Tell us a story . . . . Jackanory

I am heading out of town today for a little work trip, starting off in Florida and then on to the Dominican Republic so I won't be posting this week. So instead I thought I would share a story from my last outing to the Caribbean a few years back. Its quite the epic so for those of you who think I ramble on a bit I have broken the tale down to ease its digestion.


Introduction

It's February 2005 and I am having a hectic week with a two day gig in Miami on the Monday / Tuesday, back to New York for a shoot in the city on the Wednesday / Thursday and then top it off with a trip to Jamaica for the weekend. It helps to know that along the way my ATM card gets swallowed by a machine and although I manage to get a temporary replacement it no longer has its debit/credit powers (remember this for later).

This is my second trip to Jamaica. The first one was back in my assisting days and I have to admit I have mixed memories of that trip, some good, some bad, but it was certainly a challenging work environment. But no worries I am bringing an open mind this time and hey at least I am working for myself, living the dream, who would have thought on my previous misadventure that I would someday return under my own steam.

The gig is for one of the business magazines and turns out its a pretty interesting assignment, right up my alley; I am to photograph a photographer photographing. The premise is that I will follow a fellow photographer as he shoots a small independently owned resort for their advertising and publicity campaign. My bit was part of a larger expose that went behind the scenes and examined the visual tricks, illusions and half truths that go into making resorts as inviting and photogenically alluring as possible to would be vacationers. Of course none of the big hotel or resort chains were interested in us recording their process, no surprise there.

On my previous excursion to the island we had some local production that had helped expedite our passage through Jamaican Customs, so this time around I thought I should be prepared, minimize the risks, be all official and get a Carnet. Nice one, all my experience coming in handy, oh yeah.

Chapter 1

Friday morning arrives, its been a hectic week so I have to say I am looking forward to having a weekend by the sea. Off out to JFK then, straight to Customs to validate the paperwork, no problemo there, all the numbers match up and the US official is courteous yet sarcastic as they usually are, how come one can't always help but feel they are always trying to catch you out in a friendly but subtly devious manner, must be the training. Then upstairs to check in for the Lovebird itself courtesy Air Jamaica. We are on a direct flight to Montego Bay scheduled for an 9.00am departure, then we are to hop a ride to our final destination Negril, should be sipping a cold Red Stripe on the beach by happy hour, nice one.

Smooth sailing so far, through security and all set to board. Its busy enough because its the Presidents Day holiday weekend so lots of families looking forward to some sun on their winter break. Full house then no chance of an empty seat along side to stretch out in. Mmmmmmmmmm departure time is getting close and yet no announcement to board. Well what do you know there is a technical problem with the plane, a one hour delay, then a two hour delay, then a three hour delay and fuck hang on more delay. The already impatient crowd starts to get edgy when it is finally announced that they are waiting for a replacement part to come from Jamaica and that they will be do the right thing by us in the interim and are putting us up in an airport hotel as the departure has now been rescheduled to 8.00pm. Yes would all 300 passengers kindly line up in front of the podium in a calm and orderly manner as all the correct vouchers are processed and handed out. Of course the desk is besieged and bedlam ensues, oh and because its a holiday weekend this is our only option to get to where we are going so don't even think about looking for another flight or another airline. No worries though its at times like this that you are grateful you are not flying with small children. I didn't fancy trucking over to a hotel so my assistant BM and I hang on till the throngs have dispersed and request a pass to the first class lounge, its been a long week and we really don't fancy hoppin a bus, so after some negotiating our request is granted.

BM and I had been working together all week. For the record it helps to know that we are old friends too. The other gigs that week had their fair share of minor dramas so we were both looking forward to putting them behind us on this one.

So we settle in and make use of the fine facilities, feeling very much like the first class travellers we are not, it will be the back of the bus for us on this trip. The flight had been rescheduled for 8.00pm but all of a sudden there is an announcement in the lounge over the P.A. looks like the part has shown up quicker then anticipated and a 6.00pm wheels up time is now a go, so would we please get our act together and run along to the gate.

Brilliant, only problem most of the passengers are at the hotel, a bus ride away and as you can imagine it takes a while to wrangle them back to the terminal. Oh and what do you know as a further bonus they had to remove our plane from the gate as it is now required by another aircraft. Turns out it is now parked out on the tarmac and we will be bussed to it. Ok but they could only manage one bus for 300 passengers. Comedy of fuckin errors the whole process ends up taking two hours so what do you know its 8.00pm anyways but woo woo we are out of here. A direct flight to Montego Bay and as some passengers were scheduled to catch connections to Kingston earlier in the day that were now long gone the plane would then continue on with them aboard. Everyone happy and relieved.

All strapped in exhausted, its sleepy time. I manage to pass out for the duration of the flight only to awake as we begin our descent. Hang on a sec, they have one of those live in flight maps up on the screen; we are crossing the Jamaican coast only we are heading straight for Kingston, what the fuck ? The pilots going to make a sharp right turn any second, right ? Couldn't fly through Cuban airspace, me thinks. Well no ! Turns out in my slumber that I had missed an important announcement pertaining to a small change in our itinerary ! Now we would be going to Kingston first and then onto Montego Bay, oh and while we are there we will do Immigration in Kingston and Customs in Montego Bay, big bummer.

So we have to get off the plane to pass through Immigration, no problems there but now there is also an aircraft change as our crew have fortuitously surpassed their mandated allowable work time and what do you know the new crew haven't yet arrived. Scheduled departure now 1.00am, fuck, everyone is tired and cranky to say the least. Finally we are all aboard for the 30 minute puddle jump, Montego Bay here we come.

Chapter 2

We are exhausted. Wouldn't you know it our bags are last off the belt, but at least they made it. That's the thing isn't it as long as they make it everything will be okay. I have been very fortunate over the years and have never experienced baggage or equipment loss. Yes plenty of delays but miraculously everything has always shown up; all present, correct and accounted for. I dont have much stuff, 1 Tenba shoulder bag and a couple of Tenba cases that's it nothing over the top and anyways I have the Carnet so I am golden.

So up we pull to the Customs officer I whip out the Carnet and am prepared for the inevitable grilling. But fuck me things gets nasty quick, my honesty is not paying off. The female officer proceeds to tell me that Jamaica does not recognise Carnets and as I didn't have a valid work visa or a local representative to meet me she was confiscating all my gear and my film and impounding it. Fuck what do you do, try and slip her a $ 100.00 ? I was tired the airport was empty, we are the last two, only a couple of officials hanging around, obviously pissed because they are here long past their scheduled work day as a result of our delay. There is no one of higher authority present so I am instructed to come back in the morning at 8am with a customs broker and everything will sort itself out, right ?

Luckily I have a couple of luggage locks handy and secure the bags as best I could before they leave my sight. What the fuck ? We walk out the terminal and there is our driver who has been waiting for us all day to take us to Negril which is a 90 minute drive away. I don't fancy going all the way out there now only to try and get back in five hours time so we manage to find a hotel locally 1 room, 1 queen bed. Its Friday night and its all that was left but I got to pay the driver anyways for his trouble; the full amount for our originally scheduled ride, $ 110.00, ah well at least the the magazine is paying. Budgets long shot already !

To say we are tired is an understatement. But that's a good thing seeing as BM and I are sharing a bed oh and does BM fuckin snore or what ! We wake up bright and early and get a call from the owner of the resort we were heading to, he has heard all the news via the van driver and has placed some calls to higher powers and gives me a brokers number to ring. I call the broker, fuck he has just left the airport and is heading to Kingston and anyways its Saturday morning legislative offices are closed, oh and how much is the value of my gear $ 20,000.00 wow that could potentially cost me $ 5,000.00 in duties nothing he could do for me, but he gives me the name and number of the official on duty at the airport and suggests I call her immediately. Turns out she cannot help me over the phone but suggests its best I get back down the airport and argue my case face to face.

Alright so this is when it is a good time to have an agent. I get on the blower with Marcel Saba and seek his worldly advice. We decide that the worse case scenario being that I cannot retrieve the gear I should be professional and get the job done no matter. And what would any photographer worth his salt do ? Yeah you guessed right ! Buy a camera and do the job on that, cool but in the meantime I am shitting myself that if I cannot get the gear it may mysteriously disappear from its holding pen, yeah like the local police would really be interested in investigating such a misappropriation on such hallowed ground. (Oh and by the way all these phone calls end up costing a small fortune, when the credit card bill eventually rolls in).

So back at the airport I am now running low on cash funds and wouldn't you know it my fuckin temporary card wont work at the airport ATM, ah well I am still liquid, should manage for the moment. Turns out to gain access to customs one has to pay a small $ 20 admission fee. I manage to get in and talk to the head honcho, she is having none of it, basically telling me that I have no work visa etc etc and that as it is a Saturday all offices of authority are closed and there is nothing that can be done till Monday, my day of departure. What a fuckin nightmare !

I had arranged for our driver to come back and meet us which he did. So there we are its Saturday around noon and off we go downtown Montego Bay in search of a camera and some film. Its slim pickings, a ton of second hand stuff but I settle on a brand new Olympus Stylus, fixed lens, twice the price it retails in New York. Oh yes Sir we only take cash by the way. I had one of these years ago and while no T4 it was pretty sharp and reliable, if T-Bone can do it why not I. Oh and some grey market Kodak Gold 100 completes the kit.

And off we go to Negril. I remember clearly stopping for a sandwich and a couple of beers for nourishment fuck we deserved it. Another $ 110.00 for the driver but at least we got to where we needed safely. Everyone drives like a lunatic so this is a bonus, things are looking up.

Chapter 3

24 hours late we finally get to Negril where we are greeted by the other crew, the one we are shooting. The photographer is super cool and after exchanging war stories lends me one of his 35mm Nikon SLR'S after all I will be shooting him shooting, so you know increase his chances of looking half way cool. He had similar difficulties coming through Customs it transpires but he said he was here to photograph his best friends wedding and not coming for real work he got through scot free. See I was honest had the paper work and got fucked, lesson learnt.

He's been here for a few days and is doing set up lifestyly stuff, image pieces that are to be used as a resort enhancer. Not really my cup of tea but I appreciate what hes doing and gamefully jump in to work mode with my new toys as he gets busy with this evenings set up. Classic situation shooting around the golden sunset light, nice ! So we run some film through the camera as he shoots some guys eating fire against a setting sun and crystal blue sea, stunning !

Anyways as I have mentioned this is a holiday weekend and the featured resort has no room for me and BM so we are shuttled down the street to another hotel. Can I say shit hole ! And because of the weekend that's in it I will have to pay for last night, the one I spent In Montego Bay too, 3 day total $ 700.00. At least BM and I have separate rooms in our not so luxurious suite. Ah well no worries we wont be spending much time here as we will be up before the dawn to capture the magical sunrise and all.


Chapter 4

We spend Sunday working, resting, drinking, all pretty straightforward. BM and I are pretty fucked, we have been in each others hair for a long week and are done with the island and I guess each other, we just want to get home. So we bid farewell to the crew and amble down the beach to our own hovel but what do you know we run into a couple of friends we haven't seen in years. First good thing that's happened all trip so we manage a fun dinner and a few drinks, reliving our current dramas and reminiscing about past adventures.

We get up early, the flights not till 2.00pm but I want to get back to the airport early and get sorted. So time to check out. Remember I only have a temporary ATM card and haven't managed to top off my cash reserves all weekend but I have an American Express too, but fuck what do you know the hotel only takes Visa. No one told us at check in. The magazine had made the reservation through a local booking agency and as it was the holiday weekend corporate travel could not make the arrangements through usual channels so although the editor had used his card to hold the room they would only accept my card or cash now as the reservation was in my name, don't ask. Fuckin comedy of errors, I swear I am not making any of this up. Oh and of course there was a little Visa sign up behind the front desk but we were so tired by the time we got around to checking in we didn't spot it. I have $ 150.00 cash on me; $110.00 for the taxi, $ 20.00 to get back into Customs and $ 20.00 for food, fuck I hope I don't need bribe money, shit. So we head to downtown Negril and find a bank. Yeah and because its Monday morning and the bank is just about to open the place is chock a block, come on get a move on everyone. Bingo my ATM card is working though, but now we got to figure out the exchange rate, complicated ! I manage to withdraw cash but of course there would be a limit on the amount of cash one can take out; $ 500.00 per day that's it and I need $ 700.00 for the room so luckily BM is able to make up the balance although we are shitting it further because he has no idea how much is in his account and whether his wife has used up their reserves over the weekend. Back to the hotel, settle up and off we go back to Montego Bay. Now we are running late and I am really bricking it I hope the gear is still there, fuck, what am I going to do if it isn't ? Oh and we are starving saving the lunch money for later.

Chapter 5

So here I am back in Customs, I know the drill by now, heart pounding sweating profusely its like Midnight Expressin reverse I am not hiding anything but hoping to find something, yeah there they are the bags safe and sound. But there are procedures, you just wont be walking off with those sonny. We are escorted to departures with our checked luggage but the camera bag remains behind, I cannot reclaim this until 30 minutes before the flights departure at which time I must descend from departures through Immigration back to Customs where they will release the bag in to my custody where upon I will then be escorted again and physically placed on the plane. Nice, at least we are flying American I don't think I could handle the Lovebird again.

So with 30 minutes to go I mange to extrapolate the camera bag, well what do you know everything is just as I left it and hey I get placed on the plane first much to my relief, to the obvious annoyance of some, curiosity of others, nothing like seeing someone being escorted a board. A fugitive ? A mercenary ? A smuggler ? Doesn't everyone have an active imagination.

Its amazing how much one can pack in to such a finite time. Its been less then 72 hours on this trip but what an adventure. Yeah I can laugh about it now but it was definately frought with fear at times. The magazine was cool, accepting responsibilty for all my difficulties and the film looked good for what it was. So all in all a success I guess, another experience to chalk into the memory banks and yeah it made for a great war story particularly in the weeks that followed where BM and I did a little double act recounting the tale many times over pints to captivated audiences. I am sure I have left stuff out and hopefully it reads as well as I remember. Heres hoping this weeks adventure wont be quite as perilous.

Big brother

I had a photographer friend call today wondering if I or someone else might be able to provide the answer to his question. He is a US citizen and his passport is up for renewal. As per new procedures one must state ones occupation, employer, work address, phone number etc. and this information will then be electronically embedded with other fun personal trivia into your passport. Meaning that now any immigration officer in any country with the right machinery will be able to access all your vital bits and more with one swipe.

My friend is concerned; his business is incorporated and the name runs something like this 'John Smith Photography'. He is worried that if he is up front and honest he might run into difficulties particularly if he is traveling abroad for work on a tourist visa. This is a concern in countries like China, who are not particularly fond of us photographer or journalist types, in fact you are encouraged to put down any profession but if you are not going through official channels, which I might ad is not always a viable option.

I am wondering if any of you out there have any experience with the new passports and how you chose to circumvent potential problems. Please feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Oh and of course my friend should have used a nondescript business name in the beginning but that hindsight is a great thing.

As featured in . . . . Wired

Photos © AH

I had been meaning to catch up on some work I have had published here in October although it hit the news stands in September before it becomes irrelevant as although its only the 10th of the month here comes November at us already with Vanity Fair the first one out of the gate as usual and the rest due in quick pursuit.

I worked on this story back in July for Wired and have re-posted the behind the scenes action of this particular outing below, full original post with links here.

Tuesday July 10

Working on work and getting set to head out again 6.05pm flight to Des Moines Iowa from La Guardia. This time we leave plenty early, get an SUV for the gear so as to avoid another incident and take the mid town tunnel, smooth ! I get the call on the way out the three area airports have been shut down to arrivals and departures, weather ! Wheres the fuckin weather ? I don't see nothing not a cloud in my sky, no mention of anything when I checked online earlier. The airports a madhouse as people line up to rebook but we are showing as on time. Check in swiftly and head down to the food court on the lower level, we have time. From our vantage point there is some activity on the tarmac. Planes are lining up for departure but none are landing an ominous sign but we are still looking good. Time to head through security and to the gate. Anyways now its time for our fortunes to change. Showing a delay now, 1 hour no worries. Only problem at this part of the airport, American Airlines concourse, is that once you go through security your dining/drinking options are slim. There is no bar ! and we have been told to stay close to the gate as our situation could change in an instant, unlikely ! Then comes a gate change, a further delay another gate change and at last our plane is on its way, it has just left Boston and will be with us shortly, yipee. More musical chairs with a further gate change but they turn it around quickly and we are all aboard, its close to 10pm at least we will make an hour up with the time change.

Wednesday, got in early that morning, straight to bed at The Holiday Inn Downtown, sort of kind of, $ 100.00 per night and it feels it, but I am tired have a king bed and a mirrored wall next to it, retro chic.

We had an afternoon shoot so we had an easy morning. Joel did the Chowhound so we had fine breakfast choices. The top sounding spot it turns out was no longer in existence had been knocked down and replaced by a spanking new condo building, you got to check the date on the postings, but he was prepared and had a back up, nice one ! The Waveland Cafe on University. Taking the healthy route I opted for 2 fried eggs, country ham, hash browns, Joel went for the biscuits again this time topped off with scrambled eggs and we had coffees and orange juices. Excellent, top class breakfast, simple, super tasty and this was only $ 18.00. I do not eat like this at home by the way in case you are wondering.

As luck would have it this time I was photographing another race car related story, this time for a different magazine. We had a 3.00pm call time @ the Iowa Speedway 40 minutes east of town and our subject was due on set at 5.00pm and we would have him for all of two hours ! It was a glorious day with puffy clouds moving across the sky but there was a strong wind pummeling the track. We were shown possible locations by the track PR and now time to meet the race team PR and get the plan sorted. Everything was a little unorganized only to be compounded by the fact that as this was a race weekend, certain rules and regulations were now in play and it had been mandated that all cars needed to be in parc ferme (quarantine) at 6.00pm to prevent the mechanics doing extra work on them. Turns out work time is regulated so its an equal playing field for everyone. Also the teams had just arrived track side that afternoon and hadn't set up their pit boxes so the place was a little empty and devoid of race day atmosphere.

We settled on a spot on pit lane, got the car on site about 4.45pm and the driver would be with us shortly. I had my lighting set up worked out and had an idea of what I needed to do. Not to bore you with technicalities I normally use two camera set ups. A Hasselblad 503cw (has the winder on the side, removable) this has a prism and I use an on camera flash mounted to this. The second is a 553elx (winder built in on the bottom) which I use with the waist level finder and a Q Flash connected via pocket wizards (remotes). We had decided on set up #1 due to the wind. We were doing a couple of test polaroids and then CLUNK ! The winder stopped and the mirror locked up and lens jammed. Shit ! No time to panic. The one design flaw in the 503 set up is that you cannot remove the winder when the lens is on and now the whole thing is locked up, time to get the tool out and to try and unlock the beast. But first I decide to change the winder batteries which appears to do the trick. The camera kicks into life an off we go again. Two polaroids later CLUNK ! Fuck same again, try more batteries and again same thing happens, I play around with the batteries manage to get the camera fired up decide to take the lens off and move on. Time to use the back up 503cw. So off we go and all sounds good. When you have worked so long with a camera you become in tune with the sounds it makes, I find I can usually detect a fault if it appears to be missing a beat, intuition I guess. Everything sounds good then CLUNK. Fuck ! The subject has arrived on set and he's a couple of minutes behind schedule so I am up against the clock already. We have to change set ups move on to the 553elx and alter the lighting package. The driver is super young and very sweet, not panicked we engage in chat mostly about motor sport (see my Dan Patrick post below) and start the session.

Here's the thing, I know I have at least 50 minutes with him and the car all I need is one frame from at least two different set ups and the magazine will be happy ? time to be calm and focused. And we are off ! But oh no we are not, now the pocket wizards are acting up. I have a back up to the back up but all this changing is cutting in to time and disrupting my flow. The first few polaroids are ok, everything needs to be finessed, finally about 5.30pm we are looking good !

In a session like this I have been given certain scenarios the magazine wants covered, driver in car, driver next to car, driver on own no car. Pretty straight forward but one needs to take a decent image and make it a little special. For me I start out with a plan and then see where we go, observe the subjects idiosyncrasies his mannerisms all the while looking @ whats going on around and see if I can incorporate some of the happenings into the shot. I am not a high concept shooter, I do not come with big set ups, ok sometimes I bring a few props, I like to think I find found moments although the shots are mostly staged. Joel was gracious enough to say that I/we have a habit of making something out of nothing. Its always a team effort no matter who I have working with me. We have worked together on a lot of fab shoots over the last couple of years and have been in plenty of tricky spots but have always pulled through. I enjoy the challenge. That's the thing with an editorial shoot like this is there isn't the time to get to the heart of a subject. You got to work with what you got and make something of it. Its not always going to be a winner, it can't be but as long as you did everything in your power to make it the best photograph you could take given all the circumstances and hopefully be regret free when its all over. Don't forget you can always ask someone to do something, worst they can do is say no and I never force anyone to do anything they are not comfortable with. So remember no re greats !

6.00pm and the car is rolled back to its trailer and put to bed. I continue to shoot portraits in and around and am in the groove. I know when its going well for me, it feels free and easy I see things and scenarios quick, don't give the subject time to think. Its 6.30pm and he's done, losing interest but more importantly I am done.

So after a rocky start everything settled down, no panic that is the key. Not to say that there is never panic. Every now and again things go wrong, there is no avoiding it, see my earlier post on why I no longer judge other photographers work when you see it published in a magazine here. One usually has a long period where the cameras function seamlessly but then all of a sudden out of the blue all hell breaks loose. Breakdowns will happen it is inevitable and its always at the most inopportune time. I travel with back ups to the back up but it still can be dicey you can never be too prepared.

It feels like we have been standing in the sun all day. The track is a concrete bowl, it wasn't super hot but between the wind and the adrenaline Joel and I feel we packed a full day in to a couple of hours. Time to treat ourselves, back in to town for some low calorie food.

In the end they ran one picture as part of a 4 page mini feature which is mostly made up of text and illustrations, a little disappointing; the choice was pretty safe but they were happy with the package I produced. I even got a lovely note in the mail from the Creative Director Scott Dadich expressing his satisfaction with the results, I do appreciate him taking the time to write its not often one gets a note especially in the post. My favorite shot from the session is the last one (above), nothing to do with the car as that was long put to rest but I have a thing for helmets as anyone familiar with my work will know.

Back in the saddle

I have been back in New York for a few days and as always when one has a fun time away it is difficult to get the groove back on and get stuck in. So I apologise for my lackadaisical return to posting but on the flipside while we were gone I am delighted to announce we had our 10,000.00 visit here at 'Whats the Jackanory ?' since records began back in May. I know this is a relatively insignificant number for some but it means a lot to me. So thank you one and all for taking the time !

Into the West

Regular posting will be suspended for the upcoming week as the Mrs and I head to California on a little break. Stay tuned for a return to normal programming.

Friday foto

Photo © AH

Symmetry.

Ongoing travels

Last week saw continuing adventures on the road. I have been on a good run, the phone is ringing and the jobs are aligning themselves neatly in the schedule. This is what happens when you get on the roll, everything appears to come together seamlessly. One job leads to another and so on.

As I mentioned on the previous post I am shooting film for most of my gigs and therefore do not travel with a laptop (I don't in fact own one) and am reliant on the Blackberry and hotel business centers to stay connected. The last few months have been pretty frenetic in terms of travel and commissioned work and I am beginning to realise how valuable my time is becoming. On the road I am accompanied by a freelance assistant when budget allows and although I have an agent there is no one @ the home office working on portfolios, updating website, invoicing, archiving etc. etc. while I am away. There is so much that needs to get done and I am not in a position @ the moment to hire someone to manage that side of things for me. Of course there may always be plenty of time just around the corner one never knows how long the work will continue to flow. Though @ the moment with all the travel delays and dodgy facilities (see below) it might be time to splurge and invest in myself (laptop). There is though something to be said about being work free when flying, nothing like quality alone time, a good book and some fine tunes while company men/women are grafting hard.

Photos © AH

Thursday saw a trip out to Carmel, Indiana just north of Indianapolis for a Friday shoot. I then drove to Richmond Kentucky for a Saturday/Sunday shoot for a different magazine. Monday saw another day of lenghty air travel on the return to New York as the heavens opened and spilled their load here. I wasn't able to put a decent itinerary together for the return so my day involved a drive to Cincinnati, a flight to sunny Chicago and a rather bumpy connection to a sodden Laguardia. When all is said and done the delay wasn't so bad but you can't help but feel for anyone travelling with children. If you haven't heard about some of the perils of parenting toddlers in the air these days go here, you may avoid arrest. Our pilot was gracious to confirm with some humour that the whole air traffic system is broken during his welcome aboard speech and continued to keep us abreast of all developments concerning our departure in a reassuring sympathetic manner which on previous experience is not always the case.

An added bonus on the 1st leg of the trip was the addition of an extra crew member besides myself and David my assistant. Ed Gabriels a food stylist and keen triathlete was along to add his skill set to the shoot which involved some food, actually lots of food being included in the shot. Ed and I have worked together previously on, yes, some food shots for Mens Fitness magazine which turned pretty good, a bit of a departure and a lot of fun. A real treat to collaborate on something a little different and the layouts were really terrific (sample above), I have to say John Gilman, creative director, did a fab job and I was really surprised and impressed by the spreads he put together. I really felt he elevated the pictures, its such a great thrill to have your stuff so well art directed.

The highlight of the trip had to be that evenings dinner which consisted of a trip to Bubs in Carmel on a recommendation from the hotel. Pretty simple menu, burgers, sandwiches and the like. But we were in for a treat, Bubs is home of the infamous 'Big Ugly' a 22oz burger, that amounts to 1lb of beef when it is cooked down, you can add your fixings as you see fit but is topped and bottomed by a halved 1/2 lb bun. This is some big eats and if you finish the monster unassisted you get your photograph taken and added to the wall of fame. Ed was hungry for the challenge, chose no extra toppings a side from 3 slices of American cheese and proceeded to demolish the beast in good time. It was very impressive ! I am not a huge hamburger fan but I settled on the 1/4 lb Elk burger which I have to say is one of the tastiest I have ever had and we all managed room for desert in the adjoining ice cream parlour. Hooray for us !

Here's to you Ed Gabriels a legend in Carmel Indiana !

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.

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.