There is a goal that I have; it is to revolutionize underwater photography. It’s been disappointing so far because I wasn’t able to achieve my goal in my very first try, or my second! There seems to be so much learning and practicing in the way that I wonder if I’m really cut out to be the underwater photography prodigy. Why does success have to be so tied to work and effort?
Adam Harvey is a designer and technologist working at the intersection of emerging media arts, photography and computer programing, or at least that’s how he describes himself, and he has just ignited the paparazzi arms race. His supposed product, the Anti-Paparazzi Clutch Bag, is a purse armed with a strobe and a white light slave. When it senses a paparazzi’s flash the purse fires it’s own flash back to blind the lens, like some Dr. Strangelove Doomsday Machine.
If celebrities adopt this defense to keep the public from seeing they’re just like us (They get the mail! They go grocery shopping!) the paparazzi’s only response will be to use stronger, brighter strobes to overpower the defense flash. Next the celebrities will have to adopt the Anti-Paparazzi Backpack Accessory to carry the lead/acid 12v batteries to power their stronger more powerful defense strobes. There’s no détente in sight, the only inevitable end to this is the paparazzi apocalypse. Is that the legacy you want to leave behind for the next generation, Adam Harvey? Is it?!
Pictured here is my friend Sita who recently got married to her boyfriend Andy in Italy. They had a reception, for those who couldn’t make it to the Mediterranean, at her mother’s restaurant Boulette’s Larder in the Ferry Building. She asked me to set up a photo booth there to photograph everyone having a good time. (Continued)
Sunset view from The Wreck, my favorite restaurant in my hometown; Mt. Pleasant, SC, and yes that is a pair of dolphins swimming up Shem Creek like it’s no big deal.
My Michael Jackson Tribute on the Set of a Williams Sonoma Photoshoot.
Note to self: Make sure the kids are in front of the camera when you tell them they can now eat the candy. It will be the best smile of the photo session. Also, who knew it would take so much effort to convince a tired kid to look convincingly tired?
These photos are from the May edition of Paris Vogue by Dutch Photographers Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. I can’t say anything about them better than the blog Jezebel has, “While we can question whether this entire photo shoot is about male/female power struggles, clichés regarding what’s really “tough” and turning violence or subjugation of women on its ear, the truth is, it’s just an interesting idea for a swimwear layout…”
Over the last month I’ve done five photoshoots with kids. I came into this project expecting a challenge and it hasn’t disappointed. I’m getting more comfortable with directing them and have gotten a better sense of when to let them goof off and when to be strict.
The one thing I haven’t gotten comfortable with is the phrase, “Shooting Kids” or any variation thereof. “I’m interested in you shooting my son” reads the subject line of an email from a model’s father. Really Dad? You don’t want to rephrase that statement?
