Wednesday, March 05, 2008

In front of Camera!

John gets a touch up from stylist Kirsten Roberts.


(One Handed Self portrait taken with a Canon G9 camera. It was more challenging to take a photo myself without moving my head toward the camera-- did not want to make Kirsten's job any harder. It guess you could call this my attempt to take a one handed Candid Self Portrait)

Today was a different experience for me. I drove my kids to a Commercial Video production shoot and I ended up being a part of the production as an extra. Not sure how, when, were and why it will be used. If I would say more, I would be breaking my disclosure agreement. The only thing I can say is that I was an extra and I got paid for it.

I found this experience very educational. For the first time in my life I was on the other side of a Production company that I had nothing to do with. I had friends who were professionals in the industry photograph and video tape my wedding-- so that was different too! For commercial work, in the past when I was used, I was actually brought on as part of the production team and my hand would be used or even once, I was the assistant for a photo ad and the model all at the same time. That ad ran about 10 years ago for University Med Net. I ended up having my head take up practically the full page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. After it ran, I remember running around my neighborhood recycling the recycled newspaper to get extra copies. That's when I learned how out of registration the color on the Plain Dealer was. I was in a B&W add in which they added a Rubick's Cube in Post. It appeared in my hand in Color.

Unfortunately when I have photographed for newspapers such as the New York Times, I have to go to the newsstand and buy a couple of copies. Newspapers never provide tear sheets. Even though I have photographed for the Boston Globe, I have never seen my photos that have appeared in them. They do not publish locally like the NY Times. Magazine and client work is different-- they provide copies as part of our licensing agreement which makes it a lot easier to acquire tear sheets. After one job is done, I'm off to the next assignment and I do not have the time to track down my tear sheets.

I have to give the director of todays production a lot of credit. He did a great job running the production despite the fact that some of the hired talent gave their unsolicited advice on how things should be to everyone in the room. I chalk this up to lack of experience on their part. I remember hearing a story about a photo assistant that assisted world renowned Cleveland photographer Bob Bender. The assistant suggested to Bob and the client that the tin ceiling be a different color. The client agreed. Bob had to loose a day to paint the ceiling. After the photography was completed, they lost another day to paint the ceiling back to its original color. Needles to say, Bob never used the assistant again and the client ended up going with the original photo before the ceiling was painted. If you see something wrong in a photo, let the director or photographer know in a discreet way. An extra set of eyes and ears can be a good thing, but you don't know what the camera is seeing unless you are looking through the camera!

Until I Blog again, remember not to take life too seriously and make sure you tell someone that is close to you how much you care for them-- no one knows when our loved ones may depart so we should try to let our loved ones know how much we care for them.

Thanks for reading,

John :)

2 comments:

Alison said...

Pretty neat for you to be on the other side of the lens, even if those are selfies.

John said...

The photos in my blog are "selfies", but the stylist featured with me in the "one handed candids" -- hey that has a ring to it -- was putting makeup on me because I was an extra in the video production. Some part of me may actually make it into the video. It probably will just be a shoulder or something and the makeup was for not!

Glad you enjoyed it!