After spending years running my studio and producing low-budget feature films I returned to "hands-on" shooting in 2009. It was a slow start but within a few months I was confident enough to launch this blog and in October start The Film Photography Podcast (Internet Radio Show).
The purpose? To spread the word about the joy of film photography to anyone who is interested. To teach and share my knowledge of the craft. To reach out to other artists who share the same passion for all things photography and filmmaking.
So, I humbly thank 2009. I was able to "squeeze" by one of the worst financial recessions in US history, keep my film studio running and find the time to return to this wonderful hobby.
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at my studio and to all the amazing artists, filmmakers, family and friends that I shared time with this past year.
When I showed up on December 4th to shoot Violent Hearts at the Loop Lounge in New Jersey USA, I was happy to find that a second band was playing – Rhode Island’s Midnight Creeps.
According to the bands MySpace page they’re “Straight out of the bowels of Creepsville USA armed with sleazy tales of sin, sex, and destitution. The Midnight Creeps bring the danger back to rocknroll! Consisting of singer Jenny Hurricane, guitarist Stimbot, bassist Jonas Parmelee, and drummer...ummm...well we don't know who the drummer is right now but anyway the Midnight Creeps specialize in churning out three-minute roller coasters of good gone bad.”
I met the band before the show and told them that I’d love to photograph them. They were super cool and stoked to have me shoot.
My kit was the same as reported in my previous blog. ( http://michaelraso.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-photography-liquid-shooting.html ) ‘73 Canon FTb, 50mm f1.4 lens, small strobe and few rolls of Kodachrome 64 film. For the Creeps set I utilized a second strobe snapped on top of a small electronic slave. I picked up this handy mini-device from a Hong Kong e-bay seller for cheap.
With the help of pal William Hellfire, I was able to fire off a few frames using the second strobe. The shots created a slight glare on the lens but I think it was for the better. Next time I’ll mount the strobe on a monopod and gel the strobe amber or blue.
When I ventured out on December 4th to shoot stills of Violent Hearts performing at the Loop Lounge, I hastily packed a tiny bag. Inside, all analog photo gear including my ‘73 Canon FTb, 50mm f1.4 lens, small strobe and few rolls of Kodachrome 64 film. I threw in an extra FTb body (just in case).
Pals William Hellfire and Erin Russ gave me a lift, giving me about 20 minutes to figure out how I was going to shoot the performance. Most small clubs are “black holes,” sometimes not even offering stage lights.
The performance was loud with great energy. Rather than conventional flash, I decided to attempt to get some movement in my still images. With no way to measure the ambient light, I shot most exposures with my shutter open for about five seconds, manually flashing the band. This technique gave the still images the illusion of motion.
Special thanks William, Erin, the Loop and, of course, Violent Hearts. Rock on.
Flickr.com member Brian Stazel made a movie about editing movies with splicers, viewers and steenbecks called "MoviScop". He's interested to hear from people who still edit this way and from the new generation of editors who find this amazing or dumbfounding.
A year ago today, I was testing cameras, flashes and any “new” used equipment that I picked up on the e-bay. Properly exposed, nicely composed images were my goal.
Lacking any real subject matter in order to test a camera, lens or film, I realize that I’ve shot a number of clichés. Not necessarily a bad thing…but clichés nevertheless.
Here are some of my dreaded cliché shots:
The Converging Railroad Track Cliché
The Solitary Tree Cliché
The Cat Cliché
The Empty Park Bench Cliché
Of course, it’s all a matter of personal opinion (on what is and is not a photo cliché) but I scribbled down some notes in order to steer me from such blatant clichés in the future.
SHOOT A MODEL Shoot a gorgeous girl…ut, oh…that’s a cliché! Well, I did my best to mix-it-up by shooting in natural light on high-speed film.
USE A DIFFERENT FILMSTOCK or TECHNIQUE I cross-processed the shot below in the wrong chemistry to achieve the “look.” (Unfortunately, Cross-Processing is the newest cliché!)
ART DIRECT IT Is it a cliché?…probably…but at least it looks good!
TELL A STORY I’ve made it a habit to attach text to every image I post. Attaching text to an image will sometimes “wash away” that cliché via words. Frisky the cat transforms from cliché to Super-Cat when it’s explained that he was saved from death to become local TV star.
BE SNAP HAPPY Don’t take one shot…snap a bunch. You’ll never know what you’re gonna get. Sometimes some fun stuff (like the snap from a recent Pizza Friday at the office)
The takeaway from today’s blog? Shoot now, worry about the cliché later…and ultimately…have fun!
Photo Clichés: Collecting pictures of people being uniquely hilarious, just like all the other people who took the same photo. http://www.photocliches.com/
