Crankworx 2012 (60 Images)
Personal Work – The Potrait Project: Jane
A few weeks ago my friend Jane stopped by for a portrait session; looking to update some of her web presence it was also time to update her profile photos. Jane arrived in full cycling gear and carried her bike up to my second floor apartment (and makeshift studio) and after a quick change we started to make some frames. Some photographers excel at making people comfortable in their view finders, I have to work at it. This is one of my favourite images from our 90 minutes and is Jane’s response to “Jane, tell me a dirty joke!” She claims she doesn’t know any, but her expression suggests she does. Her spontaneous and unguarded response also suggests that in that instant we broke the ice better than any good handshake or cocktail could
When I googled “How do you relax a portrait subject?” more than 3 million results came back and topping the list on three or four of the sites that I looked at were, engage the subject, relax yourself, no touching and show your work. I like to show my work, but I think I will try asking the subject to tell me a dirty joke a few more times before I rule it out.
Phillipe Halsman (1906-1979) was a master portraitist and had a bag of tools to “unmask” his subjects from their characters or public personae. Photography Critic Owen Edwards, in a 2006 article about Halsman for the Smithsonian Magazine described portraiture as “one of the greatest challenges in photography, because the human face is elusive and often mask-like, with practiced expressions for the standard range of emotions.”
While Halsman was an accomplished photographer and photojournalist with more than 100 Life Magazine covers to his credit, he may be best remembered for asking his subjects to Jump. Starting in 1952 and continuing for six years, Halsman closed his portrait sessions by getting his subjects, including Richard Nixon, Marilyn Monroe and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, to jump and in that moment reveal their true selves. It would be difficult to overstate Halsman’s gift of revealing his subjects, and I can only imaging what a difficult ask it was to make with some of the more conservative or self conscious personalities he photographed. Photographers today owe something to Halsman even if they have never heard of him. We owe him for being innovative and inspiring spontaneity in what could be a rather stayed exercise and I think we could all try a little harder to do the same.
Read Owen Edwards article here:
Link: The Atantic’s In Focus Gallery – In The Congo
A few weeks ago a North Africa-based friend and former newspaper colleague shared a story about developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rise of the M23 Movement reputedly funded by Rwanda. This is a rebel militia group waging attacks on government forces and sending civilians into chaos. This post isn’t to report this story only to share some photos. Suffice to say this is a continuation of a conflict that goes back at least 16 years with an immeasurable impact on local populations while involving neighbouring countries and very well funded yet ineffectual UN Peace Keepers.
One of the great crimes, given the experiences of the 20th century, is that in the 21st century this type of conflict persists while millions of civilians are displaced, made refugee or fall victim as collateral damage. Why is it important to share these images collected by Allan Taylor in his In Focus Gallery at the Atlantic? It is because photography can save lives, change minds and direct into action those capable of making the difference. Have a look at the images in this gallery and imagine that it’s your neighbourhood under siege, and your neighbours on the move. Those that direct these acts may be less brazen if they know the world is watching. Photojournalists around the globe take huge risks sharing stories from places of chaos to ensure the story is told and to ensure those lives victim to indiscriminate or malicious violence continue to have meaning.
Today’s Archive Image – The Whistle Pig 2007
Sometimes you make photos just for fun. On a day of driving through Colorado in the summer of 2007 I chose a route from one client location to another that would take me through Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a rare opportunity to see some of the park even though I didn’t have time for anything other than the drive. Edward Abbey would be disappointed, I know, but Colorado in June of 2007 was a work trip and there was a budget motel waiting for me to turn my camera to it somewhere west of Steamboat.
On these trips, where projects were scheduled daily for 30 days or so, getting a whole day to travel from one location to another seemed like a luxury and a license to explore a little and shoot some personal pictures. I am sure my colleagues from that period and I shot tens of thousands of images of our meals, accommodations, our rental cars, ourselves and the roads, like rivers, taking us from one town to another across the United States. We shot roadside monuments, famous grave sites, long forgotten churches and everything else you can image finding at the roadside of American Highways. This day, however, was different because I got to meander through Rocky Mountain National Park, a place of true and spectacular natural beauty and home to a variety of wildlife.
This little guy, Marmota flaviventris, goes by many names, The Yellow Belly Marmot, Whistle Pig and Rock Chuck among them and made a great subject to focus my camera on while I stretched my legs after pulling off one of the highest altitude roadways in the Americas. It was stunning and I felt lucky to be up there. Sometimes it’s fun to shoot without intention or purpose, to shoot just because. I enjoy looking through my archive for images like this to remind myself that even when I am shooting daily for clients, I need to snap a few frames just for me.
Today’s Archive Image – The Canadian Federal Election 2008
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.
CreativeMornings/Vancouver (47 Images)
Personal Work – The Portrait Project: 2012 Mo’rtraits Stephan
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:
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.
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
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.
Elysium Photo by Rob Shaer 