A San Diego photographer tries to explain himself
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Rolling Stone Magazine’s website has a video feature of photographer Peggy Sirota doing a photoshoot of Britney Spears. Magazine Director of Photography Jodi Peckman narrates, telling about why they chose the photographer, how they decided to shoot it, etc. Assistants with fans blowing Britney’s hair around, a Hasselblad tethered to a monitor, large cyc studio…. Check it out here.
Last week photographer Gregg Segal was kind enough to answer some questions about what he does, and this week New York city photographer Matthew Furman has done the same. I’ve dug this guy’s stuff since I stumbled across it in Trader magazine while I was at a Borders book store a year or so ago.
He shoots what we call “suits” - business types for business magazines. He has some interesting things to say too. Read on!
Can you tell me your background, how you got into photography?
While at Penn State, I studied abroad in Greece for a semester. I was on the island of Paros for three months and took courses in painting, photography and figure drawing. I studied under a photographer named John Pack, who had worked with Ansel Adams. He was really inspiring and gave us keys to the darkroom so we could spend as much time as we wanted developing and printing. After the first week, I stopped going to the other classes. I was either shooting or in the darkroom for the rest of my stay. When I got back to the US, I had made up my mind to be a photographer.
Your lighting is rich, almost a hard light, with nice shadows. What light modifiers do you find yourself using most?
I mix it up a lot. But for most shoots, I typically have a beauty dish and a couple strip banks with me. I love working with Profoto 7B’s. Even for indoor setups. The battery-powered strobes alleviate blowing fuses and searching for outlets. And the portability is great.
When you go into a business CEO shoot, do you know what your are going to do before hand?
I do try and plan as much as possible before my shoots, but for the most part, I figure it out once I get to the location. I usually find myself going to a subject’s office, and wherever I end up dictates what type of shot I’m going to take. My two least favorite words are ‘conference room.’
When you do a CEO shoot, and only have 15 minutes with the boss, is there anything special you do to connect with the subject?
I usually show them the setups that we have and I discuss my logistical plans. Then I get right into it. These people are so busy that they really appreciate efficiency. As far as connecting, I try to do my homework before the shoot. When I’m in a person’s office, I’m always aware of the surroundings. Some people have pictures of their kids, Yankees memorabilia, etc, which is great material for small talk. I like to put people at ease. I know some photographers come from the Avedon train of thought where they like there to be some tension. But I don’t operate that way.
When you tell a CEO you want him to sit in a wooden chair against a white wall outside, and you light him from below, do they wonder what you’re up to?
Haha… Are you suggesting that I might have to deal with a ‘Jill Greenberg Backlash’? No, I haven’t had anybody ask why I’m lighting them a certain way. Every once in a while a subject or their representative will question a certain backdrop choice – that’s about it.
Can you describe how a typical corporate shoot works for you? (how much time you spend with set up, do you scout, use assistant, use multiple locations…)
I arrive at a location an hour before the subject is scheduled to show up. At that time, my assistant and I scout around and take some test shots. I spend the rest of that hour setting up lighting and marking everything off. I’ll tape x’s on the floor so the subject knows exactly where to go. I want everything to be like clockwork. I usually try to have at least three setups. I do this because I like giving the editors options, and I’ve found that it gives the subject an opportunity to move a bit. Sometimes a person needs that transfer from one set to the next in order to relax.
Who are some of the photographers you admire?
There are a lot of photographers that I admire. I’m really a student of photography. I love looking at magazines, photo books, websites, etc. I remember seeing Bruce Davidson’s book East 100th Street and thinking, “This is it. Those are the type of photos I want to take.” I love W. Eugene Smith’s work as well. When I first moved to New York, I assisted a lot of different photographers. There were a few I really admired and learned a lot from. I’d say Nigel Parry, Andrew Hetherington, and Peter Yang influenced me the most. Those guys are all great photographers (and cool people, too). Nigel always knows exactly what he wants and is in complete control of the shoot. Andrew is a master at assessing whatever situation he’s in and finding a unique way to shoot it. And I love Peter’s work in post-production. He was the first photographer that I knew who shot completely digital but I couldn’t tell. His use of color and shadow detail is brilliant. I’d say those three influenced me the most and I took what I learned from them and developed my own style.
Do you market yourself? In what ways?
I think its important to update my website often. I send e-mails to editors when I put up a new section or when something is out on newsstands. I’m also with BigShotStock and Wonderful Machine, and I’m really happy with both of those organizations. They generate a good bit of traffic to my website, which has led to more opportunities.
Do you still shoot film?
I’ve shot about three rolls of film in the past two years. And I still haven’t gotten them developed! My RZ is just sitting there, collecting dust. I keep thinking someday I’ll bust it out again, but for now I’m completely digital.
How do you get your advertising jobs?
Exposure is the best way to do this. The advertising jobs that I’ve shot have come from somebody seeing my work somewhere else – whether it be a magazine, look-book, etc. The more effort you put into putting your name and work out there, the more benefit you’ll reap in regard to job prospects.
Did having a one year old baby change the way you work?
Having a child has really helped my career. For one, the thought of having a little one to provide for made me push my hustle into high gear. Any reservations I had about going after work or approaching photo editors were out the window once she arrived. It hasn’t really changed the way I work, but I do find myself doing a lot of editing and retouching late at night. Or at least until Blues Clues is over.
I just bought a website from aphotofolio.com. It looks quite similar to your design (surprisingly so). Did you get your site there as well?
I did. I got my site from aphotofolio.com for the same reasons you did. I don’t know Rob (Rob Haggart, the owner of aphotofolio.com) personally but respect his opinion and think he’s spot-on with his sites, which characteristically use clean designs that display the images big. And he’s personally answered any questions I’ve had, which is kind of cool.
How has having a blog changed the way your work?
The blog is a new venture for me. I thought it would be a good place to post outtakes and include some background info about shoots. I think editors like to see that little extra touch. They can get a better sense of who you are as a person, and I enjoy cataloguing the process.
I think personal projects are great. Why the bartenders?
I do, too. I wanted delve into a side-project that I could shoot while working, since I travel so much on assignment. I usually find myself having a drink in the local bar of whatever town I’m visiting, and – lets face it – bartenders have some of the most interesting stories.
What do you hope to do with your bartender collection of images?
A book would be great, or possibly a show.
I think you are listed as a staff photographer at Trader Magazine. Are you a staffer?
No, not anymore. I’m concentrating full-time on freelance projects.
What’s the craziest thing that ever happened to you during a shoot?
Last spring, I traveled to South Africa for Private Air magazine. My assignment was to hang out with a bush pilot for a week, documenting his experiences. It was definitely one of those “once in a lifetime” gigs, and I was really excited about it. The pilot picked the writer and me up at a small airport (near Kruger National Park) in his Cessna. He was really fidgety and obviously annoyed – plus, he had this Rod Stewart-esque hair with a Crocodile Dundee-sized knife strapped to the side of his leg. Talk about a first impression! As we strapped ourselves into the seats, he told us that his wife of 11 years left him – that morning. Apparently she packed her stuff and hauled out a few hours before we arrived. It made for a really uncomfortable couple of days. He would drink a bottle of Scotch at night and then get up first thing the next morning and fly us all over Kruger National Park. He turned out to be a great guy, though, once I realized that – even hung over – he was a really skilled pilot with years of experience and wisdom under his belt. Sometimes subjects turn the tables on you and you’ve got to run with it. After a week with him, I started to understand his wife’s conundrum. It’s not easy living with a bush pilot…
See more of Furman’s work here.
This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen. Photographer Robbie Cooper did a photo essay on video gamers, but in a unique way. He projected the video game onto glass which sits right on top of the camera’s lens, so the gamers are looking directly into the camera.
Photo by Robbie Cooper, The New York Times
What’s also impressive is that the images are video grabs. He used the new Red video camera. You can see the photo essay here, and the video here.
I’ve see this done before though, a couple years ago by another photographer… his name is escaping me. I’ll find it! Found it. Philip Toledano, shown here.
My new website is live, and you can see it at www.robertbenson.com. The site was designed by Rob Haggart at aphotofolio.com. Before buying his template site, I looked at 20 or more other companies, and decided his was the best. I liked the clean design and big photos. Haggart, a former photo editor at Outside Magazine and Mens Journal, says that’s what he and his photo editor colleagues really like too: big photos, no fuss, clean design. Those other companies I looked at was also written into a review, which you can see here.
This is a screen capture. The viewer has the option to click on “full screen” and huge images take over the screen. It’s just stunning.
Shot the mayor and his daughter, a lesbian, for The Advocate magazine a couple months ago. The image and story are in print now in the magazine and online. I started shooting the daughter, and 20 minutes later the mayor showed up, and I shot them both together and individually. I set up inside an old movie theater near downtown San Diego. Used two locations within the lobby of the place.
Came across this video of two photographers, Mert and Marcus, doing a studio photo shoot for Louis Vuitton. The photographers use Hasseblad digital, beauty dishes, large and small softboxes, cars and a lot of white and bright. Check it out here.
The newspaper is also selling on Ebay high gloss prints of their Nov. 5 Barrack Obama victory cover, the same one Oprah held up on her show and declared it the best post-election front page in the world. Read about it here.
Not as crazy I guess as the guy selling an Obama domain name for $10 million on Ebay. Yeah, that’ll sell.
There’s a pretty cool parking garage here in San Diego; one of those circular exit shaped things that you get dizzy driving down when you want to exit. I went there and thought it would be a great place to do some stock photos of a runner or a skateboarder “bombing” down the ramp. But there were signs everywhere prohibiting that sort of thing, and I hate being shut down during a shoot.
So I went there, shot the garage from multiple different angles with the intention of laying in a runner in Photoshop later. That same night I set up some lights outside, and shot down at an angle that matched what you see above.
The main light was from her side, at a position where the sun would have been in the parking garage photo. I wanted a strong shadow with hard edges, the same kind the sun would make, so I used the light with just a reflector. I had some fill light coming in from her front too, as you can see.
Next I cut her out, and also cut out the shadow (not shown) using the extract tool in photoshop. I laid this layer into the parking garage image, added the shadow, played with the sizing and sharpness, and viola - my runner was now in the garage.
For the record, I realize manipulation like this is not okay when shooting editorial for a newspaper or magazine, but in stock photography like this, it’s completely allowed!
Same thing can be done with a car!
If you’ve ever opened a Maxim Magazine in the past 12 months, or Fortune or Details, or Premiere or National Geographic or Newsweek, Outside, Maxim, Money, Wired, Runners World, Discover, Details or ESPN, or a dozen others, then you’ve seen his work.
If you’re a photographer who reads the bylines, then you’ll recognize his name: Gregg Segal. Gregg with two G’s, as in “Good God, this guy is everywhere!”
I’m a fan of Segal’s work. He specializes in portraits. Quirky weird pictures, full of irony and witt and fun. The light is crisp, he seems to take chances with what he does. I really dig this guy’s stuff, so I contacted him, told him I want to ask him some questions, and he was nice enough to answer.
Background please. How and when did you get started in photography?
I started taking pictures when I was about 9 or 10. Liked seeing through a lens, putting a frame around things. It was a form of collecting. I collected images of people, objects, places.
Did you ever assist anyone? Who, how long?
No, I didn’t, though it would have been a great way to learn.
On average, how many days out of the month are you shooting?
Assignments - about 10 days a month. There’s travel, prep, scout, production as well. I work on my own projects in between assignments as well as promotion.
In your bio, you write that your style doesn’t fit into any prescribed categories. Is that still true, or have you found a label for the stuff you do?
Well, I shoot much less documentary photography now. Once you start lighting and orchestrating a picture, working without that control is less appealing. Also, I prefer not to shoot documentary on an assignment because your odds of getting an impactful image are lower.
Your portraits are well lit. They are bright and crisp, and don’t have hard shadows, but they are not flat. For one of your superman photos (superman hanging laundry outside) I read that you used 2-3 power packs. Can you briefly describe your lighting style - what kind of modifiers you like to use?
I backlight with magnums.
Who are some of your influences?
Diane Arbus - from the time I was about 13.
William Klein. High energy street scenes.
When you get an assignment to shoot, say “Mori’s moments” and the published picture is of the CEO sitting in a chair with the workers milling in background in background in a non clean type environment…. do you ever have problems convincing the CEO or his executive assistant that you want to do something unique?
All the time. All that talk of “thinking outside the box” never applies to the pictures you take of CEO’s. You (or the magazine) just have to make a convincing case for the shot. I was setting up to shoot a CEO and my assistant said the shot was funny. The PR guy overheard him and scraped the shot - the last thing he wants is for the boss to look funny. I guess because CEO’s are answerable to shareholders they’re very concerned about appearances - or at least their PR handlers are. Anyway, it’s always a struggle, because of course the magazine wants a shot that stands out and the subject wants just the opposite usually.
I understand you shoot a lot of medium format film. Do you prefer film over digital?
Overall, I prefer digital now. I like punchy crisp lit pictures and digital registers this quality even better than film. Digital does not perform well in low light yet.
You wrote in your bio you have a duty to shoot the mundane and overlooked, and your work reflects that. Why do you think you have this duty?
Don’t know if it’s a duty but I’ve just always been interested in the ugly who had no chance, partly b/c I never wanted to like or do what other people did. Goes back to my identification with Arbus.
Why do you like shooting people?
I’m fascinated by people, their stories, their inadequacies and bravery, their dignity in the face of ridiculousness.
What the heck is detritus all about? It’s very cool. Are those people you just talked into being in a photo? (They look like “real” people).
All the crap we consume and throw away, much of it shiny, appealing packaging has reformed itself in our image and shadows us wherever we go. I was on assignment in Japan, China, Ohio, New York and brought Detritus with me (found a local fixer wherever I went to help organize shoots).
Your work seems to be everywhere. Why do you think editors hire you? What have they told you they like about your work?
Lighting, sense of humor (irony), going for the jugular.
What kind of work do you most prefer doing?
Assignments - I like the variety of editorial clients. Personal projects, too, of course.
Your work seems to be about theme and irony, as you mention. When you get an assignment, how do you approach how you will shoot it? Do you preplan it? Talk to the reporter? Come up with your own ideas?
Plan, yes. Mixture of my ideas and photo editor/art dept. More and more now mags want to be sure of what they’re going to get before you go off to shoot b/c there is pressure from above to deliver - there’s less room for failure, every pic has to be a winner because if it’s not, you could be causing its demise.
You have a lot of picture stories on your website. Pirates, superheroes, dreams…. Is this personal work or ad work?
Some is personal work - but this can often lead to assigned projects. The Rozerem campaign (Abe and Beaver) came from the Super Heroes series.
You can see more of Gregg Segal’s work at www.greggsegal.com.
http://nytimes-se.com/
Did you see this thing? The war isn’t actually over. This is a spoof 14-page fake New York Times that was actually printed and handed out free to people in New York city two days ago from a group called “The Yes Men”. They printed 1.2 million copies, according to the real Times. PDN Magazine reported that the “Stories in the paper are not exactly funny, not exactly cruel. They’re wishful headlines about how great everything would be if our country adopted liberal policies.” There is also an accompanying website here.
It’s a good clone!