IntroductionShooting a photo story intro| 00:00 |
(MUSIC).
>> Hi.
| | 00:31 |
>> Hi.
>> Kevin?
| | 00:33 |
>> Yeah.
>> Hi.
| | 00:35 |
Paul Taggart.
(MUSIC) Photography for me is just an
| | 00:43 |
excuse to get access to moments in history
and people's lives and to be able to tell
| | 00:47 |
those stories.
(MUSIC) And usually it's only for 24, 48
| | 00:52 |
hours But when you get access to
somebody's life, their space, their homes
| | 00:57 |
for 48 hours, it's the most amazing
experience ever and it's such a privilege
| | 01:02 |
and an honor.
(MUSIC) A lot of photographers will come
| | 01:08 |
in they think they have to be sort of a
fly on the wall and disappear.
| | 01:11 |
but for me that's not the experience.
It's about actually interacting with that
| | 01:16 |
subject matter and being part of the
pictures that you're making, and so you
| | 01:19 |
know its a relationship between you and
your subject.
| | 01:24 |
And you know its not just your photographs
of them its to me its really a
| | 01:28 |
collaborative process between you and the
people in front of your camera.
| | 01:35 |
(MUSIC) Cool that was great.
>> Well what's next?
| | 01:38 |
>>
>> There's a couple, let me go over the
| | 01:41 |
shots that I want to get with you.
>> Okay.
| | 01:43 |
>> And then we can kind of figure out when
we can get 'em.
| | 01:44 |
I want to.
>> One of the most rewarding things I've
| | 01:46 |
ever done in photography is doing photo
stories.
| | 01:49 |
Especially when they're one on one with
your subject.
| | 01:51 |
But, you know?
Taking just 48 hours, and completely
| | 01:54 |
immersing yourself in somebody else's
life.
| | 01:57 |
And, you know, seeing how other people
live and think and what their passions are.
| | 02:02 |
Take your, you know, get out of your own
world for a little bit and experience
| | 02:05 |
someone else's.
(MUSIC)
| | 02:18 |
(MUSIC)
| | 02:18 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
1. Meeting the SubjectMaking contact: The first call| 00:06 |
I've just arrived here in Ventura,
California for the first time.
| | 00:09 |
Lynda.com has asked me to come out here to
shoot a photo essay or photo story about a
| | 00:14 |
local sculptor named Kevin that lives in a
really cool space called Art City.
| | 00:19 |
I've never met Kevin before.
Linda's found the subject matter, sent me
| | 00:23 |
a little background information of him and
some slides of his artwork so I get to, an
| | 00:27 |
idea of what I'm going to be shooting.
The thing that's really different about
| | 00:30 |
this for me, because usually I would do
this from a magazine or newspaper.
| | 00:33 |
Is that Lynda has asked me out here, along
with her crew, who's going to be
| | 00:36 |
documenting me as I do this shoot.
In an attempt to sort of give you guys an
| | 00:41 |
idea of my process, and the way that I
like to craft a story.
| | 00:44 |
So, before you get started, I need to give
Kevin a call and introduce myself to him
| | 00:49 |
and go over some of the logistics and
schedules.
| | 00:52 |
for the next couple days on how we're
going to do this.
| | 00:55 |
But the most important part of this phone
call is really setting a tempo for a
| | 00:59 |
relationship, which I want it to just be
casual.
| | 01:01 |
Because this is really going to be a
collaboration between me and Kevin.
| | 01:05 |
in an attempt to make a photo essay that's
meaningful to both of us.
| | 01:09 |
So lets get Kevin on the phone an
introduce ourselves.
| | 01:12 |
>> Hello?
>>Hey, is this Kevin Carmine?
| | 01:17 |
>>This is.
>>Hi, this is Paul Tiger the photographer
| | 01:21 |
with lynda.com.
>>Hey Paul.
| | 01:23 |
>>Do you have a sec?
>>I do.
| | 01:25 |
I, I sure do.
Well, I just wanted to go over sort of,
| | 01:30 |
tomorrow's schedule
>> mm hmm
| | 01:31 |
>> and also, sort of, what I want to do
with you over the next two days.
| | 01:35 |
>> Okay
>> so just so you know a little bit about
| | 01:38 |
me, I'm a photographer and I sort of
specialize in doing photo essays, photo
| | 01:44 |
stories portraiture, repertoires kind of
photography.
| | 01:48 |
>>Right.
>>What I want to do is just sort of
| | 01:51 |
engross myself in your life in the next
two days.
| | 01:53 |
and you can show me around your work
space, your living space your daily
| | 02:00 |
routines, your artwork.
basically everything, so
| | 02:04 |
>> Okay.
>> You know, I know a couple little things
| | 02:07 |
about, I've seen, I've seen pictures of
your artwork, it's amazing.
| | 02:10 |
I saw a couple of pictures of sort of your
work space.
| | 02:14 |
>> mm hmm.
>> just explain to me what Art City is.
| | 02:18 |
>> Well, Art City is a, it's a, it's a
retail Stone yard, but not necessarily for
| | 02:26 |
building stone.
More for sculpting stone.
| | 02:28 |
It's a, it's a one of a kind place, in
America for sure.
| | 02:33 |
There's very few places like it on the
planet.
| | 02:38 |
and not only is it a, a retail yard for
sculpting stone, but it is also a, a you
| | 02:44 |
know, home to probably 20 plus sculptors.
>> So do you, do you live near Art City
| | 02:52 |
or
>> No, I live right in Art City.
| | 02:54 |
Yeah.
>> You live in Art City.
| | 02:56 |
So you actually live in the space?
>> Yeah, it's probably not (CROSSTALK)
| | 02:59 |
>> Is, so it's like, is it communal?
Is there more than, I mean, are there a
| | 03:01 |
couple of artists that live there?
(CROSSTALK)
| | 03:03 |
>> No, just me.
I (CROSSTALK)
| | 03:04 |
>> Uh-huh.
>> Yeah.
| | 03:06 |
I get to, y'know, live here, but I kind of
watch the place you know, and I make sure
| | 03:11 |
there's nobody comin' in here and all that
kind of stuff.
| | 03:14 |
>> Cool.
and then in the next two days, do you have
| | 03:17 |
any installations or anything you're
working on that, like in a different space
| | 03:22 |
that you're actually putting in?
>>Yeah.
| | 03:26 |
I'm, I'm making these jellyfish lamps.
>>That sounds cool.
| | 03:30 |
>>And I, I can't I can't keep 'em here at
the yard because they're an interior pieces.
| | 03:39 |
so, so I have an agreement with this other
space.
| | 03:43 |
>>Okay, and where's that at?
>> Green Art People over on, on Ventura
| | 03:49 |
Avenue When I finish one of the
jellyfishes I hang them over there and I
| | 03:54 |
get to expose them to the community and
stuff, you know.
| | 03:58 |
And then they'll be kind of hang there
until I'm ready to show them somewhere.
| | 04:04 |
>> Cool, cool.
Well, just so you know a little bit about,
| | 04:07 |
you know, what we're kind of hoping to
accomplish here.
| | 04:09 |
you know, I'll come over and I'll make my
pictures, and I'll shoot a lot of pictures.
| | 04:14 |
And then, you know, each night I'll edit
'em down and I'll kind of, like, see where
| | 04:17 |
I'm at.
So, I mean, I'm pretty excited to do this.
| | 04:20 |
I'm really excited just to kind of come
down and see the space.
| | 04:23 |
I feel like you've got, I feel like you've
got a lot of that going on.
| | 04:27 |
>> Yeah, yeah, you'll dig it.
You'll know what I mean when I say that
| | 04:31 |
there's, because obviously, you traveled
around a lot.
| | 04:33 |
It's an interesting place, beyond a shadow
of a doubt.
| | 04:37 |
>> Yeah, I just want to show, and kind of
get my eyes on it and kind of go from there.
| | 04:41 |
So like I kind of think you know with
whatever real life stuff you've got going
| | 04:46 |
on in the next two days you know hopefully
I can shoot those.
| | 04:51 |
But then also you know tomorrow will be
like my homework.
| | 04:54 |
Its like I'll come over there and we will
kind of check it out and all that kind of
| | 04:57 |
stuff and we will make some pictures.
>> Yeah and you can put it into
| | 05:00 |
perspective for your self yeah.
>> Well lets aim for between 9:30 and 10:00.
| | 05:04 |
>> Okay sounds.
>> Good, man.
| | 05:05 |
>> I am really looking forward to it.
>> Yeah.
| | 05:07 |
Me, too.
>> All right.
| | 05:08 |
Cheers.
Have a great night.
| | 05:09 |
>> Take care.
You, too.
| | 05:10 |
>> Yeah.
Bye.
| | 05:19 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The meeting and first shots| 00:00 |
(MUSIC).
I've shot a lot of photo essays, and a lot
| | 00:09 |
of photo stories all over the world for
different magazine clients and newspapers.
| | 00:13 |
And also as collaborations with the people
that I'm shooting.
| | 00:16 |
And I know there's certain elements that
I've gotta get.
| | 00:18 |
I don't exactly how many pictures I'm
going to have in my final essay, but I do
| | 00:22 |
know that I want a good number of maybe 10
to 30 so I can use it for different purposes.
| | 00:27 |
And I can also have a fun time playing
with those when editing with the sequence.
| | 00:31 |
So that said, I know that I'm going to
want to get some landscape pictures to
| | 00:35 |
establish a place.
I'm going to want to get different styles
| | 00:37 |
of portraiture, maybe some environmental
portraiture.
| | 00:40 |
And some more formal portraits with some
lighting and different vantage points.
| | 00:44 |
probably some detail shots of like, living
spaces or if he has artwork, we've got one
| | 00:48 |
that shoots artwork in some interesting
ways.
| | 00:50 |
And so we try to get all of the different
genres and styles of photography.
| | 00:54 |
that way, I can, you know, in two days,
cause I've only got forty eight hours of
| | 00:57 |
this guy.
I can like, look at all of it in my
| | 00:59 |
computer and come up with some cool images
in a neat sequences and we're going to
| | 01:02 |
have a photo essay at the end.
(MUSIC) (NOISE)
| | 01:04 |
>> Hi,
>> Hi.
| | 01:05 |
>> You Kevin?
>> Yeah.
| | 01:08 |
>> Hi.
Paul Tigres/g.
| | 01:11 |
>> Hi Paul.
>> It's nice to meet you.
| | 01:18 |
What are you doing?
>> Carving out an angel.
| | 01:24 |
Nice.
how long you been up.
| | 01:26 |
>> Oh, I don't know, since this, early
this morning.
| | 01:30 |
>> Yeah.
>> You know, dawn.
| | 01:31 |
>> This is very cool.
So, this place is, quite something.
| | 01:37 |
>> Indeed.
(LAUGH)
| | 01:37 |
>> You told me a little bit about it, but.
It's hard to describe it, you know and
| | 01:43 |
capture it, you know, really, what it is.
>> It's, it's a bit of a candy store for me.
| | 01:48 |
And there's like.
>> Oh yeah.
| | 01:50 |
>> A million little things floating
around here.
| | 01:53 |
Is this mainly what you're going to be
working on today or are you kind of
| | 01:55 |
dabbling in other things at the time?
>> A couple other things.
| | 01:58 |
Yeah, yeah.
I'm putting tentacles on a jellyfish over
| | 02:01 |
here, and.
And,
| | 02:01 |
>> That's the one you're gong to install?
>> Yeah, yeah, and, and then working on,
| | 02:07 |
on the grinder back here on.
>> What's a grinder?
| | 02:13 |
>> This, this is the grinder, I have it
set up in a, a vice.
| | 02:19 |
>> huh.
>> So I can hold the stones and carving
| | 02:22 |
these things down into.
>> Okay.
| | 02:23 |
Into those over there.
Those'll be pieces in a lamp.
| | 02:27 |
>> Nice.
Several projects.
| | 02:29 |
>> Yeah.
(SOUND)
| | 02:29 |
>> Cool.
so just, because I don't know anything
| | 02:32 |
about what's going on here.
Just explain to me like what's your space.
| | 02:37 |
Like where do you work?
Or do you work all over the place or what?
| | 02:42 |
>> Well this is, this is my, my space,
right here.
| | 02:46 |
>> Okay.
>> There's another guy that works
| | 02:48 |
part-time right there.
>> Uh-huh.
| | 02:50 |
>> Andy Lewis has a full-time spot there.
>> Okay.
| | 02:53 |
>> Other people do, like, daily carving
over here.
| | 02:56 |
>> Right.
>> And there's another guy that carves
| | 02:58 |
right here.
(LAUGH)
| | 02:59 |
>> Alright, so really just this little
block right here.
| | 03:02 |
(CROSSTALK)
>> Yeah.
| | 03:02 |
This, yeah, these two kind of bays right
there are
| | 03:06 |
>> Alright cool.
>> Outdoor space and then I got a
| | 03:09 |
interior space kind of.
>> Like working space.
| | 03:10 |
>> Yeah, behind the bread truck.
>> Okay.
| | 03:11 |
And then you said you live on the property
too right?
| | 03:15 |
>> Yeah.
And that's also where I kind of.
| | 03:19 |
>> How far is that?
Is that walking distance?
| | 03:24 |
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
| | 03:25 |
You know, let me just real quick while
we're already here.
| | 03:27 |
>> just do your thing.
Let me get a couple of shots.
| | 03:30 |
>> Sure, sure.
>> And then, let's let's do, let's go
| | 03:35 |
look at where you live.
>> Okay.
| | 03:36 |
>> Because I'm interested in that, and
then kind of give me, like, the lay of the
| | 03:39 |
land real quick?
>> Yeah.
| | 03:40 |
>> and then we'll sit down, power/g, and
kind of figure out what we want to do with
| | 03:43 |
the day.
>> Okay.
| | 03:43 |
>> Sound cool?
>> Yeah
| | 03:46 |
>> Cool
>> What I like to do, and it's not really
| | 03:51 |
a conscious thing, it's just how it
happens.
| | 03:53 |
When I first start a story with a person,
I want to get all my gear out and get it
| | 03:57 |
into their face, right out of the bat, so
that he knows exactly what I'm doing there.
| | 04:01 |
He knows exactly how this day is going to
be and he, very quickly he gets annoyed or
| | 04:06 |
distracted, about the whole thing and he
just starts to ignore me at a certain point.
| | 04:10 |
Cause he deals with the fact that there's
going to be a camera in his face all day.
| | 04:13 |
And I got a, got a say, like with him
though it's been pretty easy, I don't
| | 04:16 |
think he minds me being here at all.
(SOUND) So just to talk about the space a
| | 04:21 |
little bit is right off the bat there's a
whole lot of (LAUGH) obstacles shooting here.
| | 04:25 |
The lighting is super contrasty.
One of the first things I did was I
| | 04:28 |
kind of got a little bit low and started
shooting up at him and I was just letting
| | 04:32 |
that the, the sun just totally blow out
and I got the streaks of that coming in.
| | 04:36 |
And this happens a lot when I shoot is you
know the shots I want to get in my head
| | 04:41 |
and I'll totally work the scene.
But like in the first five minutes I can
| | 04:44 |
already tell you tonight, when I go back
to the laptop and I edit, that's the
| | 04:47 |
picture that I'm going to use from here.
You know, for sure, put it on the hard
| | 04:50 |
drive, it'll be done.
I didn't bring a flash but I got a notepad
| | 04:55 |
And, you know?
It's a, a quick little bounce card.
| | 04:57 |
Just to get a little bit of a light, to
catch in his eyes.
| | 05:00 |
So, you know?
Again, it's, like, just look around your
| | 05:02 |
space, and what you're shooting.
And there's tools there that are going to
| | 05:04 |
help your photography.
So use what you got around you.
| | 05:07 |
(SOUND).
One thing I like to do is, you know, in
| | 05:11 |
that moment, just real quick.
You get that shot, and you've got his, the
| | 05:14 |
little part of his hand in focus on his
tool.
| | 05:16 |
But then also rack out and get the focus
of his face.
| | 05:19 |
And just get both options.
So, don't make the decision right there,
| | 05:22 |
oh, I'm only going to use this shot.
But get both of those and when you get
| | 05:24 |
home tonight and you're editing you know.
Oh, you know what, actually, I wanted his
| | 05:27 |
face in focus at 2A and not the statue or
vice-versa.
| | 05:31 |
But give yourself some selections.
>> Are you basing the face on a real person?
| | 05:36 |
>> Yeah, it's my daughter.
>> Nice.
| | 05:38 |
How old is she?
>>She's 13.
| | 05:39 |
>>Very cool.
Has she seen this yet, or?
| | 05:42 |
>>No she's very shy.
>>She knows about it?
| | 05:44 |
>>Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
She's not real, you know?
| | 05:46 |
She's a bit, bit, self conscious, you
know?
| | 05:49 |
>>Uh-huh.
So she's nervous?
| | 05:49 |
>>Yeah.
>> Does she live around here?
| | 05:51 |
>>No, no, she lives in Florida.
>>Uh-huh.
| | 05:54 |
>>So, you know I, I live here probably
like 2 3rds of the year, you know?
| | 05:57 |
Back there, you know, the other third.
And that's going to be the next thing, you know.
| | 06:04 |
That I'll, once I finish this eye.
>> huh.
| | 06:06 |
>> I'll go to this ear right here.
>> I think to be good at this job, or to
| | 06:10 |
be good as a photographer, you have to be
generally just fascinated by things and people.
| | 06:14 |
>> And I'm generally just fascinated by
people and I want to ask all these
| | 06:16 |
questions and I get kind of nosy.
And you know in this conversation I'm
| | 06:20 |
always trying to make that shotless of
what else can I cram.
| | 06:23 |
There's only two days with this guy.
It's like we gotta get as much action
| | 06:25 |
there as possible.
For some reason she kind of looks like a
| | 06:27 |
dancer in that picture.
>> She is.
| | 06:30 |
>> Is she?
>> She just danced with a Moscow ballet.
| | 06:36 |
>> For real?
>> Yeah.
| | 06:37 |
>> Wow at 13?
>> That's very cool.
| | 06:41 |
>> So I've got a few more minutes to
carve right here.
| | 06:43 |
>> Yeah, finish up whatever you're doing
and we'll just do a little a tour.
| | 06:45 |
>> Yeah, I'll try and fix this eye.
>> you know one of the things I like to
| | 06:46 |
tell people, is you know, move around, use
your feet, don't use your zoom.
| | 06:53 |
Walk into those shots, walk out of those
shots.
| | 07:01 |
I just put the, you know, I've got the
long lens on here.
| | 07:04 |
And the reason why I use the long lens is
not because I'm really far away.
| | 07:07 |
It's because I want to flatten out that
image.
| | 07:09 |
And when I flatten out that image I want
to sort of, what I call dirty up the edges
| | 07:12 |
of it.
And so I just kind of walked around the
| | 07:14 |
space and found cool objects that when I
knew I'm shooting in like 2 8 they're
| | 07:18 |
going to out of focus but will make a nice
shape on the left or right side of the frame.
| | 07:22 |
>> and so I did that a little bit.
(SOUND) >>This is great.
| | 07:33 |
This, this piece is going to have a lot of
history.
| | 07:36 |
It was already like the, the feature piece
in a, in a movie.
| | 07:41 |
>>Mm-hm.
>> This was?
| | 07:43 |
>> Yeah.
>> Nice, is it finished?
| | 07:46 |
>> Well, they're in the editing process
now.
| | 07:48 |
>> I want to see that.
>> They shot it in December, so, it's also
| | 07:51 |
really cool because, you see the piece,
>> Before?
| | 07:54 |
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Nice.
| | 07:55 |
>> I'm going to go take everything off.
>> So you're just going to have this piece.
| | 07:59 |
>> It progresses slightly.
>> like, documented.
| | 08:03 |
>> Yeah, yeah.
(LAUGH)
| | 08:06 |
>> Cool.
>> You know, give it some serious provenance.
| | 08:09 |
>> huh.
(CROSSTALK)
| | 08:10 |
>> Well, let's take a walk.
I want to take a break from this for a minute.
| | 08:14 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. First Day Getting to Know the SubjectTouring the Art City space| 00:00 |
>> (SOUND).
So, just break it down for me.
| | 00:04 |
So, if you've got all these artists here,
are they sort of paying rent...
| | 00:07 |
>> Yes.
>> Or in a school, or.
| | 00:07 |
>> Yes, yeah.
Everyone pays rent, for their, studio spaces.
| | 00:12 |
>> huh.
>> And then it, it comes with the use of
| | 00:14 |
the kitchen, you know, for lunch and, you
know, and everything.
| | 00:18 |
And we have the events here where we can,
you know, do all the stuff for the
| | 00:23 |
catering of it.
The shows, the gallery around the corner.
| | 00:27 |
This is Paul's area here.
This is our drilling area.
| | 00:31 |
This is, this is a big drill where we can
drill whatever length and however big and
| | 00:36 |
I mean.
>>Where do the rocks come from?
| | 00:38 |
>> All over the place.
>>
| | 00:39 |
>> All over the world.
You know I have the salt comes from the
| | 00:42 |
desert or you know outside of Washington,
Spokane Washington.
| | 00:47 |
>> Mm hm.
>>These, you know that gray stone there
| | 00:51 |
comes from you know, British Columbia.
There's you know, there stuff from all
| | 00:55 |
over, from India
>> Mm hm.
| | 00:57 |
>> And all over Europe.
Belgian black marble.
| | 01:00 |
And, you know, the Mexican onyx.
And there's a tremendous amount I, I don't
| | 01:06 |
know if there's anywhere on the planet
that has such a variety, you know, of
| | 01:10 |
really good stone that's used both for,
for sculptors to carve with.
| | 01:17 |
>> Does this work?
>> Yeah.
| | 01:19 |
(CROSSTALK)
>> because one thing I want to do before
| | 01:21 |
you know before we finish up for the two
days is, I want to get like an
| | 01:23 |
environmental portrait of you.
Something that's like a little bit more formal.
| | 01:26 |
My initial idea was I wanted to have like
just a whole bunch of rock or a whole
| | 01:29 |
bunch of your sculptures around you.
But kind of
| | 01:32 |
>> All right.
>> Looking down you're getting like
| | 01:33 |
sort of Sure
>> (CROSSTALK)
| | 01:33 |
>> Swamped by materials (CROSSTALK)
>> Sure.
| | 01:34 |
Yeah.
Yeah.
| | 01:35 |
(CROSSTALK)
>> So I was going to ask if you had, like,
| | 01:36 |
a tall ladder or something, but that
probably gets up pretty high too.
| | 01:39 |
>> Absolutely.
>> (CROSSTALK) You know
| | 01:40 |
>> (CROSSTALK)
>> We have both.
| | 01:40 |
>> (CROSSTALK) If you get up high and then
I can shoot down.
| | 01:42 |
>> (CROSSTALK) Yes.
>> You know.
| | 01:43 |
Cool.
>> So this our gallery space that we have
| | 01:47 |
shows in.
but this is, this is the body.
| | 01:51 |
>> This is the jellyfish.
>> Of the new jellyfish.
| | 01:53 |
>> Okay.
So is this what you're going to be installing?
| | 01:55 |
>> Yeah, so it has a housing >>Thing for
the light and the support.
| | 01:59 |
>>Uh-huh.
>>And all the hooks on it for the tentacles.
| | 02:01 |
>>Uh-huh.
>>So all the tentacles that I finished
| | 02:04 |
inside, I'm going to start, you know,
bringing out here, and, and hooking them up.
| | 02:09 |
>>So, Kevin's working on this really cool
lantern sculpture that we're going to go
| | 02:13 |
see tomorrow and have him install it and
so I asked him if I could see some of the
| | 02:17 |
smaller pieces that he's working on before
he finishes this thing up.
| | 02:20 |
because in our story it's going to be nice
to have him, not only doing the process of
| | 02:23 |
building it, but also installing it.
and we can connect those pictures, which
| | 02:27 |
will be great.
So I asked him to show me where they are,
| | 02:29 |
and I lucked out, because the small pieces
he's working on, were actually in his
| | 02:32 |
house which is right here at our city and,
it's great.
| | 02:38 |
So, anytime one of your characters
actually like invites you into their home,
| | 02:42 |
into their living space it's a great
privilege but it's also just a, it's a
| | 02:47 |
treasure chest for us, there is so much
material there to work with.
| | 02:51 |
so he invited me in and I got to sort of
walk around his space and see the
| | 02:55 |
tenacles, and then also get to watch him
in his, he's got these great hands working
| | 03:00 |
on this sculpture and sort of beading
these small pieces on while he was sitting
| | 03:05 |
down in his living room.
which was really great.
| | 03:08 |
So I got the wide angle on and it's got a
great macro on it.
| | 03:11 |
So I can get really in there and get in
tight.
| | 03:14 |
and got lots of nice shots of the hands
doing physical things.
| | 03:18 |
and then once I was in the space.
I asked him, hey you know is your bedroom
| | 03:22 |
around here.
And he said yeah it's over here.
| | 03:24 |
And I got to into his bedroom with his
permission.
| | 03:26 |
I said you know, Can I just get some
detail shots around here because a
| | 03:31 |
person's space without them in it actually
says so much about their character.
| | 03:36 |
and with Kevin, like, his space is
definitely an open book because
| | 03:40 |
everything's right there.
So I, I walked around (SOUND) with my
| | 03:44 |
cameras and got some you know small detail
shots.
| | 03:46 |
He lives with the pieces that he uses in
his sculpture work.
| | 03:51 |
So he's literally surrounded all day and
all night by his raw materials that I find fascinating.
| | 03:57 |
So there's lots of I got lots of shots of
you know little shells and little stones
| | 04:01 |
and little chars of glasses that he's
found over the years.
| | 04:04 |
And then part of my favorite shot from the
entire scene was I was looking at his
| | 04:09 |
dresser which is right next to his bed and
he's got his keys and his coins and all
| | 04:13 |
this stuff that we all have on our
dressers and then he's got four pictures
| | 04:18 |
of his daughter.
And for me this is like, this is gold.
| | 04:21 |
This is a great story telling moment, you
know.
| | 04:23 |
We've got a picture of him carving this
beautiful statue, an angel, and then we
| | 04:27 |
find out that the face is actually a
representation of his 13-year old daughter
| | 04:31 |
who lives in Florida while he's in
California.
| | 04:33 |
And then I go to his room and he's got
pictures of his daughter sitting right
| | 04:36 |
there on the dresser and it just connects
everything.
| | 04:42 |
One thing when you, when you do portraits
of people, you know, the first thing you
| | 04:45 |
think of is that's a picture of a person.
If I ask you what's a portrait?
| | 04:48 |
Yeah, it's when I take a picture of a
person and they're in the frame, but
| | 04:51 |
really a portrait can mean a lot of things
and one of my favorite photo essays is
| | 04:54 |
actually a portrait series about fallen
soldiers.
| | 04:58 |
And the soldiers themselves are not in any
of the pictures.
| | 05:01 |
It's just a whole set of photographs of
their empty rooms back home after they pass.
| | 05:07 |
And so I mean the sense of space that
somebody lives in can say so much about
| | 05:11 |
who they are.
And with Kevin it's a, it's the same thing.
| | 05:14 |
You, you know, taking a portrait with the
person not actually in it.
| | 05:19 |
can sometimes be louder than actually
having them in that space.
| | 05:22 |
And I think in Kevin's, situation, both in
his house and also in his work space, that
| | 05:27 |
definitely, definitely is true.
| | 05:29 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Capturing the subject at play| 00:00 |
>> (SOUND) Come on, come on, come!
There we go.
| | 00:10 |
Come on!
Oh my God.
| | 00:11 |
(INAUDIBLE) >>The thobala games here at
Art City happen every day at 4:00, and it
| | 00:20 |
might just be a game, but for these guys,
they take it really, really seriously.
| | 00:24 |
Kevin gets really into it.
There's lots of groaning and grunting and
| | 00:28 |
excitement about who's winning in the
tournament.
| | 00:30 |
And these games actually sort of go on,
these tournaments for days.
| | 00:33 |
>> I don't think it's protecting anything.
So it's coming the other way, put it up
| | 00:43 |
when you get there.
>> It's really interesting.
| | 00:47 |
And they actually make, and carve, and
smooth the stones themselves.
| | 00:50 |
And, but for me, and for the photo essay,
it's almost just more of a distraction.
| | 00:54 |
What it was, was a great moment, and a
great tool to get Kevin interacting with
| | 00:59 |
his friends and his buddies.
(SOUND) You know, once you're in
| | 01:03 |
somebody's space, you gotta respect their
schedule and their time, but at the same
| | 01:06 |
time we have a job to do, and kind of keep
ourselves on schedule too.
| | 01:10 |
So it's a little bit of a game back and
forth, and it's definitely a relationship
| | 01:13 |
between you and your subject you gotta
respect.
| | 01:20 |
(NOISE) So, we've got a couple good
pictures to play with, and we've got a
| | 01:22 |
little bit of motion, which I'm always
looking for.
| | 01:24 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Taking a portrait of the subject| 00:00 |
So I really want to do a portrait of
Kevin, something a little bit more formal,
| | 00:04 |
a little bit more staged.
And right now with the sun the way it is
| | 00:08 |
it's at one of the best times of day for
me to do this because I've got some
| | 00:11 |
interesting light.
But it's also one of the worst times of
| | 00:13 |
day to be doing it because that light is
going to go down below the horizon here
| | 00:16 |
any minute and I haven't organizaed
anything yet.
| | 00:19 |
So I've got a lead on a guy who can run
this forklift.
| | 00:23 |
And I want to use this forklift to get up
high, and shoot down for a different
| | 00:26 |
vantage point of Kevin.
So he's surrounded by all these really
| | 00:29 |
cool rocks we got out here.
but I've only got a couple minutes to do this.
| | 00:33 |
So I gotta kind of get on the ball and
make this thing happen.
| | 00:35 |
(SOUND).
Cool.
| | 00:36 |
>>Probably want to stand on there.
(SOUND).
| | 00:41 |
>> Or that.
>>That's better.
| | 00:45 |
>> So environmental portraits are any time
you have a subject that you're shooting
| | 00:51 |
and you put them within a space that
usually says something about that
| | 00:54 |
character, or about that person.
and with Kevin it was obvious, you know, I
| | 00:58 |
want to put him with his raw materials.
When I'm shooting a story, I try to
| | 01:02 |
include a whole different range of types
of photography.
| | 01:06 |
Whether it's landscape or portraiture or
environmental portraiture or detail shots
| | 01:10 |
or macro photography.
Just so you get a whole variety of images
| | 01:13 |
that you can play with later.
So I usually almost always include an
| | 01:17 |
envirionmental portrait.
And I'd actually say in my work life about
| | 01:21 |
80% of the work that I do is environmental
portrait based stuff for editorial publications.
| | 01:26 |
So, it's something if you aren't already
doing, you should be learning how to do
| | 01:30 |
and just get as fascinated with it as I
am.
| | 01:34 |
because there's nothing than better than,
like, finding a really interesting person
| | 01:37 |
and putting them in their really
interesting space.
| | 01:38 |
All right, so, we've lost the light over
here so let's come over here where these
| | 01:44 |
rocks are.
I think I was about 10 minutes behind on
| | 01:50 |
the light that I wanted.
but that's no reason to just scrap the shoot.
| | 01:54 |
so I still did it, and we just kind of
worked around it, and I had him stand in a
| | 01:57 |
different place than I really would have
wanted him to.
| | 02:00 |
but the great things about cool creative
people is they kind of make the, the
| | 02:04 |
moment happen.
And so, I mean, I told Kevin to stand in
| | 02:07 |
one place.
And then I turn around, next thing I know,
| | 02:08 |
he's climbing up the side of the rock.
And he's jumping on top of things, and
| | 02:12 |
he's walking around.
And what he was doing in the places he was
| | 02:15 |
standing was way more interesting than the
light ever would have been.
| | 02:18 |
And so you know, you, it's nice to have an
idea what you're going to do, but then
| | 02:22 |
when the moment starts happening, you just
run with it, and great things are going to happen.
| | 02:26 |
(SOUND) Do me a favor and look out over
there again.
| | 02:30 |
Perfect.
A note about sort of the process here is
| | 02:34 |
this morning I was walking around here
doing the tour, and I saw a bunch of cool rocks.
| | 02:38 |
I'm like that's neat, and I saw a forklift
and I'm like that looks cool.
| | 02:41 |
And it's like if you have access to these
things you might as well use them.
| | 02:44 |
so sometimes it's worth taking a little
bit of a risk and climbing up on a
| | 02:48 |
forklift and having it go all the way as
high as it can.
| | 02:51 |
You know, be as safe as you can but it's a
whole new vantage point and that's one of
| | 02:54 |
those things.
That's like sometimes you want to kneel
| | 02:56 |
down to shoot and if you can get high and
you have access to a forklift you use it.
| | 02:59 |
And you're going to get more interesting
shots and more dynamic images that people
| | 03:02 |
are going to relate to.
and also the great thing about having the
| | 03:05 |
vantage point up there is we really get to
see Art City which really is like a city.
| | 03:08 |
You've got all these little sort of
village spaces that people are working.
| | 03:11 |
And from up there you can really see that.
so I think it was a success, and the great
| | 03:16 |
thing about having a subject for two days
is if it wasn't the sun is going to go
| | 03:20 |
down again tomorrow and we can try it
again.
| | 03:22 |
I think we got it.
That was great, I appreciate it.
| | 03:26 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Evaluating the shoot plan| 00:01 |
So, I just finished up a portrait shoot
with Kevin.
| | 00:04 |
And while I'm shooting the portrait, I'm
noticing that the light is going.
| | 00:07 |
And inevitably in any day of shooting, and
my schedule's sort of dictated by the
| | 00:11 |
light that I have.
And being aware the light that I have now
| | 00:14 |
and the light that's going to be
disappearing quickly.
| | 00:15 |
Which gets me thinking about schedules.
and while I'm shooting all day, I keep
| | 00:20 |
track of the shots I've taken and also
sort of my dream shots that I want to get.
| | 00:24 |
just like today, walking around, I notice
they have a kitchen here that's outside.
| | 00:27 |
I really want to shoot there.
I noticed some halogen light that were
| | 00:30 |
sitting on stands, and I'm thinking man,
that's going to be a great shot to get at night.
| | 00:34 |
earlier today, I saw Kevin.
He ended up sending something to the post
| | 00:37 |
office, and he hopped on his bicycle to go
to the post office.
| | 00:40 |
then I was like that's a great shot too.
So, those are three shots, that I already
| | 00:43 |
know that I want.
And some of those are determined what by,
| | 00:45 |
what the light is that we have available
to us.
| | 00:49 |
so what I need to do now is go have a
chit-chat with Kevin, and sit down with my
| | 00:53 |
shot list, and figure out what we can get
done in the time that we have.
| | 00:56 |
Because I've only got him for 36 hours.
So I'm just going to go find Kevin and
| | 00:59 |
we're going to get to it.
(SOUND) so I just wanted to pull you aside
| | 01:06 |
here, and chit chat for a minute.
basically, the light's kind of going.
| | 01:10 |
>> Mm hm.
>> And it's got me thinking about what it
| | 01:13 |
is I need to get done.
And what sort of shots I might want to do tomorrow.
| | 01:16 |
(SOUND) so let me just run through this.
And see what we can do tonight, and what
| | 01:21 |
we can do tomorrow.
Since we've only got you for like, 36 more hours.
| | 01:24 |
>> Okay.
>> today, I really want to get a shot of
| | 01:27 |
you doing a little bit of work at night.
>> Okay.
| | 01:29 |
>> I know maybe tonight, you're not doing
a lot of work.
| | 01:31 |
But you do work at night.
>> Yeah, yeah.
| | 01:33 |
>> and so maybe you put some lights up in
your outdoor studio space.
| | 01:37 |
>> Do that right after this.
>> Yeah, and I think it'll be dark in
| | 01:39 |
about 30 minutes.
>> Yeah.
| | 01:40 |
>> Yep.
let's do that.
| | 01:42 |
I think for this evening I think we'll be
good.
| | 01:44 |
And then tomorrow morning, I want
something that sort of gives us a time of
| | 01:48 |
day, because that will be the end shot of
this story basically is you working at
| | 01:51 |
night, but I need something to start out
with in the morning.
| | 01:54 |
and so I know we talked about doing the
coffee shop, but I saw the kitchen, I
| | 01:58 |
didn't know about the kitchen til just
now, and I think that kitchen's really cool.
| | 02:01 |
Do you ever make coffee here?
>> Sure, yeah-
| | 02:02 |
>> You do.
>> I drink coffee right here.
| | 02:03 |
>> But do you ever make coffee?
>> Oh yeah, I do but I it, typically not
| | 02:06 |
this time of year, because it's cool and I
like to.
| | 02:08 |
>> huh.
>> You know, make the coffee and
| | 02:11 |
>> Do you make breakfast?
Do you do anything in the kitchen in the morning?
| | 02:13 |
>> Yeah, yeah I don't, I don't eat much
breakfast, it would be making the coffee.
| | 02:16 |
>> Okay how about I swing by kind of early
tomorrow morning?
| | 02:20 |
>> Okay.
>> And I'll get you making your coffee and
| | 02:24 |
having your morning coffee in the outdoor
kitchen.
| | 02:26 |
I think that's so cool.
>> Yeah, sounds good.
| | 02:28 |
>> I like to keep it kind of cool and
(CROSSTALK) every morning.
| | 02:30 |
>> Yeah, we can do that.
>> Alright, so we'll definitely do that.
| | 02:32 |
I'll call you later to figure out what is
a good time for us to come by.
| | 02:36 |
>> It doesn't have to be six either, we
can do it later.
| | 02:38 |
>> We can do it later.
We'll figure out what the light is and stuff.
| | 02:40 |
>> But we want to have any later than
seven and the lighting is going to be different.
| | 02:44 |
>> It's not going to look like morning.
>> You'll have this nice cool angle
| | 02:47 |
coming through.
>> So seven's better?
| | 02:48 |
>> Seven's better.
>> Okay.
| | 02:51 |
>> Or even 7:30 is probably going to be
best.
| | 02:55 |
because then it'll be light enough.
>> Alright maybe we'll come over at 7:15
| | 02:57 |
to set up and then shoot at 7:00
>> Yeah, yeah.
| | 02:59 |
>> Okay cool.
>> and then I want to get you installing
| | 03:02 |
the jellyfish.
So, is that something that's later in the
| | 03:06 |
day, the afternoon?
>> Well we'll talk to Elizabeth and Tim,
| | 03:09 |
and we intend to be there, but I'm
thinking it will probably be an afternoon
| | 03:12 |
thing, you know, like 1 o'clock kind of
thing.
| | 03:15 |
>> Okay, hold on, seven coffee
(INAUDIBLE).
| | 03:18 |
you're going to think this is funny, but I
want to get a shot of you riding your bike tomorrow.
| | 03:25 |
And we can do that any time of day is good
for me.
| | 03:27 |
But the way I want to do it it's going to
be little be squarely, is I want you to
| | 03:30 |
actually be riding your bike.
And then I'm going to be in a car and I'm
| | 03:34 |
going to get somebody to drive the car.
I'm going to be in the back seat with the
| | 03:36 |
window down and I'm actually going to be
tracking with you.
| | 03:39 |
>>Sure, sure.
>> It's going to be cool.
| | 03:40 |
You're going to be in focus and everything
else is going to be out of focus.
| | 03:42 |
So, maybe we do the coffee, and then just
do that right after.
| | 03:45 |
so let's say like 9.
You know, and for me, right now, like
| | 03:52 |
that's the stuff that I want to get.
>> Okay
| | 03:53 |
>> So, it's those four shots.
And I'm sure, it's not even a good or bad
| | 03:56 |
move adding this stuff.
I'm going to think of some other things
| | 03:58 |
and we'll just go over it tomorrow
morning.
| | 03:59 |
>> Okay
>> So, for now, let's just go go back to
| | 04:02 |
your outdoor studio, and we'll set up some
lights, and we'll get cranking.
| | 04:06 |
So, that when the sun goes down we can
shoot.
| | 04:08 |
>> Yeah.
>> Cool?
| | 04:11 |
Thanks.
| | 04:13 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Shooting into the night| 00:02 |
So, earlier today I was talking to Kevin
about working at night, because when I
| | 00:06 |
talked to him on the phone he said, that
he gets up super early in the morning and
| | 00:09 |
he just works all day.
And so, I was curious you know does he
| | 00:12 |
actually work at night.
And wonders why I asked this, because I
| | 00:15 |
saw some very cool lighting elements that
were sitting out here.
| | 00:17 |
And I thought how cool to be to actually
shoot him in evening time once it's dark,
| | 00:22 |
just to mix things up a bit.
One of the problems when you are shooting
| | 00:24 |
your photo story, is you get so many
pictures of the same subject, the same
| | 00:28 |
person, the same the sculptures, whatever
your subject matter is.
| | 00:30 |
And it actually becomes a bit boring
visually, when you're looking at 30
| | 00:34 |
pictures in a row in one photo essay.
And so, one of the ways you can mix this
| | 00:37 |
up is, you know, using different lenses
and things like that.
| | 00:40 |
But also, by using different times of day,
and just having different light.
| | 00:44 |
and so he wasn't actually going to be
working tonight, but he does work most nights.
| | 00:49 |
And so I asked him, you know, can we power
up some lights this evening since we're
| | 00:52 |
here today?
And do a little bit of, do a little bit of
| | 00:55 |
work that I can document and he was, okay
doing it.
| | 00:58 |
And so we're going to check it out, and so
far it looks like it's pretty awesome lighting.
| | 01:02 |
So, I think it's going to be a good good
little story.
| | 01:04 |
It's also going to help me with our
narrative, because tomorrow we're going to
| | 01:07 |
shoot him having his coffee.
And then we're going to have this shot of
| | 01:10 |
him working at night.
And it's going to kind of bookend our
| | 01:14 |
edited project hopefully.
And we're going to have a nice, full story
| | 01:17 |
when we sit down and edit this piece
together.
| | 01:19 |
(SOUND) Because it was a different light
source than it was earlier today, which
| | 01:36 |
was just the outdoors and the sun.
We came up with some new, more dynamic images.
| | 01:46 |
Kevin was doing some of the exact same
activities that he was earlier today.
| | 01:50 |
But now they have a whole new atmosphere
and life to them.
| | 01:53 |
I'm really loving what I've shot so far.
And I'm really excited to go back and sort
| | 01:57 |
of, look at what these images are like.
(SOUND) I walked around this space and all
| | 02:06 |
of a sudden in taking 30 steps back from
my subject and sort of, walking in a
| | 02:10 |
complete circle around.
I started seeing different shapes in the foreground.
| | 02:13 |
Silhouettes that I can play with, dark
shadows, there's just a lot of fun things
| | 02:18 |
that happen when you mix up your lighting
situation.
| | 02:21 |
(SOUND) Lighting is just one of those
ingredients, we can throw in there to make
| | 02:25 |
a collection of images look different.
We can have flat lighting, we have dynamic
| | 02:28 |
lighting, we have contrasting lighting,
there's all sorts of different textures
| | 02:31 |
that are brought out in our images.
And when we have 30 or 40 images stacked
| | 02:34 |
next to each other, we need them to start
looking different.
| | 02:37 |
And so we've been photographing all day in
similar lighting.
| | 02:41 |
This is a great opportunity to take
advantage of shooting at night, and
| | 02:44 |
incorporating some different lighting
techniques.
| | 02:50 |
Now, that I'm back at the hotel, I'm
excited to compare the images I've taken
| | 02:53 |
at night with the ones that I've taken
earlier in the day.
| | 02:55 |
I've got a huge selection of images I've
got to look through tonight.
| | 02:58 |
I'm going to estimate since I did three
cards, so between 1,500 and 2,000 images.
| | 03:03 |
Just to work through.
It's going to take me a while to download
| | 03:05 |
all of those.
But before I got to bed, I want to put my
| | 03:07 |
eyes on for at least one pass.
And maybe in the morning, I'll start
| | 03:10 |
making a sequence out of these.
So, I'm excited to get in there.
| | 03:13 |
Check them out, but I think I've got at
least three images I can think of.
| | 03:15 |
I just did with the night shoot, that I'm
going to really love.
| | 03:17 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Going Back for Essential ShotsReviewing the first-day images and planning| 00:01 |
After a long day of shooting, I usually
come back to my hotel room or wherever it
| | 00:04 |
is that I'm staying.
And I've got piles of cards on which I
| | 00:07 |
need to download or ingest into my
computer and then sort through them.
| | 00:11 |
with the Kevin story we had roughly 2000
or so images but I needed to get down to 100.
| | 00:17 |
So what I do is usually tired after a long
day of shooting instead of editing
| | 00:21 |
everything, and opening it up in
Photoshop.
| | 00:24 |
I'll get it down to that Magic 100 and
then get a good night's sleep.
| | 00:27 |
Wake up the next morning, and have at it
again.
| | 00:29 |
So what I've got now is 100 images that I
need to get down to about 20 or 30.
| | 00:33 |
So I can get an idea of what kind of
images I need to make for the rest of the day.
| | 00:37 |
And see what kind of holes need to be
filled.
| | 00:40 |
So now that I've got 100 images or
actually resized, I've got 96 images that
| | 00:45 |
I have a 1 star rating for.
The way I like to do it is I like to give
| | 00:48 |
one star for my preliminary edit.
And then I'll do two stars for my
| | 00:52 |
secondary edit and then I kind of go from
there depending on how many more days of
| | 00:55 |
shooting I have.
for our one stars we've got 96 images.
| | 00:59 |
And where I go from this is I kind of
actually make my thumbnails nice and tiny.
| | 01:06 |
And this might seem a little weird, but
what I do is I kind of sit back like this
| | 01:09 |
and I squint my eyes a little bit.
And what you start to see is you start
| | 01:12 |
seeing collections of images.
And I stop looking at what the content of
| | 01:16 |
the image is, because I know what the
content is.
| | 01:18 |
What I really want to do is look at the
colors, and the shapes, and just sort of
| | 01:21 |
see what's going on.
And when I do that, I can automatically
| | 01:23 |
see that right here, I've got five images
that only one of those is ever going to
| | 01:28 |
work in a sequence together.
Down here, I've got four images that have
| | 01:32 |
roughly the same blue.
These are all these darker images.
| | 01:36 |
so automatically, I can start this tell
that alright, I only have about 20 images here.
| | 01:40 |
And so from here what I'll do is I'll go
through and I'll open them open and I'm
| | 01:45 |
going to do two star ratings for the
images that I'm going to keep.
| | 01:49 |
And we're looking for not only for
sequence and content but also styles or
| | 01:53 |
images that'll go together.
Hopefully when I'm finished here we'll
| | 01:57 |
have about twenty to thirty images to work
with.
| | 02:02 |
When looking at images like this, close up
of Kevin, I'm looking usually, with a
| | 02:07 |
portrait of something.
You're looking at their eyes and
| | 02:09 |
determining what kind of intensity they
have or what kind of emotion you really
| | 02:11 |
want in that picture.
And for instance here, I've got three
| | 02:15 |
images that are roughly the same.
And what I was doing is, Kevin's working
| | 02:20 |
on this cone shaped object here for one of
his sculptures.
| | 02:23 |
And I was trying to frame out of focus the
same objects in the foreground.
| | 02:27 |
you might need a little cropping to make
that work but still keep it just to see later.
| | 02:32 |
Mixing up our image always, you know how
they detail shots of hands but then also
| | 02:36 |
having a wider version to cut to.
yesterday we spent quite awhile
| | 02:42 |
photographing Kevin and some of his
friends playing this, this type of bocce
| | 02:47 |
ball that they play.
and it was fascinating to watch them play
| | 02:51 |
and they had a great time.
and it was fun to shoot, but for a story
| | 02:54 |
it's almost more of a distraction than it
is a benefit to tell his character.
| | 02:58 |
I might pick one or two of these images
just to see how he interacts with other people.
| | 03:02 |
Because as a character, we're going to
need a little bit more just looking at the
| | 03:05 |
exact same face over an entire essay.
But I don't want to try to define the game
| | 03:10 |
too much with the images.
So looking at these, maybe an image like
| | 03:14 |
this where we've got three people in the
frame, just makes it visually more interesting.
| | 03:21 |
This image here is a great one for either
the beginning of our photo essay or for
| | 03:24 |
the end of the photo essay.
it establishes where we are, Art City Studios.
| | 03:29 |
and I love the fact that it's just sitting
on the side.
| | 03:31 |
It's not too blatant like just the sign
you know with the, the perfect hor,
| | 03:35 |
horizon on it.
I actually shot this in two separate ways.
| | 03:39 |
So we gotta put it at the beginning of our
photo essay, or at the end of our photo essay.
| | 03:42 |
I don't have the other image starred right
now.
| | 03:44 |
But depending on which angle you're
looking at Art City, it feels like a
| | 03:48 |
bookend to go on either end.
So we'll start that one for sure with two.
| | 03:57 |
This image I love.
And we did, the portrait from a nice high
| | 04:02 |
vantage point.
But yesterday while shooting this, it
| | 04:04 |
wasn't shot at the exact light that I
wanted, and I was a little worried at the
| | 04:07 |
dynamic range of our image would not come
through.
| | 04:10 |
I thought I'd loose all of this in the
shadows.
| | 04:13 |
And I actually played with this is
Photoshop for a little bit, which I like
| | 04:15 |
to do if there's an image that I'm in
question about.
| | 04:18 |
I will open up a Photoshop the night
before so I know if I have to shoot it the
| | 04:21 |
next day.
And I've determined that we, in fact, do
| | 04:23 |
not need to reshoot this.
Photoshop saved us and shooting in raw
| | 04:27 |
image file also saved us.
And I got just enough detail out of here
| | 04:30 |
that I'm pretty happy with this portrait,
and I'll keep it.
| | 04:34 |
Here's the art city sign from the other
angle.
| | 04:37 |
And so, this one seems more like a, a
beginning to the story.
| | 04:40 |
'Cuz we're walking into the story, rather
than looking from the behind.
| | 04:43 |
So we'll put two stars on that, so we can
make that decision later on, when we're,
| | 04:47 |
sequencing our images.
One thing that we need for sure in this
| | 04:55 |
photo essay is a little bit more action.
This is a shot that, you see the dust
| | 05:00 |
flying while he's carving away at the face
of the sculpture and that's great, it
| | 05:03 |
shows motion and it shows action.
But here, if I look back at our larger
| | 05:07 |
edit and look at these thumbnails It seems
pretty static.
| | 05:11 |
It's a lot of faces, it's a lot of
inanimate object, there's not a lot of movement.
| | 05:15 |
So, already I know, for sure, today I'm
going to need to go out and take pictures
| | 05:18 |
that have more motion in them.
I know we're going to be shooting Kevin on
| | 05:22 |
his bicycle today, the way in which we're
going to shoot that is going to
| | 05:25 |
incorporate motion into that image.
And it's something we definitely need to
| | 05:28 |
make this photo essay work and give it
some life.
| | 05:30 |
A big story on that came out in
yesterday's shooting that I'm looking at
| | 05:35 |
now, is Kevin's daughter.
He's got an angel sculpture that he's
| | 05:39 |
working on right now and he's trying to
finish within two weeks before he goes
| | 05:42 |
back to Florida to see his daughter.
And the face is based off of a portrait of
| | 05:46 |
his daughter.
I love adding this element to our story,
| | 05:50 |
and it's something that I want to
incorporate more today.
| | 05:53 |
then we'll talk about that a little later
on but, it's definitely like an emotional
| | 05:57 |
arc in our story that's necessary.
A location change as in these images,
| | 06:02 |
where now we're inside his home are really
great.
| | 06:05 |
because up until this point all our images
have been in his outdoor studio and I'm
| | 06:09 |
already getting a little bored of looking
at it.
| | 06:11 |
So just a location change is a huge deal
for us.
| | 06:13 |
And is definitely pushing our narrative
forward.
| | 06:17 |
Again, this our, pictures of Kevin's
daughter on his night stand.
| | 06:22 |
And I think those are going to make a
great connection to the angel statue.
| | 06:25 |
And we're going to create a little story
with about three images within our photo essay.
| | 06:32 |
Yesterday we took some time to get some
detail shots around his house.
| | 06:36 |
and these images, actually after seeing
Kevin's face over and over and over again,
| | 06:40 |
as much as we love him, we don't want to
see him in every picture.
| | 06:43 |
And these kind of give our, our viewers a
breathing moment when looking at our photos.
| | 06:47 |
So I'm going to select a couple of these
detail shots that don't have Kevin in them.
| | 06:52 |
So, there we go.
So I've got 22 images that I've selected
| | 06:55 |
with two stars, and let's see where all
our holes are.
| | 07:02 |
One thing that I'm noticing is the
majority of the pictures that I've
| | 07:05 |
selected have all been shot with the wide
angle lens somewhere between 17 and 35 millimeters.
| | 07:11 |
I was shooting on a wide.
It's a problem I have is I shoot too much
| | 07:14 |
stuff on wide.
But visually it becomes a little too
| | 07:16 |
stagnant and I know today when I'm
shooting I gotta bring out the bigger lens
| | 07:20 |
and shoot with a 7200 that we've got here.
And I need to flatten my plane a little
| | 07:26 |
bit because right now visually it's all
looking too similar.
| | 07:29 |
So for today I've got at least three
shoots set up and I need to shoot with a
| | 07:32 |
longer lens.
I don't think we need to do any reshoot of
| | 07:37 |
things we shot yesterday.
But looking at this I've got a game plan
| | 07:40 |
of what I need.
And I need more motion.
| | 07:42 |
I need longer lens shots and I need about
three different location changes in order
| | 07:46 |
to make this more interesting.
| | 07:47 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Capturing a shot in motion to add interest| 00:00 |
Photography is about capturing the moment,
and sometimes those moments are really
| | 00:04 |
loud and energetic.
And other times, they're really quiet.
| | 00:07 |
right now, my photo essay is feeling a
little bit quiet, so we've got this
| | 00:10 |
incredible artist who's spending lots of
quiet moments alone in his studio, working
| | 00:14 |
on angelic sculptures.
but I want to amp it up a little bit.
| | 00:18 |
So I just took some photographs of Kevin
on his bicycle with his surfboard.
| | 00:22 |
And I decided to really add some motion to
that by getting in the back of a truck and
| | 00:26 |
traveling along with him and shooting with
him making the background more blurry.
| | 00:31 |
See if this works.
So the key for us is to stay at the same
| | 00:38 |
speed and we'll try to be consistent and
you too.
| | 00:43 |
(SOUND) And we'll just go all the way to
the end.
| | 00:45 |
So it's whenever you're ready to go.
>> Ready to go.
| | 00:49 |
(SOUND).
>> To do something like this, you gotta
| | 00:51 |
actually orchestrate it, though.
because I've gotta get Kevin at a place
| | 00:54 |
(SOUND) at a certain time.
So you gotta schedule it.
| | 00:57 |
And then, I've also gotta have a car ready
if I'm going to do a shot where I'm in the
| | 01:00 |
back of a truck, and he's there.
So those are two elements.
| | 01:02 |
(NOISE) And then you have to, there's
safety issues that are a huge concern too.
| | 01:06 |
You gotta talk to your driver and figure
that out (SOUND) and then you actually
| | 01:10 |
have to find the street and tell your
subject how to ride.
| | 01:13 |
And, and this one, (SOUND) he had to keep
the same pace as my truck was.
| | 01:17 |
and all these elements are things that,
you know maybe you're thinking about
| | 01:20 |
pictures a lot of time you go out there
and you're thinking you just taking
| | 01:22 |
pictures and you're taking, taking,
taking, and then you're going to edit.
| | 01:24 |
But a lot of times you just gotta slow it
down and realize you're actually making images.
| | 01:27 |
And that's what we're doing today as we
orchestrated something and we made an
| | 01:30 |
image, which requires a bit of planning.
And if you've got, you know, people like
| | 01:35 |
Kevin, they're willing to play ball, then
hopefully at the end of the day, you've
| | 01:38 |
got a great image to take home.
We'll just try it again the other direction.
| | 01:42 |
(SOUND).
>> (INAUDIBLE).
| | 01:42 |
>> So I think we got it when we were right
next to each other running parallel, there
| | 01:56 |
wasn't enough motion in the background.
because I didn't have enough ND on here,
| | 02:03 |
to bring down that exposure.
But once the car was in front of the
| | 02:06 |
bicycle, it changed the vantage point
which made a little more motion in the background.
| | 02:10 |
I'm going to try it one more time with me
standing and the bicycle going by and I'm
| | 02:14 |
just going to do a quick pan (SOUND)
that'll, a secondary motion there to get a
| | 02:18 |
little bit more blur.
So we'll see what happens, but we've got
| | 02:20 |
something in the can that we know that
will work.
| | 02:23 |
>> Oh, there's the other bike.
(SOUND) Slow down.
| | 02:27 |
(SOUND) (INAUDIBLE) (SOUND).
>> Slow down.
| | 02:28 |
Oh, we were just trying to get shots of
me.
| | 02:33 |
>> You want to try this?
(INAUDIBLE) (SOUND)
| | 02:40 |
>> you're good.
(SOUND) Let's do it one time this way.
| | 02:53 |
(SOUND) Yeah, we're good.
So we've got two different options here.
| | 02:58 |
One with the truck and then, one with me
standing.
| | 03:02 |
And I think me standing and panning is a
little better.
| | 03:07 |
So, gets options in editing which is what
I always like.
| | 03:11 |
So, this is cool.
>> Done with the board?
| | 03:13 |
>> Yeah, it's good.
No, it's good.
| | 03:14 |
Thanks
>> (INAUDIBLE)
| | 03:18 |
>> The other great thing is (LAUGH), you
know, we shot that.
| | 03:18 |
But then we also have this great
interaction where his buddy showed up with
| | 03:22 |
his surf board.
It's like I wanted the shot for the motion
| | 03:25 |
but now I've got this dilemma that's like
I think them interacting with their surf
| | 03:28 |
boards is so much cooler, way more
interesting.
| | 03:30 |
So now, we have to actually make a
decision on, like, what do we want here?
| | 03:34 |
so, again, cool character, you get cool
material.
| | 03:37 |
So, awesome stuff.
| | 03:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Capturing the subject installing a sculpture| 00:01 |
So, I'm down here at Green Art People, a
community arts space in Ventura.
| | 00:04 |
Where Kevin's got a relationship with some
of the people that run this space.
| | 00:08 |
And he's already got one of his amazing
jellyfish sculptures up.
| | 00:11 |
And we've already seen him with detail
shots of his hands beating some of the tentacles.
| | 00:15 |
So, I'm super excited to get in there, and
see him install one of these pieces.
| | 00:18 |
And for our photo essay, it's going to be
really great, 'cause right now we have
| | 00:21 |
Kevin not really interacting with that
many people.
| | 00:24 |
He's really just doing his art solo and
for the first in our narrative here, we're
| | 00:29 |
actually going to get him interacting with
people and doing something physical
| | 00:32 |
outside of just sculpting.
So, we're going to head in there and
| | 00:34 |
hopefully get some really great shots.
(CROSSTALK) So, in this amazing space,
| | 00:40 |
with all these amazing people and all this
amazing artwork on the walls and it's
| | 00:47 |
really, you know, intriguing to look at
all the stuff that's around here.
| | 00:50 |
But unfortunately, for me as a
photographer, it's actually more of a
| | 00:53 |
distraction visually from what I'm trying
to photograph.
| | 00:56 |
(SOUND) I'm trying to isolate my image, so
I'm really just looking at Kevin and his artwork.
| | 01:00 |
And around here I've got all these other
cool shapes and designs going on.
| | 01:04 |
And so one of the things I was trying to
do today, was actually bring out that
| | 01:07 |
longer lens that I was talking about and
trying to flatten that image.
| | 01:10 |
Actually, eliminate some of the other
elements in the space.
| | 01:17 |
(CROSSTALK) And the lighting in here was a
bit of an issue, it's really dark.
| | 01:20 |
I'm actually shooting at like 2,000 ASA
and I'm swapping out lenses as I go.
| | 01:25 |
I've got one 1.8 F-stop lens, it's really
great in low light.
| | 01:29 |
It wasn't necessarily the lens of choice.
because it was an 85 millimeters, but I
| | 01:33 |
had to use it just because it was the tool
that I had that would capture the light
| | 01:42 |
that I needed in this really dark space.
>> (SOUND) Yeah, I think, and if it's over
| | 01:54 |
the middle it'll be out of everyone's way.
(CROSSTALK) Cool, cool, cool.
| | 02:00 |
Alright, alright, I'm going to to start
bringing them in.
| | 02:05 |
>> So, we're still installing the
tentacles and we're going to continue
| | 02:09 |
shooting, but I just took this shot from
up there and I know I've got what I need.
| | 02:13 |
It's got everything I needed, him
interacting with people and him actually
| | 02:16 |
doing the actual installing it.
So, it's everything we needed for the
| | 02:20 |
photo essay.
But we're going to stick around and see
| | 02:22 |
what else we get, because it's only
going to get better.
| | 02:26 |
So, while I'm shooting today.
I was looking down at Kevin from above on
| | 02:32 |
the ladder.
And it was a great angle for what I wanted.
| | 02:34 |
And all of a sudden, I had that uh-huh,
moment that you always want during the day
| | 02:37 |
as a photographer.
I said, whoa, that's, that's the shot.
| | 02:40 |
That's the shot I need to tell this story.
And I was 99% sure that I got it.
| | 02:45 |
It won't be until I get home tonight, and
I bring it up on a laptop, and I blow it
| | 02:48 |
up real big.
And make sure his eyes are nice and sharp
| | 02:50 |
and in focus.
But I think I nailed it, and you get that
| | 02:53 |
adrenaline rush of yeah I got it.
But at the same time you've got to stay
| | 02:57 |
steady and continue to shoot, because if
that was good and it was in the first five
| | 03:01 |
minutes, it's only going to get better,
and that range true here.
| | 03:04 |
I get a little bit visually bored after
shooting for about ten minutes.
| | 03:12 |
But then I realized, you know, what?
Well, let's switch out the lenses, walk
| | 03:15 |
around the scene, take a moment.
sometimes the best thing I can do is
| | 03:19 |
actually put my cameras down, breathe, and
just look at everything that's going on,
| | 03:23 |
and find a new position.
And that's what I did, is I went all the
| | 03:26 |
way across the room, put on the long lens,
and shot through one of the other
| | 03:30 |
sculptures that he's got here.
Another jellyfish and he's got the
| | 03:32 |
tentacles, and I put that in the
foreground and then put Kevin installing
| | 03:36 |
it in the background.
We had a whole new image.
| | 03:38 |
And it's okay, it's like, use your feet,
walk around, breathe, and take it all in,
| | 03:42 |
and you're going to come up with something
great.
| | 03:44 |
So Kevin is probably well over half way
finish installing all the tentacles on his
| | 03:55 |
jellyfish sculpture, that we've been sort
of documenting.
| | 03:58 |
it's a difficult lighting situation, and
there's all sorts of other stuff going on here.
| | 04:03 |
I don't want to disturb, so you got to
kind of respect the space.
| | 04:05 |
So we've got some good stuff.
So, I'm definitely happy we're doing it.
| | 04:10 |
One thing that's really important for me
when I'm making images in a space, is
| | 04:13 |
being completely familiar with it.
And letting everybody else around me know
| | 04:16 |
that I'm familiar with it, and I'm not
intimidated about what elements are here.
| | 04:20 |
And so when I walk into that space, I'm
already looking at like what chairs can I
| | 04:23 |
stand on?
What ladders are there?
| | 04:25 |
What weird areas?
Can I maybe crawl up on the beams, or what
| | 04:27 |
have you?
You know, and just always be thinking,
| | 04:29 |
what are the advantage points I can get?
And how can I get there?
| | 04:33 |
you know, always be safe, and always be
completely respectful of your space, and
| | 04:36 |
ask permission beforehand.
But also sort of own the environment
| | 04:39 |
there, and take advantage of it, because
it's just going to help your images.
| | 04:55 |
(SOUND) I just finished photographing the
installation of Kevin's amazing jellyfish lights.
| | 05:00 |
And I'm excited to see what these look
like, with the images that I shot
| | 05:03 |
yesterday, I think within our story we
actually have a mini story of his creation
| | 05:07 |
of these lamps, and now he's installation
of these lamps.
| | 05:10 |
And I think within three images, we have a
small story arc that's going to fit into
| | 05:13 |
our bigger essay.
And I'm excited to get home or back to the
| | 05:15 |
hotel, and check this out, and see if it
actually plays right.
| | 05:18 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Finishing the ShootCapturing the start of a day to complete the picture| 00:00 |
You've got the check out this kitchen.
So I came out here this morning to
| | 00:04 |
photograph Kevin having his morning cup of
coffee, maybe a little breakfast.
| | 00:08 |
I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I
did know that our narrative right now sort
| | 00:12 |
of takes place over a day.
Even though we're shooting within 48
| | 00:14 |
hours, visually, it's going to be starting
out in the morning and ending at night.
| | 00:18 |
(SOUND).
>> (INAUDIBLE).
| | 00:18 |
(SOUND).
>> Did you eat breakfast yet?
| | 00:39 |
>> Nope.
>> Nope?
| | 00:41 |
Let's check out this kitchen.
(SOUND)
| | 00:57 |
(SOUND).
The best thing about photography is, is
| | 01:12 |
that you get this invitation to come into
people's lives and you never know what to expect.
| | 01:16 |
And we have somebody really fascinating,
intriguing, like Kevin.
| | 01:19 |
It's always a present that you're
unwrapping and it's every layer something new.
| | 01:22 |
And I come here this morning, it's a
little bit chilly even though we're in Ventura.
| | 01:26 |
And he's got all his buddies that are
hanging out here on our city at 7 o'clock
| | 01:30 |
in the morning.
And they're sitting around a campfire.
| | 01:31 |
I never could have made up this stuff.
It's great, like real life is so awesome
| | 01:35 |
and it throws you a little bit of gems.
so visually, you know, I could shoot low
| | 01:39 |
and through the fire and, then, dogs were
coming up.
| | 01:41 |
And he's got these great characters, his
friends.
| | 01:44 |
so it's a really great morning.
It's a short shoot, only like 5, 10
| | 01:47 |
minutes but we got the pictures we needed.
| | 01:49 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing the essay with the subject| 00:00 |
So, I woke up early this morning and
finished editing all the pictures.
| | 00:03 |
And I gotta pretty, what I think, pretty
solid 31 images that I might whittle down
| | 00:07 |
to about 22.
But before I do that, I wanted to head out
| | 00:09 |
here to Art City and let Kevin have one
last look at photo essay, and get his
| | 00:15 |
reaction to some of these pictures.
And see if I'm going in the wrong
| | 00:18 |
direction, or maybe I've just totally gone
off on my own thing, and I didn't
| | 00:21 |
represent him right.
But I'm just going to check in with him
| | 00:23 |
and get his responses to these images real
fast.
| | 00:26 |
And then after that, I can go back to
editing and making my final choices for
| | 00:30 |
the images for this photo story.
So Kevin, I just wanted to thank you for
| | 00:35 |
letting me kind of come in here and invade
your private space, and your outdoor
| | 00:40 |
studio, and your home, and meet your
buddies.
| | 00:42 |
it's been a inspiration to me and I just
want to sort of check in with you before I leave.
| | 00:48 |
And show you some of the photos.
And let me know if I got it right or if
| | 00:51 |
I'm in the right direction with
representing you.
| | 00:53 |
>> I love these, wow.
that's a great shot there too.
| | 01:10 |
Wow, (LAUGH) love that.
>> (LAUGH).
| | 01:18 |
>> Getting in there?
>> Oh, that string in that, bead, the shells.
| | 01:25 |
>> Mm-hm.
And we'll play around with the sequencing
| | 01:28 |
(CROSSTALK) a bit.
>> Sure, sure.
| | 01:29 |
>> And one of the things that I'm thinking
is, I'll put all the stuff with the with
| | 01:34 |
the jellyfish sort of in a sequence of
like three or four pictures.
| | 01:37 |
So, we got you from, you know, beating the
tentacles, to actually hanging the piece.
| | 01:42 |
>> Mm-hm.
>> And then just the piece by itself.
| | 01:46 |
>> Nice (LAUGH).
>> Your boys.
| | 02:02 |
>> Everybody's boys (CROSSTALK).
>> (CROSSTALK) Figured we need a little
| | 02:05 |
humor in there.
>> Right.
| | 02:12 |
>> Thinking that it'll go in the front.
>> Art City, right.
| | 02:15 |
Oh, I like that, that's great.
>> That was awesome, I just climbed right
| | 02:20 |
up there.
>> (LAUGH) That is killer, too.
| | 02:24 |
Man, I love that curve of the wing.
>> Yeah, your space at night just pops,
| | 02:31 |
it's really amazing.
>> Very cool.
| | 02:39 |
(LAUGH) That looks really cool too.
>> (LAUGH) Taken in the room.
| | 02:45 |
>> Uh-huh, uh-huh, I love the the angles
that you get, it creates really nice perspectives.
| | 02:56 |
>> The sculptures is once that light goes
on it's like pow.
| | 03:02 |
It's great.
>> Oh, yeah.
| | 03:03 |
Golly.
>> So that's, that's it there.
| | 03:05 |
>> That's it.
That's the edit.
| | 03:06 |
We took probably I don't know like maybe
1600 or so pictures.
| | 03:09 |
>> Wow.
>> And then I edited them down to see
| | 03:11 |
that's 31.
And I'm actually edit it down even more to
| | 03:13 |
like 20.
>> Fantastic.
| | 03:15 |
>> but you know, give me your e-mail
address and I'll send all this stuff to
| | 03:19 |
you and then.
>> I'll, I'll just leave you with a card,
| | 03:21 |
give you a card.
>> Sweet, yeah.
| | 03:22 |
And then you can use them for whatever you
want.
| | 03:25 |
but it's been a real privilege, this is.
>> Oh, man.
| | 03:27 |
>> This is awesome.
>> It's been my pleasure, very pleased
| | 03:31 |
that I could be a part of it.
>> Thanks, dude.
| | 03:33 |
>> Right on.
>> I've got to say I was a little bit
| | 03:35 |
nervous showing them to him.
I always get a little bit nervous before I
| | 03:38 |
show my images to the subject that I've
just been photographing.
| | 03:42 |
but he was a great sport about it.
I think he enjoyed what he saw.
| | 03:45 |
I do think I need to consolidate my essay
a little bit more.
| | 03:48 |
Right now it's at 31 images.
I kind of want to get it down to maybe 22
| | 03:51 |
to 23, cause I noticed while watching him
look at the photo stories that there's a
| | 03:55 |
couple repetitive images in there.
But overall it's been a great experience.
| | 04:00 |
he's inspired me as an artist, which you
know that's priceless.
| | 04:03 |
And I'm a little bit sad to say, that I'm
going, but I need to finish up editing.
| | 04:07 |
So, I'm going to head back to the hotel,
edit this up and then I gotta head out of town.
| | 04:11 |
So, it's overall a good experience.
| | 04:12 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
ConclusionEvaluating your final essay| 00:00 |
I just got back from Art City, where I
showed Kevin the final photoessay that I have.
| | 00:06 |
I've done the majority of the editing and
most of the sequencing, and now I'm just
| | 00:10 |
going to do my last pass-through before
I'v got to head out check out of the hotel
| | 00:14 |
and get a, catch a flight.
So I just want to review these images real
| | 00:17 |
quick and see if I've got everything
before I leave.
| | 00:22 |
This image I've shot in two separate ways
because I didn't know if I was going to
| | 00:26 |
use the intro to Art City, or have the Art
City sign as the last image of the essay.
| | 00:30 |
So I shot it once with the angle going in
this direction.
| | 00:32 |
And once from the other side, with it
going in this direction.
| | 00:35 |
And I decided, you know, Art City is where
we are.
| | 00:38 |
So I wanted to establish this is our
place.
| | 00:39 |
So this is our first image.
And then I'm looking for a story art here
| | 00:45 |
where the whole story takes place in a
day.
| | 00:47 |
We did shoot over 48 hours, but for the
story purposes it just establishes a
| | 00:52 |
viewer in a space that they're familiar
with.
| | 00:53 |
So it's morning to night.
So I went out and shot him in his outdoor
| | 00:58 |
kitchen which is unique and says something
about his character.
| | 01:01 |
Having a morning cup of coffee.
We went out and shot this image to add a
| | 01:07 |
little motion to our photo essay.
And I think it really works well.
| | 01:10 |
If I just review back these images, you
see everything's very static.
| | 01:14 |
And then once you lay on this image you've
got some movement.
| | 01:17 |
And it gives a little energy back to our
sequence, which we were desperately needing.
| | 01:22 |
Kevin interacting with the dog.
The campfire.
| | 01:25 |
Not that many people have campfires every
morning.
| | 01:27 |
So I think it's a great moment to add to
Kevin's character.
| | 01:30 |
Here I like I actually sequence these so
I'm going wide here.
| | 01:37 |
And then super tight on his eyes.
And I think it just breaks up all those
| | 01:40 |
wide angles that I have.
If you mix your lenses and mix your
| | 01:44 |
compositions a little bit.
It's like these images don't look that
| | 01:47 |
similar right next to each other, which
gives them nice variance.
| | 01:53 |
Again going from a tight shot to a wide
shot.
| | 01:57 |
Also I thought this image I wasn't
going to in, include the the botchy ball
| | 02:01 |
images cause I was a little bit torn about
how I felt when I was shooting it; it
| | 02:04 |
seemed like a distraction.
But I relooked at my edit this morning and
| | 02:07 |
I looked at the bachy ball stuff and I
found this image, and it kind of made me
| | 02:10 |
laugh a little bit.
And one thing we didn't have in this photo
| | 02:12 |
essay was any humor.
And so I thought maybe we'll put this in there.
| | 02:15 |
And it'd be a funny little moment.
(SOUND).
| | 02:21 |
This image I could live without.
I'm not quite sure if I want to keep it or not.
| | 02:25 |
I like that it's got other characters in
it.
| | 02:27 |
I don't think we need it.
But since this is our first pass of the
| | 02:30 |
edit, we're not tied into this.
This isn't for a client.
| | 02:33 |
It's not for a newspaper that requires 5
images or a magazine that only requires
| | 02:37 |
two images.
This is sort of a personal project for me
| | 02:41 |
and Kevin, so it's 31 images at the
moment, so I can leave this in and I can
| | 02:46 |
take it out later.
Also, an image like this where it's just a
| | 02:49 |
detail shot with no characters in it, no
people, it gives the viewer just a
| | 02:53 |
breathing moment in the sequence, so it's
not just Kevin Kevin Kevin in every single image.
| | 02:58 |
So we've got people, people, and then just
a little bit of a breather for a moment.
| | 03:02 |
It's like having a comma in a sentence.
And then again after that soft moment
| | 03:08 |
we've got some action.
We've got the the, the dust coming off of
| | 03:13 |
the angel statue as Kevin works.
I'm not sure yet, but I think I may have a
| | 03:18 |
few too many images that have the angel
statue in it.
| | 03:21 |
And a few too many images with Kevin on
the left side of the frame.
| | 03:24 |
But again, this is a broader edit of about
31 images.
| | 03:27 |
I can take those out later, depending on
what the final format of this essay's
| | 03:31 |
going to be.
Another breathing image.
| | 03:35 |
it's not a great photograph this, but I do
think it says something about Kevin, and
| | 03:39 |
his space.
He's a man that wears many hats, and he
| | 03:42 |
also travels back and forth from
California to Florida, and so I think
| | 03:45 |
having the the suite case in the image
kind of says something about that.
| | 03:50 |
And, again, depending on where this photo
essay ends up, this image may not be in
| | 03:54 |
that final essay.
This here is actually a photograph of
| | 04:01 |
Kevin's daughter that he keeps next to his
nightstand.
| | 04:03 |
And I want to create is, another layer in
our story, so a story within a story about.
| | 04:09 |
how his daughter lives out of state and
how his daughter is a, a reoccurring theme
| | 04:14 |
in his artwork.
And right now he's doing this angel
| | 04:16 |
sculpture based off of a portrait of his
daughter.
| | 04:19 |
so the next couple of images are actually
a smaller sequence starting with this one.
| | 04:25 |
And then there's this image of Kevin on
the phone.
| | 04:29 |
He's actually on the phone not with his
daughter with somebody else I don't know
| | 04:32 |
who it was.
But by placing this photograph in front of
| | 04:37 |
the picture of him sort of isolating in an
intimate place, like his bedroom, the
| | 04:41 |
viewers, you know have the opportunity to
assume that maybe he's talking to his
| | 04:45 |
daughter in another state.
This is Kevin, in his, personal space in
| | 04:51 |
his home at art city.
Again, when I was photographing this, I
| | 04:54 |
was so excited because the minute you're
subject says hey, you can come home with
| | 04:58 |
me and photograph inside of my house.
You're whole story just gets ramped up
| | 05:03 |
because you have the intimacy of being in
someone's private area.
| | 05:06 |
I think it really helped our essay.
If we didn't have that, I think this would
| | 05:09 |
have been a little bit flat.
And then we get to the night shot.
| | 05:12 |
So we started this photo essay in the
morning and now we've finished the day and
| | 05:18 |
we're coming into the night.
And this is probably one of the best
| | 05:21 |
decisions we've made to do was to shoot at
night with a new lighting scenario, whole
| | 05:25 |
another ambiance.
It looks great and I think we got some
| | 05:30 |
special stuff out of Kevin because it was
later in the day.
| | 05:32 |
At this point he was sort of forgetting
the cameras were there and weren't acting
| | 05:37 |
too much with the lens.
Here we've got the wide shot, and then I
| | 05:41 |
worked that whole situation, and walked
around the scenario to get a tighter shot
| | 05:47 |
and this is what I was talking about
because I like to have lots of choices
| | 05:50 |
when I get back to the editing room.
And this is a perfect example of having
| | 05:53 |
the wide shot, and then the tight shot to
play with.
| | 05:55 |
And they go great next to each other.
And then this is another small story
| | 06:00 |
within our photo essay.
This is the beginning shot of about five,
| | 06:03 |
five or six images in our photo story.
Having to deal with Kevin's sculpture of a jellyfish.
| | 06:10 |
And these are some of the pieces he used
to make the tentacles.
| | 06:13 |
And again, it's a quiet image because
again, we don't have Kevin in the frame.
| | 06:18 |
And we need that breather every once in
awhile.
| | 06:20 |
This is Kevin actually making one of the
tentacles for the jellyfish sculpture.
| | 06:28 |
And one of the reasons why I included this
image is because I actually have Kevin on
| | 06:31 |
the right side of the frame, which I was
lacking.
| | 06:33 |
And we desperately needed this to not
keep, so it wasn't too repetitive.
| | 06:40 |
These are the finished tentacles in his
room.
| | 06:42 |
Just a little detail shot of one of the
pieces, or raw materials that he uses for
| | 06:50 |
his sculptures.
And then the story comes to almost a
| | 06:54 |
conclusion with Kevin in a whole new
space, which is great.
| | 06:57 |
Every time we can move our character to a
new location, it's something new for the
| | 07:01 |
viewer to look at, which makes it really
exciting.
| | 07:03 |
This is Kevin finally installing one of
these massive jellyfish sculptures in a
| | 07:08 |
local Ventura arts space.
Finally getting to turn on the light,
| | 07:14 |
which we had a couple problems with the
wiring.
| | 07:16 |
But he did get the light on in the
sculpture.
| | 07:20 |
And the final moment of turning the
sculpture on, and getting that amazing
| | 07:24 |
glow that you get from his, his jellyfish
lamps which he's been working on.
| | 07:29 |
I love this image.
And since it's dark and isolated light.
| | 07:33 |
It just feels like the end of something.
It's like the last page of a book.
| | 07:38 |
And then, I'm not sure how I'm going to
include this, if it's going to go earlier
| | 07:41 |
in the essay, or later, but for now I've
got it at the end.
| | 07:44 |
This is Kevin working.
These are about four or five images of
| | 07:46 |
Kevin working on the angel sculpture.
I think I have too many angel pictures in
| | 07:51 |
here, but I love the sculpture And I'll
probably take them out depending on where
| | 07:54 |
this photo essay is going to end up.
But I put them all at the end of the essay
| | 07:58 |
for now, so it's a little bitty segment.
That's Kevin's daughter and he's basing
| | 08:05 |
the portrait of the angel statue off of
that.
| | 08:14 |
(SOUND).
And regardless of whether I keep the angel
| | 08:15 |
pictures before this frame.
This is, no matter what, going to be the
| | 08:19 |
last frame of my photo essay.
When I shot this, I knew this is the last
| | 08:23 |
picture I wanted.
And I think it looks really great.
| | 08:26 |
It looks like a bookend.
We're looking at the angels, actually,
| | 08:28 |
from the back.
It's at nighttime.
| | 08:30 |
It's the end of the day.
Is the period D at the end of our sentence
| | 08:33 |
and it just feels right.
So our final photo story today has about
| | 08:37 |
thirty images, this can be repackaged in a
number of different ways whether it be for
| | 08:41 |
an editorial publication, a newspaper, or
a personal website.
| | 08:45 |
Which is where, I think, Kevin's going to
use these images for, hopefully he likes them.
| | 08:48 |
He'll put these on his site and have a
nice little slideshow or make postcard for publicity.
| | 08:53 |
I don't know but it was a really rewarding
experience for me and what I was hoping to
| | 08:57 |
do by having the whole camera crew
following me around while I'm shooting, is
| | 09:01 |
get you guys out there inspired to take
photos too and not just take great frames
| | 09:05 |
or great compositions, but go out there in
the real world and tell stories.
| | 09:09 |
Find someone who interests you.
Maybe it's a family member or a grocery
| | 09:13 |
clerk or maybe it's your neighbor.
But get out there.
| | 09:15 |
Take your camera, and spend 24 or 48 hours
with somebody.
| | 09:18 |
With a little bit of planning, anybody can
do this.
| | 09:21 |
And I think you're going to come home and
you're going to have really rewarding
| | 09:23 |
images, and a really meaningful experience
for both you and your subject.
| | 09:27 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
