two people, out of the thousands we saw over 5 years, were not into strutting in front of the camera.

It is like their inner child has come to play and wants, or even craves, our attention.

I always wonder how many of these people were CEOs and engineers in their "day" persona.

A Night in the Village Lives...

After the first year, I was hooked. As a social anthropologist (voyeur), it was a fascinating experience.

As a photographer (voyeur), I was stuck with the problem of what to do with all of these images. In those days, print on demand was still in its infancy. The idea of putting together a book was beyond my meager skills.

A Night in the Village, The Story Continues 5

For a suburban kid who moved to Boston, because he wanted to be in a big city (Boston is more like a big town to me), this place was nuts.

Over the top and totally out there.

For a photographer, a person who is basically a voyeur anyway, it was heaven.

Outrageous behavior and outfits, visual puns and Clinton masks were the flavor of the night.

A Night in the Village, The Story Continues 4

So, totally in the moment, Greg and I started a dance. He watched me and where I was aiming and moved to position himself behind and to one side of my intended subject.

I would approach a person, a character, and make suitable noises. 99% of the time, the people would pose or laugh and say "sure". A couple of times, I got a suspicious look or a head shake. But, almost everyone was out with their best work, ready, willing and wanting to be seen.

And, I was happy to oblige.

That year, we shot 10 rolls of black and white film.

Editing was exciting.

A Night in the Village, The Story Continues 3

We skipped a year due to a scheduling issue but were right back at it, better prepared and totally jazzed.

Armed this time with my new Nikon F5 and a wide angle lens, we hit the streets, looking for adventure and new images.

This time we had a better idea of what we were looking for. But, I still had a nagging problem. I had no idea what I was creating this body of work for. In a way, it was a handicap, mentally.

In another way, it was supremely liberating.

As I have said before, I love the challenge of getting into a client's head to see what exactly they are looking for... even when they can't describe it fully themselves. That, to me, is fun and has been lucrative for me, so I guess I have been successful at it.

This time, there was no limits, just create what I felt at the moment.

A Night in the Village, The Story Continues 2

In the days of film, the moment of truth was opening that envelop from the lab and shaking out the contact sheets.

Sometimes, you are reaching for the loupe. Sometimes, you are reaching for the malox.

Of course, as a professional, we endeavor to have more loupe moments than panic moments. That is one reason why we always shot so much film on each shoot. Our mantra of "Just one more roll" was for the sanity of ourselves and our clients, who would rather we didn't say "The film was ruined at the lab."

[A little known trade secret is that some photographers used that excuse even if they, themselves, caused the film to be toasted. Not that I ever used that excuse. But, in 14 years of shooting film, the lab did munch 2 rolls. Really! They did! But, they were very nice about it and, luckily, I had backup rolls. Besides, 14 years, thousands of rolls and only 2 ever got et? Not bad!]

The first sheet came out and, as dramatic as I would like to make this, I can't. The film was a little thin, but otherwise perfect.

I was hooked and would be for the next 6 years.

A Night in the Village, The Story Continues

That first year was one of those personal challenges that was more mental that physical.

However, it also took its toll on our bodies.We walked over all over those 12 blocks, carrying a bag of film, spare batteries, and a charger for the second flash. Occasionally, we had to stop for a breather and a refresher.

By the end of the night, we had exposed 12 rolls of 120 film and imbibed a fair number of beers.

By two am, we were wiped out and ready to recover the vehical.

But, this wasn't the end of our adventures...

A Night in the Village, the Production Part 3

Now, I am standing on a street corner, with a rental camera around my neck.

Greg is waiting, with various degrees of patience, for my direction.

And, out of the gloom and flash of taxi lights, Golden Boy comes walking toward me.

"Dude, great costume! Can I snap your picture?"

And, so it began..

Stay tuned!

A Night in the Village, the Production Part 2

So, I panicked.

Just so you understand my problem, up until this point, I had been strictly an assignment photographer. In other words, you give me an assignment and we will set up the production. Location scouting, casting, makeup, stylists, assistants, equipment rentals and research all go into the mix.

Lots of prep, pre planning, thinking, consulting, so that we can create the perfect image for our clients.

That evening, I was staring at a completely spontaneous shoot. I didn't know anyone. And, no one knew me. And, we didn't have a location. Or, rather, we had 12 blocks of locations.

Plus, mixed light sources, moving subjects, moving vehicles, cops, a few roving gangs, partyers, players and, of course, a bunch of people dressed in every way you can imagine.

Chaos!

To be continued...

A Night in the Village, the Production Part 1

The first Halloween, I went down to my buddy Greg's place, in NJ. We met up there and packed up a rental autofocus medium format camera. This was a few years before I made the digital switch.

I threw a flash on top and Greg ran around with a second flash radio slaved to my camera for an accent light. It was my standard lighting setup of the time, only made mobil.

We hopped in his rag top Jeep and made the 5 mile run to the Big Apple in just under 45 minutes. We parked, got out and walked to a street corner and Greg turned around and looked at me.

"Well? Now, what do we do?"

To be continued...