People

All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up

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Last Saturday, Melissa, who was featured in a previous blog, kindly returned to help me create a stop-action video. The short, which I will post here on a future blog post, as well as on YouTube, will allow the viewer to observe a photo shoot of Melissa at my studio. Interspersed with the action will be the actual photos that I took as the "video" camera captured the action. This is not a video in the sense that you might think, but is shot with a still camera. That camera is on a tripod with a programmable shutter release causing it to fire every three seconds. It is also equipped with a PocketWizard transceiver that fires the strobes that I was also firing with the camera with which I was shooting. As you might imagine, this caused a few random failures due to shutters going off without adequate recycle time for the strobes, but that didn't happen as much as I had anticipated, and it was something that I was willing to live with.



Obviously, this technique is not my invention. It has been used quite a bit recently, most notably in the video called "Her Morning Elegance", by Oren Lavie (http://www.orenlavie.com), and is really just a technical variation on a normal video camera. But high-resolution still images captured with a photographer's existing equipment, as well as lighting by strobe makes it far more accessible to still photographers. On the other hand, like many things, it's a gimmick and as technology waits for no one, it's expiration date is probably not far off.

But Melissa is a great subject and was really patient as I attempted to keep all of the plates spinning in my studio to make this work. (For those who don't remember shows like Ed Sullivan, you might want to Google plate spinner. It was a simpler time...)  In fact, I went into this shoot not really anticipating that the shots that I was taking of Melissa would themselves be keepers because I was so consumed by the "film-making" part of the endeavor, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Nervousness and Photo Shoots

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Everyone has it to some degree. Some people claim to never have it, while for others, it can be debilitating. But nervousness is often a very important participant in a photo shoot, for good or bad. Photo shoot subjects, unless they are professional actors or models, can come to a shoot bringing a suitcase for of nervousness; baggage in both senses of the word. People generally bring their nervousness to a shoot because they are unsure of what will happen, often feeling as though they will be responsible for knowing what to do.

As I have mentioned on a couple of occasions, I was a musician in a former life, and so thinking about nervousness has always been a part of my life. When you perform, whether it be musically, verbally, or some other way, you might have feelings of doubts or inadequacy, which manifest themselves as nervousness. I know that when I performed, especially when classical music was involved, I brought along with me the years of music teachers who had criticized my "sound" and technique. I still have the New Hampshire "All State" evaluation form from one of my auditions in high school which labeled my tone as "harsh". Yum! So in my typically defiant way, I went on to study the trumpet at Berklee, always putting myself into situations where my sound was of primary importance, eventually developing it to the point where it was the best aspect of my playing. But if you aren't aware of it, when you stand in front of an audience to perform, those old criticisms can come swirling back. Never mind that your audience has no idea that you have brought such baggage.

Getting back to the subject in a photo shoot though, it is often the case that the nervous person that arrives at your studio or location to be photographed has brought years of such baggage, but in this case, about themselves; their appearance, their behavior, etc.  The absolute worst thing that a photographer can do is to have his or her own baggage on display as well. Your subject has to feel that you are in charge of the situation. You need to make the person feel that they will be told, every step of the way, what to do, where to stand or sit, how to do so, etc., and that you will be sensitive to their discomfort and will be certain to alleviate it.

That being said, there is a certain kind of nervousness that is good for the photographer to have. It's really important to leave the destructive, baggage kind of the nervousness at home. It won't help you, the photographer, or your subject to feel as though you are in control and know what you are doing. It will signal to your subject that their own feelings of nervousness are validated. When I doubt myself, I use the recommendation of the excellent photographer, Zack Arias, that you just need to show up at every shoot as though you are shooting for Rolling Stone or some similar gig. As I said, I used to get really nervous as a musician, when performing classical music because of my feelings of unworthiness, but I found it helpful to step out of myself and imagine that I was Maurice Andre. I think that experience has helped me a great deal as a photographer to do likewise. It's really important to realize that there is a positive kind of nervousness though that need not adversely affect your abilities to shoot well, nor the ability of your subject to be themselves, but will, in fact, enhance your performance. That "edge", which I always feel before a shoot, and don't suppress, helps me think in that same out-of-body way. Rather than getting bogged down in what to do and how to do it, I start to think as I imagine Arnold Newman, Richard Avedon, or even Joe McNally would be thinking in that same situation. The difference that I can see in the faces and the demeanor of clients when I calmly control the situation on a shoot is pretty amazing. If you are a photographer, use this edge! If you are looking for a photographer, I would urge you to find one who has it.

Dug North - Animated Wooden Sculpure Artist

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My friend Suzzanne Cromwell of the Cultural Organization of Lowell recently introduced me to Dug North, and what a find! Dug is an artisan who creates "automated wooden sculpture", or automata. This was a really fun shoot because in his home, at Lowell's Ayer Lofts, he has his very own vault! Apparently, the building was once a patent medicine company, and the vault was used to store who-knows-what...cash, drugs, poison? In those days were the latter two different? Today, Dug uses it as his workshop, allowing him to work at any hour without disturbing his neighbors. Plus it's very cool!

Obviously, I wanted to capture him in this environment, along with at least some of his work. He told me that most of his work is sold almost as soon as it is finished, which is the dream of most any artist, but also proved to be a challenge for us in setting up the shot. Fortunately, a piece that he was showing at the Ayer Art Gallery, down stairs from his condo, was freeing up.

This last shot is my favorite from the shoot though. The flourescent ambient light was very cool, and his expression is just right!

Visit his very full web site here: https://dugnorth.com

David - The Artist

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I photographed David Barton, a mixed media artist, recently. I set out to capture a side of David that is not often apparent in the photos that I had seen, or taken of him in the past. A fascinating personality, David creates sculpture that he calls 3D Paintings. I'd give you his web site, but...um...he doesn't have one yet!

People at Work - Part 4

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This week I am profiling artist Jessica Cohen, who also has a studio in the "A Mill" of Western Avenue Studios in Lowell. You can get a feel for some of her work behind her in these shots. You can see more of her work, including some drawings that I really like, at the Loading Dock Gallery.

Jess and I had an interesting time actually making the shoot happen. We tried to meet up over the holidays, but due to weather and holiday traffic, and her long commute, it was postponed until yesterday, the day after new years day. I am not sure Jess knew what to make of all of the stuff that I brought to the shoot, or my constant messing with it.  But I definitely had a look in mind for this shoot, and we finally had the time to make it work.

Jess - People at Work

Jess - People at Work

Jess - People at Work

Jess - People at Work

People at Work - Part 3

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It has been a while, too long really, but this is my 3rd installment of People at Work. This time I asked wood sculptor David Crane if I might shoot his portrait in his Lowell studio. David does really interesting and creative work with all kinds of wood. They sometimes involve other materials, and might be free standing sculpture or wall-hanging. But wood is the thing. He doesn't yet have a web site :-), otherwise I would reference it. But he can be found during open studios at Lowell, MA's Western Avenue Studios.

People at Work - Part 2

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This installment of my People at Work series features glass artist Peter Zimmerman. You can find Peter in his Western Avenue studio creating his high-quality, imaginative functional and decorative glass art. He is especially driven right now as he prepares for the holiday season open studios and the Loading Dock Gallery show called Winter Lights, in which he will share the spotlight with 8 other artists. The details are here: http://www.theloadingdockgallery.com/

Peter's studio, La Sal Mountains Studio, is located on the 4th floor at Western Avenue Studios, number 415. Here is his web site: http://www.lasalmountainsstudio.com/index.html

Peter creates his glass pieces individually and free-hand! So each one is truly unique.

People at Work

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The concept for my latest project is People at Work. Studio portraits are great. I love the qualities of light and shadow that are possible in the studio. But when a career is more than just a job, an individual's personality can really be drawn out when they are photographed in their own workplace. So in the coming months I will be showing off some of this work and hopefully introducing you to some really interesting people at the same time.

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend an hour with artist Heather Wang, photographing her in her Western Avenue Studio. Heather is a jeweler and metalsmith, as well as a teacher. She works in silver, enamel, and many other media, for her collections and special commissions.  Her web site is : http://heatherwang.com/, and you can find her studio at Western Avenue Studios, in Lowell, Massachusetts.  Coincidentally, she will be one of several featured artists at The Loading Dock Gallery, at Western Ave., in December. The show is called Winter Lights - Artisan Showcase.

So here are a few of my shots of Heather. Check back here for more in this series of People at Work.

Thanks!

Heather Wang