nickjohnson
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JWilsonphoto wrote:
Did I ever tell you all about the assignment that I had in Tuscaloosa one January? I don't think I've had a project that was as big a production since. The subject was a nice home in a pretty, rolling subdivision in the Tuscaloosa area. This was for ELK (now GAF) Roofing. The end product was to be featured in the annual report and in a high end marketing piece for a new product roll out, so it was high priority. Anyway, it's January in Tuscaloosa.........much better than January in Wisconsin, but the dead of winter none the less. I flew in a couple of days before the actual shoot to help determine what all needed to be done to make things perfect. I had a landscape company bringing green trees from Florida, another company from California that specialized in Hollywood productions, their job was to "paint" the grass twice a day to make it look like spring green lush. There was an additional landscape/nursery company who brought flowers and non dormant bushes in as needed each day and mulched the beds every morning. The place was crawling with workers, then everyone would vanish the the light was perfect, click, click, then the refresh would begin anew. The assignment lasted a week, fortunately we didn't have snow, but the lawn painting crew from California said they could fix it if we did. No telling what the final tab was for that week, but I know it was well over $100K, my measly fee just got lost in all of that ......... , I'm sure it was less than the catering bill.
Now that I think of it, the whole thing was shot on 4x5 and Hasselblad and it was too cold for the Polaroids to develop properly so I was trusting my gut on exposure. Much of it was shot from a 65' telescoping boom lift with a 10' basket on the end for me. No digital preview screen, no back up and all that money flowing out. How in the world did we ever sleep until the film was processed in those days? So much riding on experience and instinct, and Photoshop was barely a gleam in Adobe's eye so retouching was astronomical, it was called emulsion stripping in those days. How things have changed. I suppose I'd still be shooting if technology had not advanced in our industry, but I can't imagine it. I grabbed my old Gitzo 4x5 tripod a few weeks ago for that PBR time-lapse project, man, I thought I was lugging a phone pole, just ridiculous, but I didn't know any better for 25 years at least. Carbon Fiber..........ahhhhh! So much has changed, what. miracle! ...Show more →
Fascinating! So you and gardening / Hollywood go back a bit!
May I ask about the vision thing? I’ve been musing about what artists have / do as compared to what the rest of us (e.g. me) don’t have / don’t do. Now I’m not talking just about photography or even visual stuff – rather, just the whole thing – music, drama, etc. So, for the moment I figure the difference is vision. By vision, I mean having some notion of what the presented result might look like, prior to pressing the shutter release. Demonstrably, you have an artistic vision that extends to the complete packaging of your client’s project(s). So in my terms, that’s a highly developed sense of vision. Can you say a few words about how that sense of vision came about? How it developed? Eureka moments or subliminal evolution? For the avoidance of doubt, and the benefit of casual visitors, I’m not asking for anything of a commercial nature or for a fast track to avoid doing the necessary work for myself.
For my part, I started “proper” photography about 10 years ago. Digital enabled me to learn (very slowly!) and I resolved to just blast away without trying to figure out why I was taking a particular picture. Yes, the instant feedback on the back of the camera helped develop technical skills, but anything beyond that occurred (if at all) whilst I reviewed the wreckage on my computer. I also resolved to never delete anything. Yes, I have it all – the perfectly exposed study of the inside of the car boot (trunk), the perfectly composed shot of my toe caps stood in a puddle, and so on. Now, 200K frames later I’m beginning to see glimpses of a vision. Occasionally, I see a finished picture before I press the shutter button. I’m even “seeing” some stuff as B&W, and exceptionally, as a print – with a clear idea of what type of paper is needed! It’s all a bit of a shock! Better yet, some of the old stuff I gave up on has developed a new life! To be sure, after 200K frames you’d kinda hope that there was something (anything!) half way decent. Such is the measure of my progress. I guess it’s the lot of all aspiring artists – we may not enjoy much success – but we always enjoy 100% of the angst!
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