I like to line things up

Room 1207, 32nd St and Broadway, NYC (click/enlarge)

Do you think that’s kinda RainMan? I like things to be straight. I also like things to be divisible by four, whenever possible.

This picture looks like something Timothy Archibald would post on his blog. I’ve never even met Timothy Archibald, but I’m betting he’s a good guy.

God, looking at that picture, you’d think I was staying in a Russian prison.

Last-minute NYC trip to see friends

So I hopped on a Southwest flight to Islip on Thursday, to see some friends and to have the courage to venture into Javits again for Photo East. Weather has been amazing; unusually warm for this time of year. I spent the day yesterday with some friends, and then walked over to Javits this morning. I wanted to see the new Leica S2 camera, and maybe even the Sinar 65. Roger Gibbs texted me during the day, and he showed me these amazing little books from Pikto.

Random things:

1. After all these years of arguing with Joerg Colberg of Conscientious, we finally met last night. He was out with the wild man Rob Haggart and Andrew Hetherington, and even though I thought I was in for the night, they harrassed me til I hopped in a cab and met at this German beer garden. It was fun to meet Joerg and Rob for the first time. Andrew was great, as usual. I pulled out the Hassie at the end of the night, (to try to one-up the Dan Winters portrait on Rob’s site), and a writer at the table was shocked that “you had to wind the camera”, as if the Hasselblad was a Deardorff with collodion or something. How quickly that digital has taken over this culture! If I got anything sharp of Andrew or Rob, I’ll post it later. No light in the garden even at 800 asa. Either it was me moving, (or maybe Rob). I presented Rob with his Business Plan that would set him for life, but he was not in the mood to talk serious business. And the big question of the night was: “Who’s taller: Rob or Joerg?” I felt like that famous little tiny point guard on that one NBA team.

2. Here’s a random frame from 36th street today, across the street from Javits. A guy stops and feeds the birds. Pardon the iPhone quality:

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3. And then, later, walking home, you get that classic wonderful New York moment, when, after so much time spent here, you see a building that you’ve never seen, and it knocks you down. Corner of 36th, and Broadway. The iphone photo doesn’t do it justice — massive columns, completely majestic:

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4. And a quick snapshot inside the show: fine fellow Yair Shahar, from Leaf in London, with Billy Jim, (and Baxter the wonder dog), (who goes everywhere with Billy), and Roger Gibbs, at the Leaf booth.

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5. Roger carried me over to the Pikto booth. It’s a new company similar to Asuka, Blurb, and Fastback, but with great prices, nice papers, and a great matte finish option for their covers.

6. Spent most of the day trying to decipher the differences between the Afi Leaf body, and the Sinar Hy6, and the Rolleiflex body. They all seem relatively the same at first, but once you dig deeper, there are lots of differences.

Sidenote: The shocker of the day is that the Sinar 65 and the Emotion 75 will fit onto my old-timey Hasselblad 203FE, with an adapter plate. I thought no back other than the Hassie CFV would fit onto my camera. The downside is that you’ve got to have a cable between the back and the body but I might learn to deal with that. $18,000 for the Sinar 65, plus $2k for the plate. Not bad at all.

Anyway, back to Hy6: The Leaf back has this wheel that rotates the chip, inside the back, whereas with the Sinar back, you simply grab the back and rotate the back. You don’t even have to press a button, like you did with the old Fuji 680 film back, when you went from horizontal to vertical.

While the Leaf back has the somewhat sexy option of wifi-ing to the Iphone, and the Sinar does not, I left there liking the Sinar rotating back much better than the Leaf design. I just have a fear that I’d shoot a shot with the back in the wrong orientation with the Leaf design. With the Sinar, it’s easier to just look down at the back and see the orientation of the LCD, either horizontal or vertical. With the Leaf, you have to look at this tiny icon. To me, advantage Sinar. The Sinar was around $25k for the body, the 80, and the 65 back. The back they had was not a final firmware back, and it wasn’t operating properly, (which gave me pause), but they promise to be shipping by December of this year. The LCD was large and tight on the Sinar65; easily as good as the 1ds3. (The Leaf LCD was not nearly as good as the Sinar).

Then, we ventured over to the end wall of Javits, and we found this company, Direct Source Marketing, that imports the Rollei verison of the Hy6. They were so out of the way that I wondered if it was some fly by night company, under the radar, like some rogue camera importers or something. They were showing the 90 finder, which is SWEEET, with a beautiful large image, (though distorted slightly like the H1 finder). But the image magnification in the 90 finder was much larger than the 45 finder. This company was also showing the completed 6×6 film back (!); it shoots 120 or 220; just move the setting one way or the other. 6×6 film, or 645 digital, all in one camera solution.

Wow, sorry, this post turned somewhat geeky, but I’m still looking for a way to migrate back to MF digital for commercial jobs. I’m just not a 35 Guy.

My real apprehension about Sinar is the reputation for spotty service and support in the USA. I mentioned that to the rep guy, and he says they’re working on it, making changes. Time will tell.

7. File this one under “The Economy Sucks”. When you’ve got a situation where a booth rental inside of Javits is big-time money, but your budget is down, what do you do? Here’s what you do — you take that golf kart out of your garage, and slap some Home Depot shelving on it, print out some logos on your Epson printer, and you convert it to a camera store! Park it on the sidewalk in the front door of Javits, bring some rolls of quarters to feed the meters, and you win the award for “Most Inventive Booth”:

Welcome Home, Enjoy Your Stay

Church Outdoor Board next to Freeway, Bowling Green, Kentucky (click/enlarge)

So I’m driving to see my mother on Sunday, to try to not talk to her about the stock market, and Fox News, and the like, and I’m entering the city limits, and it’s a beautiful day, and the sun is out, and an old Bob Dylan record is playing in the car, and Clyde is asleep in the back, and THEN, that damn billboard slaps me in the face, again. That same billboard that always greets me as I enter the city limits. But this time, I say, screw it, i’m gonna photograph that thing so maybe I won’t see it again. What a buzzkill for a nice Sunday morning.

(Added Oct 17th:) You can barely see the church, right next to the outdoor board. Even weirder, right next to the outdoor board is this really old cemetery, and I mean like ten feet away. The cemetery has one of those victorian wrought iron fences around it; it feels like the Salem Witch Trials or something. Don’t you just know that the Chamber of Commerce loves that — you’re pulling into the city, and this is what greets you. Open arms embracing new visitors.

You can just imagine what the church is like inside — a massive congregation of disgruntled citizens, scowling their way thru the hymns every Sunday morning. No smiles, no joy; only maintaining their single focus on telling women what they can and can’t do with their own bodies.

Stressful Dreams for Stressful Times

I always wonder what other people dream. I’m also curious when I dream the same dream over and over; like it’s lodged in my brain like a Mexican burrito or something. Stuck. Here are the two dreams that I dream over and over and over, although the first one might now stop:

A) My dogs are going to get run over by a truck. So it’s always me, alone, on some sidewalk in some city, and off in the distance I can see either my cocker spaniel, Clyde, or my old blue heeler, Dottie. They’re always about a block and a half away — far enough that I can’t get to them, but close enough for me to see them. I watch them as they bob in and out of traffic, kinda like that Eddie Murphy scene in “Bowfinger” when he’s on the freeway, but maybe the traffic is not so fast. There are always multiple close calls, where I see her disappear behind a car, but always always, the car would never hit her, and she’d always emerge. I’ve had one variation or another of this dream for maybe twenty times.

B) The commercial photo session dream. This dream, like the other, always takes on slightly different content, but the overriding feeling is one of stress and anxiety. I call it “the photo session that can never get going”. It usually starts out fine, and it’s me, and about four assistants, and some band, or talent, and we get to the first Location, and we start unloading the grip truck, and they start setting up silk frames, and the light is fine, but I know that the good light won’t last forever, so that’s when the stress starts. At that point, everyone sorta slows down, and things begin to happen that get in the way of me actually shooting the first picture. Maybe someone says, “Hey, let’s eat something”, or “let’s go look at that location over there”, or any number of diversions that prevent me from actually beginning the session. At some point, I realize that about six hours has passed, and instead of it being 10am, it’s now 4pm, and we haven’t even shot the first polaroid yet. I look around me, but no one cares — everyone’s having a good time, but in a real slow motion kinda way. So I’m stressed to the gills now, thinking that the whole damn job is going down in flames, and I won’t even have one setup to show anyone.

I’ve had that dream maybe twenty times too. Different content, but always the same “4pm and we haven’t done squat” sort of feeling.

Cremating a dog: Very surreal

So a few days have passed, and I finally get the nerve to drive over to the vet’s office and pick up the ashes. I walk in and ask, and they reach up on this shelf, where there are above five or six identical purple gift bags, like something you’d get at Macy’s. They go thru them and find Dottie, and gently hand me the bag. I pay the tab, thank them, and leave. How bizarre.

So the bag sits on my kitchen counter for about another three days before I open it. Hell, I can’t even look in the bag, let alone remove the case. But finally, I did — a hard white plastic container that weighed about three pounds. (She weighed 28 in real life). But that’s as far as I’ve gotten — no idea if I should do anything with them. A friend of mine showed me her grandmother’s ashes once; they’d been stored in her father’s house for years. I think they even lost them for a short period.

So surreal. Those are coins in the photo, sitting beside her case. Click to enlarge, for scale.

Saturday: Children’s Theatre and Doll Hospital

I have decided that if I ever have business cards printed again, it will read: Mark Tucker, Face Collector. Is that too shallow a goal in life? Why is it that I can sit and stare at an interesting face for so long? (Scroll down for photos).

So, I get up early on Saturday morning and try to seek out some ASA 400 220. Rehearsal for my friends Brent and Diana’s daughter was to begin at nine am, at our local quaint little Belcourt Theatre. Their daughter, Maya, was cast as part of a set of siamese twins, named, ironically, MayaMaya. The performance starts this weekend. So there she is — inside a costume with another Maya; so wherever one goes, the other must follow. I also photographed the diabolical evil character in the play, complete with real beard and devilish eyes.

Then, later that afternoon, across the street at Fido in Hillsboro Village, Bob Bernstein hosted the annual Stuffed Animal Hospital. It’s a great little event where real nurses come from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and they sew up and repair the tattered dolls of children in the community. Bob’s mother in law was here from Mexico, to see the newborn baby, and while I’d come to photograph kids, her face was incredible.

Maya-Maya, not separated at birth. (click to enlarge).

One of two maidens. Sadly, no speaking lines. (click to enlarge).

The Evil and Diabolical Richard, author of the play. (click to enlarge).

Maiden #2, with Green Goblet. (click to enlarge).

Bob's mother-in-law from Mexico, seeing the baby.

Bob's newborn, and Chuck's daughter, (Meg Tilly lookalike). (click to enlarge).

I love Dolly Parton

I was in the car today, on the way to visit my mother, and I flipped on NPR by mistake, trying to find that Cat Power CD. It was a Weekend Edition interview about her “9to5″ play launching in LA and then onto Broadway. She talked about being a child, and seeing “the town tramp”, and just loving the way she dressed and wore her hair. From that point on, she wanted to pattern herself after “the town tramp”. I just love her unabashed honesty.

But one key line stuck with me, when the interviewer guy asked her about what it was like to now be able to “do her own music”. The implication was that, for most of her career she’d simply bitten the bullet and done what was commercially viable. Maybe that’s true; I’m not to say. But her response was great; she said, “Finally, I realized that I was rich enough to act like I was poor again”.

Of course, everyone wants to do their unique calling when they’re 22 or 28 or whatever, but sometimes, (even though it gets slammed by the Conventional Wisdom), it’s good to pay your bills, and build your nest, so that you have the financial freedom to do what you want, later in life.

The link to the interview is above. Her joy is infectious.

Pre-Debate Obama Rally, 10/7/08: Two Portraits

Obama supporter, and button maker. (click to enlarge).

Child with Mother. Corner of 21st Avenue and Magnolia. (click to enlarge).

Some things ought not fade away

I snuck away and shot some film. Hassie 203 with 110 lens.

This is not a techie post. So let’s be clear about that. So please, no comments about “film vs. digital”. But I’ve been keeping a secret for the past few months — I secretly (re)bought my old film cameras again. I admit it — I miss shooting film. I miss film grain. I miss the square. I miss a giant viewfinder. I miss having a day or so after shooting a picture, and then having the surprise of opening the film envelope and seeing what I shot, (instead of squinting at the Canon LCD instantly).

I have no illusions — for commercial projects, for the most part, film is dead. At least for me. Clients are spoiled to shooting tethered. It doesn’t even surprise me anymore when they say, “We need it all tomorrow”. And honestly, if I was to grit my teeth and admit it, many times the picture is made better if the AD can stand there and see the laptop as I’m shooting, and offer his/her input on the spot. Some times, two heads ARE better than one. Or maybe it’s simple feedback like “Hey, dumbass, this ad is vertical; not horizontal. Didn’t you see the PDF? Turn the camera”.

So I know that digital is here to stay, but like some sappy Romeo and Juliet scene, that still can’t kill my love for an old metal 203 Hasselblad, and big heavy lenses, and a giant viewfinder, and a square frame. It just can’t kill it. So now, whenever I can, I sneak in a roll or two of film. Just for me. Just for my soul. Nobody has complained yet.

We just completed an incredible job for a children’s hospital. With all the dreariness of the market crash, it’s easy to get down in the dumps. But on this last project, I met the most amazing doctors — people who are doing incredible things in medicine, and then when there are children involved, and they’re saving them and making their lives better every single day, it just gives you hope for society. The girl above is now a vital, spunky, feisty nine-year old — healthy as a horse. When I heard her real-life story, it just took my breath away — doctors doing amazing things under crunch conditions.

We did her main setup, and then we snuck in a couple of rolls of 220 color neg, just in case the agency could use it somewhere in the piece. At least that’s what I told them — I really did the shot for me, to look thru that gorgeous 110 lens, wide open at f2, and watch the focus just fall, fall away. Even after 27 years in the business, looking at a great face thru a nice camera is still a joy.

Details on Obama march pre-Debate tomorrow, Nashville

WHAT: Obama Supporters Debate March.
WHERE: 21st/Magnolia, proceeding to Belmont campus.
WHEN: October 7, 2008 @ 4pm.

Local grassroots supporters of the Barack Obama campaign will be marching to the campus of Belmont University shortly before the scheduled town hall debate on October 7th. The event is a kick-off to public visibility efforts that will continue throughout the month and until election day in November. The march will commence with a rally at 21st Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard, then proceed to the Belmont campus. Supporters will be wearing Obama apparel and displaying signs in support of the candidate, as well as cheering on the Obama/Biden Presidential ticket.

The march is intended to take advantage of the media’s focus on Tennessee during the debate, and to demonstrate the strong base of support Obama has in a state that has been “red” in recent elections. “We are excited to bring out our supporters to show the nation that Tennessee is a lot more blue and a lot more progressive than they may think,” said Lucas Leverett – the organizer of the march. “This state is not as much of a certainty as the other side might assume, and we want to be sure the entire country sees what we’re doing down here.”

Roughly 200 people have signed up on the internet to attend the event, and more are committing each day. It will be one of the largest political visibility events in Nashville’s history. Gathering for the event begins at 4:30pm on October 7th, and the rally will kick off at 5pm. The public is encouraged to attend. No RSVP is required, but interested parties may wish to sign up at my.barackobama.com.

Nice gift, and thank you’s to everyone.

Thanks for all the nice notes about little Dottie. I’ve been in a long-hours job for the past two days; maybe that’s better in a way, so it’s not so much on my mind. Weird how I felt the need to wash all her blankets and quilts that she laid on; everything is now fresh and laundered. I also received a nice illustration from my friend Lanie Gannon, (above). It’s amazing the power of a simple note of condolence.

Ironically today, as I was leaving my neighborhood coffee house, a woman was walking a Blue Heeler on the sidewalk. She was a purebred, with those classic features — the barrel chest, the detached emotional style, and even the trademark bandanna around her neck. I risked coming off like a weirdo, and stopped the woman on the sidewalk and asked her about her dog. (Not only does her Heeler attack the garden hose, it also attacks the vacuum cleaner hose as well. There must be a lot of snakes in Australia!).

Dottie in park last year -- blind, deaf, but happy (Clyde in background)

Dottie as a baby.