BLOG Q & A

I do get lots of questions, via the blog, via email, FB etc. I’m at best a scattershot responder, trying my best to fire back an answer in some sort of timely fashion. That term “timely” is stretchable, in my world. Sigh. I have to admit the computer screen occasionally gets the better of me, and it blurs before my eyes. I squint at it, like a movie extra who’s about to become a snack for an alien invader, and shouldn’t be pausing to look at the approaching apparition but instead should just flat out run away.

Then, two things might happen. I summon some energy and try to answer as best I can. Or, I realize I have a 3am alarm happening for a 6am flight, and stumble towards a pillow. But, I do try to stockpile stuff when I can, harboring the best of intentions of getting back. Sometimes I have gotten back about a question about a function of the D3 and the person has now purchased a D4, but the intent was there.

So here we go with what I hope to be a regular feature on the blog….call it Q&A Number One!

1. When you look back over your work do you see mistakes only visible to your eyes? Do you rethink the shot?  After one is chosen for publication and it’s too late to pull it, have you ever just groaned about something you couldn’t change/just saw?

Absolutely! In almost every situation, I see things I might have changed, done better, or shifted a little bit. I do groan. But I groan loudest about the mistakes that are flat out visible to everyone, not tiny little tweaky things observable only to my own damn petty, angst-driven self loathing self. Oh, the things I coulda/shoulda done! Drives me mad sometimes. The biggest ones are not so much technique or camera failures (though those abound) but failures of will and personality. Those moments where my visual balls went missing and I acquiesced in what I knew to be a shit frame just to either get along, go with the flow, agree with the client, or submit to the tyranny of the personality at hand.

I had no relationship with Cosby. None. He walked onto the set, said nothing except, “I need a chair.” And then sat down in the wrong direction. He was at the apotheosis of his power. Everyone on the set shuddered when he walked by. Like a big boat moving through the water, the assembled simply bobbed around uncontrollably in his wake. I caved. Got steamrollered. Went along.

My light is wrong for this shot. The chair is wrong. I submitted it to Entertainment Weekly and I knew it was a lousy cover. It ran, they patted me on the back, and never called me again. I’ve consoled myself with the fact that at least Bart was lit well.

2. Who hosts your website? Been asked this a few times now – especially on Facebook.

PhotoShelter hosts our website and I could not be happier with the folks there. Customer support is great, the look is clean, and the backend pretty easy to navigate. (Or so the guys in the studio tell me. That sort of internet maneuvering is beyond Mongo.) They do offer lots of storage, as well, and their new client proofing tool is simplicity itself. The thing I appreciate about Allan Murabayashi and the gang there is how much they strive to give back to the photo community via posts, info, and general display of good photography. They have been a great group of folks to get to know and collaborate with. Here’s a link to our website.

Above is our main page, and we of course subdivide into categories, such as special projects.

 

3.  How can I be your assistant if you come to my City or Country?

Photography, and the community surrounding it, fueled by the internet, is now a world wide club. Thanks to blogging, teaching, and workshops, I have friends all over the world who I correspond and share work with. And chances are, some of them will be in places where I get sent for jobs. Below is the class pic from a recent workshop in Shanghai.

We recently shot a very sizable production, a fashion job, out in the desert outside Dubai, and my dear friend and fellow shooter Billie Muller took time out of her busy shooting sked to produce the job for us. Below is a BTS of that terrific shoot. All of this assistance and collaboration is a wonderful expression of the community of photographers.

So the internet is a big connector, as are classes or conventions. Also, if you send an email to our [email protected] slot, Lynn will take a look and incorporate that into a file for future reference for jobs in far flung locations.

Have a good weekend everybody! Blog Q&A will continue!

More tk….