FATHOM + HATCH presents: Made From Scratch
I am one of the judges tonight at the Fathom + Hatch event.
LAST 10 MINUTES
The New Jeni’s Splendid Video
Jeni’s Spendid Ice Cream just posted a video we made for them, front and center on their new website. This video documents my obsession with Jeni – capturing the spirit of what makes Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream so amazing. So many stories I have worked on begin with my being obsessed with another person who is equally possessed with their work. I kept trying Jeni’s ice cream at the little stand at the Short North Market in Columbus. The flavors killed, and kept changing each visit. All inspired and brilliant and amazingly yummy. I tracked Jeni down, we became friends, and I have shot many pictures for her these past few years. There is an unspoken passion for our work that we share and it feeds our relationship. For this video, we focused solely on how all of the fresh ingredients, the people putting them together, and the scoopers, make those of us lucky enough to lick all over her amazing concoctions so stinking happy.
This is my first live video. I was not super happy when I shot it last summer – thought more about what was missing than what was here. We put up the Cherry Lambic video – which was a single miraculous outtake, and put the rest to bed for awhile. A month ago, Stephie and David woke the project back up, found a great song and gave it all form. We went back and shot a little bit more, and now you have it.
As always… thanks to Stephie who sees these projects so clearly and is so amazing at completing the story (both the video and my own story…). Thanks also to David Mishler who has developed such great skill in constructing our projects in Final Cut – allowing us to find our voice.
06.08.11 Posted in Personal Work, Uncategorized, Videos
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Best Day Ever
Stephie did this watercolor last night as I was writing this post on the floor of her studio.
My family has always been predisposed to hyperbole. It is the way we live our lives. Best movie, best concert, best meal, best lovin’ EVER!
Yesterday I had to pick up a rental camera and lens for the weekend (my best cameras are getting a week at the Canon camera spa.) I got the small case and took a taxi to Penn Station. Grabbed a sandwich. Then, “Oy Vey. Holy Cow. Oh my God!” I left that camera bag in the taxi. Did not get the receipt. The train home was about to leave. Have to pray to the camera gods for a moment between New York and Newark.
Flashback 4 years ago when we moved to Maplewood. About a month after we bought the house, it was a glorious summer day, and I decided to come home on the train early in the afternoon. The train was mostly empty. I had decided to bring my whole camera case and put it on the rack above the seats. The ride was really beautiful, dreamy. When I got off in Maplewood, I was in the best mood. Stephie who was 6 months pregnant with Jackson was picking me up. As the train pulled away, I realized I had left the camera case on the train. It had everything I owned – almost $75,000 worth of stuff. I went to the car and told Stephie I needed to drop her off at home, that I had to drive to Dover (which was the end of the line). I had never been to Dover, but I decided not to speed. If I got a ticket I would totally lose it. After a half hour or so, I pulled into Dover and found the train station, which was closed. No one was around. Nothing. I parked the car, walked up to the tracks just as a train was pulling in really slowly. I peeked in, no one was on the train. No passengers. No conductors. This could not have been my train. I decided to check anyhow. I had been in a car somewhere in the middle of the train, so I picked out a car about there to look into.
The train slowly halted and the doors opened. I stepped into the random car I had chosen and there on the rack was my camera case. No one was around. I left the train, the doors closed behind me, and the train pulled out of the station.
Last night the phone rang. The taxi driver called from the Bronx with the camera bag I had left in his taxi that afternoon.
Best Day. EVER!
05.20.11 Posted in Uncategorized
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So What?!
I have always resisted holding up my work and saying, “check this out!” I have never wanted to hang prints in a gallery – too static. Never wanted to publish a retrospective of greatest hits –still growing too fast. Never wanted to share the personal work – thought it was personal. Never wanted to show the commercial work – it is made for a specific context. Never wanted to look back, always wanted to look ahead. My ego never needed the spotlight.
Portfolios have never worked for me. 20 or 30 still images that told my story? Our shootings are too much about rhythm, discovery, improvisation – too much fun to whittle it down to single images. Categories all seemed random – corporate, celebrity, kids – so so boring.
Then the ipad came out. The first time I held it and saw my images glow it was a real “aha” moment. Then came two necessary bits of luck.
First – I called Subalehka Udayasankar. She had designed a lovely ipad app for another photographer, that was very much like a web site retooled for the ipad. At our first meeting, just as Sub was about to tell me she could not replicate what she had done, I told her I wanted something that was completely different. An app that took advantage of the ipad navigation, it’s closed environment, it’s touch and glow. I wanted something that was fun and could mix it up. I wanted something that both felt familiar and was completely new.
Second – We had a second child pregnancy situation. The baby was due in mid October, but I was warned by the mid-wives that it would come much faster than Jackson. “It might come so fast you could go to the market and come home to a new baby!!!”
I wound up with three weeks in September clinging very close to home. I decided to create an exercise playing with my images. I made up a bunch of random categories with my crew and Stephie. I then stayed up late many nights dumping images from every part of my work into the buckets.
I found the threads that ran through everything – the commercial work, the personal work – and everything in between. It was a revelation. This was much more interesting than organizing work by shootings or events. It allowed me to edit much more like my life is, and how my work actually evolves. It felt freeing and it was fun.
Then Asher was born. He came fast, but we did make it to the hospital. Over the next two months we pushed and tweaked the app. The ipad is a very specific device that is still relatively new. We needed to invent a way of navigating that was intuitive. Sub kept updating my ipad from the developers software and we tested it on strangers sitting next to us on the plane, our mothers, friends, clents….strangers were best.
Finally, we pulled the app out of the oven and let it cool in the window. We then packed it up and sent it to Apple for approval. When we were flying out to LA this week we got the word. It is live in the itunes store.
So check it out. Swipe away. Let us know what you think. The good and the bad.
02.10.11 Posted in Uncategorized
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