recently shot: BTS at Jill Draper Makes Stuff

Just out-of-the-dye-vats yarn in Jill Draper Makes Stuff studio!

Here's Jill dyeing. If you want to know what her work day is like, check out her profile on Etsy's Quit Your Day Job feature recently. When I was contacted to photograph her for it, I was thrilled.  You want me to spend the day behind the scenes with one of my favorite artist dyers and see how the magic happens? Yes, please! 

Of course, I know it is hard work, not waving a wand.  It's her eye for color, and choices about yarns and her overall vision that is magical. It's running a business, and figuring out inventory and ordering and marketing and shipping and planning what turned out to be a stupendously popular open house in October, and juggling all the balls. Despite our photo shoot needing to happen in the week leading up to her biggest show of the year, Jill was a wonderful subject.

It's invasive to have a photographer and her assistant in your face- and personal space- all day. Setting up lights, climbing up ladders to get a better view, asking you to ride your bike down the street a thousand times for the camera...when all you really want to do is get back to work for real.

Recipe book. These kinds of peeks into how others spend their days is the thing I love about my job. No surprised that my favorite book as a kid was Harriet the Spy.  On days like this one, where my subject is also someone I love to work with (and be a customer of, I mean, really, you need to look at her shop if you are not familiar with her yarn and fiber), well....I have to feel pretty lucky. 

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Jill is also a client of mine, have you seen her Rural Renewal collection of designs? Later this month I'll do a BTS on shooting that collection for her last summer. I've got plans for this daily blogging thing. Stay tuned!

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If you enjoyed thepost, check me out occasionally on my knit blog She Shoots Sheep Shots.

nash island photos in pop up shop

January 13-18 at lf8elevate , 80 east 7th street

New year, new adventures !


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

magazine assignment: artist Denyse Schmidt

On assignment for a Japanese magazine with artist Denyse Schmidt, internationally recognized as a leader in modern quilt art, and for her textile design. I love shooting people in their workspaces. What a pleasure!

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for more images of real people in real places, visit my website - or give me a shout.

new year, new faces

Hey there, it is 2014! You know that saying: start as you mean to go on? That's what I'm doing. The year kicked off with a shoot for one of my return clients, the U.S. Department of Education. They've sent me to photograph in a storytelling style at schools before, and it is always a good adventure. This time I was at a high school in Tampa, FL. My mission: show the engagement of students & administration, at a city school that's gone from deeply troubled to successful in the past few years.

ROTC kids posted outside to meet us at 7:30 am. So sweet and serious.

Students connecting to the work, to each other, and to their school .

 

The principal and committed teachers walking the talk.

 

 

This one isn't strictly part of the story.  Teen style, I love it. Hair bows!  

it's still all about the light

More and more I love the backlight.

Carrots, Maine. September .

Although, when it's just right, the front light is pretty damn good, too. More about the location and shoot below, here.

Downeast Maine blueberry barren location. June.

oh Maine. Way to steal a location photographer's heart, every time.

it's always fine weather for location work

There was a drive-in movie where I grew up, every September this appeared on their marquee:
"Closed for the Season. Reason: Freezin'" . 

Not so for commercial location photographers. Like me. We keep shooting, even if the calendar says springtime and the thermometer disagrees.  Last week, it was all about photographing knitwear fashion, for my wonderful client, Green Mountain Spinnery. At least there was a little wool involved. Brrrr!

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See more behind-the-scenes from this project, over on my knitblog SheShoots Sheep Shots.
And more wool, often on the hoof, over on my website, in the She Shoots Sheep Shots portfolio.

my (recent) checkered past

A few peeks at this Pinterest board celebrating gingham, by fiber artist/stylist/designer Mary Jane Mucklestone, and I caught the textile virus. Next thing I know, I'm shooting this job in Washington DC.......

 I was supposed to be photographing the kindergarten field trip to the Capitol.

 All I saw was the gingham.

 You can see more of my educational work (but not  more gingham) in my corporate/ institutional portfolio, over on my website.

RIP Phyllis Diller: a photo shoot to remember

A decade ago I was assigned to shoot a portrait of Phyllis Diller, the great comedian. I walked in to her hotel suite at the arranged time.  No fuss, no publicist.   Just me, my assistant and her famous big laugh. After talking for a few minutes, one thing was clear. Phyllis Diller was a brilliant woman. Trained as a concert pianist, she became a comedian to support her family, at a time when women just didn't do that. All the domestic ineptness, over-the-top shtik? A persona. Phyllis Diller was a performance artist, before we knew what that was.

She was wearing a perfectly tailored royal blue suit. After making some photos in the sitting area, we decided to play around with the location--a large suite at a spa hotel. A fluffy robe was borrowed from the gift shop, my assistant  overfilled a bath with bubbles, Ms Diller made a wardrobe  change.  Somewhere in the mix, I found myself standing there talking to her, in a marble and brass bathroom, with my camera in one hand and her bra in the other. I'm glad to say I had the presence of mind to stop and just appreciate the moment, before we started shooting again.

What an honor.  Rest in peace, Ms Diller.

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See more portraits of brilliant people (some funnier than others) on my website.

the wait

A few months ago--6 to be precise- I was in Minneapolis for a few days photographing for a new book of knitwear designs.  It was a joy of a shoot.  And it's a beaut of a book.

Working with the Wear With All creative team was what the joy was all about --from the big concepts, to the marathon photo shoot, to the very last detail.  Not to mention the post-shoot celebratory local beer and tater tots dinner.

 

detail from Stole by Theresa Gaffey

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More  photos of wooly subjects over on my website , in the She Shoots Sheep Shots portfolio.

verrrry pinteresting*

I'd like to be the braggy early adopter, but in truth, I am more of a 2nd waver.   I joined Pinterest in late 2010. It was quirky, below the radar and totally visual.  I liked pinning what made me happy, not what might be good for my so-called social media presence: DIY projects, typefaces, places I want to visit, images with light that made me swoon, and over-the-top craft gestures.

This image of mine is all over the boards on Pinterest, with nary a photo credit. 

Baaaaad pinning. (and punning.)

On the downside are people who pin to blatantly promote themselves, or a political agenda (esp, ahem, one I disagree with), or scary points of view, like praise for anorexia.  There's also, sometimes, a downward spiral of conformity.  Witness the many many weird naked newborns photoshopped heavily and wearing ginormous knit headgear. (And I say this as someone who loves all of these elements but please god, not together.)

Anyway, now Pinterest has hit the big time, commercialization is imminent. Word is out. And you know what else is out? Linking credit to the creators. You can diligently (but not always reliably) click back to the source, but face it, how much diligence is going around these days? Watermarks (yuck)  aren't the answer if our work is being pinned from a publication, like a book or magazine or website that isn't our own. The answer? I don't know. But I'm trying my best to give credit, and to pass it on.

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see more sheep & farm & wool & fuzziness on my website, in the she shoots sheep shots portfolio

*yes! the title is a Hogan's Heroes reference.

peace conflict

I want to choose the perfect photo for you. Something for the season. Something with some meaning, maybe unusual. Or funny. Or, though it's not usually my thing, breathtakingly beautiful. Something just right. 

I've been saving this image all year but, now that it's the right time, I'm thinking it's a little odd.  

 Wishing you a season of love, a new year of prosperity, and a clarity of vision. 

P E A C E

collaboration: a beautiful thing

You know what aspect of my new book Craft Activism (Random House/PotterCraft) I might be proudest of? My title. I'm the photographer but I am also co-author.  That's CO-AUTHOR!

The two of us, uncharacteristically on the same coast.

Not that I mind coming in to shoot & illustrate a fully conceived project. I'm fine with being "just the photographer".  But  it is very cool to be co-creator of the whole shebang. Especially with Joan Tapper as the writer.

 

What's a new book without it's own blog? www.craftactivism.com

Stop by there for list of events/booksignings.

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(If you're  in CT, you can stop by and see me at RJ Julia Oct 11, 7pm. )

northward bonus

This is my favorite place to eat in Montpelier Vermont. It's  tiny and delicious, with cooking as artisanal as food can get.  If a client hadn't taken me here earlier this year, I'd never have found it.  So if you're up that way--don't overlook the little side street storefront.  Thrilled to have a shoot in Montpelier as an excuse to see what''s on their menu. Extra thrilled to do so more than once this month, as I'm back north for a corporate portrait / annual report client.  I  heart location photography.

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see more of my signs, storefronts & Hipstamatic images on my here, there & everywhere portfolio

what it takes

 

An awesome crew to make a woman's mag shoot day with sucky weather in Darien CT turn out  fine.

(L to R: Laren Clark for hair/ makeup, Susan Falzone photo asst, our good sport subject, and stylist April Spicer)

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and lots of encouraging words....ok 90% are them are "good" and 8 % are "gooooooood!"   (thanks Susan Falzone for grabbing the video)

A porch with a chair or two at the end of the day. Maybe with some wine. Just saying. (later in the week, in Montpelier VT)

and a wonderful client to test stand in for the CEO. Jazz hands, optional.

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see more location photography, indoor & out, at my website and Dripbooks

bright ideas

It's taken me a month--a month!- to digest the brain-filling weekend I spent in Chicago at the ASMP SB3 photographers' conference. S for Strictly B for Business. There was none of that silly what-lens-didja-use photo talk. Instead, much vision, humor, creativity, mutual respect, talent, a little supercool futurist stuff, some local 312 beer, friends, SEO talk... ideas and more ideas.

Maybe what I liked best was the tone set by keynote speaker Colleen Wainwright. You read her, right? (I mean you read her, Wainwright?) She's online as the Communacatrix.

Her mantra for us, to be successful in marketing ourselves by being true to our passions and vision is a simple list:

• be useful

• be specific

• be nice

A good recipe for being successful as a human as well as a photographer, yes?

If you're wondering about the lamp posts, they're an art installation outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Driving by last year after a long day of shooting, I wasn't sure what to do with it. But couldn't not stop, get out and make some photos. You know how that is.

ps  This link to the museum takes you to their online archive of public domain artworks, available for your personal non-commercial use. Go forth and artify your blog!

see more of my photos  from here , there and everywhere
at my website Gale Zucker Photography

last frame, Port Jeff shoot

Stuck on our magazine shoot set after school,  watching their mom (our subject) at the end of a long grey day. As avid Top Model fans, they knew how to take over art direction ! Smize, everyone.

contrast

Gotta say this about Bobo, he exposes well.

Our old dog has so much long black hair, he sucks in all the light. No shadow detail at all. Photographer's nightmare.

timeline

One of three images I'm exhibiting & donating to the Arts Council of Greater New Haven fundraiser, Somewhat Off the Wall. I like supporting local arts organizations. Used to be I'd spend a whole day or so in the darkrooom making just the right prints for this annual event.
But this image was made simply. I'm not even going to talk about how simply.  I was feeling guilty about how little processing & fussing went on. Then I thought, maybe it's not the time in front of the monitor today but the years getting ready to see this moment.
Oooooooooh. Only Zoltar knows.

mixed feelings

 San Antonio TX street, fiesta April 2010

There's a point where you realize that a good image is a good image, and a mediocre one isn't going to become a good image.  You can (in the olden days) tone, burn, hand color, or lift the emulsion & transfer it to watercolor paper. Nuh-uh, it's just not going to become a good image.

Or you can (nowadays), photoshop the bejeepzis out of it: liquify, sketchify, desaturate to black & white, watercolorize- and , yeah, same result.

So that brings me, guiltily,  to my beloved Hipstamatic app. I can't stop shooting this. I admit, it's a gimmick.  I instantly mimic the artsy plastic cameras with light leaks, and the polaroid transfers and the emulsion lifts from the past.  No yucky chemicals or complete darkness or time wasted working up the process. 

 San Antonio TX, wall at Titos,  April 2010

Truth is, making an imitation arty piece most times only looks like imitation art.

But it sure is fun to keep trying.

H2 Ohhhhhhhhhh

So, a magazine asked me to photograph an accomplished MIT hydrogeologist, preferably in some water.  I thought-bingo!- those crazy monsoon rains battering us last week were so in my favor.

you have to keep in mind the water is cold. very cold. he should be wincing.

My subject suggested we go out to the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where a walkway normally crosses a  full open pond. Except, the pond is so full, it has taken over the parking lot.

 

Ok, what care we?  It's water.  We are there for water. We wade in. First on the rocks, then straight in.

Our subject puts on waders, I'd asked him to go waist deep, he's game. My asst and I roll up our jeans and follow to stay close, on the edge of where the scientist steps down to chest level.  Fabulous! Sun, blue sky, good natured professor.  We take out  strobes and shoot some fill, handing them back & forth above the water. Joking, heh heh about electrocuting the marine life if we fumble  and the HV pack goes  into the pond. But we really don't need the juice. The gold reflector is perfect.
Seeing as I like a low angle,  I squat down, just grazing the water.  I hear a splash.  Right near my pocket. My compact flash card wallet, taking a dive 2 feet down.  Nooooooooo!  Filled with 10 compact flash cards.

No lost images from this shoot , they were all in the camera on a large card but, still, that's a lot of sodden gigs. Having an MIT hydrogeologist (dude knows water) advise me to soak them in rubbing alcohol and then seal them in a bag with dry rice was, if not reassuring, at least a plan.

And it took my mind off this fella, who first joined us on a rock.

And then hissing at us, in the water.

Moral of the story: if you have an asst who is over 6 feet tall carrying a secure bag for you into water, place the compact flash wallet in his care. Also: watch out for snakes.