People
My latest cover photo for CE Pro magazine profiles a local Boston company that designs and builds systems that integrate technology into residential and commercial spaces. We were invited into a home to view one of their recent projects. It was pretty impressive!
In the basement!
Built-ins
I know that Boston is a small market, and everyone in the Merrimack Valley seems to have far less than 6 degrees of separation, but this assignment was different. I was sent to photograph a musical family with roots in Newburyport, MA, but as I found out more I realized that that the grandfather in this three-generation musical family, was a teacher of mine at Berklee College of Music 35 years ago! Les Harris Sr. was one of my favorite teachers at Berklee. He was always approachable, a very real person, no pretense or aura. Just a very talented and accomplished musician who was very ready and willing to help his students. His son, Les Jr., an excellent percussionist in his own right, lives in Exeter, NH, where I grew up, and teaches at Philips Exeter. Les Jr.'s daughter, Aubrey, is an incredibly talented bass player and singer, whom I had the pleasure of hearing as they rehearsed during our photoshoot.
As Les Jr. and I got to know each other that day, I realized that he works with a couple of guys who I knew growing up. One who was in a band with me in high school and the other who used to live a mile from my childhood home and who my mother would babysit. If these coincidences weren't enough, on the way to Portsmouth, I heard Sergio Mendes' cover of "Fool on the Hill" on the radio. As I listened I remembered that Les Sr. had used that recording in class for what we used to call doing a "record copy", an ear training exercise where you literally transcribe exactly what you hear, note for note. We used to wear out a lot of cassette players that way!
Check out the Harris family in this month's Merrimack Valley Magazine as well as Les Jr.'s and Aubrey's web sites. Also take a listen to Aubrey and some other amazing high school musicians perform with Keith Urban here!
Patty calls her work-self an Excel jockey. But those who know her also know that she is an excellent musician. Patty plays clarinet and is the secretary for the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra, in Lowell, Massachusetts. She helped create the orchestra's annual summertime concert series at the Shedd Park Pavilion in Lowell. Patty came in to the studio to work with me on my "Big Door" and "Basic" series. Last year though, she was part of a collaborative project that Lowell Film Collaborator co-founder Suzzanne Cromwell and I had embarked on. Although it is on somewhat of a hiatis, I still have hopes of continuing that work with Suzzanne. Here are some of the shots from both photo shoots with Patty. Check out the Philharmonic! Click here.
A few days ago, I invited Mauricio Cordero to my studio to take part in my two portrait projects, the Big Door Portraits, and Bsic. Mauricio is indeed a local celebrity! He is an artist, and educator and an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word, most recently playing a key role at the soon to open Mill No. 5 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
He seems to be everywhere that's anywhere in Lowell. Last evening, he was in front of the now famous doors in suite A405. Sovanna told his Facebook friends that he was visiting me "this lovely evening", at Western Avenue Studios to be photographed. A pleasure to work with, Sovanna was impeccably dressed, as always, and ready to be photographed. Here are some of the shots for my Big Door series and my pick for my ongoing Basic series, which are all in B&W, and all done as simply and as similarly as possible in an attempt to really "portray" the person, in the true sense of the word. Enjoy!
This post makes my fourth submission in my Big Door series, so I think it can officially be called a series now.
In the process of casting for a short video project, which was the same occasion on which I met Obehi, I also met Jacquie, another talented actress. Interestingly, both Obehi and Jacquie are musical, and both are brass players. Her family owns Golden Girl Granola, which is awesome!
I also thought I would reshow the black and white portrait that I did of Jacquie, since I have received so many kind words about it.
Keep watching this space for who will be next in the series!
Another shoot, in my series of photos of people, in front of the great green doors in my studio. Lisa is a very talented graphic designer with whom I have the pleasure of working from time to time. She was one of my first subjects after having moved into my new space. It was shortly after this shoot that I started to collaborate with my doors! They always come through!
I have started a new series. It's a personal project in which I am inviting people into my studio for a very specific portrait. The project is called "Basic", mostly because I am shooting them all utilizing a very minimal setup: one light, white background, prime lense, and all shot almost exactly the same way, and all rendered in black and white. The idea is to try to capture something about my subject's personality that has revealed itself to me in my interactions with them, and that I want to try to convey, visually, to the viewer. I want to tell a story in one frame.
Here are the first five, of many to come, in no particular order.
The blog that Middlesex Community College and the Lowell National Historical Park maintain to document what is called "Yary's Kiln", calls Yary Livan a master ceramist, an "expert in Cambodian traditional pottery" who "embodies the tradition with artistry and excellence". He also just happens to have a studio across the hall from mine at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, Massachusetts. He has been written about many times, most recently I think in the Boston Globe. That doesn't stop me. I asked him if I could photograph him in his studio. He continued to work quietly while I fussed with lighting gear. When I asked him if he would come into my studio, which I had, of course, set up for him, to have some shots, he was more concerned about tracking clay into my studio. I thought, "that's what I bought the broom for!" Let's do it!
Check out his work:
http://community.middlesex.mass.edu/blogs/cambodiankiln/default.aspx
http://www.massfolkarts.org/object_detail.asp?ObjectID=8140023
http://www.nps.gov/lowe/parknews/cambodian-wood-fire-kiln-with-master-ceramicist-yary-livan.htm
I recently met Obehi Janice while casting for a promotional video that I was working on with filmmaker Pete Pedulla. A performer, writer and speaker, she clearly fit with my ongoing goal of finding interesting people to photograph. She came to my studio yesterday along with her sister, and UMass Lowell student, Joy. It was a fun shoot!
...and this Big Door Portrait series is really on a roll!
Obehi regularly performs her own, solo work, FUFU & OREOS, and will be doing so in Chicago, on Friday, February 15th. Check out her web site for more information: http://www.fufuandoreos.com
