Blue Star Diner
September 30, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
Couple weeks ago we did a sunrise shoot (not my favorite call time until I’m out there working). The shoot went well, and after we finished, my assistance suggested we could get some breakfast at the Blue Star Diner. Turned out to be a pretty interesting place, and yes we had a good breakfast, not withstanding the country music. I couldn’t help but make a few image while I sat there, so I’ll post a few over the next few days.
Tomorrow’s Shoot
September 29, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll make a picture on this location(if the weather gods are kind). It’s a historic Civil War image for a tourism client. This is not the image they want because it’s not as literal as they would prefer to easily sell their destinations (lots of clear safe colorful imagery-read cliché). That’s understandable, but they’re going to let me do my version (in addition to theirs). Commercial shoots are often a dance. Sometimes it’s a beautiful collaborative experience and other times there’s a great deal of rasping between different thoughts about what would be that image to justify all this scouting, and crew, and talent and phone calls, and weather checks, and props, and endless expensive convoluted folderol(“why can’t you just shoot a picture”). But they trust you, (sort of) because you can do something they can’t do, and that precarious balance injects a lot of anxious fear in the people who stand and watch and hope that somewhere in the process playing out in front of them an image will come together that will be all they hope for, in spite of the fact they still want the other picture. There’s a subtle pressure, which I appreciate, that says we paid you all this money, how good are you, will you make magic, or even keep us safe since you ARE spending all this money and it’s not even a picture we think we need, but will you make it better than we expect since you say it’s the best approach? You know you can make the image, and you certainly want to take care of your clients trust, but despite the planning, you don’t know what variables will need to be worked around to finish the visual in your head. Makes wedding photography sound like a sane experience(actually my clients are much more approachable than any mother of the bride, and there are art directors that I hold in the highest creative regard; I’m grateful to have their trust). Regardless, I like doing what I do, tomorrow(while that previously stated dance plays out in the back of my head) I get to step out in this space and work on a picture that currently only exists in my head. I’ve got a good crew, and I can’t wait to work it out with them.
Listening to, African Feat, Nicolas Mehnheim “Demal”
Restaurant Critic
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
A couple blocks past the window image on the previous post, I found this message on the window of a little burrito place. I figure this could qualify as the shortest restaurant review, but I like the food there.
Listening to The Fabulous Thunderbirds, “Tuff Enough”
Muggy Night
September 22, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
Took a walk a few Friday nights ago when we had some storms coming in. The humidity was high and all the windows were pretty steamy. I shot this little store display and kept walking.
Listening to, A Girl Called Eddy, “ Life Thru The Same Lens”
Late Summer Skies
September 17, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | 1 Comment
We’ve had the usual assortment of late summer tropical storm tooing and froing. Nothing major, we’ve been fortunate, but at times the skies act up and give us something unusual. I could see this color with my sunglasses, but it was faint without them. I took the picture thinking I’ll punch it out on the file to match what I can see with the aid of my sunglasses. Then for just a few minutes it actually became much stronger, and just hung up there all full of it’s colorful self. Nice little brief moment if you were watching.
Listening to Ollabelle, “Everything Is Broken”
Last Pool
September 15, 2008 | Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
At the risk of the equivalent to wearing white linen after Labor Day, I’ll run one last pool image. A little boy and his older brother, who kindly helped him run through all the sprinklers. It was endearing and hopefully they’ll still have that bound in 30 years.
Listening to Rodrigo Y Gabriela “Stairway To Heaven”