Blind Faith: A Film About Seeing follows the Seeing With Photography Collective, a group of blind photographers working in New York. (You need Flash installed to see the video player above.)
Click the player above, or you can also see the film at: SnagFilms. (If you click "snag this film" you can embed it on any site.)
Every once in a while I realize there's a film I should have seen, but somehow missed. Fortunately, our local video store is on the corner, less than 50 yards away. So a very easy, very worthwhile walk means I have Truffaut's film in hand. I'll report back on it after a close viewing.
Enjoyed the screening at Rooftop. "Notebook" played well, causing steady chuckling and a few bigger laughs. The word for the evening: quirky.
Above: free beer at Fontana's after the screening.
Saturday night I will be at Storms Expected showing Notebook on Santas and Elves. Rooftop Films puts together great programs, so I expect it will be a fun time. Also, there's an open bar, and Mrs. New York Portraits tells me that Raderberger is a fine beer, perfect for LES rooftop screenings.
STORMS EXPECTED (short films)
Venue: On the Open Road Rooftop above New Design High School
Address: 350 Grand St. @ Essex (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex/Delancey
Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix Records
9:00PM: Films
11:30PM-1:00AM: After-party: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St. @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Tickets: $9 at the door or online at www.rooftopfilms.com
I've had to slow down, for a number of reasons. It's important to get things in order and focus on the most important things. It does seem like the law of averages is not currently on my side, but perhaps that will change.
A related note: Am I back on Twitter, which I've previously likened to a cocktail party for people with earplugs? (Picture everyone standing alone, shouting at intervals, and rarely listening to anything except their own insights on how much more important making a brand is than making art.)
Well, yes.
I have a screening coming up this Saturday, two films currently on Snagfilms, and a Continuing Ed class to promote. While I am struggling to catch up with everything -- and, at the same time, very purposefully trying to avoid overwork and the difficulties it causes -- it seems important to make myself easy to find. For whatever that's worth. So follow me there, but keep in mind I'm only following people I know in "real life" or that I have a lot in common with. I can't, at the moment, focus on too many things at once or in the midst of noise. I think I'm supposed to be adding quiet, and I'm not sure how that's done.
Above: an iPhone snap. Very busy street, turned to the side and saw this. Luckily, since it is the iPhone, the door didn't move.
Chris Corradino has an iPhone Gallery up, so I thought I would post a quick snap from mine. I find the iPhone is great for buildings, items on the ground, and anything that will wait a very long time.
My Seriously Fun Photography class starts at Hunter Continuing Education starts September 17th. So, register now.
They've changed the Web site, so the way to see the listing and register is to go to this interface and type "photography" into the search box. (That will also reveal the advanced class I'll be teaching later in the season.)
"SERIOUSLY FUN PHOTOGRAPHY
Build on the basics and master the skills and ideas advanced photographers use in a fun, low-pressure class. Open to anyone able to shoot a photo and import it into a computer (and welcoming advanced students as well), in this class we'll use the digital camera as a fast way to learn the essentials of photography. We'll learn-by-doing, exploring professional techniques while creating a portfolio project (on any topic of your choice) to show your advanced skills. If you've always been interested in photography, but have put off becoming great at it, this is your chance.
6 Session(s) 12 Hour(s) Tuition: $250.00 Meet: Thursday
Date: 09/17/09-10/22/09 Time: 06:00PM-08:00PM
Location: CS, 71 E 94 ST./ Instructor(s): FISHER, TED"
Blind Faith: A Film About Seeing is now on Snagfilms.
Apparently the International Doc Challenge is putting up some of the films from that event. So you might as well watch it. It's free. It's made with a mix of standard video combined with a stop-motion technique, made by shooting black and white stills at about three frames-per-second.
I started this blog three years ago with this post.
In those three years I've posted over 610 times, and another 283 times at my other blog. Very few of those posts, however, have been made recently. This summer has been a tough one, and it isn't over yet. I'm eager for a change of seasons.
Ah well, back to work. More posting "soon" I hope.
My 18-minute film "Notebook on Santas and Elves" will be screening at Rooftop Films in September in the program Storms Expected.
It looks like a fun night: live music and seven films -- under the stars on a rooftop on the Lower East Side. An open bar after. You really can't go wrong.
Saturday, September 5
STORMS EXPECTED (short films)
Venue: On the Open Road Rooftop above New Design High School
Address: 350 Grand St. @ Essex (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex/Delancey
Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix Records
9:00PM: Films
11:30PM-1:00AM: After-party: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St. @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Tickets: $9 at the door or online at www.rooftopfilms.com
I know, I know ... but now I'm back.
A few items of good news, soon, when some things are official. Until then, on my other blog, a little post about an editing book.
Last Book Read: Ralph Rosenblum
Well, my recent computer issues seem to be entirely a case of two SATA hard drives just coming to the end of their existence. The replacement drive -- just $80 for a 500 gigabyte 7200 RPM with a 16 megabyte buffer -- seems to be working great. Cross your fingers.
Had a hard drive go out. Installed an operating system on the second hard drive, installed my applications, got back in business.
Then the second hard drive went out.
Managed to get the needed files off of it, but no go on the reinstall. Been working on my laptop in the meantime, which is a bit slow and tough, compared.
I deleted my Twitter account. It's not for me.
I've also turned off the Flash plug-in for my Web browser. (Advertisements show up as empty white boxes for me now.) As well, I've unsubscribed from a lot of RSS feeds. I've started turning my cell phone off whenever possible.
Back in April, on my friend's blog, I said I would.
Ted and Internet
“Between your 16 blogs and everyone else telling me to Facebook and Twitter… I’m about to get rid of everything except one email account. It’s starting to look a bit empty. (I can’t think of one interesting thing I’ve seen online in the last two months anywhere. I don’t care about the Octomom, I don’t know anyone making decent money from blogging, and online video is generally weak crap.)I'm not advising anyone to do this. I just think that people talking on their cell phones as they attempt to walk down the street look a bit dumb. I'm sure you don't.
It might be time to return to the real world — just to tick people off.
Or maybe that was the plan: get the Internet started, wait for all the normal people people to get fully committed to it, then get off of it — so only the cool people will be offline.”
"I make stuff, actually I make up stuff, stories mostly, collaborations of thoughts, dreams, and actions. Thats me."Go check him out.
Are there any really unfortunate stories about photography in today's news?
Yes, yes there are.
Thief steals camera with couple's 800 wedding photos
"In a crime caught on tape, a thief dressed in a suit to look like he was a wedding guest snatched the photographer's camera when he set it down for a moment while shooting the affair Saturday. The camera contains nearly 800 wedding photographs on a flash card inside it."
I've been using Twitter, but perhaps not in the way it's intended.
Basically, whenever someone follows me, I take a quick look at their post timeline, and if it is at all reasonable I follow them back. (If they aren't posting, or seem to be a marketer, I don't.) That's normal, I think.
Then, however, I diverge from the social contract. I've learned some interesting things, seen many well-intended, positive posts, and understand that there's a community there.
But I can't help myself: the minute someone posts something naive and stupid, or otherwise idiotic, my radar switches on. If they do it again, I enjoy a slight frisson when unfollowing them.
It's fun: one minute, their quoting some idiot motivational speaker, the next, they are no longer in my universe.
Of course, people might do the same to me, and I'll end up with no followers. I'd be fine with that.
We went to the Met on the holiday Monday, and saw three photography shows:
The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984
Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard
The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion
All three seemed to me on the shallow side. It's my opinion that none of these shows know when to stop, really.
Model as Muse would have been fine with just the photos and the clothes. More than fine.
Instead, its credibility is destroyed by an overlay of crap culture. An ill-considered and immature "era" approach is taken in which fake graffiti, bad pop songs and off-base cultural references distract us from the content so that we won't discover there's no material here that actually addresses the basic conceit of the show.
You can't present fantastic taste -- which is what fashion photography is, in the end -- underneath a frame that seems like an underinformed 19-year-old trying to encapsulate past decades. Using the unsophisticated idea of "the 1950s was this, then the 1960s was this, then..." is bad enough, but trying to then flesh that out with the weakest and least cool cultural touchstones reduces the show to a touristy, bland blanket, smothering fantastic images and clothes.
This is not a case of the Emperor wearing nothing. Rather, the Emperor turns out to be wearing a poncho, and hoping we'll say it's very nice.
It was, however, fun to see a connection to William Klein's Qui ĂȘtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? integrated into the show in the one room that worked. I just wished they'd paid more attention to what Klein was satirizing.
I enjoyed Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective much, much more.
Above: an iPhone snapshot at the Met today.
Catching up on two news items:
The International Documentary Challenge DVD -- which includes our short documentary Bend & Bow -- is now available on Netflix.
My Seriously Fun Photography class starts this Thursday. I believe you can still sign up.
Above: iPhone snap from Saturday.
You know what's great about Fox News?
They always focus on the story you really care about, even when that story isn't true at all. Even when the newswriter says the story isn't true, right there in the middle of the article.
Wait. What?
Well, let me clarify. The important story this weekend is that Alexandra Pelosi shot video footage of her mother at a news conference, and that Fox News protested.
Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has made such documentaries as Journeys with George and Right America: Feeling Wronged - Some Voices from the Campaign Trail. Now, according to this Fox News story, she "shot video of her mother at her weekly news conference" using a "cuts" camera.
Now, I know that's scandalous.
Because it's a cuts camera. Which makes people very uncomfortable. Somehow. The problem, according to the article, is that it's not a "straight-on camera." Which would be fine. Apparently.
But it gets worse. According to the article, "Pelosi's office later told FOX News that the filmmaker shot the footage for her own private use and does not intend to use it for a documentary."
Which is pretty shocking, considering that the first paragraph of the article makes it clear to us -- and by "us" I mean Americans who watch Fox News, waiting for stories about documentaries made with straight-on cameras, a group I include myself in -- that non-straight-on camera footage would be used by the younger Pelosi, somehow.
But don't take my word for it. Go and read:
Pelosi's Filmmaker Daughter Captures Mother's Weekly News Conference After CIA Flap
And note, that beyond using a "cuts camera" -- by the way, next week I will be posting on where to acquire one, its proper use, and also how to differentiate it from a "straight-on" camera -- the filmmaker also "continues to maintain her friendship with former President Bush." Again: shocking. Because he has a very clear don't-ask-don't-tell policy on non-straight-on cameras.
It should be noted that the two authors of this article -- TWO! -- also reveal the fact that her ex-President friend will be having a two-hour "conversation" -- that's right, in quotes, and we all know what that means, I suppose, or perhaps one of the two (TWO!) "authors" of the piece may, possibly, know why that's in quotes -- with another ex-President. (One who was definitely straight-on.)
The most shocking disclosure by Chad Pergram and Hadley Gamble, the two (TWO!) "journalists" involved, however, was that: "Alexandra Pelosi was at Johns Hopkins University Thursday to attend her mother's commencement address to some in the graduating class and her receipt of an honorary degree."
That's right: Speaker Pelosi only addressed some of those in the graduating class as she gave the commencement address. Somehow. Apparently. (I suspect she may have used a cuts microphone, which is not straight-on.)
And for videotaping that act of exclusion Alexandra was given an honorary degree.
Now, don't blame me if you're confused -- I'm just reading what Chad and Hadley have "written" here. I wasn't there. If they say -- in "words" -- that it happened, I know it did. Or that they ran out of time to include the necessary "verbs," "pronouns," or "facts" that might be of use in a normal article because they were defending the need for the second "her" in the sentence, which clarifies things. More or less. Less.
The real issue here, though, is not whether things are "true" or "false" -- heck, just use the straight-on camera if that's all you're concerned with -- but protecting Fox News from the challenge bloggers present to professional news production. You see, by writing complete gibberish, the news team of Chad and Hadley have single-handedly stopped bloggers from stealing the story to post on their blogs. Since it makes no sense at all, focuses on facts that turn out to not be factual, and leaves Chad pointing at Hadley and vice-versa regarding its incoherence, no self-respecting blogger will touch it.
It will be left for the commenters. So go and read the comments.
I have, and it's clear that there are many, many Americans who will not allow this use of a "cuts" camera to stand. As well, they will not let their inability to spell or use punctuation stand in their way of commenting on this important issue.
One day, they'll organize. They'll toss cuts cameras into the ocean, and refuse to attend the film that's not going to be made from the footage that was shot. There will be signs, praising Chad and Hadley.
The signs will be spelled wrong, but they'll be straight-on.
My friend Doug McCulloh's exhibition is in Time Magazine today.
The Art and Heart of Blind Photographers
"The whole trajectory of modern art for the last 100 years has been toward the concept of mental construction, and blind photography comes from that place," says the show's "sighted" curator Douglas McCulloh, himself a photographer. "They're creating that image in their head first — really elaborate, fully realized visions — and then bringing some version of that vision into the world for the rest of us to see."Mentioned in the article are the Seeing With Photography Collective, Mark Andres, and Sonia Soberats -- and you might remember they all appear in our short documentary Blind Faith: A Film About Seeing.
New Sony Alphas, new lenses. Basically a refresh of the low end of the Sony line, but that's a good sign -- they'll update the midlevel and high end soon enough.
SONY INTRODUCES THREE MAINSTREAM ALPHA CAMERAS DESIGNED FOR FIRST-TIME DIGITAL SLR BUYERS
"... three new easy-to-use α (alpha) cameras (models DSLR-A380, DSLR-A330 and DSLR-A230), four new lenses, a flash and accessories."See the cameras and the lenses.
Any stories about photography in the news? Yep. It's been a busy week for photographers, as they've been beaten, arrested and blamed slightly more than usual.
Updates on all fronts:
Gerard Butler Charged With Battery in LA
"City prosecutors have charged Gerard Butler with misdemeanor battery in connection with a scuffle with a paparazzo."Carrie Prejean explains those new topless photos: Gosh darn wind!
"She explained that the photos were taken about two years ago for Bliss magazine, and that it was just her and a photographer standing on a cliff on a windy day. She added the photos should not "have been released."Alt Weekly Paper Runs Photo That Got Photographer Arrested
"Why is it on the front of The Stranger? Becker got in trouble for this picture. The photo led to an argument between Becker and the ATM personnel, which led to the cops being called, which led to Becker being detained for half an hour and officially banned from REI. (An REI spokesperson says Loomis is welcome back in the store, though the police apparently ordered him to stay away for a year.) Read about it in The Stranger story or on Becker's blog."What happened at REI. An Update.
"Here are a few quick updates on things that have happened related to that blog post that I wrote about what happened at REI."
Are there any stories about photography in the news? Sure -- stories of lucky photographs, lucky photographers, unlucky photographers, and as always: the claim that everything is the photographer's fault.
The Unlikely Events of a Water Landing: New Photos From Flight 1549
"On a hunch, Mallon put down his drink to call Jason Marchioni, manager of Weeks' Heavy Lift Division. The next morning, the photographer confirmed that Weeks had been tapped for the salvage job, and the company offered to hire him to record the operation. By the afternoon the ecstatic photographer was aboard a tugboat headed to the scene."PHOTOGRAPHER'S SCUBA-DIVING 'MURDER' PICTURE BACK IN THE NEWS
"A man faces a possible murder trial over the death of his wife whose motionless body was revealed in a photograph taken by a tourist during a scuba-diving trip."Indian American Photographer Beaten, Camera Damaged
"In addition to his injury, two of his state-of-the-art cameras worth $25,000 have been damaged, and he is still trying to retrieve two memory cards which assailants had taken away from him.Mandal has been covering events for the South Asian community in both South Asia and the U.S. for decades."Miss California: It was the photographer’s fault
"I’ve done many photo shoots, Matt,” Prejean told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Wednesday in New York. She said that sometimes photographers continue to take pictures when she’s dressing. It would be like a photographer going into my dressing room and snapping a photo of me without my being aware of it. If a photographer is willing to make an extra buck and did get a photo of me, so be it."
Yesterday, just after I finished working with some photos in Adobe Lightroom and uploaded them for a client, I let my computer download an Apple security update and the updater for Safari. I'm not sure if the update killed it, or if the main drive went out coincidently, or something else happened -- but it would not restart. Couldn't get a restart from an Install disk, and when I tried to restart in safe mode it would shut down -- a bad sign.
I thought of this photo but had to shoot some photos for another client and had to leave the problem sit. Worked on my laptop to get those photos ready, but it was a much slower process.
I'm not sure if this is going to be an easy fix....
Above: an iPhone snap during the session.
Ah, this again. And again. And again.
Man Threatened, Arrested For Taking Picture Of Open ATM In Public
"After spending around 30 minutes handcuffed in a cell and being unsuccessfully grilled about why he snapped the photo, Becker signed a REI trespassing form that instructed him not to come back to the store for a year. In the end, the authorities never asked to see the photo, much less for Becker to delete it from his iPhone."Perhaps they thought the photographer was a zombie? Will we hear more once he finds the right attorney?
My pal Doug McCulloh's exhibition Sight Unseen is in Time Magazine.
Included in both the show and mag are works by Victorine Floyd Fludd and the Seeing with Photography Collective, who were featured in our short documentary Blind Faith: A Film About Seeing back in 2007.
Congrats to everyone -- I wish I could get out to the show.
Was too busy this weekend to go places, but I'm looking forward to seeing:
HELEN LEVITT: A Memorial Tribute at Laurence Miller.
"HELEN LEVITT: A Memorial Tribute will present a series of passages, in both color and black-and-white, from her extraordinary 70-year career. Featured will be her pictures of animals, which were among her earliest as well as last pictures taken; a little-known series of portraits taken on the subway using Walker Evans’ camera; children’s street drawings; elderly folks in conversation; and children at play, the photographs for which she is most well-known. Helen Levitt’s classic and rarely seen silent film, In the Street, from 1944, will be shown as well."
Rumors of new cameras are generally not correct. That is, something leaks, then the forums get involved, and add a dozen features to the rumor and double the megapixels. Then, when new cameras are actually revealed, the forums are disappointed.
So, let's help out with that process. There are rumors of new Sony DSLR bodies, and a few lenses as well. Most likely, we'll see some version of this come true -- probably Sony will redesign the low end of the line, step up the megapixels, pull out the in-body motors, and add "30" to the model numbers. And release some non-full-frame lenses.
But go check the forums in a few days: they'll say that all the models will have 1080p HD video, and they'll add some magic features that don't make sense at all. Then they'll say there'll be a replacement for the Alpha 900. We'll see.
Rumor: Sony UK Support Page Reveals 'Alpha 330' DSLR Line, Lenses
Alpha 330 - future model?
Are there any stories on photography in the news? Sure, there are. But are you certain you don't want to consider changing careers? It's rough out there....
State Senator Kevin Parker busted over tussle with photographer
"The battling Brooklyn Democrat allegedly roughed up a New York Post photographer and smashed his camera in front of Parker's home at Avenue H and 37th St. in Flatbush, police said."Lindsay Throws Eggs At The Paparazzi
With all the talk of newspapers evolving or vanishing, I think we've missed a key point: reputable newspapers generally put out photographs they can stand behind. There have been plenty of scandals over the years, of course, but that's the point -- if a fake photo runs in a major newspaper, it's a big deal and gets a retraction or correction.
That just won't be the case in pay-per-click driven aggregators.
So what does the future of fakery look like? To consider that, don't think of the photos that will be revealed as fakes amid scandal. Instead, look at the way known fakes are becoming par for the course, greeted only by a shrug.
BOB GELDOF - FURY OVER GELDOF GIRLS' FAKE PHOTO
"Rocker BOB GELDOF's daughters PEACHES and PIXIE are reportedly furious over a new art exhibition which depicts them in a seedy bondage sex pose. In a doctored photograph, the pair are shown tied together by ropes, wearing kinky leather underwear, with their breasts on show."Drudge smears "joker" Franken with doctored photo
"On May 4, the Drudge Report posted a photo of Minnesota Democrat Al Franken wearing a diaper and bunny ears. As the blog ThinkProgress noted in October 2006, the photo is doctored. Indeed, a spokesman for Franken told the Cincinnati Enquirer at that time that the "picture is a fake.""Colombo says shelling images 'fake'
"Sri Lanka's military has accused the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of fabricating images that purported to show the aftermath of a deadly army attack on a hospital in the conflict zone. The photographs, first published on a website, depicted what Tamil separatist sources said was an artillery hit on a makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal on Saturday."
My "Seriously Fun Photography" class is usually small, generally between 5 and 10 people. This was one of those terms where it was on the small side.
But we had three students complete their six-week portfolio project with a long critique process tonight, our last class. All three were good. One was a set of portraits, one was on flowers and one on central park. But all went further than the basic subject matter would suggest. I was impressed.
Sure, I know I didn't thoroughly enjoy the recent ICP fashion exhibitions. And, yes, sure, I did complain a little about the AIPAD panel on fashion of photography.
But that's all in the past. Upcoming in the museums:
Model As Muse
"Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the twentieth century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras."
"This exhibition will be the most comprehensive exploration to date of Avedon's fashion photography during his long career at Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, The New Yorker, and beyond. Working closely with The Richard Avedon Foundation, ICP curator Carol Squiers and guest curator Vince Aletti will present new scholarship on the evolution and extraordinary, ongoing impact of his work."Both are going to be great. I just know it.
Thursday night is the last session of my six-week Seriously Fun Photography course through Hunter College Continuing Education.
(Don't worry -- there's another session that starts May 28th and runs to July 2nd.)
Last term there was talk of starting an advanced version, but the idea only became official right before the registration deadline, so we ended up with too few people signing up. It was a relief, actually, since I had a lot going on right then and would have been a little stretched to start a new class. If anyone's interested in the advanced version, let me know via email or comments or the T-word. (Umm, "twaiku.")
Who's "Seriously" for? If you've got to the point where you can shoot your DSLR (or advanced compact) and get the photos on the computer, but you're looking at them and wondering how to get control of making those images, then it's for you. If you have mastered control of aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity and all that those settings might effect, and you have your creative ideas flowing, you might need to wait until I get the advanced class rolling....
Well, I'm still not sure if it's for me, but I'm giving Twitter a trial run.
Mainly because Maureen Dowd won't. It's the one place I can be sure not to run into her by accident.
I'm at http://twitter.com/tediting. You know, in case you need to know what I had for lunch.
I've always thought that there's a built-in sexist side to most of the sources one seeks out to study photography. While some lens tests are done with color charts and little arrangements of objects, just as many include studying the depth of field of a bikini. That's sort of a leftover from when photo magazines were bought mainly by youngish guys.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not opposed to any type of photography. I just think the fake "to test the camera out, we followed Photographer X as he shot the Swimsuit Issue" feature we often see is hypocritical compared to the honesty of not-safe-for-work-viewing blog Pretty Girl Shooter. When Jimmy D talks about lenses and lighting in relation to his typical gig -- shooting the covers for porn video packaging -- there's nothing fake about it. (Oddly enough, he often goes into more specific detail than the photo magazines.)
So here's what I wanted to mention: we're getting near the technical moment when still cameras are capable of shooting moving images, and where moving image cameras have enough quality to shoot stills. Both developments may change the way we make images and will be on the minds of both photographers and documentarians in the near future.
So Filmmaker magazine has, understandably, shown some interest in Esquire using the RedONE camera to photograph Megan Fox.
"For the first time in Esquire's history (and, we imagine, magazine history in general), a cover image was shot as a video. Using the RedONE, a video camera that captures images at four times the resolution of high-definition, photographer-director Greg Williams (see below) recorded ten minutes of loosely scripted footage with Fox — getting out of bed, rolling around on a pool chair, inexplicably lighting a barbecue."If we skip past the built-in "it's still the 1950s, right?" feel of the whole thing (the title is "Megan Fox-ing") this is a fairly amazing development. In recent years we've seen a few newspapers take to shooting HD video in place of stills and then selecting a still frame for use, and this is the natural next step -- higher resolution and able to match the requirements for a magazine cover.
The tough part about working with a laser beam as a flash? Getting the sharks to position their heads in the right direction.
A little bit of photography mad science via Wired....
World’s Fastest Camera: Shutter Speed Half a Billionth of a Second
The web series I produced and edited 14 episodes of last summer -- The Frugal Traveler: Budget Europe -- just won the Webby in the Online Film & Video / Travel category.
Cool.
My pal Doug McCulloh has a new book out. I think you should buy it. I'll post more on this when things slow down (not sure when that will be) but trust me -- you can't go wrong with this. Great photographs, and an amazing story.
In local news, Mrs. New York Portraits and I went to the Metropolitan Opera Friday for the opening night of La Cenerentola, then on Saturday hit the fashion photography shows at ICP.
Weird Beauty seems to me to get the role of curator completely backwards: you are supposed to take material and amplify it, not diminish and confuse it.
The idea of showing contemporary fashion photographs as tearsheets is a good one -- but completely undermined because it's done in a half-assed way. That is, the text for the show explains that work from fashion magazines should be shown as tearsheets, but the exhibition puts the tearsheets on the wall and mixes in framed versions of some pieces, a meaningless roman numeral system of dividing sections, and places some of the work so high that you can't really see it properly.
The thing about work in fashion magazines is that the presentation is one of oversized glossy splendor -- you hold the magazine close, it's large and at a scale that fills your visual field. Presented as in this show, however, the scale of the work is ruined: the top row of images feels different than the middle row, since you can't get close to it; the unneeded framed works are sometimes just a little bigger than the tearsheet versions and only distract; and as presented all the work feels small.
That's not helpful for fashion photography, as the point is sensual fulfillment (since there's at best one or two new ideas in this room filled with 200 magazine snaps, you should at least let it be pretty rather than pretty vacant). A last flaw: if a show is going to be completely dependent on current fashion magazines -- which thrive on the idea of being cutting edge, now, and wild -- why make such a conservative selection? I like the NYT fashion shooters, but seeing several spreads from such a mainstream source made me realize that there are likely a lot of people dragging around the Lower East Side who have a better grasp of what's been cutting edge in the magazines lately than the curators of this show. This collection is too mainstream, and fails at the main goal of fashion photography: to possess stopping power. As presented, the strongest images in this show lose much of their ability to stop you from flipping past, on to the next image.
This Is Not a Fashion Photograph makes an even bigger faux pas: it takes fantastic images from the ICP collection, and asks us to consider them in the context of fashion photography. That does no favors to the images or fashion photography. The photos are merely crowded together, and after the disaster of a show one has just seen the effect is not the intended one but pure confusion: the feeling is that these images have been misunderstood, and half of them should quickly be put away so that those which make sense in this context could be properly understood. That is, a smaller show with more context could work here -- there are many photographs that are in fact interesting when re-thought in the context of fashion -- but this presentation reduces that theme to nothingness by simply accepting anything at all. It's diluted.
Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, on the other hand, is just fine. It presents 175 photographs without destroying the context of the work or making them hard to see and therefore beats out the previous exhibitions. The work is, of course, great.
My only complaint is that there's a lot here that could be informative in light of the contemporary fashion photo show upstairs -- and it isn't brought out. As one specific, note that Steichen is allowed to let clothing fall into complete shadow -- a contemporary no-no -- which shows he's holding a lot of the power in the creation of these images. Take a look at this image and imagine a contemporary fashion mag editor letting a shooter get away with that dark, textureless dress. A contemporary Vionnet would be at the shoot, previewing each shot on a laptop and yelling about featuring the dress -- then threatening to pull 14 pages of ads.
Chris Corradino has a nice shot of our neighborhood from a Springtime Stroll Through Central Park.
Last night I was working with some students on lighting for photography, and I pulled out my Minolta IIIF flashmeter and checked the output of light. I read off the settings to a student, she adjusted her camera to match, and took a photo.
Normally, that's kind of impressive -- it's an accurate meter, and usually that first shot is pretty close to perfect. But her results were overexposed.
Well, I thought, maybe there's a calibration issue here. So she adjusted, and adjusted, and still, her shots were over.
I didn't realize it until later, but it's very likely that -- since she was using an older lens on her new camera -- the issue is that there is some broken down oil in the lens that is stopping the lens from closing down quickly enough to the desired aperture.
In other words: a lens sits with its aperture on its widest setting while you look through and frame your shot. When you press the shutter, it very quickly stops down to the aperture you've set, then opens back up to fully open after the shot. (That way, you are seeing the brightest view when you look through your viewfinder, but the shot is taken at the aperture you select.)
But older lenses that have been stored sometimes have the oil inside break down -- and this can mean the aperture sticks a lot or a little, causing just the kind of problem we were experiencing. Changing her aperture setting didn't seem to change her exposure -- meaning when she was set on f/16 the lens couldn't close down to f/16 and it may have really been shooting at f/5.6.
Good article on Danny Lyon at The New York Times this weekend:
Stubbornly Practicing His Principles of Photography
"Mr. Lyon, who has been awarded two Guggenheim fellowships, one for his film work, has called his work advocacy journalism and does not deny that it purveys ideas — if only the idea that everyone should be more aware of the pain and struggle around them in a consumerist, media-saturated world that tends to encourage isolation and apathy. “I think I try to hide it,” he said of his worldview in his work. “But I’m a highly politicized person, and it’s in my blood.”"I hadn't known about his film work, so I had to go and look it up. Turns out you can find reviews of his significant work in documentary filmmaking going back into the early 1970s. I'm not sure how to see these today, however.
"The Films of Danny Lyon," the new program at the Film Forum, is a collection of three documentary films by the 31-year-old Brooklyn-born still photographer turned film-maker. The two best films in the collection, "Llanito" (61 minutes) and "Soc. Sci. 127" (21 minutes) are defined less by a developed cinematic style than by compassion for the subjects.
There's been a lot of interest in shooting video with still cameras in the last year. I don't mean stop-motion, but rather the HD capabilities that have shown up in a few of the newer DSLR cameras. It's certainly an interesting development, but there's a downside or two.
For one: crappy audio. None of the current DSLR cams allow quality sound recording, so if you are aiming to do something with reasonable quality you'll need to work "dual-system" -- meaning you need a separate sound recorder, and you have to somehow synchronize it with your video.
For two: there are some technical issues. Filmmaker magazine has a nice mini-article on the phenomenon, and it's the first time I've seen some of those technical concerns made clear.
Filmmakers disclose how they are shooting movies with still cameras.
“I was very afraid about the sensitivity of the camera to movement. I’d read a lot about how the rolling shutter in the Canon 5D can sometimes give a jelly effect. If you look at the focus push at the second mark, (26 seconds into the trailer at http://searchingforsonny.com) you’ll see what a lot of people are having problems with. We stayed away from handheld shots, more as a stylistic choice. We did a test before the shoot with handheld, some parts were a little too shaky. I think it’ll be a new camera technique to master. On the dolly, we used sandbags to weigh down the tripod. But even with a nice dolly with good track, we had to rehearse the shot over and over again. Every little bump could be seen on camera."
Tom Quinn had similar concerns. "These cameras are really meant to be operated on a tripod — the handheld has a few issues. For one, there is no optical image stabilizer for the video, so the small vibrations that a video camera would neutralize are present. Also the CMOS sensor creates a slight waver to the image on fast horizontal movement when shooting telephoto. For these two reasons we’ve been using a mix of monopods and tripods.”
On Actualities recently I've had posts about: flowers, strippers, stalkers, bloggers, and editors, posted a link for a doc I edited and requested your vote for The Webbys.
You know, the usual.
It's time to try working in Manual Mode on your DSLR.
Turn the big knob on top of the camera to M, point the camera at your subject and press the shutter halfway down. You'll see in your viewfinder if the camera thinks you are underexposing or overexposing -- there's a little indicator that will let you know. Then you can change your settings -- I recommend changing one at time -- to get the exposure you want.
A good way to learn to estimate light levels is to try the "Sunny f/16" system -- and see if our guess at the light level matches what our camera meter thinks. It's sunny outside today, so we can practice working this way...
1. Set your ISO to 400.
2. The "Sunny F16 Rule" tells us that on a sunny day we can set the shutter speed to match the ISO setting. Your camera probably won't have a 1/400th of a second setting, so round off to 1/500th of a second. Close enough for a first attempt.
3. Look at the shadows the sun is casting. If it is clear and bright, you'll probably see hard shadows, but as it gets more overcast the shadows will get softer or disappear. So:
a. if you see hard shadows, set your aperture to f/16
b. if you see soft shadows, set your aperture to f/11
c. if you see no shadows, set your aperture to f/8
d. if the light level seems even lower, set your aperture to f/5.6
That's all. Set your camera to M. Set your ISO to 400. Look at the shadows and set your aperture. Point your camera at your subject, press the shutter halfway down. Your camera may have a little triangle, or a light or another indicator that lets you know if it thinks you are over or under on your exposure. Adjust if you agree, or go with your guess. Take the shot.
Look on your viewscreen, and see if you've got it right -- and then act superior to anyone using automatic modes.
Now here's the type of article I like. It's all about me, me, me and me. (At one point, two other people are mentioned, but then luckily the story gets back on track, returning to being completely about me. Perfect.)
Actually, it's a good read, even beyond being entirely all about moi.
Indie Filmmakers Q&A Series: Part I
Annie Leibovitz and her approach to portraiture came up in my Thursday night class last week, so I wanted to link to some good "behind-the-scenes" video from Vanity Fair. I think her use of lighting in these is well worth the view, especially the episode with Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrman.
The 2009 Hollywood Portfolio Shoots
Hey, did I mention that the Frugal Traveler: Grand Tour series is nominated for a 2009 Webby Award? It must have slipped my mind.
Okay, okay, I've mentioned it....
In any case, I just checked, and while we won't have a result from the Judges for a few weeks, in the People's Voice voting the show is currently in second place.
So go vote for it. Have your friends check it out, then vote for it, too.
Details, and link to the series episodes at Your Vote is Appreciated.
A nice overview of the ASU screening by Cassandra Nicholson, the Phoenix Film Examiner.
ASU Art Museum Film Festival Showcases National, International Talent
"The second of two New York City submissions came from Ted Fisher in his light-hearted documentary, “12th & 3rd in Brooklyn,” which focused on a group of men known as “Brooklyn’s Best.” Their annual stickball match holds historical, cultural and familial connections for them, as it is held every year on the same street where they played the game as young children."The first New York submission? Bill Plympton's "Santa: The Fascist Years." I just love Plympton's films, so it's an honor to be in the same program.
There's a nice article on Saturday night's screening at ASU. Fun photo with the story, so follow the link....
Short film and video festival draws more than a thousand people
"ASU Art Museum’s courtyard was packed with lawn chairs, picnic blankets and a sea of people watching social commentaries and silly cartoons on a big screen on Saturday night. About 1,300 people were reeled in to watch film reels at the 13th annual ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival, held outside the museum. The free festival showed 19 selections made by a globe-spanning collection of independent directors, hailing everywhere from Germany to New York to Arizona. The films represented an array of genres from confessional documentary to campy video animation."
This week in my Thursday night class there was discussion and demo that included using on-camera flash. There's a good related article by David Pogue here, with some good basics to review....
Controlling Your Camera’s Flash
Ah, the paparazzi.
I think the horse may have mistaken them for zombies.
Madonna falls from horse in Hamptons after paparazzi spook animal
"Madonna was tossed to the ground Saturday when her horse was startled by photographers while riding on a Hamptons estate. The Material Mom was rushed to Southampton Hospital with minor injuries and bruises after a fall while riding at the Bridgehampton farm of celebrity photographer Steven Klein."
The web series I produced / edited last summer -- Frugal Traveler: The Grand Tour -- is nominated for a 2009 Webby Award.
We'll see what the judges decide, but you can vote for the show at the People's Voice site.
Please do. It would be much appreciated.
How it works: click on "sign up now" and give an email address (you can opt out of receiving anything) and make up a password. They email you a link, then you follow that to a ballot.If you haven't seen it, here's the series:
"Frugal" is under "Online Film / Video" in the "Travel" category.
Week 1: Dover to Calais
Week 2: Paris, France
Week 3: Southwestern France
Week 4: French Riviera
Week 5: Rome
Week 6: Malta
Week 7: Cyprus
Week 8: Bucharest
Week 9: Vilnius, Lithuania
Week 10: Gdansk, Poland
Week 11: Germany
Week 12: Dutch-Belgian Border
Week 13: Frugal Edinburgh
Frugal Traveler: Looking Back
One day, I'm going to be able to go to all of my screenings. I look forward to it.
For now, some of them happen without me....
12th and 3rd in Brooklyn, our short film on stickball, is screening at the Thirteenth Annual ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival tonight at 8 p.m.
More often than you'd expect, the topic turns to cat photography. In my Thursday night class, I mentioned Tony Mendoza's Ernie: A Photographer's Memoir -- so I'm posting the link to it.
If you like it you can purchase via Amazon as well:
I often talk to my students about the placement of the eyes when framing a photograph or video image. For example, I tend to lead them toward a starting composition that places the eyes about 1/3 from the top of the frame. Usually, if one attempts that first, you can naturally slide into a composition that works well.
But what about the horizontal placement?
Two papers by Christopher W. Tyler address the "hypothesis of a consistent positioning of one eye relative to the center of the portrait" in a way I haven't seen done before.
AN EYE-PLACEMENT PRINCIPLE IN 500 YEARS OF PORTRAITS
Eye Placement Principles In Portraits And Figure Studies Over The Past Two Millennia
"Is there a consistent placement of the eyes relative to the canvas frame, based on the horizontal position of the eyes in portraits? Data from portraits over the past 2000 years quantify that one eye is centered with a standard deviation of less than + 5%. Classical texts on composition do not seem to mention the idea that the eyes as such should be positioned relative to the frame of the picture; the typical emphasis is on the placement of centers of mass in the frame or relative to the vanishing point in cases of central perspective. If such a compositional principle is not discussed in art analysis, it seems that its manifestation throughout the centuries and varieties of artistic styles (including the extreme styles of the 20th century) must be guided by unconscious perceptual processes."
If you enjoyed the Frugal Traveler: The Grand Tour series from last summer, you can vote for it at the Webby Awards People's Voice site.
It takes two minutes. Click on "sign up now" and give an email address (you can opt out of receiving anything) and make up a password. They email you a link, then you follow that to a ballot.
Pick the shows you like. "Frugal" is under "Online Film / Video" in the "Travel" category.
Thanks!
If I've told you once... Photography is simply dangerous.
Is Lindsay cracking up? Now wild-eyed Miss Lohan hurls eggs at photographers
Over on my other blog, there are two bits of news: The Frugal Traveler "Grand Tour" series I worked on is nominated for a Webby Award and our film "12th and 3rd in Brooklyn" is screening this Saturday in Arizona.
I don't know which is worse: roughing up a photographer or making a zombie movie in 2009. Both seem a touch passé, don't you think?
Woody Harrelson claims he mistook photographer for zombie
"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character," Harrelson said in a statement issued Friday by his publicist.
"With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie," he said.
Ah, news from London. Clearly a world capital of photography -- after all, "Thomas" from "Blowup" took a few snaps there -- but lately so confused on the role of photographers.
Should they be feared or feted? It's a city saturated in surveillance cams, but lately on the edge of making public photography a crime, or at least a warning sign that you must be a terrorist.
The unstoppable rise of the citizen cameraman
"The social impact of this revolution has still to be fully understood. Usually its consequences have been written about rather darkly, in terms of CCTV cameras and the surveillance state, but recent events in Britain offer a different verdict. The digital camera is an egalitarian piece of technology - cheap (most mobile phones have them), easy to use, convenient to carry and quick to produce images that can be spread throughout cyberspace in seconds. What we are witnessing, as any professional photojournalist will tell you, is the unstoppable rise of the citizen-photographer. Last Thursday, at the demonstration outside the G20 summit in east London, I saw them at work. A small war of cameras. Police were stopping, searching and photographing demonstrators at Canning Town tube station; the demonstrators photographed the police as they took their photographs; sometimes - a third viewpoint - a video maker turned up to get both sides in the same shot. It seemed to me then that the camera, so often accused of spreading violence by its fixation with physical aggression, could also be one of violent behaviour's great restraints."
Ah, wedding photography. You never know when those skills may come in handy. You know, like in jail.
Couple threatens to sue over wedding night DUI arrest
"The couple filed a complaint with the Harris County Precinct 8 Constable's Office and plans to file another with the federal government over the way [the bride] was allegedly treated while in jail. The couple said a photographer was allowed to take a picture of her in her wedding dress. The photograph appeared on the Internet and on television."
It's tough being a photographer these days. You might get shot, or get hassled, or get smoked.
So you'll probably decide to get away from it all, head out into nature and maybe take a few bird pictures. What could go wrong?
BIRDWATCHING PHOTOGRAPHERS UNDER FIRE
"Photographers' behaviour has been blamed for a fall in the survival rates of nesting dipper birds in the Derbyshire Peak District, prompting an appeal by conservationists.
'Unfortunately, disturbances at one or two of the key dipper sites has had a direct and negative impact on their nesting success in recent years,' said Phil Bowler, senior reserve manager at the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve."
This week on Actualities -- my other blog -- I discussed Malcolm Gladwell, the Supreme Court, and the future of IMDB. Somehow, it all relates to making documentaries.
The amusing thing about documentary filmmakers? In a field that's always dogged by the perception of being boring, they're generally certain that you'll find their work captivating. In fact, I'm starting to realize that's a prerequisite for making docs -- the ability to convince yourself that whatever topic you are dealing with is fascinating.
The reason I'm thinking about this?
Well, in 2007 and 2008 we participated in the International Documentary Challenge and made it into the finals. This year, unfortunately, our film didn't make it. It was a tiny bit of a shock -- after all, we thought it was a very good film. Of course, having been through a lot of judging, and occasionally serving as a judge, I know that this sort of thing is just bananas -- there are many many many reasons why a person scores one film higher than another, and that's just the way it goes. We had two lucky breaks, and one unlucky one. Fine.
But I laughed out loud when I received a note from the event organizer. Apparently, so many of the non-finalists were emailing him that he just had to respond.
What were they writing? They were sure their films must have been disqualified somehow, and they wanted to know why. Because otherwise, of course, their film would have won. Obviously.
The relationship between filmmaker and subject in making a documentary is always a tricky one. Usually, there's a balance between exploitation and value: by definition, the filmmaker is "using" the subject, but usually it's in a benign way, and often to the subject's benefit.
But not always.
I'm eager to see Guest of Cindy Sherman -- since I love both photography and documentaries about photographers -- but I have to admit any film made by an "ex-boyfriend" has a lot to prove....
Camera Shy
While her depiction in the film is overwhelmingly positive, Sherman’s enthusiasm for the film has waned since the relationship ended. “I was and still am extremely ambivalent about the film, not that I don't think Paul will do a great job, but that I'm in it,” she told The Financial Times in 2006. “I wish he could tell the story without mentioning me.” And though she had given her blessing for friends, colleagues, and staff—among them, John Waters, Carol Kane, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Ingrid Sischy—to speak on camera, Sherman sent a mass e-mail before the Tribeca Film Festival premiere to disavow the project, labeling it a “big mistake.”
This week was the first class of my six-week "Seriously Fun Photography" class. So what did we cover?
We learned that to control exposure, we need to work with three related elements:
Sensitivity:
This is the ISO "speed" of a digital sensor or of film. ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 are available on many cameras (but not all), and you should take some test shots with yours to find out if the higher ISO settings are usable or not. Figure out the fastest ISO speed you find produces acceptable shots on your camera -- you'll need to switch to it sooner or later. Notice that each ISO speed is twice as sensitive (or half as sensitive) as the next.
Aperture:
The f/stops to memorize are f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22. If you forget these, make two columns, and at the top of the left one write 1.4 and at the top of the right one write 2.0. Now double each number as you go down the column (rounding off when needed). Changing one stop lets in twice as much light (or half as much, depending on which direction you go. f/2 lets in a lot of light, f/22 lets in very little light. So if you took a picture using f/8 and it seemed a little too dark, you would switch to f/5.6. If you took a picture using f/8 and it seemed a little too bright, you'd switch to f/11.
Shutter Speed:
The common shutter speeds are:
1/1000th of a second
1/500th
1/250th
1/125th
1/60th
1/30th
1/15th
1/8th
1/4th
1/2
1 second.
-- As a rule of thumb, if you are moving and you're subject is moving, you'll want to be shooting at 1/1000th of a second to get a sharp picture.
-- If you are still but the subject is moving along, it would be good to be at 1/250th or faster.
-- If you and the subject are both relatively still, you can probably handhold the camera as slow as 1/60th, but slower than that and you'll get a soft picture because of camera shake caused by pressing the shutter.
-- At speeds that are slower, you'll need a tripod to steady the camera, and probably want to trigger it using the self-timer or a release.
-- Many decent cameras have higher shutter speeds, and these are very useful for action or sports.
Notice that the relationship of these shutter speed settings is also doubling (or halving) the amount of light that hits your sensor.
Then we decided to start applying our general knowledge about the relationship between apertures and depth of field. While we start to get the idea when we say "f/2 -- shallow depth of field and f/22 - deep depth of field" actually trying this out in with some real world shots is always a good experiment.
So we set up an experiment that can be repeated at home: set your camera on a table or a tripod, and in front of it arrange people or objects in a receding line. Put the first person or thing just 3 feet away from the lens, and have the furthest be at least 12 feet away. Now set the widest aperture you can -- I use a lens that goes to f/1.4 for this -- and focus on the closest person or object. You'll probably find that the people / objects behind that are out of focus. Now run through the whole series of aperture settings you have available (you'll probably want to be in "aperture priority mode" so that the camera sets the corresponding shutter speed for an acceptable exposure. Or you can set that yourself). Try this and compare each shot -- more and more will be in focus until you should be able to get everyone in focus.
Now, keep in mind there's one other factor here -- the focal length you shoot with. Usually the effect of getting a main subject in focus and the background out of focus is much easier to achieve if you use a lens of at least 50mm or set as zoom to 50mm focal length or a more telephoto setting.
Many photographers think that "telephoto lenses have shallow depth of field and wide angle lenses have deep depth of field" -- it turns out that isn't exactly true, but for pragmatic purposes it isn't a bad way to think. If the goal is a sharp subject and a blurry background -- grab a 90mm or set your zoom lens about there.
(For a discussion on why the wide focal lens = deep depth of field idea isn't precisely true, read Do wide-angle lenses give you greater depth of field than long lenses?.)
Another thing that comes up at this point: some lenses allow your camera to reach to f/1.4 or f/2 or f/2.8, but many times the "kit lens" zoom that comes with a DSLR or the zoom lens built into a compact camera will not go to that wide-open an aperture. And to further add to the confusion: many common lenses that go from 18mm to 55mm (or 70mm) let you go to f/3.5 when using the widest focal length (18mm) but only to f/5.6 when you are using the long end of the lens (55mm or 70mm). That's just how those lenses are built.
Now, once we know a technique to control depth of field -- go towards f/2 to get a sharp person, blurry background or toward f/22 to get subject and background both focuses -- we want to think about why we would do it. Well, it's that kind of control that lets us emphasize or deemphasize what a viewer sees in a photograph, so we want to master it so we can control our images. Need to photograph a person against a cluttered, distracting background? Use selective focus. Need to show that a person has kids but keep the emphasis on the person? Use selective focus to make the kids visible but de-emphasized.
So, from a technical standpoint, as we approach any photo situation we'll want to decide on an ISO setting, a shutter speed and an aperture. The three are interrelated and all use a doubling / halving system so it is easy to calculate how to change them when needed.
Helen Levitt, Who Froze New York Street Life on Film, Is Dead at 95
"Helen Levitt, a major photographer of the 20th century who caught fleeting moments of surpassing lyricism, mystery and quiet drama on the streets of her native New York, died in her sleep at her home in Manhattan on Sunday. She was 95."
Well, we thought it was a good film. Maybe we finished 14th.
The Doc Challenge Results are in.
We'll get 'em next year.
Our short film Bend & Bow is now available on the International Documentary Challenge DVD, selling through amazon.com.
"This DVD collection features a variety of short non-fiction works from around the globe - from China to New York City; from Seattle to Amsterdam; from Montana to Japan - representing the very best from filmmakers who participated in the first three years of the International Documentary Challenge."
There's been endless speculation on both the short-term and long term future of newspapers. Most of it has been uninformed and ill-considered. (In fact, I ignored the first wave of it, since much of that was politically-fueled "serves 'em right!" posting by morons. Also, as I've said before, I tend to gravitate to the "let it go" stance on any collapse.)
Clearly, though, the crunch is here. I've already lost one major great video production gig because of the downturn -- we made one video out of a planned 32 just as things hit and the project disappeared.
And as someone who has freelanced (a lot) for the New York Times I've kept an eye out for stories on their future as well. For example:
Times Co. Announces Temporary Salary Cuts
"Also on Thursday, The Times laid off 100 people in its business operations, and Mr. Keller said it would make other cuts, like reducing spending on freelancers by 10 to 15 percent and possibly consolidating some sections."So what do we know, and what's the real deal? Well, the clearest, most level-headed article I've seen on this lately is here, by the excellent writer Donna Trussell:
"For years my interest in media’s evolution was tepid at best. Until now. As Samuel Johnson noted, hanging at dawn tends to focus the mind. My husband, a Kansas City Star journalist since 1977, was just cut to part time.Go and see what she found....
What do you do if, after 32 years on the job, your industry suddenly starts to crater? Do you accept the part-time offer? Leave? Sue? Launch your own website?
For guidance I turned to the Internet."
12th and 3rd in Brooklyn, our short film on stickball, is screening at the Thirteenth Annual ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival Saturday, April 18, 2008 at 8 p.m. In Tempe, Arizona, of course.
I notice they've listed me as director, but the film is also co-directed by Iris Lee and Maya Mumma, as you can see here, so I'll send them a note asking to correct that.
Went to the AIPAD Photography Show today to see the exhibition and to attend two panel discussions. Seemed like a bigger turnout than last year.
The first panel was a rather uninspiring discussion on The Art of Fashion Photography. Very few images were shown, and nothing new or interesting was said. To be frank, what was said was vague and at times just factually incorrect. One repeated theme was the strange idea that museums haven't paid enough attention to fashion photography, which is just not true. (I won't bother making a list of shows here, but search for yourself -- every few years there's been a large fashion-related show.) There's been too much attention to fashion as art. How about some art as art?
The second panel, however, was much more to my taste: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Albert Maysles were in attendance for a panel on Photographers as Filmmakers. Both artists made some great points about making documentaries, and both showed some of their stills as well.
Above: Al Maysles arrives.
Lately I've been focused on interview-based films.
One of the best I've seen in the last few years is Jessica Yu's "Protagonist." It's now on Snagfilms, so you can watch it for free, right here. Set aside an hour and give it a chance -- I really like the weaving of the stories, and the subtext of the traditional concerns of Greek drama: character and fate....
Great puppets, also.
The last time I took a snap of the Reservoir, it was frozen over. The last time I was there at all involved tossing a hula hoop -- and it was still slush covered and cold. Not so today: it was 60 degrees out, so I took a good run around the water. (It's about 3/4 mile to Central park, then 1.5 miles around the reservoir.)
On the way back, I think I passed Kevin Kline in a makeup chair preparing to shoot a scene. I believe it was him, but I didn't have my glasses and I didn't want to stare.
Wednesday they're filming a movie on my street. It's called The Extra Man and features Katie Holmes, Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, Cathy Moriarty, and a local fellow named Kevin Kline. If I go outside, I may accidently become an extra.
The location scouts made a good choice, since the plot is: "A man who escorts wealthy widows in New York's Upper East Side takes a young aspiring playwright under his wing."
I'm just hoping they're aware they'll have to face these creatures several times during the day.
Last year, as soon as we finished our film for the International Documentary Challenge I wrote up a few notes for the 2009 Challenge. You can read the full post here but the three main points were:
1. Finish shooting on Thursday.
2. Team Technical Practice
3. Lighting Gear
Were we able to apply these three ideas?
Well, no. Our last taping session -- and the one that was most important to the edit -- didn't finish until late Saturday afternoon, which meant I didn't get everything logged and captured until about 11 p.m. Saturday. We did no practice before the shoot -- getting by with email communication and one brunch meeting. We did have slightly better lighting gear -- we used a set of lights meant for shooting stills, but not a kit really meant for video. But no video lights or softboxes or anything with plenty of power. We did use a good foldable reflector, though.
So those three recommendations stand, and here are three new ones:
4. Make our kit more transportable. We lugged multiple heavy bags both across town and up five flights of stairs. We should find a way to consolidate our gear and put everything in reasonable rolling cases.
5. We should dedicate a person to the job of sound. We did fine, but made mistakes that cost us time. A person who was thinking only of sound and working to reduce post-production requirements would help a lot.
6. Make a shot list. We shot plenty of material, but at the end of our editing process there was a moment when we realized we hadn't treated enough as a location shoot -- we didn't grab a number of shots you normally would on a verite shoot. We were focused on what we "needed" and didn't get everything as it unfolded.
Great. Now I just need to write four more tips after next year's event and I'll have a full list...
Just finished our film for this year's International Doc Challenge.
I'm tired -- but I think we've made a good film.
tf
Today: started with some editing. Then I met two of my team members for brunch, and then moved on to shooting in Central Park.
To the man we nearly injured with an errant hula hoop toss: we're deeply, deeply sorry, and we will never throw a hula hoop at you again.
While in Central Park, I got a little good news about a film, then got ready for the last part of the day.
I can't tell you much at this point, except that documentary production can take you to many places in the world. Sometimes the people there aren't wearing much in the way of clothing and don't seem at all shy. (Other times, of course, you have to leave New York.)
Now it's 1:30 a.m. and I'm digitizing footage again. One more tape to capture....
Just found out that the short doc I made with Maya Mumma and Iris Lee -- "12th and 3rd in Brooklyn" -- will be screening at the 13th Annual Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival. The acceptance letter mentioned this: "After viewing the 405 entries from 35 U.S. states and 27 nations, 19 works made the final cut."
Over on my other blog is my first post covering this year's Doc Challenge. Wish us luck.
