Friday foto

Photo © AH

Friday foto

Photo © AH

Window washers, Guangzhou, China.

Friday foto

Photo © AH

Friday foto

Photo © AH

It hot here in Gotham we could do with some refreshing rain to cool us all off.

Friday foto

Photo © AH

Symmetry.

Friday foto

I am in Carmel Indiana today just north of Indianapolis and am travelling the next few days, all on assignment. Shooting film so no laptop with me to really keep connected to the blogosphere, relying on hotel business centers to stay abreast. It has been amazing to see how much interest the earlier post relating to fine art photographers and editorial work and my own experiences as an editorial photographer has been getting. I haven't had the time to take in every ones comments and to explore related posts elsewhere, but am very much looking forward to reading further. Although I did very much enjoy hearing what Drinking With The Deadman had to say here (made me laugh, John has a wicked sense of humor) and the new and very much improved Magnum blog where Alec Soth provides further insight and also shares with us his thoughts on a picture he shot as part of an assignment for Entertainment Weekly here.

Photo © AH

To all of you who entered the Desktop competition, thank you, the winner(s) will be announced when I get back to NYC. I really apppreciate everyone taking the time and making the effort. Have a jolly good weekend.

Desktop entrant # 9

The latest entry if form Armando Bellmas you can check his work out here and his blog out here.

"Attached is a photo of my nutty kids up to their usual hijinks while we were on vacation in May. Sophie on the left, Nick on the right. They were left in my care while my wife and my mother-in-law went shopping. The kids and I ended up doing shots of syrup for a little while, making loud noises, and laughing laughing laughing. Good times with Daddy.

I had this one up for a while as my desktop to remember the good times. I had to go back to the blue Mac background because I kept getting distracted by my two good-looking kids."

Here's to you Armando Bellmas and family !

Desktop entrant # 8

The 8th entry is from Davis Archibald. Thats him in the middle, girlfriend on the left, dog on the right, all sporting their headphones. Turns out this is going to be their Christmas card. Sorry to ruin the surprise.

Here's to you Davis Archibald, your girlfriend and the the dog !

Desktop entrant # 7

This one comes courtesy of Roy Grisewood my uncle in law. Roy is multi-talented, an artist, teacher, photographer amongst many other things. He also has a taste for the good things in life, fine Irish whiskey. He has been documenting his sprawling Dansville New York estate for some time. Check out L'Hermitage in all its seasonal glories here.

Here's to you Lord Grisewood !

Desktop entrant # 6

The latest entry comes from Jeremy Lange in Durham North Carolina taken at The Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens New York. Looks like a nice fresh wintery day to be horse racing.

Here's to you Jeremy Lange ! and thanks for your kind words.

I am going to keep this running till the end of the week so please keep the entries coming, I really appreciate everyone making the effort, the prize(s) will be well worth it.

Desktop entrant # 5

Our fifth entry comes courtesy of the Drinking Deadman himself, John Loomis. Taken on 'The London Eye' during a recent vacation. Go here to see more of his pics from the UK.

Here's to you John Loomis ! and I will take you up on dining advice next time I hit North Carolina.

Desktop entrant # 4

The latest submission comes courtesy of fellow Reduxer and blogger Greg Ruffing.

"Industry in my home city (Cleveland, Ohio). I guess its just part of my blood. In high school I started going to this spot that overlooks this sprawling mass of steel mills, etc. Its a pretty desolate stoop at the end of a dead end street. this is just one of the dozens of photographs I have made in that are since."

Thanks Greg, here's to you !

Desktop entrant # 3

This one comes courtesy of Cameron Wittig who I featured in some of my very 1st posts here and here. Cameron says "I shot this last November in Paris with a Yashica T4 from the hill at Sacre Coeur. It's really not a photo of anything specific which is what makes it a good background picture."

Here's to you Cameron !

On a personal note I am very familiar with this part of Paris. I spent a couple of months early in my assisting career living in the neighbourhood below the famed basilica, Pigalle, home of The Moulin Rouge and the infamous touristic red-light district. I have mixed memories of this time spent working there, some good some bad.

Also great to see Cameron still using his T4. For those of you who don't know it was probably the greatest point and shoot film camera ever made. The fixed 35mm, f3.5 Carl Zeiss lens was a winner providing unrivalled sharpness and clarity. It had a durable light weight (6 ounces) weather proofed body body. In case you were wondering it was/is Terry Richardsons camera of choice. It was discontinued a few years back with the demise of Yashica. I do know some people who bought up the remnants and have them sitting @ home all brand new and boxed up. My own one crapped up a few years back and my wife was using the zoom version for some time until the switch to digital. The zoom is still being manufactured by Kyocera and is an excellent camera, featuring a 28-70mm, f4.5-8 Carl Zeiss lens. Oh and heres an old T4 blog I just stumbled on here.

Desktop entrant # 2

© Yves Klein / Photographer: Harry Shunk

The second desktop submission comes courtesy of photographer and blogger Shane Lavalette. I have been enjoying Shanes blog for sometime its well worth the look see if you are not already a subscriber.

Shane says "my desktop background changes pretty regularly but is most often just plain old 18% gray. I know - photo nerd. Today, the image that happens to be on my desktop is Yves Klein's Saut le vide [Leap into the Void], 1960"

This happens to tie in nicely to a post on Shanes blog fresh today go here to read more about the artist.

Heres to you Shane Lavalette !

Desktop entrant # 1

Photo © Nathan Shanahan

Our first entry comes from Nathan Shanahan an Aussie based in Tokyo. Just arrived in my inbox so he is up late must be about 3.30am local time Saturday morning.

He says that he "seems to always have a portrait on his desktop and more often than not its something to do with someone snapping a picture. In my current version Shuhei, a production assistant with my agency is making the most of the sun setting behind the Tokyo Tower."

Good on ya mate ! Thanks for your submission, so far you are in the lead and deserve a prize purely on distance alone.

Friday Foto . . . . Desktop edition

Photo © AH

Whats on your computer desktop ? A personal top shot, the cat, the kids, your mates, a tasty sunset or have you picked a shot that provides clarity and enables you to see your folders clearly ? Do you change it often to suit your mood ? My one (above) has been on the screen for over a month taken with a Canon G7 at the furniture fair here in NY. My desktop is a mess, loaded with stuff so this shot just mirrors the chaos.

Some photographers even allow you to download desktop wallpapers directly from their sites. Inspirator Phillip Toledano has some choice offerings here.

Photo © Phillip Toledano

If any one could be arsed to send me theirs, I would be only too delighted to play host on the blog and showcase the results. To spice things up I am willing to put up a prize for the most interesting submission. I will have a distinguished panel, the Mrs, judge the entrant(s) or perhaps my reader(s) would be willing to chime in and pick a fav.

Friday Foto

Photo © AH

Camel crossing, Qatar

That was the week that was . . . . Last week

Whatever happened to the Friday Foto you may ask. It was a busy week of work and travel and not much time left over for tending to the blog. It ended up going something like this.

Tuesday drove up to Boston from NYC for a Wednesday shoot. Its so much easier to drive, the plane ends up being the same or longer. Its for a new client, Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine. I won't go into details but Portfolio is a relative newcomer in the business magazine arena, kind of Vanity Fair meets Fortune, they even sent a location scout to peruse the office space I would be shooting in advance and I had a stylist and groomer on the day which is not the norm for this type of shoot. Managed a quick trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston after my own scout. Had a short 30 minutes to explore the space and see the Philip Lorca diCorcia show before closing time. The museum itself is stunning and I thoroughly enjoyed the show, I had seen the 'Heads' before when the debuted in New York but it was the early work that really stood out for me. Although some of the prints could have done with a bit of spotting.

Wednesday, my birthday, started with an early enough call time but I had my eye on the clock as we had a 6pm flight from Boston to New Orleans via Philadelphia we needed to make for Thursdays gig for a different client. It can be unnerving mixing jobs for different magazines on consecutive days allowing for a little travel in between. The Portfolio gig went well, I got into my groove quickly and the subjects were game ball for anything. Its always difficult first time out with a new client, there are certain expectations on both ends, this is not the time to be trying anything new but to stick to your game that's why you are there.

Air travel is certainly challenging at the moment. As a regular flier one feels that the whole system is teetering on the brink and when things start to go wrong they suddenly escalate to complete meltdown. Its going to be a long summer as the vacationing masses and the latest security threats add to the already over burdened skies. The week before I waited 3 hours on the runway @ JFK, nothing unusual ? But we had just landed and the airport was in chaos following some earlier weather. There were 80 planes waiting to take off, the taxi ways were chock a block with arrivals and departures no way of getting to our gate.

In Boston we managed to get on an earlier flight, which in due course was delayed but still left enough time for the connection in Philly, more than was originally allowed. I do not like flying US Airways (never found them to be very reliable not that the others are much better) but there were not many options in getting to New Orleans from Boston, there was no direct flight. The New York area airports were enjoying their own delays due to weather so it was a relief to land in Philly in reasonable time. But one look out the window was a view in to our future. There must have have been 40+ planes waiting to take off and we could not pull up to our gate as it was already occupied although there were plenty of empty unmanned gates available, frustrating, another 30 minute wait.

We finally made it off to discover that indeed our flight to New Orleans was of course delayed. Time to explore dinner options, bleak and a chance to regroup. Boarding time was now scheduled for 8.50pm which seemed reasonable and we would make an the extra hour with the time change, chance of a night cap at the hotel ? Well there was of course no chance, 8.50pm was now 10.50pm and to add to the delay the crew for our flight were still on another plane stuck on a taxi way trying to get to their gate.

We finally boarded and settled in. As luck would have it the plane did not appear to be full for a change ! One really appreciates those increasingly rare flights when you have not one but two empty seats next to you. Where is everyone going all the time ? Well we couldn't leave the gate just yet as though we now had a crew, we didn't have any ice or refreshments and the plane could not take off until we were serviced. One look out the window gives further cause for concern, mounds of bags just sitting there out in the open ! Baggage handlers wandered around aimlessly seemingly nonchalant to their fate. Hope the gear makes it, fuck ! Next up, time for our own weather as the storm clouds start to gather, lightning and heavy rain, the ramp is closed, bags are getting soaked and we are not going anywhere. At least we have drinks and a nutty air hostess who seemed to be losing her fragile mind as she ranted on about how bad US Airways is and how much the Philly airport sucked. Our Captain announced that we indeed were the fortunate ones as that it was now time for some of the planes that had been waiting to take off since 5pm to return to the gates as they would not make their final destination as a result diminishing fuel tanks and that crews were over their regulated work hours. Hooray for us !

When the storm rolls through we finally take to the tarmac but its another wait before we take off. Thankfully we are heading south as the storm moves east and we get shuffled to the front of the line as anyone heading the other way is left sitting. Its after midnight and we have a 6.45am call time.

3.00am touchdown New Orleans, managed to get some sleep in, this is the time one feels that if the plane is going to crash that you don't really care as you are so tired. Not feeling too bad when we land, so glad the flight wasn't full. And the bags made it I couldn't believe it and they were dry. This is my first time staying in downtown New Orleans unfortunately there will be no night cap, not this morning.

Thursday 6.00am rolls around quick. This time its ESPN the magazine following around the New Orleans Hornets Chief Communications Officer on NBA draft day. A combo 'day in the life' style reportage gig with some set up portraits. Most of the day we are office bound with little action but we get in a decent lunch and spend draft night @ an extravaganza they have organized in their own arena next door to the imposing Superdome. The team is back in New Orleans following a two year hiatus in Oklahoma City as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Its tough to tell if the franchise has a big future in the city after everything its been through and attendance @ the event was low even given the free entertainment, $1 beers and concessions and the 13th pick.

We got done around 9pm but found it difficult to find a cab, they weren't exactly lining up outside, perhaps another sign of the Hornets future. We ended up walking a few blocks before being successful, the driver thought we were golfers with all the gear and was only too happy to tell us about his exploits the night before with some Chinese women. I did get to walk down Bourbon Street though and have a pint but one couldn't help but feel the city was pretty quiet, particularly for a Thursday night.

Friday morning 9.50am flight to Newark. It is jam packed but minimal delays. Only been gone for four days but it feels like a lifetime as it always does especially with the variety of people and locals one can come across in a finite time. Driving through Soho and along a pock marked Houston street the line of people queuing up to snag an iphone from the Mac store on Prince snaked around and down and around again. Good to be back and at the same time looking forward to hitting the road again.

Friday foto

photo © AH

Friday foto

Photo © AH

It has come to my attention that a couple of people actually look forward to my friday foto and were a little miffed that I didn't get my own up today. This ones for my friend Roy who has his own little bump in the road recently, don't let yourself go man !