Seeing songs, hearing images

Photographers and musicians have a lot in common.

Photographers create new images using a variety of tools.  When those images are presented as a portfolio, they should work together.  There needs to be a common thread (other than sharing the same creator) that connects them.

Musicians create new sounds using a variety of tools.  When those sounds are presented as an album, they should work together.  There needs to be a common thread (other than sharing the same creator) that connects them.

I have always relied on music to inspire my work.  And it's helpful when organizing images to think of how they would sound as an album.  Are they quiet or loud, simple or complex?  Do they look like they were made by the same person?  Why do songs / images appear on albums / in portfolios in a particular order? 

Seeing and listening are interchangeable.  Often when I'm working on a project, I'll try to think about making images from a musician's perspecive: What kind of album do I want to shoot?  What kind of portfolio do I want to record?  How do these images sound?

 

Banksy does the Simpsons

Amazing.

Beercans in a line / square / circle

I've always loved John Baldessari's 1974 piece Throwing four balls in the air to get a square ( best of 36 tries ):

I love the hand, since it tells you he's not alone. And I love how the trees eventually creep into the frame, a little shout out to California, and the loose energy of that art scene in the 70's.

Baldessari is also a total badass.

So I stole borrowed JB's idea and put a modern twist on it, using a more urban backdrop and beercans instead of balls.  We attempted the following combos, and stuck to 36 total attempts for each.  Funny how that number is losing its significance as film slowly vanishes...

3 Heinekens in a Line:

Four Budweisers in a square:

And 5 PBR's in a circle (my favorite of the series):

It was nice to shoot something random, no retouching, no complex lighting, just some beercans, a wall, and one light with a bare head.

I also think I like the single images more that the series, since there can really only be one "best."  I'm sure JB had his reasons for showing more than one.

Final Art from ESPN / Winnipeg shoot

Composite of Nolan Baumgartner, defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks for ESPN Magazine.  He dresses for some games, then for other games, has to put on a suit and sit in the stands.  This might be frustrating for some players, but for Nolan, he's just happy to be part of the team.   Super cool guy too.

Here is the final composite, which we shot in the locker room at the Winnipeg Manitoba Moose (Mooses, Meese?) home rink:

An outtake from the shoot, showing the post production on his clothes, background, and overall toning and lighting.  Thank you for putting up with my "nit picking" Dan:

And here it is on the newsstand at SFO, which is usually the only place I get to see my stuff in print:

Triathlete Cover / Time Lapse

Got a call a few months ago from Nils Nilsen, photo editor at Triathlete Magazine. They were wrapping a complete redesign and wanted to create something special for the cover.  The new design was scheduled to launch in the lead up to the Ironman in Kona this October.

Nils and his crew somehow managed to wrangle 8 of the best triathletes in the world, and brought them together for a shoot on the stage of a beautiful 100 year old theater.  [Click to enlarge]:

Nils is a Brookie that knows his way around a camera, and was nice enough to shoot and edit a killer time lapse video of the whole shoot:

This was a pretty full day that required many days of planning.  Even then, the shoot itself was only about 20 minutes long.  Goes to show it's all about prepro.....

Thanks to everyone involved for pulling this together, as well as Dan @ Danklife, Wes @ LA Digital Assistant, Dillon, and the whole crew.

24 Hours of Winnipeg

Got a call from ESPN at 10am on Thursday to do a shoot at 10am on Friday.  In Winnipeg.

This is for anyone that thinks traveling for work is really glamorous.

New Yorker Vids

It's always nice to see video pieces that utilize stills in a way that provides more weight and substance than is possible with motion.  Like this short video piece by Benjamin Lowy for the The New Yorker.  It's a great use of stills, and it's nice to hear the writers voice as well.  This was especially powerful after having read the article:

And this made me laugh. Especially the guy in the neckbrace:

Emily and Me, down in the Valley

Emily Shur is very good at making pictures.  She is also an excellent writer.  I always love catching up on her blog.

Here is an honest post about the difficulties of what we do, and how it can force us into some pretty uncomfortable spots.

The last few years weren't awesome for me either.  I'm not criscrossing the globe with a huge crew in tow, shooting global ad campaigns.   I'm spending a lot of time reading, writing, sketching in my journal, checking my compass, and trying to figure out where I want to go.  It has been hard, and I've been losing sleep, but I am making progress.

It's always nice when someone else has the clarity to put something you've been feeling into words.  Especially when it's something that you've been struggling with, and are confused by, but haven't quite put a finger on. 

Thanks to Emily for adding some perspective. 

Films we love: Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass is stunning, wild imagery mixed with rich, interesting sound.  Not too much talking or camera movement.  The life comes from the unique subject.  Each shot tends to last just long enough to make you uncomfortable, at which point you notice a few more things, which leads to a deeper connection with the film.

Scene that's not to be missed: slow pan of a sweeping mountain view while we hear a cowboy sobbing to his mother over his mobile phone. 

But this is just one of many mind blowing scenes.  Overall, it's a completely immersive work of art.

And it came at a price.  From the producer's statement:  "When Lucien got down from the mountains that fall, he was unrecognizable – bearded beyond belief, 20 lbs lighter, carrying a ton of footage, and limping. He would later be diagnosed with trauma‐induced advanced degenerative arthritis, caused by carrying the equipment day and night, and need double foot surgery."

Montana