Category: art

Phase II Final Assignment called for a revealing self-portrait. One of my classmates who drinks milk and says the white liquid defines her will submit an image of her in front of a milk locker in a grocery store. Me! On the wall hangs a portrait done by Gregory Heisler during orientation in January. Making people see more in themselves as he does defines my quest at Hallmark.

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Phase II finals at Hallmark Institute of Photography. Just about half way through the program. Only recently did I think I was getting it.

Environmental still life. Flowers from Sigda in Greenfield. Potatoes from Fosters in Greenfield. Beer stein from the Salvation Army in Greenfield. Contact paper and drawer lining from the $ store in Greenfield. Blue blotter paper from some stationary store. Total expenditures around $15, not including gas.

My potato head came up with the idea. A kid accompanying his sister on a tour of the commercial studio, turned to his mother and inquired, “isn’t that Mr. Potato Head?” Frenchy replied, “who does it look like, you idiot?” “What’s he doing here,” the kid asked? “I am a photographer.”
But the real problem was that I couldn’d find furniture to scale. Seems like they don’t make furniture for real size dolls anymore. Wanted a TV or a computer to throw light. Settled for strobes. Gels colored the set too strongly, so I post processed in Lightroom3.

Never did anything like this before.

So, the story goes that Heisler’s luggage lost its way on some unnamed airline on the way North Carolina via Atlanta to photograph some big ticket exec. Knowing the complications of rescheduling, he and his assistant stopped at a Home Depot and bought a flourescent fixture, two daylight tubes and a shower curtain. They did the shot with a kit that cost less than a C note. Now he teaches lighting, using the same setup, albeit one attached to a light stand by a knuckle and a grill painted black.

 

 

wowe. my latest and greatest master of photography

inspired by august sander, the inventor of the environmental photo, sorry, arnold

Don’t be afraid, dude. If you can do it, do it.

Heisler lectured in the morning on Tonality by showing the works of several photographers, some known to me, and some new to me: Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Julia Margaret-Cameron, Irving Penn, Charles Sheeler, Grant Mudford, Ralph Gibson, Edward and Brett Weston,  Edward Weston, Karsh and someone named Missone. He loves them all and decribed, with youthful glee and enthusiasm, their works and how they use blacks and whites to make their images.

Needed to shoot something to clear my head and refocus. Watching the masters can sometimes make you feel that you have nothing to add, so why bother.

Went outside. Warm and bright. No Adams like mountains or Avedon models to shoot. Greg was on his way to lunch. He stopped and pointed to the warehouse across the street and said, “looks like a Mumford to me.” I had thought about it, but there was ice between me and a good shot. I trudged through the snow to avoid the slippery pavement, took my shot and went back for lunch.

I imitated, for sure, but why else do we look at the past?