Toni Hickman, an Atlanta native, overcame two aneurisms to become an aspiring hip-hop artist. Doctors originally told her she would be in a wheelchair the rest of her life. Through her own efforts and the efforts of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, she was able to beat the odds. We wanted a hip-hop feel, so we used the east-facing wall at Java Java Cafe in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. The owner was very accommodating and even let me use his AC outlet for my lights. Also, we had to shoot on what was probably the coldest day of the year, another testament to Toni's grit and determination underlying her beauty.
Natural light versus lit
Last month I had a couple of portrait assignments that contrasts how I work in different situations. In the first, the assignment was to photograph a long-haul trucker who was having trouble with his CDL license. Initially, I was told his truck would be at his residence. In fact, it was out at a yard that happened to be on federal property. For the moment, my lights are strictly AC powered although that is supposed to change soon. Instead, I had the blessing of a day with full sun, although clouds were slowly creeping in (at one point, we had to wait 45 minutes at a railroad crossing because his truck was just on the other side. Sometimes I really LOVE Houston...). I had him point his truck into the north so the grill would be in the shade. I then used a simple reflector to point the sun back into the shadow and photographed him with a 35mm/f1.4 lens. The next image was more controlled, but alas, the weather was crappy. I think it was Sam Abell who said bad weather makes good pictures. Because the sky was dark, it was a Saturday assignment and I had time and because I had a willing subject who was proud of his home, I was able to pull out some stops and practice my lighting. I lit the subject with a medium softbox from camera left and used a flood camera right to put a hard light on the side of his face and to also light up the house. Because I lit the scene, I was also able to create a more dramatic sky.
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A morning workout with MLB super-star Carl Crawford
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing newest Boston Red Sox player Carl Crawford as he did an off-season workout session in his hometown of Houston. It's amazing to see how hard this guy works out. I suppose I would too if someone were paying me $142 million dollars to play baseball. Nonetheless, I found him to be very humble and down-to-earth. He's a natural athlete and could have been a pro in a number of sports. You can check out the story here.[gallery orderby="rand"]
Making success its business
I covered a story last week for the Houston Chronicle about a neighborhood center that is doing great things for the neighborhood - helping people learn how to file taxes, open bank accounts, and learn basic entrepreneurial skills. I spent a short time with Candelaria Galindo, who teaches a piñata-making class to others at the center. The idea was to surround her by her students' work and put her in the middle. When everything was in place, I said "Sonrisa!" The image made the front page this morning.
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Jesse Dayton comes to Houston
Jesse Dayton is a honkytonk/rockabilly guitarist and singer from Beaumont who now lives in Austin. He's sold a bunch of records over the past few years doing soundtrack work for Rob Zombie films. But his new album finds him getting back to his honky tonk roots with a tribute album to Texas' great dance halls. I photographed Jesse at the La Carafe bar near Market Square in Houston. It was the middle of the day and the place was just about deserted. The very cool bartender, Gavin, let me utilize the place for an hour while I set up and made Jesse Dayton's portrait for the local 29.95 tabloid magazine.[gallery orderby="ID"]
New Arcade Fire tearsheets
On a random visit to the magazine store, I picked up a copy of the Nov. 28, 2010 edition of The Observer, a newspaper from the UK. I happened to find one of the photos I made of Arcade Fire on an inside page (the cover shot is a brilliant portrait made by Carl Lessard [fancy website - it will take some navigating to find his work, but it's well-worth the effort] originally shot for Vanity Fair). I was pumped. Then, I moseyed over to the music magazines and lo and behold, some other work of mine I did for the band is featured on the cover and also some inside shots for Billboard Magazine's Musician's Guide. Lastly, I received an honorable mention in PDN's Ultimate Music Moment contest. For those who don't know, PDN (Photo District News) is an industry magazine for photography.
Christmas came early this year, or Hannukah came late, whichever suits your needs :-)
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Dr. John Mendelsohn retires
I got the front page, above-the-fold photo in the Houston Chronicle this week with a portrait I made of the resigning president of MD Anderson Cancer Center Dr. John Mendelsohn.
Square photos
Lately, I've been bringing my Hasselblad along with me on assignment to try and make more personal and interesting images between the work I do for the newspaper. Using the Hasselblad is a completely different experience from using my digital cameras. It forces me to really concentrate on what I'm doing. Everything on the camera is heavy and manually adjusted. For work I make indoors, I almost always need a tripod. My goal is to eventually make a project out of portraits I create at the courthouse. It's one of those places in town that brings together a wide, diverse array of people under one roof.
Gregory E. Hall, contractor and coordinator for the rescue of 33 miners trapped in a mine in Copiapo, Chile.
I recently photographed Mr. Hall for Columbia Magazine, a publication published for members of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization. We met inside Mr. Hall's sparsely furnished office in a shopping center in Cypress, Texas, about 45 minutes outside of Houston. Not having many options as far as a storytelling environment, I decided to put the 6'8" Mr. Hall into a corner and blow out the background. He regaled us with off-the-record stories of backstage intrigue at the rescue site. It was his "Plan B" that proved successful in recovering the trapped miners. He says divine providence is what saved the men. I personally think it was because of Mr. Hall's ingenuity and vast experience that saved the 33 miners.
Shoes Shoes Shoes (and Boots)!
A small sample of work I completed for Gloss, a magazine-like broadsheet produced by the Houston Chronicle. Myself and the reporter spent three hours inside the huge closet of Joyce Echols. I don't know a whole lot about fashion but she had a lot of everything.
Jennifer Schuett at her home with drawing of man who abducted her in 1990 from her bedroom in Dickinson. He raped her and then slit her throat--so that doctors thought she would never talk again --then left her to bleed to death and die atop a fire aunt mount. She was not discoverd for 12 hours. She survived and learned to see her attacker, Dennis Bradford, arrested when his DNA from attacking a woman in Arkansas in 1996 was finally linked to DNA taken from her clothing years ago.
Recent work
Houston firefighters battle a blaze at a complex in the 1300 block of Gears, near the North Freeway and Beltway 8, where a fire was reported at about 2:30 p.m.
Maria Hernandez received her green card after being subject to physical abuse by her husband, who is in jail. She has 4 daughters, one of them has special needs due the domestic violence her mother endured.
Cressandra Thibodeaux of Aurora Picture Show
The 20th Annual Komen Houston Race for the Cure
The 2nd annual Pink & Blue Event: Al Amaanah Eid Celebration, is an Eid celebration for Iraqi, Palestinian and Afghani refugee children.
Medal of Honor vet laid to rest
At this point of my life and career, I've probably been to more funerals than most people attend in two lifetimes (probably the same with weddings). Last Saturday, I attended one more to add to my list. However, it was the first time I've attended the funeral of a Medal of Honor recipient. The following is my favorite photo from the day.
More photos can be viewed here.
Vote for me!
Gentle reader - At the risk of sounding obnoxious and self-serving, I'm asking for your help by voting for me in a photography contest. I've entered a few of the photos I made of Arcade Fire in the long shot that I might actually win. It wasn't cheap to enter - $35 an entry - so as you can see, I'm all in on this one. I have 13 images entered into the contest and you're allowed to vote for each one if you so please.
Fall 2010 Print Promotion is ready to start!
There's nothing like the smell of 815 promotional booklets in the morning! This weekend will be spent stuffing and stamping a 16-page CD booklet format that premieres work I did over the summer for indie band Arcade Fire.
It was designed by Greece-based designer Michael Karakostas and coordinated by photo consultant extraordinaire Jasmine DeFoore. It took about 10-12 weeks or so to complete from beginning to end. The printing was done by Jakprints and they did a phenomenal job.
It will be sent to 815 art buyers, ad agencies and photo editors across the nation.
What do you think?
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Pretty weather
A cool front finally came through Houston, bringing with it relief from months of humid, muggy weather. I spent some time yesterday at the Memorial Park driving range looking for a feature when I saw this golf lesson taking place.
Can you run on some news?
It's a question I get asked fairly often by the photo desk at the local paper. I get a strange mix of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I know if I want the most dramatic photos, I'll need to get there quickly and hit the ground running. Trepidation because I don't get phone calls because something really good has happened - it's usually a fire where someone might be trapped, a SWAT stand-off with a hostage involved, or like yesterday, when I got a call to head to east Harris county because a four-year old girl had been shot. I knew that it would be at least 45 minutes before I could be on the scene. It was late in the day and I wasn't sure what traffic would be like. When I relayed this to the editor, he said the incident had happened hours ago. I settled down a bit, knowing that all I'd probably get was a shot of some yellow police tape flapping in the wind with maybe a cop standing around in the background. I wouldn't call this breaking news. It was more like news that was already broken.
Nonetheless, I'm a firm believer that there is always something worth documenting. I got to the scene and sure enough, there was the yellow tape in front of the tired, weather-beated apartment complex. Harris county sheriff's deputies milled about and I could tell by the feel of the scene that things were going to be wrapped up soon. I was about to pack up and leave after I photographed a deputy taking down the police tape. When behind me, I heard a woman crying. I followed her to ask her what was wrong. The police were taking her husband down to the station (others were later charged) for questioning. He had been sitting in the back of the police car since I had been there, but she had thought they were going to let him go.
Recent work
Happy accident
Lately I've been doing quite a bit of shooting with my Yashica T4, a great point-and-shoot from the mid-1990's that has a very sharp Zeiss lens on it. Part of the fun is heading to Walgreen's or CVS to turn in a roll of film when I'm done. I love the anticipation and waiting and most of all getting prints(!) when I come in to pick up my order. My last visit, I had the roll scanned to a CD instead of getting prints, figuring I can order prints individually (all these prints can get expensive, yah know? and where do I store them all? it's bad enough trying to keep digital files organized, but I digress). Before I left, I looked at the photos on a reprint kiosk next to the counter. I noticed that just about all of the scans were off, showing some or most of the edge of the negative frame between shots. Looking through them, I was excited by the dialogue these happy accidents were creating. I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by photographer Keith Carter, who quoted poet William Stafford to "always be on guard against perfection." The image below is my favorite "mistake" from the roll.
Arcade Fire photo runs on Pitchfork Media website
Pitchfork Media uses a photo I made of the band in an abandoned drive-in theatre outside of Montreal. Check it out here.
I shot Arcade Fire, again: the Les Inrockuptibles cover
This is one of my favorite images I made of Arcade Fire. I'm very happy to see it on a cover. We photographed this in the woods near a resort town in the Quebec countryside. There was a lot of spontaneity on the shoot at this point. Win Butler jumped into the water on his own volition and this photo lined itself up soon after.
If anyone has a few extra copies of this magazine floating around and would like to send them to me in Houston, I'll make it worth your while - I'll send you a free 20" x 30" print of the band.