(Click the images to see them full size).
Concord Records flew me out to Malibu to photograph the amazing jazz pianist, Peter Cincotti a few years ago for an article which was to appear in JazzTimes magazine. I much prefer to shoot on location, and to travel light, so rather than rent a studio we went for a more extemporanious look. Luckily, I'd had time to do a location scout in the morning. Peter's publicist, Jo Foster, and I had picked out several areas along the beach, and just off it that looked promising for some good photography. Things were going well, and we were moving from one location to another when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two cyclists whizzing along the beach path. I didn't even have time to tell Peter I was about to shoot... just quickly raising my camera and triggering the shot. Luckily, I had a little fill flash set into the camera, otherwise he'd have been completely backlit (like the cyclists). I never had the time to adjust anything, other than make the composition. The magazine loved the image so much that they ran it double truck... my first! The record lable loved it too, and that led to a significant licensing fee. Sometimes you just have to shut up and shoot!
I took the above photograph at a wedding last year. Again, we were moving from one location to another, and a moment arose which had to be captured. This time, I was less fortunate with the camera settings, and really under-exposed the image. Thankfully, I'd been shooting in RAW, instead of JPEG, so I was able to dig the image out of the dirt.
It's a wonderful moment. I even feel that the extra noise and color distortion caused from having to really push the digital negative, actually adds a little to the drama. When you're on a shoot, you have to be constantly aware of your subjects. I know that sounds a little like the blindingly obvious, but you'd be surprised at what you will miss if you don't pay close attention! Even if your camera is on the wrong settings... Shoot, and ask questions later.... because you'll never be able to replicate the moment.
It's those fleeting, natural reactions on a person's face which make the difference between the controlled, technically perfect image where your subject is giving you what they want to give you, or what they think you want to see, rather than what it is inside them which makes them who they are. It is the latter that we should all be striving for.
Another note: ALWAYS shoot in RAW, because you never know when the shot is coming.
Ok.... this one's slightly different. I took the above image on an air-to-air sortie over Ottawa, the Canadian capital. This was early on in my shooting career, and I was second fiddle on this flight. The main photographer was shooting from the waist position, and I was in the tail of the old B-25, photographing through a huge, man-sized hole where the rear guns had once been. I'd had my chance to get some stunning head on shots, which really worked, but only of the aircraft individually and not the main event, which was to get the WWII Spitfire fighter plane in formation with the modern Canadian Air Force CF-118 Hornet fighter (something which had never been done before). I was lying down in the tail of the photo-ship, and could just see the rear of the other aircraft from my position, but not the whole frame... it was infuriating to be so near to a wonderful shot, and yet, not be able to take it. In a fit of frustration, I stuck my arms out of the back of the aircraft, and pointed the camera in the general direction where I thought my subject aircraft would be. The slipstream was well away from where my arms were (I'd tested it), so I had no fear of the camera being ripped from my grasp, thankfully. Anyway, I chimped away, taking a few pictures, then checking to see my composition, and repeating until I figured out where to point my camera... and took this shot. The two aircraft perfectly frame the Canadian parliament buildings in the background, and I couldn't really have composed the image that much better had I tried.
Sometimes you have to take a calculated risk to get the shot you want. Although this particular image didn't run in the magazine article, it is one of the pilots' favorite shots, and gave me a great deal of credibility for future work, but more importantly to me, it led to some wonderful friendships which I still carry today.
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