The Jeff Singer Intervention

I first met Jeff on a shoot in Santa Cruz over looking the Pacific ocean. He was at a photo school up in Canada and was in California on vacation. We chatted while I waited for the right light and enjoyed talking to him. A couple years later he moved to the Bay Area and hung out his shingle as a photographer. I would see him over the years at various APA functions and he seemed to have an easy going manner which I chose not to hold this against him . He had been an engineer at Cisco and was just as methodical and focused in his new career. He quickly started getting assignements.

A couple years ago I ran into him at an APA show.

JS WTF?
TB Wha?
JS What are you doing ? Who would want these images? You are a still life shooter? I thought you shot people ?
TB They are conceptual. Not still life
JS I guess I don't get it.
TB I want to bring the same sensibilty I brought to people as I do to these images shot in my studio (office ) . Don't you see I am dealing with light and space the same way no matter what I point the camera at ?
JS Not really.

Of course he was right. I had spent 10 years establishing myself as a portrait/location photographer and people were confused by the new work. So for the last year I have been focusing on what I have been shooting since I was 16. People. I really enjoyed the two years I spent looking at objects through an 8x10 camera. But I am excited about shooting people again whether it is shooting films or still.