Robert A. Ripps Photography Blog

10 years ago

2011-09-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

Street Legal

2010-10-20T09:57:00.014-04:00

The courts uphold the rights of photographers, or anyone in the general public, to photograph the exteriors of federal buildings from public places.

Hurray for the first amendment!

Are you a terrorist?

2010-09-23T12:16:00.000-04:00

I think not.

The TSA may think so though.

Check out the TSA poster on the blog Photography Is Not A Crime.

California Reality

2010-09-21T18:20:00.001-04:00

Back in my blog post of December 27, 2009 I talked about looking for a scene I had shot back in 1990, and even showed a sample of it. I was not able to find the exact scene last time, thinking it had changed so much as to be unrecognizable. Well, I was back out on the west coast last week, and undeterred, I decide to keep trying to find that street.

This time, I walked further up and down every street in Chinatown, up and down all the hills, peeked into every alleyway, stared up at every building, until finally, at the bottom of Jackson Street, I felt a kind of six sense about it. I turned a corner, feeling somehow I was close, and sure enough, I was there!

Amazingly, most of the scene was intact 20 years later, save for the Pac Bell phone booth, the Far East something Service has changed to Wayne’s Liquors, and a sign of Chinese characters has come down. Unfortunately the Grassland Cocktail Lounge sign as seen better days, and is no longer lit up- probably because the space is for rent. I doubt it will survive another year, but who knows.

And, the Chinese restaurant not visible in the foreground is now a Thai restaurant, all of which, if you are interested on Kearny, at Jackson.

The end is the beginning

2010-09-02T13:32:00.061-04:00

Dateline September 1- First shoot day on my new photographic project. I venture to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx with my trusty designer/creative director/friend Jan Uretsky, under cloudless 95 degree skies, in search of….

I found the oldest house in the Bronx, dated 1748, next to one of the oldest trees (okay, it looked really old), visited Santa Fe (braving coyotes and dead cows), was tempted to join the local families grilling out & enjoying the park, was not tempted to run on the beautiful Van Cortlandt Park track, and followed the remnants of the “Old Put” railroad where trains did run on the tracks.

I am still working on defining the theme, tightening the parameters, setting the style and tone, but sometimes you have to just jump right in, get your feet wet, even if it is just from your own sweat dripping on them.

And we met another Bob fishing in the pond, an elderly woman behind a screen who told us the whereabouts of a neighbor who drives a Yugo with the license plate YOGOGAL, some kids enjoying one of the last days before school starts, some nameless drivers looking to score riders to Westchester, and an endless parade of riders for whom this last stop of the #1 train is only the middle of their long journey home, or to work or to play….

I see dead people! In color. From 1922

2010-08-23T10:16:00.013-04:00

Some footage from a test of Kodachrome color motion picture film circa 1922, a full 13 years before the first full length color motion picture was released. A bit dated (obviously), a bit camp, but kind of fun to see compared to our current polished digital world.

And maybe the little kid is still alive- she would only be like 92 years old.

Are you an illegal (photographer)?

2010-07-30T16:59:00.000-04:00

Police crackdown, DC style, disregarding your first amendments rights.

WIP it Good

2010-06-11T13:02:00.006-04:00

I am pleased to announce some of my personal work has been featured in WIP8, starting on page 45 and is available for download here.

Sneak peak at the top secret iPhone 5 prototype

2010-06-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

Retro is in!

Abridged

2010-05-17T11:06:00.007-04:00

My “slideshow” Bridging the Gap did not make the cut for the SLPS IV, although my Caesar salad seemed to go over quite nicely. You can see my effort on the theme of Bridges below.

Further proof that I have the ability to travel forward and backward in time, as long as I stay in the Astor Place IRT station

2010-04-16T10:28:00.002-04:00

And if you really want to know, the fare in 2044 is $12.

Mission Impossible?

2010-03-30T10:43:00.008-04:00

A not so cheery “portrait” of the current state of the professional (and amateur) assignment and stock photography business here at the New York Times. Nothing we haven’t heard, experienced or feared, but it does show how forces of technology, the economy and human nature have all created a perfect storm that threatens to destroy our livelihood.

Pretty much anyone can take an occasional decent picture that is good enough for many stock uses, given enough time and some luck. But, if professional photography as a career falls by the wayside, who will clients call when they need an assignment done that requires experience, and lots of it?

As the entry point for creating decent images has dropped, and continues to drop, we as professional image makers really need to sell ourselves not on our abilities to get sharp well exposed images, as most point & shoot cameras can do that, not as the cheapest way to get images (although in the long run hiring a professional can often be the most cost effective), but on the strength and individuality of our visions, and on our professionalism and experience in getting jobs done on schedule, on budget (or under), and under the worst of conditions & circumstances.

Perhaps our only hope is to all become amateurs. Unfortunately, we will of course need to work another job or two just to support our new “hobby”!

Mission Improbable

2010-03-25T15:35:00.009-04:00

Today the Impossible Project is releasing the first in its' new line of instant integral processing films, PX film (when’s the last time you typed the word film?), a sepia toned black & white pack that will fit into folding SLR Polaroid models, like the SX-70. Supposedly the film is able to be manipulated, like the classic SX-70 or Time Zero films were, and a color version will be introduced this summer. You can read more details here.
Then there is this, on the Impossible Project site, a special film pack made with expired chemicals, called SX-70 Fadetoblack Film that “…shortly after taking the photo drifts through different colour schemes before it finally turns to blackness after 24 hours”- I am not sure if this is an early April fool’s gag, or if I should call Jim Phelps.

What I did on my spring break

2010-03-23T11:15:00.008-04:00

I recently shot an ad for long time client GMHC- the final ad will have a New York City scene striped in behind the models, so look for it at a bus shelter near you.

Hello Kitto Katsu

2010-03-04T16:56:00.006-05:00

According to AdAge, there are 19 special flavors of Kit Kat bars available only in Japan that you just can’t get anywhere else, like strawberry-cheesecake, blueberry, cherry blossom and green tea (no big deal you say).

Have you ever tried yubari melon, yuzu, grape or wasabi-flavored white chocolate? No, how about sweet potato, miso, baked corn, green beans, red potatoes or kinako (a toasted soybean flour mostly used to coat mochi)? My mouth is watering already.

The number one flavor- surprise, it’s soy sauce (who would have thought that). For the whole story, go to adage.com.

Six feet under…

2010-02-28T13:36:00.091-05:00

...Atlantic Avenue is where the ladder takes you, after first descending
through a standard sized manhole, to a dirt floored passage, carved through more dirt and small stones.

Duck under the low concrete intrusion, mind the water and the mud, then walk maybe 70 feet, as you notice the curved brick ceiling low enough to touch.

You then come to a solid looking wall, with a very narrow sliver of a passage chiseled through it. Once you squeeze thorough a couple of feet of concrete,

you suddenly find yourself overlooking a long, seemingly endless empty tunnel, with homemade wooden steps leading you down to the bottom.
As you descend the steps, a seated man warns you to watch your step. You soon reach another dirt floor, only this one is fairly solid- damp of course, as the 60 degree tunnel maintains a pretty high humidity- and as you gaze around you notice the Manhattan schist blocks that form the tunnel walls, which are then topped with a gently curving brick arch that rises almost 20 feet over your head.

The man you passed is of course no other than Bob Diamond, who in 1980 discovered the long abandoned tunnel, after he was repeated told by everyone that it did not exist. But it does exist, and Atlantic Avenue bustles blissfully 30-40 feet above you, except you can’t hear any of that, as there is only the one opening to the street, and it is far, far behind you as you walk over the uneven dirt floor, noticing where each railroad tie used to be a century and a half ago.

Written about by Walt Whitman and H.P. Lovecraft, and rumored to be the hiding place of German spies, bootleggers, lost treasure, pirates, vampires and the final resting place of a murdered foreman, this tunnel has to be one of the most visited, and most legendary, yet least know pieces of New York City’s transportation, or for that matter, any kind of our city’s history.

Here and there your flashlight picks out things: graffiti from Mr. Lynch who put electricity in the tunnel during one of its’ many investigations for supposed criminal activity, a huge pile of curved brick sections where the above ground airshaft was torn down and dumped into thehole before being sealed on the surface, the occasional rotten piece of wood, or rusted metal object, patches of white paint still remaining on the ceiling which was painted that way to reflect light, and the fact that despite being built in 1844, and abandoned in 1861, the tunnel is in pretty solid shape.

After walking the equivalent of several city blocks, the light from the string of occasional bare light bulbs ends, and you are left with onlywhatever flashlight you have brought with you for illumination. You need to carefully avoid many large pieces of stone as you reach the far end of the tunnel- at least that is where another wall sits, blocking whatever may lie beyond it in the last section of the tunnel- perhaps just dirt and New York City infrastructure, or perhaps, as it is rumored, missing pages from John Wilkes Booths’ diary, or even an overturned 1831 vintage steam locomotive. Some large sewer pipes and pieces of conduit pierce the back corner of the crumbling wall, reminding us that even though the tunnel has sat abandoned and mostly forgotten for over 150 years, there does exist a bustling metropolis overhead, one that like an old tree, occasionally extends its’ roots down into the deep dark earth.

Will we soon discover what lies beyond that wall? Will another fascinating chapter in the story of this subterranean structure be written? Stay tuned.

Snow storm #3...or 4?

2010-02-26T16:47:00.009-05:00

Who remembers by now? A few snapshots before the next one hits. All this will seem quaint in August….

Gawd, I love New York

2010-02-05T21:43:00.041-05:00

Where else can you go to a museum, then upon exiting, a few doors down pass a mission, complete with two people asking for money- “I only need 80 cents…can you spare a dollar chief”, then past a dozen shuttered restaurant supply places, then cross a street and come upona gallery opening, walk right in, get a strong vodka & cranberry for free- tip the bartender of course- view some art, take in a scene, find yourself looking into a barbershop (is it a haircut if no one is there to watch it?), talk to a producer of childrens' television, exit, slightly buzzed, then pass a dozen lighting places- all dark of course, notice several windowsmade up of fish tanks, or rows upon rows of smoked chickens, of redpieces of roast pork, mystery meats all hanging from hooks, buy adinner’s worth of incredible seafood noodle soup with a curry broth for $7, pass a prison, then another mission, then cross one of the most famous streets in the world, look up & see a Gothic skyscraper, see a Dan Flavin neon sculpture, pass a $25 million home, then nearly step on a rat the size of a cat, see the Ghostbusters firehouse, then the building where JFK Jr. used to live, pass Harvey Keitel, then a cement mixer next to a Mercedes next to a backhoe, then see two lovers sharing a kiss where a homeless guy used to live, then finally climb my steps, slightly frozen, to reflect upon life in NY, my journey, and of course, enjoy my dinner, while watching The Office.

Show me the show

2010-02-03T15:50:00.021-05:00

To mark the closing of the X Initiative gallery in Chelsea, they opened the doors for 24 hours and invited anybody- which of course includes yours truly- to exhibit pretty much anything you could drag over there.

I made a print of an image from my nightlife series, and placed in an "appropriate" location.

All around were installations of paintings, drawings, photography, sculptures, videos, sound recordings, conceptual pieces, interactive pieces, happenings, and the occasional small child or dog. These were hung, taped, nailed, screwed, glued, wired, push pinned, constructed, placed, poured, painted, drawn, silk screened, printed, and otherwise attached or put all around two floors of the gigantic X Initiative building….I only wish there were more galleries/shows like this where there were no rules, no curation, no limits, no arbiters of good or bad taste, just every kind of “art”- and lots of it!

Snow job

2010-01-02T11:14:00.008-05:00

The good news, I got a last minute call to do a job before the end of the year. The bad news, it was literally on New Year’s Eve day (if that is it’s official name), and I had to try to drive out of the city in the blizzard. As I have a Volvo, and spent 4 winters upstate, I was not worried, but apparently I should have been. Trying to get out of Manhattan via the Williamsburg Bridge was not happening, so after an hour on Delancy, I took some empty back streets to the Brooklyn Bridge, which was open.

Once I got out of the city, the roads were passable, and I was able to make I to my shoot on Long Island only slightly late. I can’t show the images until after they have run, but look at the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports to see what I did.

California Dreamin'

2009-12-27T14:20:00.068-05:00

Just got back from a week out in San Francisco. While I was out there, I had a bunch of appointments at some ad agencies- I met with: Debbie Mobley at Venables, Bell & Partners, Suzee Barrabee at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Jen Hall at Anderson DDB, Kelly Steblay at BBDO West, Kevin Stokes at Kane and Finkel Healthcare, as well as some folks at some top notch design firms: Robin Raj, Steve Fong, Kristin and the gang at Citizen Group and Jon Schleuning, Gloria Hiek, An Luc and Rob Duncan over at Studio Hinrichs. Thank you to everyone for sharing your time with me.

Ate some great lunches at Henry’s Hunan, referred by my buddy, super DP Andy Lilien. He recommended Marty's Special- a dish made with chicken, bamboo shoots, onions carrots, bell peppers, house made smoked ham, all mixed with a hot red peppers- smoky, salty, delicious, but not for the faint of heart. Another signature dish is Diana's Special Meat Pie, described as “Deep-fried flour cakes filled with meat sauce, Parmesan cheese, vegetables, onions and condiments (with or without hot sauce)”- like China meets Mexico in SF. Not sure why good Hunan is so hard to find here in NY, where Szechwan seems to have taken hold as the premier spicy Chinese cuisine.

I also spent some time wandering through SF’s Chinatown, taking
pictures, and had a sort of déjà vu moment when I realized I had walked the same area shooting some pictures almost 20 years earlier. What was interesting to me, upon reflection, was not just how much things had or hadn’t changed, but how much I had changed. Instead of looking at the scene, and shooting it from a distance, I now go right into the scene, and shot using a wider lens, making myself a part of the action. The other thing is back then it was a manual focus Nikon F3, shooting Kodachrome 64, and of course I couldn’t see what I had shot for days until I sent the film out to Fair Lawn NJ.

20 years later, I can take the slide pages out, hold them up to a light source and see images with no problems of outdated software, unread- able media, mismatched color profiles, improper monitor calibration, bad data... but for better or for worse, there is no going back.

Where Have All The Good Times Gone?

2009-11-27T22:48:00.003-05:00

Who would have guessed that the best thing I saw today was a 103 year old silent film called The Alcoholic (or Drunken) Mattress by Alice Guy-Blaché, or the first adult non-business book I have read in years, would turn out to be the wonderful Here Is New York, written by E. B. White 60 years ago.

Ray, Ray, Ray

2009-11-20T13:25:00.007-05:00

Saw The great Ray Davies, founder of the seminar rock group The Kinks, perform last night. The first set was just Ray and another guitarist, then a full band performing a dozen or so Kinks classics, as well as a few of Davies recent songs. After an intermission, Ray returned with the band, and a full 30 odd member choir to rock/sing/perform some of the Kinks Klassic Kuts, but also rework some lesser known jewels, a few cuts from Arthur, a six song suite from The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society: Village Green, Picture Book, Big Sky, Do You Remember Walter?, Johnny Thunder, and The Village Green Preservation Society, an a cappella See My Friends, closing out with some amazing renditions of Celluloid Heroes, Waterloo Sunset, Days, All Day and All Of the Night, followed by an encore of Low Budget.

It was an amazing night- it incredibly moving to hear one of the most enduring rock performers of the last 50 years perform live tearing through some of rock and roll’s most influential & brilliant songs like You Really Got Me, Celluloid Heroes, All Day and All Of the Night and Days.

As for reworking some of rock iconic songs using a choir, you may hate it, you may love it, but you have to give credit to Davies that at 66, he is still experimenting, still breaking new barriers in music- oh, and rocking like a kid a third of his age!

I have seen the future of photography…and it doesn’t include me

2009-10-23T16:47:00.000-04:00

Saw this at the PPE trade show today- apparently SONY has come up with a camera and movable base called the “Party-shot™ Automatic Photographe r” that takes its’ own pictures, scanning the room, and by using face technology, finds you and your drunken friends. And takes your picture.

I though that is what ex boyfriends/girlfriends are for?

Captain Jonathan At Your Service

2009-10-14T17:46:00.010-04:00

I was lucky to be invited by Captain Jonathan Atkin to join him and a few friends for one of the best boat trips I ever took, onboard the Big Toot for an up close and personal look at the NYC harbor.

Jonathan knows anything and everything harbor related, and being a top notch marine and aerial photographer, he timed it so we passed lady Liberty once in full sunlight, and once right at sunset. When he leads more trips next spring, jump on the chance (and bring a water repellent jacket as the water can go flying).

Open House New York

2009-10-12T17:13:00.002-04:00

As the name implies, we get to go inside peoples houses, that and their offices, churches, pools, skyscrapers, tunnels, barges, bridges, sewerage treatment plants, cemeteries….

I Intrepidly Explore Webster Hall, Camera In Hand

2009-09-17T10:02:00.022-04:00

Okay, I missed Studio 54, Limelight and their ilk, but the spirit of hedonism is alive and well at Webster Hall. I was at another event when a couple of friends dragged me to see a fashion show at WH. The fashion show was a bit of a bust, but afterwards we wandered around the club.

I have never seen a more diverse group of people- ages, races, sexes, sexual preferences, hair styles, body types, body adornments…and the most interesting part was how totally unconcerned everyone was at being photographed.

Usually the subjects get suspicious or self conscious when someone is shooting them while they are in

public, perhaps doing something they are not supposed to be doing, or maybe the management hassles you, but on this night, I only got confronted once by the friend of one my subjects. And when I showed
her a few images- thank goodness for digital- she decided that since I was shooting women & men from behind, that I was an equal opportunity offender & calmed down.

All I can come up with is that I think nowadays everyone is so used to being photographed, documented, their every movement & thought shared electronically with their close friends, or total strangers, that
someone taking pictures become invisible. And people have less inhibitions about being seen in a less than flattering way, as long as they are seen.

What also amazed me was how many people were just sitting around with their friends, but they were not talking to them, no, they were on their cell phones, their electronic devices, reading, texting, surfing, who
knows what, totally oblivious to the music & mayhem going on around them. Call me old fashioned, but I always thought the idea of going out was to get away from work & other distractions, and relax & have fun. For these people, they want to stay connected all the time, but at the same time they are becoming more and more isolated.

Novo Nordisk shoot

2009-09-12T17:59:00.010-04:00

Just finished up a job for Novo Nordisk, but unfortunately I cannot show any of the images at this time. So just use your imagination- lots of beautiful Danes, lots of Doctors, lots of blue stuff, a couple of pieces of giant furniture, and a few shots of high tech syringes.

And some nice chocolate.

Speaking of She’s Out There!

2009-08-16T17:21:00.018-04:00

Nice story in the Richmond Register a few days ago about one of our subjects, Hannah Nnoromele, where she quips about the shoot with me “It was like I had my own paparazzi,” she said.”

We have also gotten many blog mentions, including a series of profiles
on many of our subjects on the Huffington Post, as well an interview with Grace Baltich and Chelsea Zimmerman on KARE TV in Minneapolis St. Paul.

And as always, She's Out There! is available on Amazon and at fine bookstore across the county, perhaps even the known universe.

In Business Magazine Shoots

2009-08-10T11:43:00.009-04:00

Portraits & family lifestyle shots of two subjects for a story on Ambit Energy. Could it have been any hotter at high noon? Never has a pool (or a hose) looked more inviting!

Chapter Seven, In Which I Continue To Tirelessly Drop Off Copies Of She’s Out There!

2009-07-27T14:01:00.001-04:00

Which gives me an excuse to walk & bike around the city, taking some digital sketches as I go…

Make A Splash

2009-07-07T15:36:00.008-04:00

Hope you all had a happy Fourth, swam a little, ate a lot and blew some s*@t up!

Swine Before The Swine?

2009-06-25T11:15:00.008-04:00

I don’t know if I had the swine flu, but one minute I am at the Big Apple Barbecue with a full $100 fast pass, the next minute I am laid up for a week (and not back to normal for a while after that)! Talk about bad timing. And yes, this represents how I felt (below).

High On The High Line

2009-06-09T17:21:00.013-04:00

I took a few hours off from my usual high tech existence to take a trip to a different type of high low tech existence, the new High Line Park that opened yesterday. Wow!

News Flashers

2009-05-29T15:50:00.003-04:00

Amy Sewell, Co-editor of SHE’S OUT THERE!, along with subjects Fiona Lowenstein, Kyera Singleton & Kara Silverman was on Fox news Fox & Friends May 18, 2009.

And, Heather Ogilvie, Co-editor of SHE’S OUT THERE!, along with subject Fiona Lowenstein was on CBS local news, May 23, 2009

Party like it’s 2009

2009-05-27T16:50:00.065-04:00

After two years of work & waiting, weeks of printing & finishing work, not to mention party planning, we have our launch party & show.(all photos courtesy of Jan Urestsky, except as marked)

The Portable Chef Uri Attia creates a lineup of sustainable delicacies, like ramp-parmesan frittata, pastured pork sausage, asparagus with ginger-soy-lime dipping sauce, local cheddar pate a choux, herbed spiced nuts, and a “the most ridiculously good chocolate cake of all time.” Did I mention all the plates, cups, platters & napkins were specially picked because they will easily biodegrade. Corn “plastic” cups anyone?

Yours truly.

Editor Heather Ogilvie, Kevin Moran, a guy in striped shirt & Carol Lambos.

Kara Silverman poses for her husband Ryan Jolley with her picture from the book.

Barry Wacksman, of RGA Advertising & our crack publicist Marni Salub, of the Salub Group.

Connoisseurs enjoying the art...and the wine.

Cover girl Fiona Lowenstein, with Heather.

(l to r) Kelly Tully, Cameron Russell, Kara Silverman, Fiona Lowenstein, Amy Sewell, Robert Ripps & Heather Ogilvie are framed by the gallery’s signature arch.

Uri can barely keep up with the hungry masses.

Heather & her beau Jan Uretsky (hey, I think I took this one).

A quite moment to peruse the book.

Sign O’ The Times

2009-05-24T15:48:00.050-04:00

Our book signing at Barnes & Noble was a huge success, standing room only, and we almost sold all 90 odd books they had- time to order more I guess.

Marie C. Wilson, Founder and
President of The White House
Project spoke and introduced
four of our book subjects, who
then read their essays &
answered questions.

My editors Amy Sewell & Heather Ogilvie & I also spoke about the project.

Then, it was on to the book signing. My first signature- with a pink pen no less.

Heather & I sign- she thinks of brilliant things to say, I try not to look like Tom Hanks.

All photos courtesy/©2009 Jan Uretsky

She’s Out There! is bigger than…

2009-05-16T16:23:00.017-04:00

…Oliver!

It’s official, SHE’S OUT THERE!
is out there! The truck came today and dropped off 38
boxes (all for my personal
consumption).

Surprise!

2009-05-15T20:52:00.005-04:00

I just went over to my local Barnes & Noble, where we will be doing a book signing on Monday, and low & behold, there by the front door was a whole table of copies SHE’S OUT THERE! for sale. This was the first time I saw an actual printed copy, held one in my hands, and was able to rife through the pages- wow, I guess we did it!!! I managed to only buy one book, as I have a whole bunch coming soon.

Steal from the poor to pay the rich

2009-05-13T13:59:00.004-04:00

Please follow this link to read this Op Ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by one of my favorite authors, Mark Helprin, explaining why you should care about and support strong copyright protections for creators.

Progress!

2009-05-12T15:19:00.007-04:00

I am almost finished printing the pictures for the She’s Out There! book launch/show, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. A few years ago I would have shot chromes, had them processed, then taken them to another lab, had internegs made, then had prints blown up from those, all at great expense. And unless I got custom prints made, they didn’t look too good.

Now, with digital technology, I can shoot it, process it, retouch it, archive it in multiple places, and when I am ready, output it in a variety of sizes on a variety of mediums for just the cost of materials (and of course a $3,000 printer) in an hour or so, any time of the day or night.

This also uses up all my free time, saving me the cost of many expensive hobbies like polo or hang gilding, or pricy vacations to exotic places, or the risk of paper cuts while reading actually books. How did we survive before digital?

Building steam

2009-05-06T14:19:00.012-04:00

We are starting to get some good press for SHE’S OUT THERE!...from Maine to New York to cyberspace, take a look at a few:

Tribeca Trib, May 2009, page 37
The Daily News, Sunday Now section, May 3, 2009, page 19
Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel (online), May 3, 2009
Franco-American News and Events blog, May 3, 2009
Write On, Girl! Newsflash/Girls Write Now website May 2009- book mention

To be continued....

God is in the details (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)

2009-05-01T23:09:00.009-04:00

At the offices of our publisher, Co-editor Heather Ogilvie looks over the SHE'S OUT THERE! proof pages with an eagles eye. Can a finished product be right around the corner? Yes! We are in the home stretch.

Only a couple of weeks until our book signing at Barnes & Noble, Tribeca, on May 18, 2009.

Getting buzzed!

2009-04-30T13:35:00.003-04:00

A nice mention on the Seventeen magazine blog ....

Houston, we have a cover!

2009-04-07T10:57:00.006-04:00

We finally have the real book cover for SHE'S OUT THERE!

What's better than having your image on the cover of your book? Having 10 images I guess.

Eat your heart out Queens

2009-03-30T22:44:00.025-04:00

Recently, I went on another of the great NY Transit Museum eating tours, led by the always informative and adventurous Todd Coleman, of Saveur magazine. Using the subway 7 line as our backbone, we went from Grand Central, stopping at local eateries, both the popular and the populist, from the humble tamale cart under the LIRR tracks, to the end of the line in Flushing. We went into places that ranged from hole in the wall storefronts I normally wouldn’t even notice, to the giant branch of the Patel Brothers grocery store chain, where you can buy 50 pound bags of basmati rice, ponder achar masala or just inhale in a wall of incense, while you discretely look at the colorful saris & turbans worn by some of your fellow shoppers.

I sampled tacos at the Scandinavian sounding Tacolandia, tried a selection of incredibly different India sweets & chat (my first time enjoying these popular Indian snack- which are like a mixture of desert, crispy noodles & spicy tofu- and all vegetarian), slurped a mango lassi, ate pork sate, nibbled on fresh baked fenugreek paratha, sipped hand made Colombian hot chocolate, and watched and sampled hand pulled and hand cut noodles in a mall restaurant in Flushing. Wow!

At one point, we all crowded into a local Filipino grocery store, where among the homemade stews, cans of soy squid and packaged shrimp chips I scored what looks to be the perfect snack, Crisp Porky! I haven’t opened it, instead putting it in a place of honor in my office, awaiting a sign form above to know when to open it....

It is worth becoming a member of the museum just to get advance notice of these tours, which sell out fast. For $40, I spent the afternoon touring the world from Columbia to India, the Philippines to China; this is a far more affordable alternative, with none of the jet lag.

…Move to the first five cars of the train

2009-03-13T15:58:00.012-04:00

Last chance, kiddies. According to several sources, this weekend is the last time the Westside IRT (#1 line to you) South Ferry station will be open to the public, as come Monday morning, it will be permanently closed, and trains will finally use the new, straight station. The current station is a time capsule, dating back to 1905, which features a loop platform (like the closed original City Hall station), and a beautiful collection of mosaic signage, with a terracotta sailing ship motif. The new station cost a reported $530 million, and was plagued by problems like leaks (still) and platform gaps (fixed). Come Monday morning, you can see for yourself if it was money well spent.

Let’s just hope we don’t have a repeat of what happened there 104 years ago today.

Next up, the Second avenue subway, planned since 1929…..

MIA culpa

2009-02-26T16:00:00.001-05:00

Okay, I admit it, I have been a bit lax about posting lately- between prepping over 50 final CMYK files for my book, SHE'S OUT THERE!, installing CS4 (and the related video card incompatibilities headaches), APA board responsibilities (yes, I am now a VP on the National board), some industry seminars and events, winter break, a trip to Costco and even a few actual jobs, I have not been working on keeping this blog up to date. Sorry. Full refunds for everyone!

Here are a few snapshots to placate you…

Shoot your partners

2009-01-28T15:35:00.002-05:00

Just did the authors portrait shoot for our book, SHE’S OUT THERE! Below you can see my co-conspirators, Amy Sewell, the author and Heather Ogilvie, the editor.

Egg and circuses

2009-01-25T14:32:00.017-05:00

I went to the Whitney Museum here in NYC principally to see the William Eggleston show, but I figured since I just dropped $15, I might as well take a peek at the Calder show. I was not a huge Calder fan- I liked the idea of the mobiles, but they left me a little cold.

However, I was blown away by this show of his wire sculptures and home made machines. The most amazing thing was how some of the sculptures moved, or were made to mimic real actions. His most famous, his most complicated and his grandest series of these was what was called his circus. Like a real circus, Calder had a series of animals, trapezes, tents, performers- sword sallower, lion tamer, clowns, bareback rider, a chariot race, etc.

They had a video of old footage of Calder performing his circus- the performers and big top environs that he stored in a series of suitcases, and traveled with between NY & Paris performing this one man show.

The film has him on the floor, pulling strings, blowing tubes, making music and noises as he makes the animals & performers come to life. A trapeze artists swing back & forth, then suddenly plunges off the swing and catches onto another bar, all due to the skill & perfect timing of Calder pulling and releasing strings, like a puppet master and magician all in one.

One of the highlights was a strange knife thrower flinging a series of small swords, daggers and other sharp implements at his equally fantastical assistant. The absurdity builds, until he finally misses- “fatally” injuring his wire assistant, who is then carried away by two equally whimsical wiry attendants, carrying her body off stage on a stretcher.

In an age of CGI special effects, I was surprised at how the children at the museum sat enthralled by all this, in spite of the lack of English words, and the low tech quality of the film projection.

And Eggleston? Egg is god, but he is also the devil in the details. Mundane yet profound, after seeing his work you can’t help but see his images everywhere you walk, which can make you think that you too could make those kind of images by the pound.

Tomorrow night

2009-01-20T13:48:00.011-05:00

If you are in New York tomorrow night, I will be among the presenters at the NY PhotoGroup Salon, where I will be showing some images from my book project, SHE’S OUT THERE! 35 Women Under 35 Who Aspire to Lead The Next Generation of Presidential Candidates.

Wednesday January 21st, 2009 at 6:30 pm
SoHo Photo Gallery
15 White Street
New York, NY 10013
(The gallery is 3 blocks south of Canal Street between Avenue of the Americas and West Broadway,
diagonally across from the Tribeca Grand Hotel.
By subway: A, C, or E train to Canal Street; #1 train to Franklin Street.)
There is a $10 cover charge to pay the rent.

First snow of the season

2008-12-19T15:09:00.015-05:00

The almanac predicts a cold, snowy winter, but this storm was just perfect for the first December New York City snow storm, although kids may be disappointed....

Or, maybe this is just a precursor of things to come…?

Leaking boat?

2008-12-04T10:39:00.016-05:00

My 11 year old asked me today where’s his bailout? I said with a $5 a week allowance, I am the one who needs a bailout.

Then I see Nikon has a new, 24.39 MP full frame chip camera, the D3X, which lists for only $7,999.95. Where’s my bailout?

I need a new laptop, as my iBook is a candidate for the museum of old technology. Where’s my bailout? And while I am there, I can also use a new Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor Mac Pro, crammed with ram. A 120 GB iPod would be nice as well. I will even drive to DC to pick up my bailout check.

I also heard on the news that utility rates are going up, subway fares will probably go up, food has definitely gone up, unemployment is up, everything seems to be going up except for gasoline, which means my 10 year old car can now be driven in circles for less money. Whoopee!!!

National Turkey Day

2008-11-29T17:15:00.007-05:00

Just don’t try this at home- especially my home. Did I mention how good the deep fried turkey was? And only 40 minutes from salmonella to carving board!

Red, white and male

2008-11-05T17:31:00.009-05:00

I don’t like to go on about politics, so I will just say no matter whom you voted for, America has taken a huge step forward in electing a black man as it’s President.

Can a woman be far behind?

And can we even look forward to the day when we can stop prefacing the term President with an adjective?

Shake 'n' break

2008-10-30T14:58:00.009-04:00

Just got a copy of the December 2008 Consumer Reports, which features two images from a shoot I did there earlier this year. CR is a truly great place to shoot- a cross between Dr. Emmett Brown’s laboratory and the back room at Costco. A wild place to see and be able to hang out & create fun images.

Photos by Andrea Patton

I can’t wait to get back in there and see more things get baked, watered, bent, crushed, stained, scraped, pulled, pushed, burned, smashed, tortured and destroyed.

And they have a good cafeteria as well ;).

In memoriam

2008-10-15T15:30:00.014-04:00

It is not often I post sad news, but I must mention the passing of my friend, photographer, fellow APA|NY board and longtime Success Team member Susan San Giovanni, on October 9, 2008 after a long illness.

Her sometimes sardonic wit, calm demeanor and ability to cut to the quick of things will be missed by all of us here in NY, and especially those of us who worked with her. She was never afraid to tell you what she thought of things, and her can do spirit & courage made her a valued member of the NY photo community.

I would post a link to her site to celebrate her work, but unfortunately, her domain lapsed while she was ill, her site is no longer accessible. She did beautiful environmental portraits for corporate, not for profit and music clients- hopefully, someone will be able to post a gallery of some of her best pictures at some point.

Be at peace, Susan. We miss you.

New at Workbook

2008-09-26T18:03:00.009-04:00

Just a quick mention to take a peek at the new Workbook online portal. I have reworked my galleries, arranging them loosely by category, and added a whole new gallery just of images from SHE"S OUT THERE!

Amazon amazing

2008-09-15T15:05:00.014-04:00

The truth can now be told- my book project, “SHE’S OUT THERE! The Next Generation of Presidential Candidates” not only has a publisher- LifeTime Media, but a pub date of April 2009. So you will only have to wait six more months to get your hands on it.

You can go to Amazon and preorder it to avoid the April 15 rush (and don’t worry, the real book will actually have a cover with my photo on ;).

If you can’t wait to see some more shots, you can look here.

Son of

2008-09-02T15:40:00.003-04:00

I finally managed to score a reservation at Ko, albeit on a federal holiday, but hey, I still got to eat, right?

So what was it like? Was it worth the time & effort to gain admittance to the temple? Of course it was…although with this big a buildup, even a Bacchanalian feast would be a let down. Okay, cut to the chase, what did I have?

Among other more pedestrian ingredients, ther was bacon dashi, duck breast, pickled strawberries, pepperonchini broth, corn raviolis with chorizo, Riesling glacis, buttermilk & white miso sauce with poppies, and if I understood correctly, an English muffin toped with whipped pork fat.

It was such a swirl of ingredients, tastes, textures, presentations, not to mention a paired wine, beer and sake, that without taking notes, it is hard to know what was real, and what was an illusion (cue the Moody Blues). I guess I should have taken notes, taken pictures, stayed sober…but I didn’t, so you will just have to take my word, use you imagination, or just get clicking at 10:00:00 AM every morning for a few months to see for yourself.

And I am thinking maybe I should start again & get a jump on that holiday rush…..

Get real

2008-08-07T10:53:00.013-04:00

I was watching my 6 year old play on the computer, while his friends stood next to him looking on.

Why don’t you guys play a real game like Life, or Connect Four,” I said.

“Dad,” said Oliver, “they have Connect Four online.

“Sure,” I said, “but sometimes it is good to touch real plastic.”

Real plastic. I started thinking about the absurdity of that, and how “real plastic” seems like some fancy substance in this digital, virtual world we seem to be living in more and more. Just this morning, I “borrowed” money from a loan account online, and transferred it to my checking account, where it instantly appeared. Wow, I thought, I can create $4,000, and move it through the air from one account to another…but of course I realized that I actually didn’t move anything physical at all, just a credit in one account, and a debit in another. Probably there is no actual money in any of my accounts really- just a big plus in one, and a bigger minus in another on a hard drive somewhere in the world.

So what does this have to do with photography? That there is something missing in this digital photography world, where images only exist as ones or zeros on a hard drive, or plastic disk, and can only be seen with the aid of a electronic liquid crystal display, or printed on an ink jet printer.

Yes, you could argue, previously photography consisted of invisible grains of silver nitrates on a clear plastic substrate, that first needed to be transformed by chemical reactions before anything was visible, but at least when it was developed, you could take the image out of its sleeve, hold it up and see, maybe in a negative form, but a pretty recognizable representation of the image without any mechanical or electronic device.

It was somehow more real than a digital image- more tangible, and also at the same time, more fragile and more unique as this was the actual film that went through your camera at the moment the image was recorded, the film that traveled 10,000 miles with you, the film that was exposed to the light of another hemisphere, perhaps at great personal risk, or expense.

Not a copy of a copy of a transfer from a flash card copy of data copied from a digital sensor manipulated by a bunch of transistors on a circuit board in a camera/computer. This (the film image) was it- take good care of it or there is nothing left.

And I do miss the smell of freshly processed Kodachrome slide film that you used to get when you first opened the little yellow boxes….

SLPS XII aka pool party

2008-08-03T16:53:00.039-04:00

Last night was Slideluck Potshow XII- if you don't know what that is, you are missing a great event.

What was really fun about this one was it was outside, in McCarren Park pool, an abandoned 6 acre, 72 year old swimming pool in Brooklyn. You can read even more about it here.

It's hard to tell if it was really crowded, as when you are standing in a swimming pool- sans water- the size of a city block- well, my block at least- it is hard to feel crowded. The threatening weather held out, even with a few not too distant rumbles of thunder, and just literally 45 seconds of water drops at one point near the beginning of the show.

Due to time constraints, the intermission was virtually non-existent, so it was about two hours straight of images- phew!

As usual, there was a great assortment of things to eat from freshly grilled items, to yours truely's roast vegetable pesto pasta salad to a Polish cheesecake.

And, Calumet was there giving an equipment demo that mainly consisted of shooting attendees in a wading pool full of water, the most appropriate (or inappropriate, depending of your viewpoint) of which was a tall tattooed mermaid wearing practicality nothing. And no, I don't have any pictures of her.

I do, however have a few more of the pool- look a real pool in the pool:

And this "pool" of sorts....

The night is still young.....

Day 59...and counting

2008-07-29T10:14:00.011-04:00

Possibilities...

Disappointment....

An unhappy milestone was reached today as for the 59th straight day, I have failed to land a reservation at Ko.

And yes, eagle eyes, these screen grabs are from earlier in the month. Screen grabs ©2008 momofuku

Is your printer spying on you?

2008-07-24T15:38:00.007-04:00

No, not that nice woman standing in the darkroom, with the smelly hands... I mean your color laser printer may be ratting you out to the FBI. If you are paranoid, or have been cranking out Benjamins lately, read all about it here.

If you still use that old Epson, you are probably safe- for now ;).

Third Wednesday

2008-07-16T22:27:00.014-04:00

I just saw some really great photos at the monthly NY PhotoGroup Salon, from photographers Brian Finke, Eric O'Connell, Eva Mueller, Hugh Kretschmer, Elinor Carucci and the prolific Jay Maisel.

If you don't already know about this group, they meet at 6:30 PM on the third Wednesday of every month (except August) at Soho Photo Gallery, 15 White Street and admission is only $10 to cover the venue.

That's less than the price of a movie, and it's always great just to hang out and see what your contemporaries are doing, especially when it is mostly personal work. Presenters change each month, so there is a wide variety of work shown.

If you want to get a monthly email reminder which also lists the upcoming presenters, just drop a note to Bill Westheimer.

The first issue of WIP is launched

2008-07-08T09:52:00.002-04:00

The first issue of the electronic magazine for creative photography, WIP, which stands for Work In Progress, has been published by Greek photographer/designer Simos Saltiel.

A pair of personal images of mine are featured on page 39, among
many images from a large group of contemporary Greek photographers.

It is very interesting to see the aesthetics & viewpoints of photographers from different countries, although I would be hard pressed to say there is any one dominant style or trend. As soon as I figure out a way to do it, I will enclose a link so you can download it and take a look.

What I did this summer, Part I

2008-07-02T19:55:00.009-04:00

I finally got the website updated- both the Current Work and Personal Projects sections, as well as the main portfolio, and even managed to send out an email blast before the long Fourth of July weekend. Phew! I hope someone is around to even look. I really earned my grilled corn on the cob this Fourth.