Finally got my copy of the December issue of Rock and Ice with the feature on Sasha DiGiulian and our pictures from her amazing climbs earlier this summer in both Rodellar and the Dolomites. Thank you Sasha and Edu for the adventure, I am looking forward to the next one. Thank you also to the crew at R&I the spreads look great.
Failure as Teacher
I had an opportunity last night for a new photographer who has asked on a couple occasions if he could help out during a shoot. My job was a dramatic last min “URGENT,” “ASAP” request to shoot video of Tokyo streets bathed in their famous neon onslaught. I mistakenly assumed this would be a straightforward job and one that would welcome an extra hand either behind the wheel or on camera. However, while the night unfolded and I continued to receive emails I soon realizing the job had very exacting parameters. My assistant was unable to make his schedule work and initially I was disappointed at the loss of a second hand but as the night progressed I was relieved he was not present for what turned into an epic failure on all fronts.
Let me first convey I have not always brought back “The Shot” from an assignment or project but I have always brought back “A shot.” In fact it is a point of professional pride to be counted on as the guy who will never return empty handed. This self-imposed code is likely a remnant of my newspaper days. For example, if I was sent to a crime seen with no access, at the bare minimum I was expected to capture the crime scene tape with the house in the background. The career suicide accompanied by an empty handed return was not an option, at least not in my mind. That said, last night I came back with no more than four takes, all of which are essentially useless to the client. I came back empty handed!
Granted, I got this request at 11:30pm the previous night and left at 4the next day for Tokyo not even sure the job was a go. I was still getting brief updates and changes until 10pm the night of the shoot including frame rate changes, panning direction, and blocking timing. I had minimal scout time and no street permit, chase car, assistant, or their desired camera. This was all being done on the wire across large time differences and yet that’s the job. It’s not the way I like to do my job but I would make it work. Then Tokyo stepped in, as it often does, to enact its pound of flesh.
I needed a neon rich environment. That meant I needed a busy street, but I was also tasked with an important 4 seconds clearance behind my car before pulling into the hero spot. I drove all over town looking for this and the only way I could do it without shutting down a lane was to wait for the streets to empty. I figured by 11:30-Midnight I would get my window. What I did not count on was at the exact time when people are rushing to catch the last train out of the city they begin turning off a large number of the lights and neon signs I needed for the ambient light. What on the scout was a glowing bustle was now a black hole. Ok, so we can work with this, change the setting and do what you can. But the city was not done with me yet.
A brutal logistic of driving in Tokyo, it is no joke to reverse directions, you can go a long way out of the way to get back to your start spot. By the time I finished my second run and returned to the start spot night road construction and traffic sprung up. There would not be a clear shot or my much needed 4 seconds till five in the morning. I was scuttled and headed home at 2:30 with my tail tucked between my legs. I failed.
Driving home I initially thought it was serendipitous the assistant did not make it. Then I took a step back and thought about the powerful lessons to be found in the failure. The necessity for quality scouting is invaluable. Knowing what your scene will look like when you intend to shoot, how it will look through camera, does the client approve, what environmental elements might hinder your shot, can you work around it, the list is long. Quality communication with the client, agency, Production Company is also so important. Knowing what everyone needs from the shot and what you need to do technically to achieve it. Having the right team to support you if and when things go wrong. This includes everything from your on set team to your agent, agency and even the shoot insurance or back up shoot day.
I don’t know what the time or budgetary constraints were on this job, I was a last minute band-aid and in the end it just seemed like I could not get a break. It would however have made a good teaching aid and reminds me about some production aspects to look out for in the future. Everything helps to ensure that this is the last time I come home empty handed.
Rising Sun
I finally secured a break in the Japanese rainy season to begin a project I’ve had on my board of “Ideas to Shoot” for a long time. The images are part of a campaign concept I pitched to an outdoor company whom I love. They are a small but prolific boutique shop that crafts fantastic custom work and so I wanted the individuality of the user experience to come across.
I wanted to share this photo of the model and my good friend Nobu san who was kind enough to sit for 4 hr in makeup and then let me drive him into the mountains looking this way. We almost got in an accident laughing at the reaction of two girls at a bus stop whom Nobu surprised. Thank you Nobu you are so gracious and amazing. Know I have a bottle of single malt with your name on it.
I am leaving in 9 days for an epic adventure into the backcountry of the Weminuche wilderness with my father and brother but when I return I am excited to finish this project with the other four other athletes here in Japan.
Mixing Business with Pleasure
One of the great benefits of this job is the time I spend outdoors, on adventures or simply in the woods. A few days ago my climbing partner, Eddie Gianelloni, and I headed to Mizugakiyama for a mixed trip of spring climbing and promotional work. Eddie is an ambassador for Mountain Khakis and needed to write a review of their new Equatorial Pant so we took off to make some images of him in action.
Here in Japan we have suffered through something close to eleven dreary, rain-soaked weekends in a row. As a direct result, the only climbing we have accomplished is on gym plastic, and it was sublime to escape into the mountains. For one brief day the glory of spring in Japan was on full display. We spent the entire day cleaning problems, crushing them and photographing Eddie in his new equatorials. A truly simple and wonderful day in the woods, on the rock and behind the camera. I have such gratitude for days like these.
The title of this post is "... with Pleasure" so don't think I did not lace up and put down some problems of my own. While unintended, I am also wearing a pair of Mountain Khakis in this picture. Unlike Eddie I am not sponsored by the company, but he is an effective ambassador and insisted I try the Alpine Utility Pant. Now, not to make a shameless plug but they are hands down my favorite shooting pants... soft, rugged, reinforced knees, double pockets and totally photographer proof. They will definitely be replacing my old 5.11's.
Creepily checking out peoples ears.
I was on an assignment yesterday for Business Week shooting one of their four-country Man-on-the-Street gigs. The job used four photographers in Cairo, London, Tokyo, and New York to shoot street profiles of people rapt in Apple Inc. auditory bliss. The article addresses Apple products on a global scale, but we were simply tasked with capturing their headphones. These types of assignments are never particularly exciting from the production or even the creation standpoint but often fascinating studies in street behavior.
It's an examination of how rarely people truly help an elderly person cross an intersection, of how infrequently people look up or behind them but exist while powering forward. It's a closer look at how the masses avoid collisions with atom like precision without ever lifting their gaze from mobile devices. A ceaseless stream of fashionistas, titans of commerce, and student dreamers blended through encounters, machinations, and circumstance all standing on the corner together for a fleeting moment waiting for the little green lit walking man.
I spent my afternoon on Shibuya corner attempting, in that moment, to pry into public rhythmic cocoons for permission to document their personal soundtrack. It’s funny how things come full circle. My first forays into the art of the Man-on-the-Street shoot date back to high school. It was my regular gig for the Fort Worth Star Telegram to stand in front of Borders (R.I.P) every Thursday and ask the lifestyle editors’ question of the week. There were days we stood for hours attempting to get the right five people to fill the mandated demographic. You begin to sense those who will brush past you, ignore you, glare at you, or at last acquiesce to your request. It was a regular job because no staffer wanted it but I think on many levels it was an early study in puncturing people’s personal bubble in a public space. Now, years later dehydrated, sunburned and feeling incredibly creepy staring into peoples’ ears (ensuring their headphones were an apple product) I found myself smiling at the circling nature of it all.
I know I do it too. I drive those headphones in and crank the beats that make crossing the city seem like some bass driven cinematic action sequence. The right song epitomizes a part of town or memory seeped section of it. It all fits into my über personal urban soundtrack. However, next time you stand at a busy intersection analyze the crowd around you with headphones in mind. I estimated 3 of 5 people yesterday were plugged in. It was amusing watching them fiddled for their next song, constantly switching between phones and iPods or simply lip synching while waiting. It made actually connecting with people so much more difficult than those days in front of the bookstore. Cell phones are ubiquitous for more than a decade now but the sheer quantity of hanging cable beards was fascinating. The longer I watched the more I identified with the etiquette of it all: With a friend - take off and wrap up cables after leaving the train station. Waiting for someone - just one ear bud in. See approaching photographer quickly insert ear buds and look down.
People get so engrossed in that audible insulation that when I approached I actually made 3 different people standing in a huge group in the middle of the city in the middle of the day jump as if I pounced on them in a dark alley. I never wear music when I shoot because it disconnects me from my surroundings but yesterday I felt on some level the disconnection was made for me. Entire crowds were walking through the city staring at the fourth wall and living in a concert between their ears. Looking into the oncoming crowd I was ignored if not invisible and after breaking their personal cocoons examined as an oddity at best. It was a strange day behind the camera.