Hartford Connecticut: Architecture Photography
Recently I was in Hartford, CT for a new client meeting. I took a few moments following the meeting to navigate around the city and make some photographs of the buildings. It was the right time of day to capture the shape, contours, and lines of the buildings that make up the skyline. I will be back next week for a different, "new client." Hartford is a pretty snazzy city.
Dance Photography: Candid Portrait
Every now and again I happen to catch the right moment and capture an awesome candid portrait. It happens whether I am working or not working. I am always looking for the moment in which I can make a photograph. That is a different mindset from when I am working and sometimes have to create that moment.
Over the last few weeks I have been working on a project with Eclipse Dance Company. During a shoot last night I was fortunate enough to have my camera basically up to my eye balls when I saw one of the dancers posing, but not posing. I pressed the shutter and the result is the following portrait.
Portrait of a Dancer
For me this photograph works so well because it wasn't scripted, planned, posed intentionally, it was, as you see it in the moment. Thats what makes it a candid image, that what makes it work. Once the project is complete and the performance has occurred, I will share the results of some hard work. Some out of the box thinking and planning. Until then, shoot on/dance on.
New England: Fall Foliage
Having spent my life in New England, I have been observing the changing seasons for 31 years. Each year I learn something new, see something new, observe something new. This fall has been hectic, fast paced, fun, rewarding, and challenging. In the years past I was always able to make time to either travel or escape the studio to make some photos. This year there was almost no opportunity to do so. When it wasn't rainy I was outside working on some awesome projects, shoots, locations. When it wasn't rainy and I wasn't working on location, I was editing. This left zero time to explore, see the leaves, or be outside, recreationally.
There were about 3 days in passing I was able to make some photos. 3 short time frames that collectively do not equal an hr in which I was able to stop for me. I am sharing my favorite image from this fall that is both non-commercial, seeing as how no one has purchased it yet, and something I am very happy to share. Below is an low altitude aerial photo I made at a reservoir a few minutes from the studio. I was able to get to the location with enough time to fly over a few times and capture a few stills. I am very happy with the photograph overall. I am even more happy that I am pleased as much as I am, since I wasn't outside much to produce my own photographs.
I often try and reserve a day or two every week or so, to make photographs for myself, test new processes, techniques, or just refine what I am currently working on. It is healthy to take a break and re-focus your attentions onto other things. As brief as that may be, it does allow for a healthy pause from a hectic schedule. This re-focusing will give you the necessary break to breath and get back on task or take the next challenge. Clients need your focus, attention, and you at your best. You are no good to anybody if you are stressed, over-worked, under rested, or not interested. This photograph is dedicated to all the clients that challenge me to be better than myself, work harder, produce better results. Thank you.
Filmmaking: Future Work
When DSLR's started coming out with video I freaked out. I was reading, at the time, in all the major publications that clients were requesting still photographers to implement their skills and talents into video work for them. I said to my business partner at the time, "not me." I had no plans to enter the world of video. It was more foreign to me than Poland. (Im 51% polish and have a few awesome polish friends.) I am happy to say that the "not me" is no longer.
I have been playing with the video feature on my DSLR's for a few years now. I am not a filmmaker, per se. I work with video as an integration into some of he work I do. I am however inspired. My close friend Scott, mentor, filmmaker, editor, award winning dude for his work, has inspired me. Recently he was telling me, mentoring me, providing feedback and cautioning me to be careful on my approach to a particular subject matter that I wanted to produce a small doc around. I took his advice. I am taking his advice, which is, "Go out and produce a small 3-5 minute doc" and have some cred to stand on. I am doing just that.
This evening I will begin working on a film. I will be filming today and tomorrow and cutting over the next few days, week. My hardship with film/video/filmmaking is not the technical, per se, that stuff can easily be figured out. As Scott has told me, the only difference between still and motion is just that motion. Motion is a moving picture. Set your shot, set your focus, plan, execute and you are on your way. During a conversation one night at dinner, he held his hand up making a frame. He said, sometimes it is about waiting for the shot to happen. He had his hand framed up in a way that showed part of a bar, part of a register. A moment after he said, "watch," the bartender walked into the shot and did an action. He pulled his hands away and looked over at me. What he said next is a blur. I was to enthralled with the simple, yet powerful lesson he showed me. From that moment on I have been more critical of everything I see, every action that takes place around me. I see in frames, photographs, and my mind is always on, always composing.
Since then I have made a few little pieces. I have worked with Scott and another friend Jesse on the set of an award winning film, traveled with Scott for some film work, and have seen how things work on the inside. I am hooked. I have been working with a top real estate agent, producing work for her. Every day I shoot, edit, I am trying new things, expanding my skills with editing and post-production. Just this past week I took my audio recorder off auto mode, played with the levels, and received the best sound I have yet to record. You can see that example below. You can also watch a behind the scenes video of me shooting an editorial back in September. There is also a film I produced for a "Pop-Up Restaurant" back in April 2012.
http://www.jeffreybphotography.com/motion/
Thee Inappropriate Photographer
A few years ago I had a clever title for a blog that would be centered around war stories from photographers. I began asking around for stories. I asked a few photographers if they had any negative of inappropriate stories they could share. To my surprise I found 2 things. Either people weren't honest and really didn't have any to share or they weren't going to be truthful and tell stories that they deemed inappropriate. I disbanded the idea of the blog and let that go.
I am going to share my story from this past evening. I encountered a very rude, very inappropriate photographer, that caused a public scene and was acting very rudely during a performance I was hired to be at. I will not share the name of this photographer as I feel that it would be beneath me to do so. I will however describe the manner in which he conducted himself that warranted the staff to step in and say something to him.
At the beginning of the the show, during the reception, I observed an older gentle man setting up his cameras. He had two bodies mounted with a wider lens and one mounted with a 70-200mm f2.8. I assumed he was there for one of two reasons, to photograph a specific piece because he was related to someone or because one of the dance companies asked him to be present. At the start of the first piece I observed him sitting on the ground. While I had one camera set to capture a certain angle, wirelessly, I approached my friend whom was running the event. I asked who he was and what he was there for. I asked expecting to hear "media." Something along the lines of a dance publication, news paper, something. She responded with, "we don't know. He just showed up and said he photographs dance and sat down and began doing so." I found that to be odd as one had to pay a ticket price to get it. I was the primary that was there to capture the event for them. They had no idea who he was.
During the intermission he re-positioned himself at a different perspective in the venue. He was asked to kindly stop making photos, even more so when it was discovered he was there to do so for a "book" that he was working on. His goal was to not "sell the photos," rather solicit to the dance companies following the show that he was working on a "book" in the hopes they would agree to be a part of it.
Within a minute the older, not very pleasant looking gentle man made his way from the balcony and directed his focus on where I was standing, talking to a group of people. He approached in a very unpleasant manner and with a very unwelcoming tone said he would like to talk to me. I looked at him and said, "me?" His response, "yea, you," as if I was guilty for doing something. He motioned for me to step aside, essentially asking me to abruptly end my conversation with no notice and give him the attention he was demanding. I obliged out of kindness.
He introduced himself. I shook his hand. Following that he said, "I would like to give you a piece of professional advice." Now I was getting annoyed. Here I was face to face with someone who entered an event with the expectation that they could come and do as they please without asking permission and without knowing who I was, wanted to give me a piece of advice. If it is anything I have learned from watching television shows that rely heavily on drama it is this: If someone wants to "offer advice," they are about to insult you, correct you, or tell you they think they are better than you by explaining something to you that you other wise did not need to know or already knew. I was shocked that someone I didn't know felt the need to approach me, publicly, and express distain when they were in the wrong.
I responded with, "you want to give me advice?"
"Well yea, if you want."
"Sure, go ahead."
His tone changed drastically as he began to point his finger at me. "Next time you are at an event and you have a problem with another photographer you go to them with it and say something. You'd be surprised how easily things would go." I turned red with anger. Not only did he have the audacity to come to me and say this, but to assume that I had an issue. To assume is to make an 'ass" out of 'u' and 'me.' a s s u me...
I responded with, "before you piss me off, please walk away."
"That will only embarrass you," he said.
"You have approached me and accosted me in a public setting and I do not appreciate that. Please kindly walk away." Were the last words that I said to him. His behavior was ill timed, inappropriate, and confrontational. I do not like being put on the spot in such a tone, especially when I was rightfully there, doing my job.
He thought he was a bigger person by approaching me. What he was not aware of, what he did not know, was that the chair of the organization did not want to hear a single camera during the show. My inquiry as to who he was, was to merely ask if he was media, why he was sitting there, and to state my intent that if he was there shooting in that spot then I wanted to be situated in a more ideal location as well. I did not care to be next to him or near him, but to have a better location to capture the show more clearly. I was after all there to capture the performance for the organization.
Having realized that he was not going to get his way, win this round, he attempted to take his frustrations out of me. I was insulted. I was more insulted that he felt the need to act so unprofessionally and accuse me of being the one to have his right to make photos taken away. As one of the other staff members stated, "he didn't even ask if it was ok. He showed up and just started shooting." The moral of the story, the point that I want to convey is this: There is a place and time, a manner in which one can and should say something. There are professional manners that can be displayed. Picking and choosing the correct time exhibits your level of professionalism. Do not show up unannounced with the expectation that you have the right to do anything. Be courteous, respectful, polite, and you will see that things can be granted to you when you act in a more professional manner.
Re-locating: Lifestyle upgrade
It has been one week since we have been in our new house. Our move was not substantial, but the benefits are. The whole point of buying a house, in my opinion is to have a better quality of live, an improvement in living conditions and situations. Needless to say, we are happy. I have some plans, such as a nicely put together home office, a small personal studio (personal projects), and a place where I can do some other creative work.
One feature that makes me the most happiest, the kitchen. We have more space then my fiance's condo and it looks incredible. The most lavish benefit, the professional range, the stove, the food maker, the holy grail of kitchen appliances. So far I have cooked two meals. Dinner for myself last night and a lunch this morning that incorporate a few left overs from last night. I am by no means a chef, but would love to possess the knowledge of a contemporary chef. So, chef's out there reading this, I will pay you in photos if you train me for contemporary cuisine...
Starting with the left was last nights salad. Field greens, green apple, red pear, topped with raspberry vinaigrette dressing with cheese sprinkled on top. Middle, is a red potato and red pear combination seasoned with spices and garlic olive oil sautéed in bacon grease. Bacon of course was within the medley of potatoes and pears. Right is today's lunch. Eggs, yesterday's potato and pear mash up with bacon and chives. All in all, it was good. I was very happy to gets out the range. I look forward to making new dishes, testing new things out, burning some food, perfecting some dishes, and enjoying the lifestyle improvements.
Thats all for now. itk