Q&A

I was recent'y asked the following question via email. I answered somewhat tangentially. Here's the exchange"

Q: What do you generally say to people when you approach them for a portrait?

A: I smile, ask them to pose, share what attracted me to them (people love to be complimented), and hope they have the time. Depending on the location and city, different tactics apply. Language barriers have presented interesting challenges, getting the right word for portrait is a trick, and then not coming across as a creep with an nefarious agenda helps. There are too many creepy photographers and a general suspicion regarding photographs that good folks will have to overcome.

It's a funny thing that our art form is as broad and yet as powerful as it is. If I told you I was a painter, you'd probably shrug with indifference. I could paint masterful works of art that hang in the great museums of the world or I could paint apartment walls in tenement buildings. I'd be a painter either way. But as a photographer, I instantly insert myself into the immediate consciousness of the culture. I am a power-broker to some, an exploiter of souls to others, etc. We dabble in a super-charged political art form that everyone has participated in in some form another. Everyone has a camera in their pocket these days and they know somewhere deep down the power it can wield. It behooves us to respect and honor our subject AND the medium.

First Look: Superman

This is the world's first look at the new Superman as portrayed by Henry Cavill in the 2013 release of Zack Snyder's Superman: Man of Steel.

I made it last week. And in what seemed like a record turn-around for a big studio, it was released this week. The image is pretty clean, un-cropped, with very little photoshop work (done elsewhere). Zack and I sat together as we gave some final love to the image using Lightroom. Big kudos to Amir Mokri, our film's Director of Photography, for lighting the scene. He makes my job easy.

With this image it should be noted that my already lackluster blogging efforts will be further curtailed by studio-imposed secrecy restrictions and the normal all-consuming "dark tunnel" that is modern filmmaking.

Make pictures

claystation #003

Today's installment is a longer chat inspired by the Wired.com video about my Streetstudio portraits that's been making the rounds of the interwebs.

It's as low-fi as ever.

claystation #002 Movie Set Photography

This is the second of what is likely to be many webcasts on various subjects. This particular recording is focused on my movie set work and unit photography in general.

I hope it offers a glimpse that is relevant and otherwise interesting to those who can spare the time. It last 20 minutes.

claystation webcast #001

This is the debut webisode on the UStream.tv program I'm calling claystation. It's a little long and visually dull but some may find it useful and/or interesting. There's more to come for sure.

I had some technical difficulties before beginning the recording so it begins abruptly because I'd been babbling for ten minutes prior to the start. And the strange black thing on the right side had text with my name, etc. during the live webcast but didn't end up transferring to the recording. I'm learning.

My First Look

I'm a little late to the party with this post but I thought I'd take my Sucker Punch images in the order in which they appeared. This first ran in Entertainment Weekly last Summer to correspond with ComicCon San Diego.

I used my long lens (80-200mm) for this one. I was standing just off to the left of the movie camera ,and during the 3 or 4 takes I did my best to capture the scene. There was plenty of time between takes as explosive charges were reset and dirt was removed from the actors. The trick of course is to get a shot where everyone is visible and looking badass.

In the motion picture world you can put those things together in your head, over time. In my world, it's my job (and the retoucher's) to distill the moment into a single frame. As of this writing, I don't know if this is a composite or not. I don't think it is. I remember this being pretty much as is.

I gave the image some "love" in Lightroom to more accurately reflect the mood and color temperature of the scene but otherwise, it seems like a reasonably straight image. Keeping the 35mm proportions also lends credibility that it's my unadulterated, un-cropped shot. And that makes me happy.

Note: Last Summer, scans of the spread included the gutter of the magazine causing all renderings of the image to have a strange gap. That's all resolved now and the official site has the image up for unobstructed viewing.

claystation

I could give the standard excuse as to why this particular blog has been quiet but I'd instead direct your attention to a more active (often five posts a day) area of my web presence that will satisfy those hurtin' for a little visual inspiration or insight. It's called claystation, which is what the First Assistant Director called my portrait studio on the set of Sucker Punch, and it's chock full of over 1100 iPhone images made this year alone.

While this blog (Make Pictures) will continue to be a more in-depth venue for my thinking and process-related fare, my claystation efforts have me creating low-fi works with far more frequency and enthusiasm than this more concentrated, time-consuming, formality.

Make pictures. I am, like crazy.