A Fist Full of Film

This is the Rebellion against overproduced images often in the digital world. These are images made from my film cameras. Each image I shot myself. The subjects are often friends, and acquaintances in their world.

Nice Guy from a Disney Baby shoot So as you Angelenos know, sunset here is spectacular, and since Hollywood is on a grid, the sun does set on the west facing side of Sunset, Santa Monica, Wilshire, Melrose, and here at Siren Studios, on Hollywood Blvd.  It was our last studio day at Siren, and Brian and I had been using the sunset the entire shoot since we had been planning with Ram to use a certain part of the studio at a certain part of the day. I used this same backlight with “Lauren”(Nobody puts baby in a Corner) and also “Small Moons.”  But as with most Photo Assistants, myself included, Brian is also a photographer.  So the pressure amongst peers to have them photographed is pretty high, and ontop of all that, to do it on a 53 year old camera, and shoot just one frame, is just adds to the tension, combine it all with ISO 80 Film, and you’ve got your work cut out for you.   So here we are with Babies all day long.  Not leggy, Brazilian types with exotic accents, but real babies, the mewling and puking kind that Bill Shakespeare would reference.  And our job is to make the light fantastic.  We are working for a photographer who is good with clients, and very good to us, and so the vibes on set are wonderful.  You add the fact that it is Disney, and that the Babies in their innocence bring it back to what is important.  Real life is on parade, and I know it translates well in the finished product.  Its also a four day job, and that gives ample time to get to know and respect one another especially going 12 hours a day in close quarters. All three days at the studio, I had been talking to Brian, “Brian, I’m going to take your portrait on my old camera.”  He was like:  ”Cool, just say when.”  I had already done the window thing twice, and shooting with the translucent windows was too easy.  So I knew I needed the light at ISO 80, and I wanted something epic but still exposure friendly.  If you look at the studios, there is a rooftop and I decided utilizing the bounce from the opposing side, that is where I was going to shoot him.  I take my good lightmeter reading the day before, and look at my watch.  6:52. So after we wrap the set on the following day, Brian and I head to the rooftop.  It usually starts the same, people look into my camera, and smile, and then I say one thing,  ”How do you want to be remembered?”  You can imagine the surprise when mild mannered nice guy Brian takes off his shirt and reveals all these tats, and his simple confident smile, goes into a stare that could not only break icicles off the roof, but still have enough strength to poke Ralphy in the Eye. “Dope…why have you been holding out?” I ask. “Ya know…Disney,” was his response.   “Well Played sir.” The time is now 6:30, and the sun is higher, and has more ambient strength, I make calculations, use my not so accurate lightmeter, and then fire. Well Played Indeed. Hollywood, CA Rolleiflex 2.8E  Schnieder-Krueznach 80mm Agfa Retro 80

Nice Guy from a Disney Baby shoot

So as you Angelenos know, sunset here is spectacular, and since Hollywood is on a grid, the sun does set on the west facing side of Sunset, Santa Monica, Wilshire, Melrose, and here at Siren Studios, on Hollywood Blvd.  It was our last studio day at Siren, and Brian and I had been using the sunset the entire shoot since we had been planning with Ram to use a certain part of the studio at a certain part of the day.

I used this same backlight with “Lauren”(Nobody puts baby in a Corner) and also “Small Moons.”  But as with most Photo Assistants, myself included, Brian is also a photographer.  So the pressure amongst peers to have them photographed is pretty high, and ontop of all that, to do it on a 53 year old camera, and shoot just one frame, is just adds to the tension, combine it all with ISO 80 Film, and you’ve got your work cut out for you.  

So here we are with Babies all day long.  Not leggy, Brazilian types with exotic accents, but real babies, the mewling and puking kind that Bill Shakespeare would reference.  And our job is to make the light fantastic.  We are working for a photographer who is good with clients, and very good to us, and so the vibes on set are wonderful.  You add the fact that it is Disney, and that the Babies in their innocence bring it back to what is important.  Real life is on parade, and I know it translates well in the finished product.  Its also a four day job, and that gives ample time to get to know and respect one another especially going 12 hours a day in close quarters.

All three days at the studio, I had been talking to Brian, “Brian, I’m going to take your portrait on my old camera.”  He was like:  ”Cool, just say when.”  I had already done the window thing twice, and shooting with the translucent windows was too easy.  So I knew I needed the light at ISO 80, and I wanted something epic but still exposure friendly.  If you look at the studios, there is a rooftop and I decided utilizing the bounce from the opposing side, that is where I was going to shoot him.  I take my good lightmeter reading the day before, and look at my watch.  6:52.

So after we wrap the set on the following day, Brian and I head to the rooftop.  It usually starts the same, people look into my camera, and smile, and then I say one thing,  ”How do you want to be remembered?”  You can imagine the surprise when mild mannered nice guy Brian takes off his shirt and reveals all these tats, and his simple confident smile, goes into a stare that could not only break icicles off the roof, but still have enough strength to poke Ralphy in the Eye.

“Dope…why have you been holding out?” I ask.

“Ya know…Disney,” was his response.  

“Well Played sir.”

The time is now 6:30, and the sun is higher, and has more ambient strength, I make calculations, use my not so accurate lightmeter, and then fire.

Well Played Indeed.

Hollywood, CA

Rolleiflex 2.8E  Schnieder-Krueznach 80mm Agfa Retro 80

5 months ago