Give them more than they expect!
I was contacted by Southwest Airlines to do a shoot for the in-flight magazine Southwest Spirit. They were doing an article on “Vintage San Francisco” and they wanted it shot in B&W. It sounded like a great project and I was excited to get it. Then the Photo Editor said something I couldn’t believe… she said that it was ok to shoot digitally.
As she was describing the project I was already envisioning how I was going to shoot the project. Getting a request for a B&W shoot is rare enough now days, but a story about Vintage San Francisco that contains primarily architecture and wanting it in B&W is even rarer still. I thought there is no way I’m going to shoot this with a 35mm digital camera! (which was the equipment I had at time) Don’t get me wrong. I’m no “anti-digital” purist. I am a tech nerd through and through (yes, I got the iPhone days within release). Tech was even what I used to do in a past life before photography. I am fully digital, 35mm to Medium Format and Large Format. But if there was ever a project that called for using a large format View Camera and Polaroid Type 55 film, this was it. At the time i didn’t have a View Camera and had never used Type 55 film, but it was something that I’ve always wanted to use. So, I went out and bought the equipment and learned on this shoot. It was great traveling all around the city and looking at places I’ve seen every day in a whole new light.
The Photo Editor loved the results and I think the images were far better than a 35mm digital camera could have produced. I know its not the equipment that makes a photograph, but there is something a little more soulful to taking a picture with a View Camera and Polaroid film. For me, its like the difference between Vinyl and an MP3… sure there are pops and scratches on the vinyl but it gives a different mood and warmth that can’t be matched, even if it is just in my mind.
Its Easy Being Green
Unfortunately I’m a fairly simple minded and easily persuaded person… I’m the type that reads and article or sees a dateline segment and thinks “yeah, that’s terrible, lets do something about it!” A friend of mine works for Current TV which is Al Gore’s TV network. So, of course my friend had the new issue of Fast Company with Al on the cover.One of the articles in the decidedly Green issue was about bottled water. Now, I know the last thing you came here for was to get the views of another idiot spouting information you either already know or don’t care all that much about, but hey, this is my blog so I’ll say what I want. I have no doubt bottled water has had a positive effect on society if only for the fact that there was a time it wasn’t available and people instead were likely drinking a bottle full of sugar in some form or another. But when you learn about the effects all these bottles of water have on the environment from creation, transportation to disposal it makes you wonder why the hell you’re drinking the bottled water. After all, we all (especially for those of us living in San Francisco) have equal quality water coming right out of our taps. Just about everywhere we buy our bottled water will also have perfectly good tap water for us.I’ll end my little diatribe and let you read the article and decide for yourself. So, how am I going to bring this around to photography? I’m not, directly anyway. Only to say that over the last few months I’ve done a couple of shoots for 7×7 Magazine that were on the green side. The picture above is Sarah Weiner of Slow Food USA which is an organization that wants to reach out to consumers and demonstrate to them that they have choices over fast food and supermarket homogenization and to create a movement that protects taste, culture and the environment as universal social values. You mean, I shouldn’t be eating this Big Mac right now? Well, at least I went with the tap water. On to the next cause.
1 Years Gone
I can’t believe its been over a whole year since my last blog entry. Well, time flies as they say. So, I think its time to start up the blog again. Like anything in life you just need to get into a habit and that is what I need to do to get back into the blogging mode (not that I was ever heavy into the blogging in the past). So, for my first entry in over a year I keep it short and simple. That way I can work my way back into blogging and have something to write about on those days where thoughts aren’t flooding in. The shot I’m posting today is from a recent personal shoot I did. I loved the retro look of the subject’s dress. So the makeup artist (Veronica Sjoen) gave Tina a look to go with the dress… trust me, if you saw the other looks we did you wouldn’t think it was the same person. I love the calmness on her face… which again, if you saw the other pictures you wouldn’t think it was the same person. Anyway, that is all for today, check back and I promise it won’t be a year before my next entry.
