new equation

I'm off to NYC this afternoon. I should have some crew/production shots up early this week from our shoot at Pier 59.

We had friends over yesterday with all their kids. Iliana had such a great time. I brought out my Speed Graphic and did some 4X5 shooting using the focal plane shutter, a pretty cool thing for a field camera. I'll post them here once I process and scan them.

In the meantime, here are some I did when I first got the camera a few years ago....

I've made some progress on this year's summertime personal project. The subject is beekeeping, and thanks to the American Beekeeping Federation, I have been connected with a husband and wife team up in North Georgia. They have over 7 million bees for honey production and the breeding of queen bees. I'm going to meet them this Friday. I'll post some scouting shots from my visit.

I was awarded a campaign of three ads for a construction materials manufacturer. It's going to be a lot of fun! We get to cast for this nosey character and shoot her in three environments. There's also going to be photography of some fancy homes built with the product.

Next week, I'm heading to a college in small town Alabama for a two-day shoot. My client is working on some new collateral pieces for the college.

It was pouring rain when we landed at LaGuardia, and the line at the nearest cab stand stretched all the way to the sliding glass doors of the terminal exit. There were few cabs lining up on the curb. We shook our heads and Don led me in and out of the terminal to another cab stand where the line was short and the cabs were plentiful.

We checked in and got to our room after 9 p.m. It was nice to look out our window and see the Chrysler Building.

Rain makes a city really pretty at night.

I hit the sack before midnight.

The sky was white and it was still raining in the morning.

We got to Pier 59 right on schedule and stayed on schedule all day. This project is a series of six shoots, and there are two parts to each shoot: one is the still photography I provide, the other is an interview taped by a videographer. My assistant Dan and I set up two portraits on the cyc, one against the windows overlooking the Hudson, and one in the cafe. We were hoping to shoot out on the deck, but due to the rain the deck was closed off.

We had a great crew (client and talent included).

Here's Dan crossing the street in front of Pier 59. We rented two chairs from Sam Flax we now had to return.

We finally hailed a minivan cab. He took us to the Chelsea and the Midtown Sam Flax, but wouldn't take us to the airport.

No problem. We got another cab and made an early flight out to Atlanta.

While riding in the cab, I kept pointing my camera skyward out the window. This is us emerging from the Murray Hill Tunnel.

I met with the beekeepers on Friday. They were great people with a very interesting occupation. I think this project will yield some great pictures. Here are some of my scouting pictures. I'm going to think about my approach and put together a shot list this week. I hope to shoot next week, if possible.

They allowed me to taste four different flavors of honey. It was amazing tasting the different flavors!

Here are those pictures made with the Speed Graphic. Some sheets were inadvertently exposed twice. I'll be using this camera for a portion of the beekeeping photography.

The SEED Awards put on by AIGA Atlanta were last night. I tagged along with the folks from Iconologic. It was great fun! Gabe walked out with two awards, including one for the past two editions of Cooper Carry's HERE magazine. I donated photography for the direct mail promotions and for the awards book. In exchange, I got a few comp tickets to the event and a full page ad in the awards book. Thanks AIGA!

Tomorrow I head out to Marion, AL for a shoot thru Friday. I'm gonna bring the Speed Graphic and expose some sheet film. It's gonna be cool.

So I spent two nights in Marion, Alabama, which is about an hour south of Birmingham. A client of mine is working on some new admissions materials for a small college there. It was really interesting to visit a small town (pop. around 4500) that is still getting by on its own. We stocked up on drinks and snacks for the day at a little grocer/butcher shop called the Marion Meat Market. On the grocery shelves, we found some real treasures.

My assistant, Dan, and I exposed 20 sheets of 4X5 through the Speed Graphic. I'm picking up the film in the morning. I'll post them as soon as I can.

I'm also heading out tomorrow to shoot the beekeepers!

When we weren't shooting for the client in Marion, I shot some color neg with the Speed Graphic. I love the way the old uncoated lens captures an image. Above is a locker room above the swimming pool.

Here's one of the dorm rooms in the freshman dormitory. They're pretty Spartan.

This is what film looks like when it's loaded backwards. It kind of has a neat look. Of all the film Dan has loaded for me over the past few years, these are the only sheets he's ever loaded backwards.

Here's one I made of Dan once we got inside our motel room after he loaded some film backwards...

...and here's one Dan made of your's truly.

Dan is leaving with me this evening for the beekeeping shoot. I really think I'll come away with some nice stuff.

Here are some early selects from the beekeeping shoot. I'm shooting ice and frost today and tomorrow. I'll put a few up late this week.

Carl in the bee yard.

Virginia grafting queens.

Drones.

Carl getting in his bee suit.

Carl putting on supers.

From Virginia's collection of smokers.

Workers and brood on a frame.

Carl in the bee yard holding a frame.

My friend Nando recently moved to Portland and started a company called Nervo. He's working on a spot and needed some ice textures to apply to 3D renderings. I spent the past few days with a 300 lb. block of ice and all kinds of icy tricks (thanks to Rodger).

Nando needed five different types of ice and frost. I'm really pleased with the resulting pictures. Some of them are really beautiful. Here are my favorites (which all came from the 300 lb. block).