Author: robshaer

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Today’s Archive Image – The Canadian Federal Election 2008

Election 2008 Leaders-2

It is hard for me to believe these images were shot more than four years ago. It is too cliche to say that it was another lifetime, but that is what it feels like. Nope, these images and the 2008 election fall within the time line of my career in photography. It is fair to say that career has had some ups and downs and has required some reinvention along the way, but what career conceived in the 21st Century does not? These images, shot days or a few weeks apart, though in the same room, were among the last time I found myself in a true media scrum and in looking back it is also fair to say that there is something to be missed, but a lot that is better behind me.

I enjoy picking up a rare editorial shift from time to time, and I am not ashamed to admit how much it pleases me to see my work printed as so much of my work ends up on line. This is one of ways in which the internet has changed the industry, technology has enabled a ‘deomcratization” of the medium but has also created an infinite number of outlets for the presentation, broadcast and publication of photos.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the right and Liberal Candidate Stephane Dion on the left revel such different messages in these photos, but by this point, the election was largely over with the outcome fairly predicted by pundits and the media. Ironically both the Prime Minister and Dion had been long accused of being soft of personalty offering little for people to get excited about, so it is interesting to look at what each of them suggest. The Prime Minister clearly secure in his predicted victory is stayed and unemotional at the podium separated from his constituents and his supporters versus Stephane Dion with closed ranks around him passionately and energetically rallying support for a losing battle. In the days following the election, I often wondered if Canada had seen the Liberal leader the way we had in that ballroom if the Liberal Party would have been more successful. Perhaps reinvention was just in the cards for Dion as it was for me.

 

 

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Personal Work – The Portrait Project: 2012 Mo’rtraits Stephan

2012 Mortraits Steph MacIntyre-1

Movember has become a cultural phenomena in Vancouver with men indulging in a month long mustache fest and women indulging in Magnum PI fantasies to get them through. In fact mustaches raise money, lots of money, destined for men’s health issues and in November it becomes hard to turn around without seeing a friend with a lip warmer. Last year Movember Mustaches raised more than $125 million world wide for men’s heath initiatives with a special focus on men’s cancers. It’s still too early to tell what the 2012 numbers look like, but these men, and the people who have supported them through the month deserve great credit.

I dropped in on some friends at the end of the month to shoot a few Mo’rtraits in part to show my support beyond any donations and as an opportunity to add to my portrait project from which I have posted several studies since last spring. There is a different set of challenges when photographing people you know well or reasonably well. Knowing someone is to have a set of expectations of the outcome. Is the person in the photo the person that I know? I photographed Stephan and his business partners last Friday morning in a very quick shoot of less than a dozen frames of each of them. In fairness, Steph and his partners are also friends, family and clients of mine and I have photographed all of them before in a variety of social and professional contexts. When I look at this photo I see beyond the nights out, the weekend bbqs and the work we’ve done together; I see something contemplative, thoughtful, quiet and something suggesting relaxed.

The idea to shoot a collection of Mo’ Bros came to me late in the month and I hope in 2013 I will be better organized and get a few more people on board for a Mo’rtrait. If you’re thinking next year is your year to grow a push broom, Ned Flanders, Tom Selleck or Errol Flynn, let me know, I want to make your portrait.

More about Movember here:

Movember & Sons

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Video: Steve McCurry & The 2013 Pirelli Calendar

So very cool to come across this video today about celebrated photojournalist Steve McCurry shooting the 2013 Pirelli Calendar in Rio at Nikon Rumors. The Pirelli calendar is pure school boy fantasy and is about as far from the work McCurry is known for as imaginable and yet it seems long overdue. McCurry is a master portraitist and looks to be taking the famously risque calendar in a decidedly new direction while celebrating the women he’s photographing. I will let McCurry explain in the video.

Never commercially available, The Pirelli calendar may be the most coveted “girly” calendar in the world, distributed only to Pirelli clients and dealers with few, if any, made publicly available. Over the years, however, there have been several books and more than a few magazine articles fueling the notoriety. What sets this Pirelli model apart from drug store bikini calendars is high production values featuring iconic locations, creative art direction, and truly great photography. Some of the better known photographers who’ve shot the calendar over the years include Annie Liebovitz, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino, Bruce Webber, Terry Richardson and, most recently, Steve McCurry.

I could go on and on; just watch the video (It’s safe for work!) When you are done with the first video, have a look at the promo piece.

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Project – Boxcar Marketing

It’s a great pleasure to be able to work with returning clients on new projects over time. While there is something self evident about this statement, it’s also about the evolution of the work produced. As I get ready to shoot for a returning restaurant client in the coming weeks I have been reviewing past work for them and planning ahead for how we will approach similar content in new ways. I’ve been quite lucky in many respects that so much of my work comes to me through referrals and that I have a number of recurrent clients one of whom is Monique Sherritt of Boxcar Marketing, pictured centered above.

When Monique approached me last summer about producing some new photos I didn’t hesitate. Monique is one of my favourite subjects to photograph, she’s elegant, charming and infinitely positive even when the sky seems to be falling around her. While this was the first work I’ve produced for her company, I first photographed Monique late in 2009 for a calendar and again in 2011 with an engagement shoot with her soon to be and again when she and James were married on the Sunshine Coast.

This was a quick shoot at the Boxcar office in a Vancouver Heritage building and we were in and out in about 90 minutes which was no small feat given that the sky really did seem to be falling that morning. With roof repairs going on over head, the office had been closed all week and as we were shooting, dust and debris had to be brushed from hair and clothing and cleared from lenses. We made pretty good use of the space considering so much of the office was covered by plastic and every so often a plume of dust would cascade from above. Unfortunately in light of complications with the roof repair, Boxcar has since moved offices, but I feel like we did a great job at capturing the spirit and humour of the people involved. These are two of my favourite images from that morning.

You can learn more about Monique, James and Crissy here: Boxcar Marketing

 

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Today’s Archive Image – Portrait of a Bedu 2006

There is nothing inherently remarkable about this image other than what it means to me. It was shot neither on assignment nor in a conflict zone nor is it a product of adventure travel. I was in Dubai about six years ago and was invited on a day trip into a nature preserve outside the city with a client liaison. It was typical in every way from the large American SUVs we traveled in to the Bangladeshi driver and the “Bedouin Fest” and Hooka pipes that closed the night. We rode camels and bashed about the sand dunes. I can’t even tell you a whole lot of about the reserve. It was one of those rare time when I gave in to enjoying a very typical tourist excursion leaving the planning and execution to someone else.

I was given to understand this Bedouin fellow worked on a type of farm, home to camels, oryx, goats and the like which was a stop on our tour into the reserve. While others were drawn to the animals, I was drawn to this man and indicated that I wanted to make a photo, he smiled and I snapped off a couple of frames. If I didn’t know the conditions with which this photo was made it would feel to me that it could have been made any time in the last 40, 50 or 60 years. I am drawn in by his eyes and expression, there is nothing suspicious or threatening about his face. The only thing I see is what I want to see; a suggestion of Bedouin hospitality and grace.

I have been working on a personal project, 1000 Portraits, and a component of this work is to push myself esthetically and technically as a photographer. I’ve been playing with lighting and back drops and going back into my collection of photo books to help me reframe my understanding of strong portraiture. This frame is one of three favourite portraits that I have shot, and all three were shot simply and spontaneously without lights, reflectors, or backdrops. To me, in this photo, there is nothing but content, nothing except this gentleman in his dish dash with a keffiyeh wrapped about his head.

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Today’s Archive Image – The Tate Modern 2003

Without any planning or thought I came to this photo shot in the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern Museum exactly nine years ago, today. Over the last couple of days I have been looking for an archive image to post and had a quick look at this, and other images from this time, yesterday afternoon. I have to admit I didn’t put a lot of thought into when it was shot, other than knowing it was shot in November of 2003 in London. To be honest I’ve taken this image for granted for the better part of a decade, I’ve never investigated the artist or the installation piece, I’ve always just accepted that this surreal scene was interesting to me and to others. In fact it is one of the few images of my own, other than newspaper clippings that I have hanging in my apartment.

You can learn new things about old photographs and what I learned this morning about my own photograph is that this piece, called The Weather Project, started out as an idea conceived by Danish Artist Olafur Eliasson during a rare snow in London. It is, in some part, a response to discussion about global warming while suggesting something mystical or almost religious to the people seated on the floor of the great hall. The Tate’s Turbine Hall has been called the most frightening gallery space in the world, but clearly for the people taking a respite from November rain, it was something of a refuge suggesting warmth and light.

It was a surprise to me, making my way into the hall and seeing so many people seated on the concrete floor. It was so wet and so cold walking the Thames embankment that afternoon that this thing high above us felt otherworldly. The Weather Project has been described as apocalyptic, a terrifying beauty and accused of stripping it’s viewers of their individuality. While my limited education in Art History helps me understand these comments, this was not my experience that day. To me, and others, the concrete floor was a surrogate for a sandy beach, and the light overhead a surrogate for something which felt long absent from London’s November skyline.

Within a few days of making this photo, I was en route home to Vancouver having spent nearly 290 nights on the road that year. To me this image is something far simpler than what I have described thus far. It is a reminder of getting out of the rain, imagining the warmth of a setting sun, and exploring London with someone who I had become close with after spending months walking London on my own. Let photography take you places, let it be a reminder of where you’ve been and a fantasy for places you’d like to go. Be curious, be transported, be present and be ready with your camera without compromising your personal experience.

 

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Link: The National Film Board – Camera Men

The National Film Board – Camera Men

There’s been a lot of talk, (maybe, maybe too much talk) about how technology has leveled the playing field between amateur and professional photography, it seems, however, like this discussion predates digital by about 50 years! This video from the National Film Board’s program On The Spot is a 15 minute piece on photography and features Amateurs, Professionals, a Jazz icon and a Prime Minister, such was the pull of the NFB in 1954. Directed by Allen Stark, the very well groomed presenter Fred Davis stops in on tourists on Parliament Hill, pays a visit to Canadian Jazz legend Oscar Peterson before finishing up with Ottawa’s Yousuf Karsh as he photographs Prime Minister Louis St Laurent.

My favourite quote comes from near the beginning as Davis describes the growth of the amateur industry, “The Amateur photographer today is as familiar with camera techniques as that of many professionals”. A phrase no less true today, almost 60 years later, than it was on what looks to be an chilly morning in Ottawa 60 years ago. I will let the video tell the rest of the story but I found it fascinating, from the guy in his living room shooting portraits of his daughters with a Hasselblad and retiring to his basement darkroom to develop his film to Yousuf Karsh describing how there are no secrets in photography.
Watch Here:

The National Film Board – Camera Men

 

 

 

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Personal Work – The Portrait Project: Katie & Poppy

Well, to be fair, this was about a week before Poppy arrived. Despite my lack of presence on line over the past couple of months, something that I am trying to remedy, I have been shooting. Most recently product for a company which manufactures medical equipment and the Fall Classic, a 10km and Half Marathon on the University of British Columbia campus. Katie is a friend who came to me a couple weeks before her daughter Poppy was born and said “I have an idea for some photos, are you interested?”

We have since shot the after photos, with baby Poppy cradled in a way that mimics the way in which Katie holds her belly in this image. What makes this image for me is the subtle look on Katie’s face, her smile and the suggestion of love, anticipation and the wonder of expectant parenthood. This was a very simple set up, but I am in love with the results and hope that you see what I see in this photo. Oddly enough, the week this image was shot started with a family portrait shoot and ended with a shoot for UBC’s Midwifery Program which involved photographing a Lab session with Midwives to be assessing Moms to be. Looking forward to seeing these images in the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s in house magazine in about a month’s time.

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Link: The Last Days of Film By Robert Burley

Take Three!

It seems impossible to write about the last days of film without at least trying address the impact of digital, but, as I have reminded myself, this isn’t that kind of post. A photographer friend shared this link yesterday on Facebook and it is definitely worth the share here and the words that go with it. Photographer Robert Burley’s Daily Beast Gallery The Last Days of Film is a serene look back at the dismantling of the analogue age of our medium. It is a look into what was once institutional and inseparable from photography, it is a look at the dismantling of what some thought would always be.

There was a time when there was no photography without Kodak, Agfa, Fuji, Ilfrod or the like and I understand how for some, it is impossible to think of photography without them. In 2005 Burley ironically turned the lens of his sheet film camera to the process of obsolescence as studio photographers retired and industry giants wound down production in some cases bringing to the ground with dynamite icons of the industry. In the screen grab above Burley shows the implosion of Kodak buildings in Rochester, New York and it is only one image of the 70 or so images that appear in his book The Disappearance of Darkness: Photography at the End of the Analog Era. Look at his photos and read the captions.

Fortunately I think there will always be a niche market for film and the Impossible Project is pretty good evidence of that. I know a lot of photographers with stashes of quietly expiring film in our fridges and on our shelves, in fact, on a shelf above my computer sit two rolls of Ektachrome 100VS and a roll of Tri-X, and there is more stashed in drawers and cupboards around my apartment.

The Daily Beast

The Last Days of Film