Me and Brian Park collaborated on this assignment about two guys who created a salsa company at the height of the recession and are doing fairly well for themselves. They are two great guys with a strong vision and great personalities. And the salsa is pretty good.
I really enjoy shooting video, but I'm a little green with a experience. I've studied it, watched tons of it and have a great eye. I just need to get out there and shoot more. Video is a difficult medium, because unlike photo you can't just explain something, you have to show it. This video was a great learning experience, working with what you have and meeting a deadline. I do wish I could have gone farther with it, shooting the guys on at their farms and such, but just like newspapers you're always time restricted.
So I shot this videos last semester of for the Lens Blog. We just wanted show what a typical New York Times assignment is. Sometimes you get good assignments, and others are not so glamorous.
I shoot with is Nicole Bengiveno, a world-class person and photographer. I heard stories about Nicole from my old adviser Kim Komenich and from my editor Jim Estrin, who is also a great person to go on assignment with, about how cool she is and how good she shoots. Again there were some difficulties shooting, but Nicole was able to get the shots and even after she had transmitted pictures she was still snapping away.
About a year ago, I bought a new camera. I was in my last semester at San Jose State University and pretty much had full-range on one of my final projects and I wanted to get back to my roots, so I scoured Craigslist and Ebay for a Rolleiflex. Luckily for myself I found one at a great price in Scotts Valley. The man I bought it from, was selling it with a heavy heart, as hard times were forcing him to part from his father's old camera. He said he felt a little better about selling it to me, seeing as I was looking to use it, instead of simply flipping it.
At the time I was fascinated with all the flags I saw and wanted to do a series on them for my Image and Idea class. I eventually changed my mine, much to my regret now, and didn't really use the camera a whole lot (If you want to see an awesome flag series, which is much better than what I would've produced in a semester check Misha Erwitt's on the Lens blog). When I say I wanted to get back to my roots, I don't really mean by shooting film, though that is part of it, but I wanted to slow down with my shooting and really think about it like I use to when I first started photographing. I wanted to allow myself some time and this twin lens reflex allowed me to do that.
I eventually fell on hard times myself close to graduation and had to part with the camera for a bit. Thanks to my buddy John Russo for helping me out in a tough spot.
In the half year I had it though, I shot about four rolls. I say about, because I knew the first roll I loaded wrong, and thus two pictures came out. I recently got the camera back and took three of the rolls I shot to be processed, finally (If you're in NYC, head to Sunshine Color Lab near MSG, great guys and good work). I love getting film back and the smell of a lab. I use to work in one back in the day. The only problem is that it's slightly expensive to develop and buy film in general.
Some of the better images from those three rolls are up top, unfortunately one roll is actually in my Jeep back in California, and I know I got some images on there. But I absolutely love this camera and plan on having it with me at all times here in New York City. Anyone else shooting with a rollei?
I've been in New York for several months now and haven't really shot anything. I played around with video a lot last semester and wrote a lot, but I rarely took MY camera out of my bag. It was a disappointing realization, when I went back to California for the break and didn't really have a whole lot to show my family and friends. I hope to change that this semester, even planning to carve out a day dedicated to exploring and shooting. But more importantly I just need to take my camera out more often.
Like the one I found at Union Square in the subway. I could decide if these guys were cool or just creepy. They were getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but it wasn't so much for their music, which I don't remember being bad, I just don't remember it at all. But here is a glimpse of New York, where this isn't really weird, just another cold day in the city.
I had a post run on The New York Times Lens blog yesterday about a German Photographer, Andy Spyra, who is working on a project in Bosnia. There were some pretty horrible things that happened in Bosnia during the Bosnian War and Andy is there 15 years later, amid their healing process. His photos are quite great and extremely necessary I believe. They are still finding mass graves and from Andy's pictures, apparently you can find a lot of ruble still. I think he is doing great work, in the spirit of documentary journalism and it makes me just as anxious to find a project.
I woke up today to giant snowflakes floating outside of my window. Ever since I've moved to New York I've been wanting to get out and shoot when it is snowing. Today I got my wish. Fortunately it wasn't that cold outside and the hardest part was trying to keep the snow out of my face while looking for pictures.
Got up a little early on a Sunday morning to shoot the NYC Marathon in Brooklyn today. I wandered between miles 3 and 5 just trying to create some interesting images that weren't your typical runner pictures. This is the part of the course that goes through Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.
