So the fine folk at Blueyes Magazine have published part two of my London calling post with Chris Floyd. As I am sure you know by the now the original piece is pretty epic and its reposting has brought it to the attention of a new audience.
In the follow up we discuss the aftermath from the initial posting on the Jackanory. Yeah Chris is good damn good. Anyone who can use 'A Quantum Solace' the title of the upcoming James Bond movie in a sentence referring to the editorial trenches is genius in my book. Read it here and see for yourself.
Cheers Chris man I am lucky to have you as a friend and inspirator.
Showing posts with label A coversation with. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A coversation with. Show all posts
Friday, May 16
Wednesday, February 27
The BP on the WTJ
So there we were minding our own business while stalking Massimo Vitali at Bonni Benrubi a few weeks back trying grab a snap of the Jackanory with the maestro himself when we had an incoming on the Blackberry. Hey what do you know its an email from 'The Bitter Photographer' yeah the 'BP', he's thinking its time for an interview and wants to know if the Jackanory would be interested.
The BP has always been a personal favorite of the Jackanory but he is not sure how to proceed, what's the BP's angle, what does the BP hope to gain by such an exchange, he has his own blog after all. The Jackanory doesn't know who the BP is, he swears and this interaction is to be conducted via email, anonymously of course.
Anyways the Jackanory thought it could be one of his mates winding him up, there is no email address on the BP site after all. Back comes an email "pick a number 1-10" okey dokey number 9 says the Jackanory like 'El Nino' himself Fernando Torres trying to be all smart and clever.
"Check out the BP blog" comes the reply - well there you have it the number 9 in all its glory up front and posted (it has since been removed). Man this is clandestine stuff, must of been how Hoffman and Redford felt when they were dealing with Deep Throat.
So okay the Jackanory is in, it is legit and if nothing the Jackanory will get a few extra hits. Man the Jackanory loves that traffic juice this could be something especially if we can pull it off in the third person.
the WTJ : BP why pick the Jackanory ?
the BP : The Jackanory is like the Al Jazeera of the photo blogosphere. The BP knew if he wrote a comment on WTJ he would write about it and everyone would see it.
the WTJ : Is the Jackanory that transparent ? They will all think that the Jackanory knows who you are for sure now. The Jackanory is taking a bit of heat at the moment, some say he is trying to be too cool for school and is wrapped up in his own self importance. What do you think ?
the BP : Yes the Jackanory is that transparent and that is why the BP picked him. From him it was a short trip to APE, A Visual Society and the piece de resistance: PDNpulse. That was the zenith for the BP and felt as good as any photograph the BP has ever taken. It was like a mix of JT Leroy, Howard Stern and Borat and when PDN seemed to get it all that made it all the better.
The PDN post that referenced the BP broke it down so correctly. It seems (especially in Nina Berman and Alec Soth posts) that alot of people didn't get what the BP was up to.
the WTJ: The Jackanory was hoping you would pick on him and that that would put him up there with all the greats, the Soth, the Conscientious Camera Club, the Chase Jarvis, the A Photo Editor, the Kwaku Alston ! Anyone else come to mind at the moment who deserves some of the special BP treatment ?
the BP : The Jackanory was next for sure. The BP was going to write a 100 page description of how the BP dropped a stick of gum on his way to a job and then chronicle all the things he had to do to track it down and he was going to market it to insomniacs.
As for Soth:
The BP thinks Alec got a little lost in all of the attention he was getting and when the BP called him on it he woke up and did not like what he saw. The BP thinks it is unfortunate he wasn't able to own up to it and keep blogging.
We all have egos and can get sucked in. Just look at all the photographs of WTJ on his blog.
the WTJ : The BP was certainly getting a groove on early with daily postings; were these all threads that had been grating on the BP for a while or was he swept up in the momentum generated by his sudden notoriety and the attention that went along with it ?
the BP : The BP thinks we all have a lot of the BP in us. Go to any city in the country and get 10 commercial guys together round and talk about photography and in an hour you will have a year’s worth of the BP's blog.
the WTJ : Is the BP worried that his identity will be revealed ?
the BP : The BP would like to come out but is afraid he will make enemies that he can ill afford to make. He also thinks it would make the BP far less interesting. The BP liked APE better when he was anonymous and employed. Didn't you?
the WTJ : The Jackanory likes the Conscientious Camera Club, he like some others the WTJ knows don't really care for the anonymous, doesn't bother the Jackanory too much even if its someone having a go at him, he is grateful that anyone even bothers to take the time.
the BP : It is easy to throw stones when you don't have to admit to have thrown them. But the alternative is either to remain silent or fawn like Alec's readership.
In art school it was ok to look in some one's eyes and tell them they weren't working hard enough or that their work was completely derivative and then go get drunk together. But as adults we have become so thinned skinned that all the feedback we give each other has to be followed by !!!!! or its perceived as a diss.
Though the BP still reads that comment about Joerg and fried chicken and laughs. The BP's girlfriend thinks he is juvenile.
the WTJ : So how does she really feel about your alter ego, the BP ?
the BP : Yeah-At one point she came to me and said, "You know, I liked the BP better when he first started out. Now he is just a moron. "
That was on day 5.
the WTJ : So why then did you create the BP and why did you go after the industry heavy weights?
the BP : The main reason the BP created the BP was as a reaction to all of the lying in our business. We are all so driven by fear and jealously that we have forgotten how to tell the truth. Especially here in NY we all spend so much more time managing how we are perceived than going about making pictures. The blogosphere was a way for us all to take this to another level. It was like crack to us liars.
The truth is the BP went after these guys because he was jealous of their success. The BP is a middling shooter and will never be as well known or talented as Soth, as smart as Joerg or as successful as Chase. There it is and it is not pretty.
The BP thinks that what we as freelance photographers do is incredibly hard. We are told "no" hundreds of times by editors, art buyers and agents but our job requires to get up and suit up and put on a smile. It would make any one bitter. There are/have been times when the BP has made more in three days of shooting than he made in his entire 20s and times when the phone did not ring for nine months. It is not easy and it is not for every one.
The BP probably knew 75 people in art school. Maybe 5 are working photographers. That was over 20 years ago and schools have been cranking out "photographers" since then. The BP was certainly not the most talented guy in class but maybe the most resilient.
the WTJ : Will the BP return to regular posting ?
the BP :
The BP has always been a personal favorite of the Jackanory but he is not sure how to proceed, what's the BP's angle, what does the BP hope to gain by such an exchange, he has his own blog after all. The Jackanory doesn't know who the BP is, he swears and this interaction is to be conducted via email, anonymously of course.
Anyways the Jackanory thought it could be one of his mates winding him up, there is no email address on the BP site after all. Back comes an email "pick a number 1-10" okey dokey number 9 says the Jackanory like 'El Nino' himself Fernando Torres trying to be all smart and clever.
"Check out the BP blog" comes the reply - well there you have it the number 9 in all its glory up front and posted (it has since been removed). Man this is clandestine stuff, must of been how Hoffman and Redford felt when they were dealing with Deep Throat.
So okay the Jackanory is in, it is legit and if nothing the Jackanory will get a few extra hits. Man the Jackanory loves that traffic juice this could be something especially if we can pull it off in the third person.
the WTJ : BP why pick the Jackanory ?
the BP : The Jackanory is like the Al Jazeera of the photo blogosphere. The BP knew if he wrote a comment on WTJ he would write about it and everyone would see it.
the WTJ : Is the Jackanory that transparent ? They will all think that the Jackanory knows who you are for sure now. The Jackanory is taking a bit of heat at the moment, some say he is trying to be too cool for school and is wrapped up in his own self importance. What do you think ?
the BP : Yes the Jackanory is that transparent and that is why the BP picked him. From him it was a short trip to APE, A Visual Society and the piece de resistance: PDNpulse. That was the zenith for the BP and felt as good as any photograph the BP has ever taken. It was like a mix of JT Leroy, Howard Stern and Borat and when PDN seemed to get it all that made it all the better.
The PDN post that referenced the BP broke it down so correctly. It seems (especially in Nina Berman and Alec Soth posts) that alot of people didn't get what the BP was up to.
the WTJ: The Jackanory was hoping you would pick on him and that that would put him up there with all the greats, the Soth, the Conscientious Camera Club, the Chase Jarvis, the A Photo Editor, the Kwaku Alston ! Anyone else come to mind at the moment who deserves some of the special BP treatment ?
the BP : The Jackanory was next for sure. The BP was going to write a 100 page description of how the BP dropped a stick of gum on his way to a job and then chronicle all the things he had to do to track it down and he was going to market it to insomniacs.
As for Soth:
The BP thinks Alec got a little lost in all of the attention he was getting and when the BP called him on it he woke up and did not like what he saw. The BP thinks it is unfortunate he wasn't able to own up to it and keep blogging.
We all have egos and can get sucked in. Just look at all the photographs of WTJ on his blog.
the WTJ : The BP was certainly getting a groove on early with daily postings; were these all threads that had been grating on the BP for a while or was he swept up in the momentum generated by his sudden notoriety and the attention that went along with it ?
the BP : The BP thinks we all have a lot of the BP in us. Go to any city in the country and get 10 commercial guys together round and talk about photography and in an hour you will have a year’s worth of the BP's blog.
the WTJ : Is the BP worried that his identity will be revealed ?
the BP : The BP would like to come out but is afraid he will make enemies that he can ill afford to make. He also thinks it would make the BP far less interesting. The BP liked APE better when he was anonymous and employed. Didn't you?
the WTJ : The Jackanory likes the Conscientious Camera Club, he like some others the WTJ knows don't really care for the anonymous, doesn't bother the Jackanory too much even if its someone having a go at him, he is grateful that anyone even bothers to take the time.
the BP : It is easy to throw stones when you don't have to admit to have thrown them. But the alternative is either to remain silent or fawn like Alec's readership.
In art school it was ok to look in some one's eyes and tell them they weren't working hard enough or that their work was completely derivative and then go get drunk together. But as adults we have become so thinned skinned that all the feedback we give each other has to be followed by !!!!! or its perceived as a diss.
Though the BP still reads that comment about Joerg and fried chicken and laughs. The BP's girlfriend thinks he is juvenile.
the WTJ : So how does she really feel about your alter ego, the BP ?
the BP : Yeah-At one point she came to me and said, "You know, I liked the BP better when he first started out. Now he is just a moron. "
That was on day 5.
the WTJ : So why then did you create the BP and why did you go after the industry heavy weights?
the BP : The main reason the BP created the BP was as a reaction to all of the lying in our business. We are all so driven by fear and jealously that we have forgotten how to tell the truth. Especially here in NY we all spend so much more time managing how we are perceived than going about making pictures. The blogosphere was a way for us all to take this to another level. It was like crack to us liars.
The truth is the BP went after these guys because he was jealous of their success. The BP is a middling shooter and will never be as well known or talented as Soth, as smart as Joerg or as successful as Chase. There it is and it is not pretty.
The BP thinks that what we as freelance photographers do is incredibly hard. We are told "no" hundreds of times by editors, art buyers and agents but our job requires to get up and suit up and put on a smile. It would make any one bitter. There are/have been times when the BP has made more in three days of shooting than he made in his entire 20s and times when the phone did not ring for nine months. It is not easy and it is not for every one.
The BP probably knew 75 people in art school. Maybe 5 are working photographers. That was over 20 years ago and schools have been cranking out "photographers" since then. The BP was certainly not the most talented guy in class but maybe the most resilient.
the WTJ : Will the BP return to regular posting ?
the BP :
Friday, January 18
London calling
Seeing as its all the rage here on the photo blogosphere to have a 'conversation' or a Q+A with our peers; I didn't want to be left out of the party so here's my first serious contribution to the genre ! A little back and forth with inspirator and friend Chris Floyd.
AH: Hey Chris I have been trying for sometime now to come up with a decent post on the state of British photography after your comment over on APE a couple of weeks back, here. I think a lot of us would be interested to hear your take on the U.K. scene; in particular the editorial market and how it differs from your experiences working this side.
CF: To be honest, it's in a dire way these days, editorially speaking. Well it is if you're talking about paid editorial. I am working quite a bit but the lack of vision and imagination is so depressing, especially having lived in NY for over half a decade. British editorial photography is really an exercise in page filling. What's important are the ad pages, as always.
AH: From my experiences things work a little differently over on your side of the Atlantic.
CF: Thinking about it now, the most immediate reason for this is the impotency of the British editorial photo editor. The title is there on the mastheads but, by and large, the photo ed here is really just a glorified researcher who calls in pictures of teenage celebrities drunk and showing their knickers for the pap pages. Maybe that's overstating it but, at the heart of it, no one higher up the editorial publishing tree is thinking "Ooh I wonder what our director of photography will make of the fabulous shoot we are trying to set up with Mr XYZ." The commissioning and editing of photography is not a consultative or well thought out process.
AH: I noticed that myself when I went on go sees in London a few years back. A different experience then what I am used to in New York. When ever I did meet with a photo editor I always got the impression that they didn't in fact have any power to hire, there was another commissioning force responsible. I went to GQ once thinking that I was meeting with the PE but they escorted me up to see Tony Chambers the Creative Director at the time.
CF: Your mention of GQ is the perfect example. It's so perfect, as an example, they should put it in a museum. It crystallizes everything I'm thinking about. Tony Chambers is the single most influential creative director I've ever met. His influence on me in terms of aesthetic, attention to detail, approach and overall philosophy is something I shall always be thankful for. However, Tony is unique. He's very well read and that's because he's innately curious. You should see the bookshelves in his apartment. He views all these things - art, design, music, photography, graphics, use of space, writing, ideas, fashion - as strands that all converge in a place called magazines. He sees his job as fighting for the consideration of the visual. He also has a fantastic sense of history and lineage. He knows and understands how things came to be the way they did. How this person influenced that person and on and on. He is the only creative director I've met who seems to actually read the stuff in the magazines he designs. And he influenced all the people around him in that way. As much as a hard taskmaster as he could be, you learned stuff from Tony that you would use time and time again. So when you have someone like him running the art department it works because he knows how to pull all the elements together. But he is gone from there now. Modern magazine publishers don't really know or understand what qualities a great art director needs. As long as the girl on the cover is showing plenty of flesh and has her tongue hanging out it doesn't really matter. So they appoint people who are perfectly competent....graphic designers. But they are not art directors as I would define them. Yet they are given business cards that say they are art directors or creative directors so they must be those things. What a great magazine needs to make it great is an editor in chief and a creative director that must pull and push their respective sides - words and visuals. However, the E-i-C's and the publishers are appointing people who don't have the desire to be in that role. They are picking people who like and want the job title and will do the bidding of the E-i-C. It's a separation of church & state situation that's required but it's not happening here. The editor's decision is first and last, as well as everything.
It's no surprise to me that Tony is now an editor in chief (at Wallpaper*). When he got the job lots of people were surprised because the notion that someone who comes from the visual side could, heavens above, edit a magazine was a bit of a shock to some.
He's an exception though. 90% of the rest of those in the creative director position are not well read or curious about what is going on outside of their own narrow field. They don't read the copy. They're just thinking about fonts. Come on, who gives a toss about fonts ? A font is where you christen your baby. Not where you lay out the altar of your life. I have a great story that illustrates this. A friend of mine who is the features editor at one of the best selling men's mag in the UK told me how the current creative director told him that the first letter of the first sentence of a feature they were running on a female celebrity had to begin with the letter'L' because he had designed the most wicked upper case 'L' ever. When my friend laughed him off the guy had a proper hissy fit and stormed off. I mean, this is the level of intellect we are dealing with here a lot of the time.
There is a good interview with Tony on magCulture here.
AH: How has your work flow changed since you moved back to old blighty ?
CF: When I lived in NYC all my work was enviroportraiture and reportage style portraiture. No celebs at all.
Now I'm back here the bulk of my work is celebrity stuff. I can't complain, the resale of it does me well. I have a daughter and a wife who wants another so I really am not bitching at all. When I lived in NY I did ok but I was doing work there that I LOVED. Buffalo farmers in N.Dakota. Military cadets at West Point. Illegal immigrants in Arizona. Really great stories of modern America. There is nothing of that here and that is because there is no money for this stuff. It's exactly how Simon Roberts put it in his talk at KlompChing. You've got to assign yourself and then treat it as an art project almost, with books and print sales foremost in your mind.
AH: I loved your comment on how the Russians could have taken Britain with a phone call. You obviously enjoyed the vast American experience; are you just as jazzed these days by a spin up the M1 or is a lot of what you do now in London ? Or do u get around a bit ? Europe for instance.
CF: No, not really. 95% of my work is in London. Britain is not like America. The UK media market is London, London, London. Trailing a distant fourth place is London. Although, today I'm writing this in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. This is my first trip outside of London for a job since last July. Oh wait, that's a lie. I was in Toulouse, France a week ago to shoot a portrait of the chief engineer at Airbus.
AH: Following our phone discussion it would be safe to say that the U.K. has a stronger newspaper culture and that the U.S. has a stronger magazine culture. I just finished Don McCullin's terrific autobiography 'Unreasonable Behaviour'. Reading it reminded me how the British print media has had a long tradition of ground breaking photo journalism.
I remember the epic newspaper strikes growing up and subsequent shuttering of the Times for a year over its move to new printing technologies. McCullin has a great line when he noticed the shifting tides in his own career with the changing visual needs of his employer, "lifestyles rather then life were coming into fashion". I couldn't think of a better sentence to describe what was happening at the time and how relevant these words are today. Not only a description of how photography was being repackaged for the masses but also the major socio and economic changes going on throughout the country.
CF: Yes. Bang on. Please don't bring us anything that might make the advertisers baulk. The commissioning of big stories is gone. If you are working for UK mags then no one is going to send you off somewhere for a month to work on the equivalent of the great American novel. The content is kind of irrelevant. It's not important, as long as the skin looks ok. I just did a job for someone. It was a big bunch of teenagers. Real kids. Not models. What do all teenagers have the world over ? Acne ! Guess what they wanted me to do ? Retouch out the acne and smooth the skin. This isn't reportage. It's advertising interspersed with infomercials. News International (Times/Sunday Times) has just dictated this new rule: All photos are to be digital. They will not pay for film and processing or prints. You can shoot on film but your final submission must be a digital file and they will pay a maximum of £150 towards the cost of your digital equipment.
The publishers of the Sunday supps - Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Observer have all taken the attitude that what they operate are platforms for advertising and new media. The content is relevant only up to a very low threshold. Ultimately people like us are merely content providers and there are millions of us.
I did a shoot for Sunday Times on the 3rd Jan. The wold champion female track cyclist. A Brit. Big hopes for the Olympics. Great ! A job immediately after the new year - it gets your confidence up and your new year is out the traps. I got £250 fee. One of my very first commissions ever was for The Sunday Times in 1993. My fee was £250. In 15 years they have held down their costs 100%. What an amazing achievement. The chief picture editor of the whole newspaper - a man I've never even heard of or met - so the boss over and above the PE's in all the sections/magazines - was so impressed with my picture that he got his p.a. to call me and "ask" me if it was alright if they could hold on to the pictures for a little bit longer as they were so good he felt that they were very syndicatable. How long for? Not long, just a while, well until after the Olympics. Is there going to be a split in it for me? We'd give you 10%. The institutional disrespect for photographers and photography cannot be over emphasised.
AH: Same as here, there has been little change in rates since I started. Have you noticed a difference in your clients usage demands too ?
CF: So they not only are paying me the same rate as they were 15 years ago. They are then demanding to take away the thing that would financially render the gig worthwhile - the right to re-sell the work elsewhere. I could barely conceal my rage at this Murdochian crushing of the little freelancer and finished by suggesting that I was being financially penalised for producing work of a sufficient quality to be noticed by the guy at the top of the photo food chain in Murdoch Towers, E1. Then I tag teamed Getty into it and he relented. However, I still need to be able to work for them so I had to give him a way out of his position by allowing News International the right to re-use the pictures in any of their own publications for 6 months for free.
I've spun away from the state of British photography here into the state of the British photography industry but there you are.
AH: No worries man, you are obviously passionate about your art, you have referred to yourself as a journeyman. I liked that, care to elaborate ?
CF: Sure. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that you can send me anywhere and I will bring you something that is a) compelling and b) will tell you something vital about the subject. I can find something to be curious about in pretty much anyone. It's like that line "How can you justify your fees ?" It only took you 20 minutes to do it!" - "Yes it did but it took me 20 years to learn how to do it in 20 minutes."
I also have a fundamental mistrust, suspicion, dislike of and animosity towards anyone who defines themselves as an artist without very good reason. It is too easy now to say "I AM AN ARTIST." All the greatest people were, to a large extent, artisans. If someone were to call me an artisan that is what I would be most proud of. If you called me an artist I would have to leave. The job Michelangelo did on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a commission. A gig. Shakespeare was really just a guy with a quill trying to make some dough. The Mona Lisa -La Giaconda- was a commission. How possible can it be to create something so beautiful and for it purely to be inspired by something so common as a pay check ? One of my great heroes is George Orwell. Some of his greatest writing was commissioned journalism. When you try to exist in your own self defined vacuum you are entering dangerous waters. There has been this great shift towards "art" photography, particularly in New York. Some of it is good and some of it is terrible. Most of it.....what is the point ? What does it say outside of the fact that Kathy Ryan thinks it's awesome ? Gregory Crewdson ? Is it good ? I don't know. What I do know is that it is a fantastic exercise in production. What is he doing for us that Edward Hopper or Stephen Spielberg haven't done ? That's all it is to me. Edward Hopper's tableaux married to Spielberg's lighting and production values. And...?
There can be, not always - some of my best friends are artists- this weird attitude of condescension towards those of an artisinal bent from those who define themselves as artists. When I lived in New York I was commissioned by the Guardian in London to spend 2 or 3 days with this band, the Arctic Monkeys. At the same time Rolling Stone had sent along a very well known and young American photographer who takes a lot of pictures of his friends cavorting naked and jumping off of idyllic rural bridges into far below rivers on cross country summer road trips.
We got to chatting while the band were sound checking and I asked him how he came to be there. He said that he just did whatever he felt like doing and this was a band he was really into and he called up Rolling Stone and told them so. So they got him the access and hey ho... Then I asked him who else he worked for, bearing in mind I totally knew who he was, he got a little superior on me and said "well I don't really accept commissions..that's not my thing. I just tend to create my own projects. I'm self assigning."
The fact is I think his pictures really are fantastic but what I baulked at was this idea that an idea is only valid if it is self generated. A commission was like a dirty word. But what that statement also said to me was that this was someone who had never had to earn a living from his work. He was privileged. There is nothing wrong with privilege. My daughter gets what she wants all the time but if you are privileged you need to show respect towards those that need to earn a living from their trade. In France, to become an artisan is a process that takes time and ends in an official recognition and status. To call oneself an artisinal baker, for instance, means that one has been through a period of learning. There is a respect there.
AH: It would appear difficult or almost impossible then for fine art to cross over into editorial as it has done here. There simply isn't the market ? Or does it all stop @ Martin Parr ?
CF: There isn't that level of ambition. I'm convinced Martin Parr has some form of Asperger's syndrome. Can I say that ? Is that actionable ? I've met him half a dozen times. He doesn't know who I am. His eyes glaze over when he's not talking about himself.
AH: You have said Britain doesn't have a magazine culture although style bibles like Arena, I-D, Dazed and Confused and the now defunct Blitz and the Face were considered the cutting edge. Did the average man in the high street give a shit or he more inclinded towards a bit of tit and ass and a healthy dose of Maxim ?
CF: I think that, historically, those mags (Face, Arena, Blitz, i-D, Dazed) will come to be seen as an anomaly. All those people that started those mags, and were on the outside of the establishment and vocally proud of it, are now very much a part of the establishment and they are certainly not letting anyone else in. What they did do was pave the way for popular culture to be taken seriously by broadsheet newspapers. All the broadsheets now have pop music columnists and reviewers, fashion coverage etc. Ironically, considering this discussion, not one of them has a proper, serious full time photography reviewer. And that is probably the single most defining aspect of what we are talking about when it comes to British photography and the public attitude towards it. Photography ? Paparazzi or weddings?
AH: So tell me this then why then are there so many British fashion photographers at the top ? Must be the accent right ? Goes down a treat over here.
CF: Hmmm...there is a very strong art school tradition in Britain. Some of our greatest bands came out of art school. The Beatles, The Who, Roxy Music to name 3. There is a great unofficially vertically integrated fashion scene at work in this country. Music, clubs, fashion, design. Out of that mind meld come incredibly hipped up people with cameras. However, a lot of those mags that were great in the 80's and early 90's started to eat themselves. Instead of generating great ideas at street level they started to get above themselves and they became trade mags. Fashion mags by fashion people for fashion people. They froze out the 16 year old kid in Leeds with 8 quid in his/her pocket and instead said "oh wow we have great shots by Craig (McDean) of Kate (Moss) wearing Stella (McCartney) that were styled by Katie (England) which will help all of us get a great new campaign from Karl (Lagerfeld)". The minute they started using first names only was the minute they entered Marie Antoinette territory. And at that point they all moved to New York anyway for the massive cash bonuses on offer. That's what you have now. The generation that made it big in the 90's are now shooting all the big stories and campaigns for the international fashion brands - mags and labels. I'm not sure what there is here now in the way of mags to help breed a new crop though? No one is going to make it big in Japan by shooting for British InStyle are they.
AH: Can you tell me a little about the effect the photo blogs have had on you ?
CF: Oh man ! They have opened my eyes to the fact that I....am....not.....alone. What we do, us photographers, is so solitary. To be able to engage with other people at an intelligent level of discussion is just awesome. Part of me feels like Tom Hanks. I've been sitting here growing a beard and talking to a fedex box for 15 years and now there are people that I can engage with who live time zones away.
AH: You obviously enjoy the new found interaction. This was evident when you were lamped on a little for that infamous early comment of yours over on APE, here . You know the one where you wrote talked about how fabulous your life is. The chatter with Olivier Laude and then his anonymous alter ego was great.
CF: Ha ha. Indeedy deedy !! That little contretemps was in answer to APE's post about how being a photographer can be one of the greatest jobs in the world if the chips fall in your favor. What I was saying was how right he was. However, the chips don't fall in your favor all the time. The day before that posting of APE's (can we call him Rob now?) I had just won the highest paying job of my life. Enough money to pay the mortgage and keep the wolf from the door for several months. It was a big publicity shoot with Gwyneth Paltrow for Paramount Pictures. On top of that I had several other tasty things in the pipeline. That was in October I think. From January to March of last year I just about kept my head above the parapet so this was a complete turnaround. This is a career with unutterably high highs and intolerably low lows. I said it myself in one of the back and forths with Olivier. "Sometimes weeks go by where the best part of the day is the bit where you get to go to bed intoxicated and numb with self loathing." I've been doing this for 15 years as a professional. So having had the strength of character and conviction to see out those periods which are regular visitors to my door, without bitching, then you've got to allow me the honour of feeling a little pleased with myself when the tide turns in my favor considerably from time to time. The insecurity and worry never goes away. No matter how pleased one feels at any given moment I am smart enough to know that the weather can change like that. You see, the thing about what we do that our friends with safe, secure 9 to 5's will never quite grasp is that, although, to them, our lives look sweet and easy going, we get no sick pay, no holiday pay, no guaranteed income or pay cheque and most importantly, no one to talk to or share problems with in the office or the pub after work. Those fears are always there. In the evenings, before bed, at weekends, on holiday, on Christmas Day, while you're having sex, in the shower, at dinner, in a cab, while I'm cuddling my daughter, in the garden, on and on and on and on. We do this alone, as I said just now, talking to a fedex box for company. And going back to the APE posting, if you read all the comments from people, you'll see that the vast majority responded in my defence and I felt vindicated there. Those that know what it's like...they know. The buzz from this job can be incredible but can you take the solitude and doubt ? We lay it all out there and have to survive on each and every roll of the dice. What is a photo editor after all ? A professional opinion holder, although Rob is one of the good ones it seems.
AH: Do you run into many of your peers, gallery openings etc ?
CF: What gallery openings ? That just does not exist here at any level of significance.
AH: Lets get away from all the rambling, time to answer some of the more obvious questions.
Photographers you admire ?
CF: Martin Parr & Gregory Crewdson. Seriously. For the soup they make from their base stock.
From the then: Stephen Shore, Joel Meyorowitz, Joel Sternfeld. All the bona fide canon fodder. Chris von Waggenheim, David Bailey for making me want to be a photog in the first place, Avedon, Penn, William Klein, Eggleston (duh!), Slim Aarons, Harry Callahan, Bob Richardson
From the now: Martin Schoeller, Glen Luchford, Mario Sorrenti, Simon Roberts, Larry Sultan, Chris Buck, James Nachtwey......
AH: Any pre-shoot rituals ?
CF: Coffee. No food at all. Good music.
AH: Most annoying celebrity subject ?
CF: John Mayer - by a country mile.
AH: Least annoying Most awesome celebrity subject ?
CF: Lots actually but probably Christopher Reeve for incredible warmth, humor, optimism, enthusiasm, curiosity and attention to detail in the face of the most permanent and debilitating adversity.
AH: If you weren't a photographer what would u like to be ?
CF: A good father.
AH: Any other silly/clever questions u can think of ? Don't worry I will take the credit.
CF: "Can I go now ? It's 1am here."
AH: Chris it's been a real treat, I really appreciate you taking the time and making the effort. You know this has been really great for me, a meaningful creative way for us to collaborate other then doing a Mert and Marcus or an Inez and Vinoodh. Thanks man.
AH: Hey Chris I have been trying for sometime now to come up with a decent post on the state of British photography after your comment over on APE a couple of weeks back, here. I think a lot of us would be interested to hear your take on the U.K. scene; in particular the editorial market and how it differs from your experiences working this side.
CF: To be honest, it's in a dire way these days, editorially speaking. Well it is if you're talking about paid editorial. I am working quite a bit but the lack of vision and imagination is so depressing, especially having lived in NY for over half a decade. British editorial photography is really an exercise in page filling. What's important are the ad pages, as always.
AH: From my experiences things work a little differently over on your side of the Atlantic.
CF: Thinking about it now, the most immediate reason for this is the impotency of the British editorial photo editor. The title is there on the mastheads but, by and large, the photo ed here is really just a glorified researcher who calls in pictures of teenage celebrities drunk and showing their knickers for the pap pages. Maybe that's overstating it but, at the heart of it, no one higher up the editorial publishing tree is thinking "Ooh I wonder what our director of photography will make of the fabulous shoot we are trying to set up with Mr XYZ." The commissioning and editing of photography is not a consultative or well thought out process.
AH: I noticed that myself when I went on go sees in London a few years back. A different experience then what I am used to in New York. When ever I did meet with a photo editor I always got the impression that they didn't in fact have any power to hire, there was another commissioning force responsible. I went to GQ once thinking that I was meeting with the PE but they escorted me up to see Tony Chambers the Creative Director at the time.
CF: Your mention of GQ is the perfect example. It's so perfect, as an example, they should put it in a museum. It crystallizes everything I'm thinking about. Tony Chambers is the single most influential creative director I've ever met. His influence on me in terms of aesthetic, attention to detail, approach and overall philosophy is something I shall always be thankful for. However, Tony is unique. He's very well read and that's because he's innately curious. You should see the bookshelves in his apartment. He views all these things - art, design, music, photography, graphics, use of space, writing, ideas, fashion - as strands that all converge in a place called magazines. He sees his job as fighting for the consideration of the visual. He also has a fantastic sense of history and lineage. He knows and understands how things came to be the way they did. How this person influenced that person and on and on. He is the only creative director I've met who seems to actually read the stuff in the magazines he designs. And he influenced all the people around him in that way. As much as a hard taskmaster as he could be, you learned stuff from Tony that you would use time and time again. So when you have someone like him running the art department it works because he knows how to pull all the elements together. But he is gone from there now. Modern magazine publishers don't really know or understand what qualities a great art director needs. As long as the girl on the cover is showing plenty of flesh and has her tongue hanging out it doesn't really matter. So they appoint people who are perfectly competent....graphic designers. But they are not art directors as I would define them. Yet they are given business cards that say they are art directors or creative directors so they must be those things. What a great magazine needs to make it great is an editor in chief and a creative director that must pull and push their respective sides - words and visuals. However, the E-i-C's and the publishers are appointing people who don't have the desire to be in that role. They are picking people who like and want the job title and will do the bidding of the E-i-C. It's a separation of church & state situation that's required but it's not happening here. The editor's decision is first and last, as well as everything.
It's no surprise to me that Tony is now an editor in chief (at Wallpaper*). When he got the job lots of people were surprised because the notion that someone who comes from the visual side could, heavens above, edit a magazine was a bit of a shock to some.
He's an exception though. 90% of the rest of those in the creative director position are not well read or curious about what is going on outside of their own narrow field. They don't read the copy. They're just thinking about fonts. Come on, who gives a toss about fonts ? A font is where you christen your baby. Not where you lay out the altar of your life. I have a great story that illustrates this. A friend of mine who is the features editor at one of the best selling men's mag in the UK told me how the current creative director told him that the first letter of the first sentence of a feature they were running on a female celebrity had to begin with the letter'L' because he had designed the most wicked upper case 'L' ever. When my friend laughed him off the guy had a proper hissy fit and stormed off. I mean, this is the level of intellect we are dealing with here a lot of the time.
There is a good interview with Tony on magCulture here.
AH: How has your work flow changed since you moved back to old blighty ?
CF: When I lived in NYC all my work was enviroportraiture and reportage style portraiture. No celebs at all.
Now I'm back here the bulk of my work is celebrity stuff. I can't complain, the resale of it does me well. I have a daughter and a wife who wants another so I really am not bitching at all. When I lived in NY I did ok but I was doing work there that I LOVED. Buffalo farmers in N.Dakota. Military cadets at West Point. Illegal immigrants in Arizona. Really great stories of modern America. There is nothing of that here and that is because there is no money for this stuff. It's exactly how Simon Roberts put it in his talk at KlompChing. You've got to assign yourself and then treat it as an art project almost, with books and print sales foremost in your mind.
AH: I loved your comment on how the Russians could have taken Britain with a phone call. You obviously enjoyed the vast American experience; are you just as jazzed these days by a spin up the M1 or is a lot of what you do now in London ? Or do u get around a bit ? Europe for instance.
CF: No, not really. 95% of my work is in London. Britain is not like America. The UK media market is London, London, London. Trailing a distant fourth place is London. Although, today I'm writing this in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. This is my first trip outside of London for a job since last July. Oh wait, that's a lie. I was in Toulouse, France a week ago to shoot a portrait of the chief engineer at Airbus.
AH: Following our phone discussion it would be safe to say that the U.K. has a stronger newspaper culture and that the U.S. has a stronger magazine culture. I just finished Don McCullin's terrific autobiography 'Unreasonable Behaviour'. Reading it reminded me how the British print media has had a long tradition of ground breaking photo journalism.
I remember the epic newspaper strikes growing up and subsequent shuttering of the Times for a year over its move to new printing technologies. McCullin has a great line when he noticed the shifting tides in his own career with the changing visual needs of his employer, "lifestyles rather then life were coming into fashion". I couldn't think of a better sentence to describe what was happening at the time and how relevant these words are today. Not only a description of how photography was being repackaged for the masses but also the major socio and economic changes going on throughout the country.
CF: Yes. Bang on. Please don't bring us anything that might make the advertisers baulk. The commissioning of big stories is gone. If you are working for UK mags then no one is going to send you off somewhere for a month to work on the equivalent of the great American novel. The content is kind of irrelevant. It's not important, as long as the skin looks ok. I just did a job for someone. It was a big bunch of teenagers. Real kids. Not models. What do all teenagers have the world over ? Acne ! Guess what they wanted me to do ? Retouch out the acne and smooth the skin. This isn't reportage. It's advertising interspersed with infomercials. News International (Times/Sunday Times) has just dictated this new rule: All photos are to be digital. They will not pay for film and processing or prints. You can shoot on film but your final submission must be a digital file and they will pay a maximum of £150 towards the cost of your digital equipment.
The publishers of the Sunday supps - Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Observer have all taken the attitude that what they operate are platforms for advertising and new media. The content is relevant only up to a very low threshold. Ultimately people like us are merely content providers and there are millions of us.
I did a shoot for Sunday Times on the 3rd Jan. The wold champion female track cyclist. A Brit. Big hopes for the Olympics. Great ! A job immediately after the new year - it gets your confidence up and your new year is out the traps. I got £250 fee. One of my very first commissions ever was for The Sunday Times in 1993. My fee was £250. In 15 years they have held down their costs 100%. What an amazing achievement. The chief picture editor of the whole newspaper - a man I've never even heard of or met - so the boss over and above the PE's in all the sections/magazines - was so impressed with my picture that he got his p.a. to call me and "ask" me if it was alright if they could hold on to the pictures for a little bit longer as they were so good he felt that they were very syndicatable. How long for? Not long, just a while, well until after the Olympics. Is there going to be a split in it for me? We'd give you 10%. The institutional disrespect for photographers and photography cannot be over emphasised.
AH: Same as here, there has been little change in rates since I started. Have you noticed a difference in your clients usage demands too ?
CF: So they not only are paying me the same rate as they were 15 years ago. They are then demanding to take away the thing that would financially render the gig worthwhile - the right to re-sell the work elsewhere. I could barely conceal my rage at this Murdochian crushing of the little freelancer and finished by suggesting that I was being financially penalised for producing work of a sufficient quality to be noticed by the guy at the top of the photo food chain in Murdoch Towers, E1. Then I tag teamed Getty into it and he relented. However, I still need to be able to work for them so I had to give him a way out of his position by allowing News International the right to re-use the pictures in any of their own publications for 6 months for free.
I've spun away from the state of British photography here into the state of the British photography industry but there you are.
AH: No worries man, you are obviously passionate about your art, you have referred to yourself as a journeyman. I liked that, care to elaborate ?
CF: Sure. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that you can send me anywhere and I will bring you something that is a) compelling and b) will tell you something vital about the subject. I can find something to be curious about in pretty much anyone. It's like that line "How can you justify your fees ?" It only took you 20 minutes to do it!" - "Yes it did but it took me 20 years to learn how to do it in 20 minutes."
I also have a fundamental mistrust, suspicion, dislike of and animosity towards anyone who defines themselves as an artist without very good reason. It is too easy now to say "I AM AN ARTIST." All the greatest people were, to a large extent, artisans. If someone were to call me an artisan that is what I would be most proud of. If you called me an artist I would have to leave. The job Michelangelo did on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a commission. A gig. Shakespeare was really just a guy with a quill trying to make some dough. The Mona Lisa -La Giaconda- was a commission. How possible can it be to create something so beautiful and for it purely to be inspired by something so common as a pay check ? One of my great heroes is George Orwell. Some of his greatest writing was commissioned journalism. When you try to exist in your own self defined vacuum you are entering dangerous waters. There has been this great shift towards "art" photography, particularly in New York. Some of it is good and some of it is terrible. Most of it.....what is the point ? What does it say outside of the fact that Kathy Ryan thinks it's awesome ? Gregory Crewdson ? Is it good ? I don't know. What I do know is that it is a fantastic exercise in production. What is he doing for us that Edward Hopper or Stephen Spielberg haven't done ? That's all it is to me. Edward Hopper's tableaux married to Spielberg's lighting and production values. And...?
There can be, not always - some of my best friends are artists- this weird attitude of condescension towards those of an artisinal bent from those who define themselves as artists. When I lived in New York I was commissioned by the Guardian in London to spend 2 or 3 days with this band, the Arctic Monkeys. At the same time Rolling Stone had sent along a very well known and young American photographer who takes a lot of pictures of his friends cavorting naked and jumping off of idyllic rural bridges into far below rivers on cross country summer road trips.
We got to chatting while the band were sound checking and I asked him how he came to be there. He said that he just did whatever he felt like doing and this was a band he was really into and he called up Rolling Stone and told them so. So they got him the access and hey ho... Then I asked him who else he worked for, bearing in mind I totally knew who he was, he got a little superior on me and said "well I don't really accept commissions..that's not my thing. I just tend to create my own projects. I'm self assigning."
The fact is I think his pictures really are fantastic but what I baulked at was this idea that an idea is only valid if it is self generated. A commission was like a dirty word. But what that statement also said to me was that this was someone who had never had to earn a living from his work. He was privileged. There is nothing wrong with privilege. My daughter gets what she wants all the time but if you are privileged you need to show respect towards those that need to earn a living from their trade. In France, to become an artisan is a process that takes time and ends in an official recognition and status. To call oneself an artisinal baker, for instance, means that one has been through a period of learning. There is a respect there.
AH: It would appear difficult or almost impossible then for fine art to cross over into editorial as it has done here. There simply isn't the market ? Or does it all stop @ Martin Parr ?
CF: There isn't that level of ambition. I'm convinced Martin Parr has some form of Asperger's syndrome. Can I say that ? Is that actionable ? I've met him half a dozen times. He doesn't know who I am. His eyes glaze over when he's not talking about himself.
AH: You have said Britain doesn't have a magazine culture although style bibles like Arena, I-D, Dazed and Confused and the now defunct Blitz and the Face were considered the cutting edge. Did the average man in the high street give a shit or he more inclinded towards a bit of tit and ass and a healthy dose of Maxim ?
CF: I think that, historically, those mags (Face, Arena, Blitz, i-D, Dazed) will come to be seen as an anomaly. All those people that started those mags, and were on the outside of the establishment and vocally proud of it, are now very much a part of the establishment and they are certainly not letting anyone else in. What they did do was pave the way for popular culture to be taken seriously by broadsheet newspapers. All the broadsheets now have pop music columnists and reviewers, fashion coverage etc. Ironically, considering this discussion, not one of them has a proper, serious full time photography reviewer. And that is probably the single most defining aspect of what we are talking about when it comes to British photography and the public attitude towards it. Photography ? Paparazzi or weddings?
AH: So tell me this then why then are there so many British fashion photographers at the top ? Must be the accent right ? Goes down a treat over here.
CF: Hmmm...there is a very strong art school tradition in Britain. Some of our greatest bands came out of art school. The Beatles, The Who, Roxy Music to name 3. There is a great unofficially vertically integrated fashion scene at work in this country. Music, clubs, fashion, design. Out of that mind meld come incredibly hipped up people with cameras. However, a lot of those mags that were great in the 80's and early 90's started to eat themselves. Instead of generating great ideas at street level they started to get above themselves and they became trade mags. Fashion mags by fashion people for fashion people. They froze out the 16 year old kid in Leeds with 8 quid in his/her pocket and instead said "oh wow we have great shots by Craig (McDean) of Kate (Moss) wearing Stella (McCartney) that were styled by Katie (England) which will help all of us get a great new campaign from Karl (Lagerfeld)". The minute they started using first names only was the minute they entered Marie Antoinette territory. And at that point they all moved to New York anyway for the massive cash bonuses on offer. That's what you have now. The generation that made it big in the 90's are now shooting all the big stories and campaigns for the international fashion brands - mags and labels. I'm not sure what there is here now in the way of mags to help breed a new crop though? No one is going to make it big in Japan by shooting for British InStyle are they.
AH: Can you tell me a little about the effect the photo blogs have had on you ?
CF: Oh man ! They have opened my eyes to the fact that I....am....not.....alone. What we do, us photographers, is so solitary. To be able to engage with other people at an intelligent level of discussion is just awesome. Part of me feels like Tom Hanks. I've been sitting here growing a beard and talking to a fedex box for 15 years and now there are people that I can engage with who live time zones away.
AH: You obviously enjoy the new found interaction. This was evident when you were lamped on a little for that infamous early comment of yours over on APE, here . You know the one where you wrote talked about how fabulous your life is. The chatter with Olivier Laude and then his anonymous alter ego was great.
CF: Ha ha. Indeedy deedy !! That little contretemps was in answer to APE's post about how being a photographer can be one of the greatest jobs in the world if the chips fall in your favor. What I was saying was how right he was. However, the chips don't fall in your favor all the time. The day before that posting of APE's (can we call him Rob now?) I had just won the highest paying job of my life. Enough money to pay the mortgage and keep the wolf from the door for several months. It was a big publicity shoot with Gwyneth Paltrow for Paramount Pictures. On top of that I had several other tasty things in the pipeline. That was in October I think. From January to March of last year I just about kept my head above the parapet so this was a complete turnaround. This is a career with unutterably high highs and intolerably low lows. I said it myself in one of the back and forths with Olivier. "Sometimes weeks go by where the best part of the day is the bit where you get to go to bed intoxicated and numb with self loathing." I've been doing this for 15 years as a professional. So having had the strength of character and conviction to see out those periods which are regular visitors to my door, without bitching, then you've got to allow me the honour of feeling a little pleased with myself when the tide turns in my favor considerably from time to time. The insecurity and worry never goes away. No matter how pleased one feels at any given moment I am smart enough to know that the weather can change like that. You see, the thing about what we do that our friends with safe, secure 9 to 5's will never quite grasp is that, although, to them, our lives look sweet and easy going, we get no sick pay, no holiday pay, no guaranteed income or pay cheque and most importantly, no one to talk to or share problems with in the office or the pub after work. Those fears are always there. In the evenings, before bed, at weekends, on holiday, on Christmas Day, while you're having sex, in the shower, at dinner, in a cab, while I'm cuddling my daughter, in the garden, on and on and on and on. We do this alone, as I said just now, talking to a fedex box for company. And going back to the APE posting, if you read all the comments from people, you'll see that the vast majority responded in my defence and I felt vindicated there. Those that know what it's like...they know. The buzz from this job can be incredible but can you take the solitude and doubt ? We lay it all out there and have to survive on each and every roll of the dice. What is a photo editor after all ? A professional opinion holder, although Rob is one of the good ones it seems.
AH: Do you run into many of your peers, gallery openings etc ?
CF: What gallery openings ? That just does not exist here at any level of significance.
AH: Lets get away from all the rambling, time to answer some of the more obvious questions.
Photographers you admire ?
CF: Martin Parr & Gregory Crewdson. Seriously. For the soup they make from their base stock.
From the then: Stephen Shore, Joel Meyorowitz, Joel Sternfeld. All the bona fide canon fodder. Chris von Waggenheim, David Bailey for making me want to be a photog in the first place, Avedon, Penn, William Klein, Eggleston (duh!), Slim Aarons, Harry Callahan, Bob Richardson
From the now: Martin Schoeller, Glen Luchford, Mario Sorrenti, Simon Roberts, Larry Sultan, Chris Buck, James Nachtwey......
AH: Any pre-shoot rituals ?
CF: Coffee. No food at all. Good music.
AH: Most annoying celebrity subject ?
CF: John Mayer - by a country mile.
AH: Least annoying Most awesome celebrity subject ?
CF: Lots actually but probably Christopher Reeve for incredible warmth, humor, optimism, enthusiasm, curiosity and attention to detail in the face of the most permanent and debilitating adversity.
AH: If you weren't a photographer what would u like to be ?
CF: A good father.
AH: Any other silly/clever questions u can think of ? Don't worry I will take the credit.
CF: "Can I go now ? It's 1am here."
AH: Chris it's been a real treat, I really appreciate you taking the time and making the effort. You know this has been really great for me, a meaningful creative way for us to collaborate other then doing a Mert and Marcus or an Inez and Vinoodh. Thanks man.
Wednesday, October 24
Things to do tonight . . . . Dumbo
Photograph © Simon RobertsTonight sees the launch of new Dumbo gallery Klompching with its inaugural opening of 'Motherland' a visual exploration of contemporary Russia by British photographer Simon Roberts. Roberts spent a year traveling through the country covering over 75,000 kilometers and in doing so has created one of the most comprehensive photographic accounts of this vast country by a Westerner. The resulting book published by Chris Boot is a real gem and a must have in any collection.
The gallery is owned and run by husband and wife team Debra Klomp and Darren Ching, he being the creative director of PDN and number one Birmingham City fan. They will feature the work of emerging talent alongside under recognized work by established photographers. In addition to exhibitions the gallery will have a full schedule of events including gallery talks, presentations, book launches and signings, check out their news page here for all the goings on.
Roberts will host a walk through the exhibition on November 1st where he will be in conversation with Darius Himes, editor of Photo-Eye, space is limited and will be restricted to the first 25 people to arrive, so start lining up now.
Heres to you KlompChing we wish you every success.
Tuesday, September 25
Things to do tonight . . . . Los Angeles
If you are in Los Angeles tonight and have a hankering to know once and for all 'Does Size Matter ?' then get yourself along to LACMA where there will be light-hearted debate on this most serious of questions; artist Jason Fulford and LACMA's new Curator of Photography Charlotte Cotton explore the issues of increasing size and seductive production values in contemporary photography today as part of LACMA's Conversations With Artists series.The conversation kicks off at 7.00pm and its totally free and no reservations are required, very accommodating. Books (courtesy of D.A.P.) and refreshments will be served after the event until 9.00pm.
Jason is not only one of my favorite photographers but he is also the J behind J & L Books. Unfortunately I will have to miss this weekends New York Art Book Fair where J & L will be holding court amongst some of the other 120 exhibitors as I am back out on duty in the editorial trenches.
Wednesday, April 4
Dinner date . . . . Mike Fabus
Mike Fabus on the way to the Jungfrau May 2006, Photo © AHDinner date: April 2, 2007
Where: City Grill, Pittsburgh, Pa
Mike: Roasted vegetable ravioli with marinara sauce, salad with Italian dressing, Sam Adams draft
Mrs Mike: Chicken caesar salad, Stella Artois draft
Me: Roasted vegetable ravioli with marinara sauce and a sausage on the side, salad with italian dressing, Stella draft and a diet coke
David (my assistant): Linguine with spicy tomato basil sauce & extra hot sauce, salad with Italian dressing on the side, Hoegarden bottle
Who is Mike Fabus and how did our paths cross ?
Mike is the official photographer for The Pittsburgh Steelers Football Team. He does it all, player portraits, team shot's, live action, fan foto's, web imagery, you name it. You can buy his pics too, they stick them on all the merchandise, mugs, t-shirts, mouse pads etc etc. He has been with the Steelers organization for 27 years and has seen it all, victory, defeat, film, digital, you name it ! He has left more on the field than most (all) players, he is passionate about his work and he is a real class act.
Last year I was sent by ESPN The Magazine to do a piece on Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers Super Bowl winning Quarterback) as he made a trip to Switzerland, his ancestral home. There was a motley crew there to follow his every move, a few random journos, ESPN writer Dave, Pete (Steelers videographer) and Mike Fabus. It was Ben's first trip outside the USA and he had his family in tow too (father, step-mother, sister). The trip was arranged by Swiss Roots, and they did a bang up job.
I followed the group in a day later, so they had had a little extra getting to know each other time. Unfortunately for Mike and Pete their luggage did not make the trip across the Atlantic, so they were a little more concerned with personal hygiene and comfort than bear hugging the new addition into the fold. Their bags never made it but were waiting in Pittsburgh upon their return.
As is the case on a job with this it takes a little time for everyone to gel, it's like the 1st day of school everyone checking the other out and trying to find their niche in the cliques. Its not often I am on a junket like this. Working alone or with an assistant is the norm not travelling en masse, it was like being with a tour group as we were bussed around from location to location, sight to sight. The cool crew sitting down the back. Ben and family were spared the daily fight for choice bus seating and had to endure a chauffeur driven BMW instead.
It was a fab trip, lots of great food, fancy hotels, stunning scenery. Highlight's included a trip to the BWW Sauber Formula 1 facility, an afternoon of football, watching Berne's Young Boy's playing @ home (yes that is the name of the team and the chant's of "we love the young boy's" echoed throughout the stadium from time to time) and a trip up the Jungfrau, the top of Europe. The only major downer was the dodgy weather (pretty much sucked the whole trip). We had zero visibility on the Jungfrau (didn't do much for the picture taking), 11,333 feet high and can't seen nothing, complete whiteout, but u can feel the altitude yet have no sense of height, distance or the precarious drops meter's away, trippy.
I have to say Ben wasn't exactly the most cooperative subject, he didn't make my life easy at all and while I tried not to piss him off he did let me know on the one occasion that I had managed to schedule a little one on one time that he "wasn't in the mood ! and that I had better make it quick ! " Wouldn't mind that Dave and I stood in the rain for a half hour getting set up so we would cause him the least inconvenience.
I enjoyed my time with Mike, Pete and Dave immensely. It was great to be able to share the experience with such a fun bunch.
It was shortly after this that Ben was involved in that almost fatal motorcycle crash. The ESPN piece went in another direction, the trip became a sidebar. My pictures took a bit of a back seat, which was fine in the end (a little sunshine would have helped).
Anyways I am in Pittsburgh for a few days (assignment for ESPN photographing the very uncooperative Penguin's) and took the opportunity to catch up with Mike. It was really fun to share war stories and relive our shared glories. So much in common but yet world's apart. It is always fascinating to hear about someone else's adventures from another part of the foto galaxy. I am glad that our path's got the chance to collide.
Here's to you Mike Fabus !
p.s. Mike say's Ben was asking for me when he mentioned our dinner date to him, not so sure about that one but if you say so Mike !
Monday, March 12
Lunch break with "The Sartorialist"
Photo © The SartorialistThe date: March 9
The place: Petite Abeille, West 17th street, Ny Ny
The Sartorialist: Salad Nicoise, sparkling water & a cappuccino
Me: Prosciutto mozzarella panini, lrg ice latte decaf X 2
Check: The Sartorialist (I should have had the steak frites, just joking Scott but thank you)
I had my lunch break with Scott "The Sartorialist" Schuman the other day. Scott is a man of many hats, part photographer, part writer, part voyeur.
He has combined his background in fashion, his interest in photography and his eagle eye for sartorial style into a mighty blog. For the past year or so he has taken to the streets (New York, Paris, Milan, London) shooting the fashionably dressed, but he doesn't focus on up to the minute wacky trends, he is after a certain elegance and a unique sense of style. He posts his findings and commentary daily to an ever increasing worldwide audience.
The blog has become a monster ! Scott now gets 1,000,000 visits a month, yeah that's right one million and growing now that's something (on a big day I get about 20 on my main site). His content is all original and it has become a fashion insiders staple. He has created a unique niche for himself that is fresh and approachable having broad appeal both with the cognoscenti and the regular joe with the passion for fashion. Although his eye does wander from time to time and his blog is always full of surprising images as he often deviates from his regular beat.
Scott was just back from Europe where he has been covering the show season for Style.com in his own inimitable way, a one man style patrol mixing it up with the fashion heavyweights. He also has a monthly page in GQ and Cookie for which he does all his own shooting and writing. On the horizon is an exhibit of his work @ uber chic boutique Colette in Paris (Tiny Vices recently had a show there). Scott has also been chosen by Time magazine as one of their top 100 style insiders for an upcoming Style & Design issue. His final standing amongst the 100 has yet to be revealed.
My own part in this is that Mrs T-H and I gave Scott a point and shoot on the birth of his 1st daughter Isabel 8 years ago, along with the Arthur Elgort book "Camera Ready: How to Shoot Your Kids". Little did we know.
Here's to you Sartorialist !
Monday, March 5
What are the chances ?
Jon shooting me shooting Jon, Shibuya crossing, Tokyo Feb 2007 Photo © AH
You know its a small world when you are wandering the streets of Tokyo and bump into an old friend who happens to be doing the same thing you are. It was the last day of a quick 5 day stay for me and I was on my way back to the hotel when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a friendly face amongst the hordes of pedestrians in Shibuya, Jon Naiman. I hadnt seen him in ages, turns out he now lives in Zurich. We used to work together assisting Platon and would then bump in to each other out and about or from time to time @ Printspace.
Jon was in full shoot mode as I was, although I was feeling very inadequate, grappling with my light and nimble 5d while Jon had his big guns out, RZ67, full camera bag and some crazy portable strobe (he rented in japan) with a 1200 watt second pack that weighed a ton. I have to admit I was jealous of his lower back pain, I had the Hasselblad in my backpack but didnt use it all trip. I have been trying to get used to the Canon, to prepare myself for the day when clients request the digital, but I am struggling with the format and found it hard to get my groove on during my visit.
We caught up over a bowl of tasty ramen. It was great to see Jon again and I was especially reinvigorated by seeing him weighed down by all the extra baggage. It is all worth it, a valuable lesson learnt.
Heres to you Jon Naiman !
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