Monday, October 27, 2008
canon engineers rock
the guys over at canon must know me too well. i just read this post which describes how the new canon 5d mark II can read up to 6 battery's info including serial number, shots taken since last charge, battery life remaining and more. now i'll never get stuck on set with a dead battery even if it was fully charged. how cool is that?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
rearranging furniture
today was my shoot. it was excellent, and i mean really excellent. jessica (the model) had angelic hair and skin and was a blast to work with. chloe and i spent the afternoon rearranging/moving/pushing most of the furniture in the house (ok, it's pretty sparse, there's pretty much only a couch and a rolling kitchen shelf and a bed in the whole place) i couldn't be happier with how the afternoon came together. stay tuned on my website to see the images when i get them up!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
the good, the bad, and the gaff-taped glasses
today is wednesday, i flew into lax monday morning. my first three days here have been both awesome and terrifically frustrating at the same time. traveling is a lesson in patience, flexiblity and plain ol hard work.
before leaving on this trip i did major research on everyone i wanted to contact and spent multiple days making cold calls and sending cold emails. i didn't get nearly as many bites as in NYC in april (15 meetings in 5 days!), but my meetings here have been rockin' so far.
monday:
my laptop died in the middle of the night 3hrs before i was supposed to leave for the airport after just having it majorly overhauled at the apple store last week. i tried to fix it, wasn't able to, slept for 2hrs before leaving for the airport and thus relinquished myself to spending my monday evening at the apple store in century city instead of at a dinner with a friend. (apple was only able to tell me that the part they replaced last week needs to be replaced again. ugh.)
when i landed i grabbed the rental car, napped for 25min and then headed to my first appointment at m&c saatchi - i arrived without hitting any traffic on the 405 or the 10 (shocking!) and my meeting went really well! there are some pretty genius people over there and they couldn't be nicer!
meeting number 2 was at fit pregnancy in woodland hills. i was lucky to get out of the m&c meeting early enough to avoid traffic from santa monica to woodland hills. again, arrived early and was able to have a calm and productive meeting. the photo editor is a delightful woman who is quite the talent herself. i got good feedback on my book and hopefully we'll be able to work on a story sometime soon.
once i left fit pregnancy, i got to the apple store 2hrs earlier than my appointment. unfortunatly they couldn't see me early so i wandered around killing time until the apt. once that was over (another ungodly 90min at the apple store, 4th time in 10 days) i met my friend for a late dinner at an awesome vegan place called m cafe. other than the apple fiasco and only 2hrs of sleep, a good day ending in a wonderful catching-up-with-an-old-friend dinner. i went to sleep happy.
tuesday:
i hit the gym in the morning, shot a few 600 polaroids for the new project and then headed off to my meetings. meeting numero uno was at 72 and sunny. they do awesome work over there and they have a beautiful new office. the meeting was quick and good, no complaints.
from there i went over to tbwa\chiat\day which was nearby enough that i had time to do some great polaroid 600 shooting before the meeting started. my meeting couldn't have gone better. the whole staff saw my book and if i'm not mistaken, some of them really liked my work. on top of that i got a tour of the building which is totally unreal: it was apparently modeled after a city - there is an actual park with trees, tables, benches and real crickets and also in the building a full-size basketball court... ridiculously cool. the only crazy part of this meeting was my glasses actually snapping in half right in the middle of someone looking over my book and having them fall off my face. driving for the rest of the week will be difficult, helloooo superglue and gaff tape...
meeting numero tres was with the owner of photocrew.com at susina bakery. we had a good long talk about all things photo and i feel good about future collaborations together. now i just need to get my butt on finalizing my photocrew profile.
today (wednesday):
again, gym in the morning and then one really great meeting at C magazine. the photo editor was just wonderful and i thought we really understood each other. i'm hoping that she hires me on something soon since C is a great book with a elegant clean look.
the rest of my afternoon was prepping my shoot for tomorrow. other than being annoyed that i got totally scammed on paying for parking at the grove, i'm very excited about the shoot. stay tuned for how it turns out.
lastly chloe and i had dinner with a friend from chiat. great food at father's office and super yummy sweet potato fries. fun conversation and a few more polaroids taken over dinner. i can't get enough of this 600 film! i'm looking forward to staying in touch with my new friend and *fingerscrossed* getting in at chiat sometime before i'm 40.
now it's 1am and i'm hitting the hay. can't wait for the shoot tomorrow!
before leaving on this trip i did major research on everyone i wanted to contact and spent multiple days making cold calls and sending cold emails. i didn't get nearly as many bites as in NYC in april (15 meetings in 5 days!), but my meetings here have been rockin' so far.
monday:
my laptop died in the middle of the night 3hrs before i was supposed to leave for the airport after just having it majorly overhauled at the apple store last week. i tried to fix it, wasn't able to, slept for 2hrs before leaving for the airport and thus relinquished myself to spending my monday evening at the apple store in century city instead of at a dinner with a friend. (apple was only able to tell me that the part they replaced last week needs to be replaced again. ugh.)
when i landed i grabbed the rental car, napped for 25min and then headed to my first appointment at m&c saatchi - i arrived without hitting any traffic on the 405 or the 10 (shocking!) and my meeting went really well! there are some pretty genius people over there and they couldn't be nicer!
meeting number 2 was at fit pregnancy in woodland hills. i was lucky to get out of the m&c meeting early enough to avoid traffic from santa monica to woodland hills. again, arrived early and was able to have a calm and productive meeting. the photo editor is a delightful woman who is quite the talent herself. i got good feedback on my book and hopefully we'll be able to work on a story sometime soon.
once i left fit pregnancy, i got to the apple store 2hrs earlier than my appointment. unfortunatly they couldn't see me early so i wandered around killing time until the apt. once that was over (another ungodly 90min at the apple store, 4th time in 10 days) i met my friend for a late dinner at an awesome vegan place called m cafe. other than the apple fiasco and only 2hrs of sleep, a good day ending in a wonderful catching-up-with-an-old-friend dinner. i went to sleep happy.
tuesday:
i hit the gym in the morning, shot a few 600 polaroids for the new project and then headed off to my meetings. meeting numero uno was at 72 and sunny. they do awesome work over there and they have a beautiful new office. the meeting was quick and good, no complaints.
from there i went over to tbwa\chiat\day which was nearby enough that i had time to do some great polaroid 600 shooting before the meeting started. my meeting couldn't have gone better. the whole staff saw my book and if i'm not mistaken, some of them really liked my work. on top of that i got a tour of the building which is totally unreal: it was apparently modeled after a city - there is an actual park with trees, tables, benches and real crickets and also in the building a full-size basketball court... ridiculously cool. the only crazy part of this meeting was my glasses actually snapping in half right in the middle of someone looking over my book and having them fall off my face. driving for the rest of the week will be difficult, helloooo superglue and gaff tape...
meeting numero tres was with the owner of photocrew.com at susina bakery. we had a good long talk about all things photo and i feel good about future collaborations together. now i just need to get my butt on finalizing my photocrew profile.
today (wednesday):
again, gym in the morning and then one really great meeting at C magazine. the photo editor was just wonderful and i thought we really understood each other. i'm hoping that she hires me on something soon since C is a great book with a elegant clean look.
the rest of my afternoon was prepping my shoot for tomorrow. other than being annoyed that i got totally scammed on paying for parking at the grove, i'm very excited about the shoot. stay tuned for how it turns out.
lastly chloe and i had dinner with a friend from chiat. great food at father's office and super yummy sweet potato fries. fun conversation and a few more polaroids taken over dinner. i can't get enough of this 600 film! i'm looking forward to staying in touch with my new friend and *fingerscrossed* getting in at chiat sometime before i'm 40.
now it's 1am and i'm hitting the hay. can't wait for the shoot tomorrow!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
our legal rights
ever think of taking a photo outside somewhere but stopped because you thought it might be illegal? i have.
now i've read this (which is thankfully clear and concise) and i have a much better understanding of my legal rights and boundaries.
now i've read this (which is thankfully clear and concise) and i have a much better understanding of my legal rights and boundaries.
debate + skull + polaroid = cool double exposures
so if you haven't read back a few entries, let me start with a brief explanation that the skull referenced herein was given to me as a piece of inspiration (i.e. shooting homework) by my crit group. i have been strugling with it since. and no, i'm not a morbid skull lover, in fact it creeps me out even though i know it's made of resin.
this week watching the VP debates I started photographing the tv screen with my iphone. i then started doing the same thing with medium polaroid. i ended up trying double exposures with sarah palin and the skull. they're not technically amazing but i'm pleased to have finally made some headway with my skull project and to have incorporated the admitedly scary skull with a new photographic technique that i've never really played with. it's the best of both worlds: stretching myself in both technique and concept. more shooting with mr. skull to come, perhaps i'll have something even better for the crit group on tuesday.
this week watching the VP debates I started photographing the tv screen with my iphone. i then started doing the same thing with medium polaroid. i ended up trying double exposures with sarah palin and the skull. they're not technically amazing but i'm pleased to have finally made some headway with my skull project and to have incorporated the admitedly scary skull with a new photographic technique that i've never really played with. it's the best of both worlds: stretching myself in both technique and concept. more shooting with mr. skull to come, perhaps i'll have something even better for the crit group on tuesday.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
the skull and i
we're becoming fast friends, mr. skull and i. he now lives *on* my desk instead of next to it, again in hopes that inspiration strikes me (and soon!) i'd say "speak to me, mr. skull" but i'd rather you didn't... just shoot some ideas my way, eh?
photographer of the day: chloe aftel
today it's chloe aftel. she's awesome and has a gentle feminine eye. she just sent me a new image (below) which i'm in love with. chloe just keeps getting better - every time i turn around she's producing work that continues to become more intimate and ephemeral. here are my faves (a classic on top and the new one on the bottom)
both images copyright chloe aftel
both images copyright chloe aftel
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