The End is Nigh

We shot a job today. Maybe the last job ever. After cranking out a series of interesting projects the last couple weeks my calender looks like the state of Nebraska.

Over the years I have fallen in and out of love with photography. Sometimes it has felt like a tedious job. And sometimes I have thought I should be farther along than I am. 

The last few weeks have felt like one of those warm Indiana nights driving around in the back of my  best friend's convertible with six beers in me and many more to go.

Two Spreads in SF Mag

Billy Beane

4:31pm

The Communication Arts Photo Annual came in the mail while I was on a conference call. I really liked David Bowman's series and don't miss a great image from Bill Gallery which I thought was terrific.

I was busy googling myself when I came across my name on Jamie Kripke's blog. I think a lot photographers make the mistake of starting a blog and then ignoring it after a couple posts. I told Jamie that if he wanted an audience he needed to write regularly. Sometimes I have nothing to write about (See CA post above) and sometimes I have plenty to say (Detroit ,Fla) The key is to write no matter what. If you write often enough a strange thing starts to happen: you stop lying so much and slowly some of the truth starts trickling in. It turns out that it shockingly hard to maintain a stream of hype, exaggeration and hyperbole without a trace of truth, fear or regret. I am in awe of those who are able to do it but not sure if I have the requisite sociopathic personality to pull it off.

The Detroit Chronicles: Bombs Going Off

I had breakfast with Archibald at Cafe Fanny this morning. While solving the problems of contemporary photography we talked about pictures with bombs going off: pictures that have nothing subtle or ambigious about them and have some hook driving them.

The picture above has a bomb going off (the light coming through the tree). The bottom image is almost a picture of nothing.

I tried to explain this to the reviewers at Santa Fe. They would ask what CCTWWWTB was about and I said I am trying to explore the idea of photographing nothing. This was invariably followed by a blank look and they quickly changed the subject.

Next time I approach a rep I am going to push my area of specialty. No one else is shooting nothing. I own nothing.

The Detroit Chronicles:The Bishop

The opener

I am sitting here in the office fretting about images from the Detroit job. I shot 8X10 film and hope I got something. No digital and no polaroid. Old school. Coming back on the plane it occurred to me all I really need is one shot. One frame. If you nail the story in the opening picture you really have done your job. It needs to tell the entire story in one shot and it needs to work on its own as a photograph. The images on the jump can be supporting and don't need to be great. The cover is often the worst and least interesting image in the entire magazine. I know I got something that will work as a cover and plenty of other solid pix. But...

Just one great snap. That's all I ask.

Detroit Chronicles: Day 2

We shot the Bishop today. He showed up late in his Bentley sporting a pair of phat Gucci loafers that I had the green eyed monster for. I explained we would be shooting in a bunch of different locations and that he needed to get his own separate golf cart because mine was full of gear.

It was as if I asked him if he wouldn’t mind donating a kidney right there and then on the 18th green. It was clear he was not used to doing things for himself. An unfortunate parishioner happened to be passing by and was instructed by the Bishop to fetch the cart with great dispatch.


I was shooting the Bishop in a far corner of the course when the golf pro pulled up in a cart. He waited patiently while we finished and then walked up to the Bishop and handed him a envelope stuffed to capacity. I could not see the contents but it sure looked like a prop from The Sopranos.

In that moment it was obvious things were not as they seemed and I was indeed far far from home.

Detroit Chronicles: Day 1

8x10 camera and a golf cart. Photo Geek Heaven.

I got up at dawn to start work on a story about a golf course in a crappy neighborhood that was saved by a local church. I am shooting landscapes and portraits. I have to say I that Richard Rinaldi's work is in the front of my brain as I shoot these.

I spent the morning with the grounds keeper and was told stories of gun toating pimps in the golf cart barn and still born infants left on the course. He said the place was different at night and not to go outside the fence alone.

I am shooting the Bishop tonight who runs the church that bought the course. I saw a giant Bently way off in the parking lot and asked the local pro whose car that was. Oh that's the Bishop's. You want me to call him? I said no I would wait until tonight.

Malibu Arts Journal

Malibu Arts Journal did a little piece on my work. Not crazy about the Norman Rockwell reference but what can you do?

Outtakes and airplanes

We shot a job this AM in SF and then was whisked off to the airport for a three day shoot here in Detroit. The image above was an outtake from the shoot back home but probably the best thing we shot.

Move over JLO. Here comes TBro

We shot a campaign for an HMO yesterday. Between the talent, stylists, producer, assistants, nurse,studio teacher, agency we ended up rolling in 50 deep.
How do you direct that many people?
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

New Orleans Chronicles: Day 2

Shot Olympian in Gulf of Mexico . CR'd the light in the water.

New Orleans Chronicles: Day 1

We are in NOL to shoot an Olympian athelete in neighboring MISSISSIPPI. Through some careful web surfing and gratuatis upgrading we are staying in a pair of executive suites at the Ritz Carlton though last night it felt more like the green zone. The essence music festival is going on around the corner at the Super Dome featuring Mary J Blige, Kanye West and the New Orleans Riot Police. When I stepped out of our hotel, cops were everywhere on foot, motorcycles and horseback.


Thanks to gentle blog reader Brady Fontenot I ended up at Luke for a plate of oysters followed by grits and shrimp which was great. Brady is pushing us to try a local place that offers gator but I am a little afraid to go down that road again . I think something broke deep inside me last time I tried that particular amphibian.

Cigarettes and Military

We got a call this week from an ad agency for a campaign for the US Military. I did not have much time to think about it but out of my mouth came these words, "I appreciate the call but I have a real problem with the war. So I don't think I can be considered.Thank you."

A few years ago I got a call to shoot a cigarette campaign. I had told my rep at the time that I did not shoot tobacco and we passed.

It is not like I have been printing money and I have way too many mouths to feed here but do I really want to house, clothe and feed my children with money made from a promoting a product that kills thousands and a war I do not believe in?

I am not a particularly moral person nor am I a real do gooder. I tend to do what I want regardless of the consequences but my fear is if I shot one of these jobs I would end up regretting it for a long time.

How not to spam.

I sent this spam to 10,000 of my closest friends. The subject line was something like:"No marriage waiver for me and it is going to take a bucket of Paxil" In retrospect maybe including Paxil in a subject line if I am trying to get people to open an email is not the greatest idea. Ya think?

CR City

I shot a job here in Oakland yesterday morning and left an assistant to pack the gear, jumped on a plane to LA , had another guy pick me up there and shot two more portraits in LA last night. Cockrock city.

Commuters

Sauna Final

Vince Neil

Honey, does this look Photoshopped?

People are always amazed how truly terrible I am at photoshop. They look at my work and assume I do the post. Believe it or not the comp above is better than most things I hand off to the retouchers.

Flak Photo

CTWWWTB featured on Flak Photo

More editorial

Doesn't really look like me but one of the cool things about shooting for magazines is you can try out different ways of making a picture. Maybe it looks a little like Copy Stand.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles: Wrap up

Photo-Natalie Young
Overall it was a pretty amazing experience. To be around so many people so focused and committed to what they are doing is a little bit humbling. Most people had been working on their project for years and after shooting CTWWWTB for only 6 months it made it clear how far I have to go.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 3

I had lunch with Jimmy Williams yesterday in Santa Fe. He is a commercial guy shooting in the south since Ford pardoned Nixon. I think longevity is no small feat in this business and I bow down to him, no doubt.

We were talking about how we get calls for jobs from out of town ADs when it would often be easier and cheaper to shoot in their home town. But of course it is more fun to shoot in Miami or San Francisco than Dallas or Columbus.

Jimmy said he has often told art directors that if they want to shoot in Florida it is not that complicated: just put a palm tree in the comp and then pack your bags.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 2

Day two here was a doozy. Four reviews in the morning followed by a monster show at a local gallery. Last year they had more than 500 people come through and there were at least that many last night.

Early in the day:
It is surprisingly exhausting to sit down and talk about your work over and over again. I got some great feedback from the reviewers and has given me a ton to think about.

Later at the party:
A woman of a certain age came up to my table and complemented me on my work. After we both agreed what a genius I was I asked her if she too took photographs. She said she did and as a matter of fact she had just published her fist book. I thought to myself, wow Santa Fe really is an artist's colony but without having to go through that whole unpleasant starving artist stage. Out came a book and she handed it over to me. It was a iPhoto book and consisted of a series of nude self portraits shot in various environs around the globe. In one image she is covered with dirt somewhere in South America. In another she is ankle deep in a stream in New Zealand. And so it went page after page. And with her standing next to me it wasn't like I could just flip through the book at break neck speed as I might have wanted to. Each image had to be looked at with care and each page turned delicately.

Review Santa Fe:The Paxil Chronicles:Day 1

I arrived here in the land of adobe, turquoise jewelry and Range Rovers this afternoon. The women who put on this event are incredibility well organized and I can see things going very smoothly.

There was a party at a local gallery and that was when the cockrocking began in earnest. I met a kid who just got an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea strategically to pretend I had never heard of SVA. And then having made my bed I had to lie in it. When I met the woman next to him I had to come with an awkward sounding way to ask if she knew of SVA and if she had gone there. Maybe he seemed smug. Maybe I just wished I was 28 and fresh from a graduate program.

I met Sarah Small who was super nice but of course I came on too strong and weird and she probably thinks I am a manic freak.

A woman asked what my work looked like , and I said a little Atget mixed with Stephen Shore and dash of Misrach. She said that was great...If I knew who those people were.

And then a commercial guy I had never heard of (who wore a t-shirt and baseball cap with the name of his company on it. I am lucky if I have a business card) complemented my work at the top of his lungs and then did it again as he was leaving. I love that guy. He is my new Santa Fe BFF.

Review Santa Fe

A couple days until Review Santa Fe starts. Not enough Paxil in all the world to make me want to go.My wife said imagine how upset I would be if I didn't get in. I said I want to be get in but then be called out of town at the last minute. My wife said that doesn't sound very healthy. I hope my table is close to the Glaxo Table.

Link to all participants here.

Editorial Shoot

New CTWWWTB Website Beta

Update:

http://closertowherewewanttobe.com/