Photos that don't play well with others in the sandbox.
Sometimes you create a photo that is fun and pretty cool but somehow does not fit with the other photos that are essentially your recognized brand. These are the photos that don't play well with others. Photographs created with a established client who asks you to help create something different because they trust you. They know you can pull it off. These are those remarkable photos. Examples as to why this business is so much fun.
Storm Troopers
Storm troopers was shot for a major bank. It was a giant leap of faith for them to go in this direction. A high concept shot to illustrate an idea. The creative director and I have worked on a number of large size productions together. He knew we could pull it off. My very first photo shoot I did with him was a grandmother holding a baby. Pretty much what new clients would first hire me for. Now we are shooting it up in outer space airlocks.
Transformation
This was shot within a month after completion of my friend’s cancer treatment. I collaborated with her to illustrate the transformation people go though during a serious illness. No body is the same when they come out on the other end.
Blue Draped Nude #1
Blue Draped Nude is part of a series and experiments that were first conceived when I was in Italy last autumn. The series is the direct result of the beauty and influences that Italy had on me. It was an unintended consequence from my trip. I originally went to Italy to have be a key to unlock certain artistic impulses within my soul. Venice, Florence and the Tuscan countryside offered just the opportunity to unleash some ideas that have been inside me, but it was an unexpected stop in an art gallery in Positano and subsequent visit to Rome that planted a new seed.
I was enthralled with the classic atelier method of painting, plus the allegory found in the paintings of the church and certain classic Italian painting styles. Returning back home these ideas sat inside my subconscious until I was introduced to a new figurative model. With the impetuses to create something with her and working somewhat organically these photos came out of the shoot. I did not think to hard or try intellectualize why I was doing something - I just created. The influence of my trip to Italy is evident in this image. I am not sure if I would have created this image without my experiences last year.
Candace Pulling the Sheets
While working on a two week long woman’s birth control campaign shooting sexually disable woman who wanted to get it on, I'm not kidding. Not a bad way to spend one's time, I had scheduled a photo shoot over the weekend. It was going to be a nude shoot using my iPhone. It was part of a series I was shooting for a fine art gallery show of art created with the iPhone.
The creative director on this birth control project was the only man. All the other team players were woman. I asked him
"How come your on this account? I mean, because you’re a guy."
His reply. "I can wrangle cats."
We hit it off. After our first dinner with the whole team, we split up to much smaller engagements during the evening after our day's work. During that time he and I spent some interesting dinners discussing everything that guys talk about. A mutual trust and respect was built. When I felt safe to tell him about my personal photography project I was doing with my iPhone photographing nudes he became inspired and wanted to be involved.
At the time I was nervous to let many of my Pharma clients know too much about my more sensual photography projects. What I found out was, that they all wanted to hear about it. See the results and support me in some fashion. My upcoming shoot inspired my new creative director friend and he encouraged me to add some kind of tension into the photos. Hot/cold, light/dark.... Something to create tension in the shot. With that in mind I did my shoot over the weekend in my hotel room. With my iPhone, hot lights and thunder grey seamless. Plus two beautiful naked women. With an open mind we all played around and this shot was the one that came out of our session.
This photo went on to be exhibited at the gallery show in the Orange County Center for the Contemporary Arts. Written up in a number of blogs and reviews. Plus featured on AOL. I have to thank to my creative director friend and my acceptance to share my ideas with people. No matter how outside the comfort zone they may feel, he reminded me that it is my responsibility as an artist to inspire people. He's looking for new ideas from photographers, not just people who can fill a need.
Lakota Father
This was shot during my stay on a Lakota reservation while shooting an annual report for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. What makes this image stand out for me is the trust I needed to gain from this man. He was very suspicious of having me photograph him because of past incidents of being taken advantage of. Technically an easy shot, tactfully very difficult, but in the end - he let me in.