Category On Assignment

Behind the scenes with Jessica Tomlinson

March 15, 2012 0 Comments read Blog, Inspire Portland, On Assignment, On Location

Inspire_Portland_Tomlinson_Behind_Scenes_WEB — No, that's not Jessica. That's Charlie. That's Jessica, with the broom.

It took a couple of tries and possibly a bit of intercession on the part of others, but I was elated that Jessica Tomlinson agreed to be part of our exceptional list of influential Portlanders featured in this week’s Inspire Portland.

Jessica is director of communications for the Maine College of Art, and will soon morph that into a new position geared towards preparing students not just to create, but how to succeed once they leave college.

Jessica association with the arts in Maine goes back to the 90s, when she helped establish the Dead Space Gallery on Congress Street. What distinguishes her since is her drive to promote and help develop the arts community here and her particular skill set, which involves community building and constructing systems.

The shot I eventually used is one that reveals a bit of Jessica’s personality—expressed in part by the colorful outfit of the type she’s known for. When Jessica came to Portland the arts community as we now know it didn’t exist. For me, the large empty space, right in the middle of Portland, is the perfect metaphor for how far the arts community has come and the many possibilities that lie ahead.

The most revealing moment of our shoot was before it actually began. As she entered the studio space we were using for our shoot, Jessica noticed that the floor was strewn with some small peices of trash and detritus from an earlier arts class. I wasn’t too concerned since I knew that anything on the floor would be dark and hidden in the final shot, but before I could say anything, Jessica appeared with a pushbroom and began to sweep as Charlie Widdis, my assistant, stood in for a last series of test shots.

If you’re a community organizer you want to make a positive difference in your environment, you’ve got many tools from which to choose. Sometimes all that’s needed is for someone to pick up a broom.

Meet Avner the Eccentric

February 16, 2012 0 Comments read Blog, Inspire Portland, On Assignment

When I first met Avner, he was returning from his Aikido dojo in Portland. We chatted about our upcoming photoshoot and his career and travel. Here is a person who has performed so many times, before so many audiences, that therein lies a challenge for me as a photographer. As with any subject, it’s necessary to break through the wall of formality between photographer and subject. Every person presents a certain kind of mask to the world, and it’s when this masks drops—even slightly, sometimes for just an instant—that there’s an opportunity for an authentic, real and interesting photograph.

Our location was the Maine State Ballet Company—I could say it’s because of Avner’s deep connection to performance in all its forms, but really, it’s because it’s the only place I could find near Portland with a red velvet curtain that I knew would look great in the final image. Once Avner was on location and in character, with trademark bowler hat, my job was just to make him feel comfortable and let him do his thing.

The only issue is, Avner is a professional and experienced performer. Slipping into character is second nature. The trick wouldn’t be getting interesting shots of him emoting and in character. Instead, it would be to get him in an unguarded, real moment. Although I got a great number of quality, fun images of Avner, most look like typical promotional images used to promote an upcoming show rather than an editorial image conveying a feeling about Avner as a person. In the end I came down to a couple of images, including one of Avner leaning down on his traveling trunks, his face serious and lined. I went with the image we used for Inspire Portland because it captured a light and somewhat enigmatic expression, conveyed a strong theatrical sense, and was totally unscripted. In fact, it was during a moment when I was adjusting the lights and Avner was just talking and interacting with me and my assistant, Charlie. To me, Avner looks comfortable and in his element, an accomplished pro who has spent a lifetime in the theater but who still has the capacity to have fun.

Check out some of the outtakes in the show below (it’s a Flash gallery, so iProduct users will need a a computer to view the outtakes). I love the one of him with his hat perfectly perched in the air above his head. Only took Avner a handful of tries to nail that one.

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Behind the scenes at Inspire Portland: Eliot Cutler

January 4, 2012 0 Comments read Blog, Inspire Portland, On Assignment

My plan was to photograph Eliot Cutler—yes, that Eliot Cutler, the lawyer and businessman who almost became Maine’s governor in 2010—outside on an overcast, gloomy day in December. I wanted it to be cold. In fact, the colder the better. I wanted a strong visual that captured the sense of a man, standing alone against the elements and the gathering storm. For me, it was the perfect visual metaphor for a man who accepted defeat with class and then went on to found a political organization, OneMaine, dedicated to political reform here in Maine and beyond.

That was the plan, anyway. Cutler was game and the stark location on Portland’s waterfront would work well. After one cancellation (due to an actual storm, with strobe light-ruining rain), we rescheduled in December. The weather turned out to be cold, but not bitterly so—as I’d hoped—but it was sufficiently overcast. At least it was until Cutler actually stood in front of the camera. That’s when the clouds slid away from the sun and the somber mood turned a few shades lighter.

So I shot the portrait I’d planned, and then decided to turn the sun’s appearance to my advantage. Combined with a tough, somewhat enigmatic expression from Cutler, the backlit portrait quickly became my favorite. I briefly stepped back to grab a scener, complete with assistant Charlie Widdis, my fully-functioning human-powered light boom. Easy, simple, and all due to a great subject with a bit of seat-of-the-pantsery. As Charlie says, it’s our standard M.O. Check out the story on Inspire Portland.

Telling Maine’s stories

December 22, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, Inspire Portland, On Assignment, Projects

As a longtime photojournalist, I love good documentary work. My favorite work tends to come from master visual storytellers like W. Eugene Smith (his iconic photo of Tomoko in her Bath, from his Minimata project, is still one of my top-five images of all time).

So I guess I was predisposed to like the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. And it wasn’t much of a leap for me to ask Donna Galluzzo, Salt’s executive director, to participate in this week’s issue of Inspire Portland. A photographer herself, Galluzzo has repositioned Salt for the future with a new space and a transformation to using digital tools for all of its tracks (radio, photography, writing).

She well understands that the tools may change, but good storytelling does not. Looking at the work of her students, it’s quite timeless—in the way that Minimata would be as powerful today as it was almost four decades ago.

We met and I photographed Galluzzo in Salt’s sleek new headquarters on Congress Street—yep, that’s a bamboo floor you see in the photo. I’ve posted a few outtakes from the shoot, though in this instance I knew what I was going for and moved around less than I normally would. You can see our multiple light setup in one of the photos, with my assistant Charlie playing the part of subject.

I’m quite happy with the final image we used on Inspire Portland. It’s less storytelling and more evocative. To me, it gives a feel for the optimism and energy that Galluzzo brings to Salt and that Salt, with its body of storytellers, brings to Portland and Maine. Enjoy.

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A man named Corky

October 13, 2011 1 Comment read Blog, News, On Assignment, On Location, Projects

My former next-door-neighbor Mike worked for a very mysterious-sounding tech company named Kepware Technologies. Every so often, Mike would disappear to for a week or so and come back with tales of travels to Germany, Portugal or Eastern Europe for his job. I recall a night at his place involving a couple of Russian business partners and some vodka. He explained what they made—software drivers—leaving me as confused as before.

I thought again of Kepware when I started Inspire Portland after reading some articles about Kepware’s successes–and founder Corson “Corky” Ellis’ involvement in the promotion of entrepreneurship in Maine through ventures like the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s Top Gun program I thought, I’ve got to meet this guy. At a minimum, he might be able to explain what Kepware does in a way that my feeble brain can understand.

Two days after he agreed to the shoot, I found myself in the headquarters of Corky’s operation, above the Post Office in downtown Portland. He looks a little like my good friend and photographer Brad Armstrong. We had a good conversation, and Corky emphasized two things repeatedly: one, the success of Kepware is entirely due to the efforts of many talented people besides himself; and two, that he is very concerned about the state of technology education among secondary school students. From his perspective, the best way to keep and attract high-paying tech jobs here in Maine is to get our kids more interested in science and math. He sees technology education as the key to creating a technology economy here in Maine.

The shoot went well and I had the run of their amazing space across from City Hall. Corky is one of those talented entrepreneurs who actively chose to live in Portland and now, some 15 years later, is employing more than 60 people in highly-skilled jobs. Almost as important, he finally explained to me what Kepware actually does in terms I can understand, comparing it to the printer drivers you download to allow your computer and printer to talk…just on a much bigger scale.

Read his interview and see the photos at Inspire Portland. I chose the lead image because it seemed the least contrived, and the most revealing in terms of his expression. You ask questions about what people carry in their pockets, and it tends to get people to drop their guard a bit. See the outtakes and lighting scene shot in the gallery below (sorry, iUsers, you’ll need Flash).

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Introducing…Inspire Portland

September 30, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, Inspire Portland, On Assignment, Projects

Five years ago, my wife Beth and I drove 3,090 miles from Washington State to Portland, Maine. I had recently been transferred by my employer, the Seattle Times Company, to become the photo director at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

In my career as a journalist, I’ve lived a lot of places but the goal was always the same: to make my mark at the newspaper, and when it was time, move on. It never really mattered where I lived, from Korea to Yakima, Washington, but Portland was different. We were as excited about our new hometown as I was about the new job.

After a couple of years I decided to leave the newspaper to focus on my photography business. We were faced with a decision: stay in Portland, or move again.

We chose Portland.

Almost everyone, it seems, has had to ‘choose’ Portland at some point. From the 20-something working several ‘joblets’, to the entrepreneur who decides they’ll build a business here, almost everyone, at some point, has to make a decision whether to stay. Portland isn’t made up of people who just end up here—this isn’t Phoenix or Florida or L.A. The winters are hard and long, and jobs can be scarce. It’s a place where, to succeed, you have to work hard and be creative. Not surprisingly, it’s filled with some pretty interesting, driven and creative people.

Which brings me to Inspire Portland. Years ago, our family decided to live, work and play in Portland. Inspire Portland is a sampling of people—people you may know about, and people that you should. This site is based on my desire to get out on the streets with my camera and talk with people who make Portland such a cool place. Every other week I’ll feature a new portrait along with a short question-and-answer session. That’s 26 portraits and interviews of some pretty cool people that have inspired Portland.

On this blog, I’ll announce each ‘issue’, tell the backstory for the portrait and may publish additional photos from the shoots. The project kicks off with three portraits dating from September 1.

The first portrait is of Rich Connor, CEO and Publisher of MaineToday Media. I start with him because our paths are intertwined—The Press Herald is what brought me to Portland. It hasn’t been that long since national media ran articles about how Portland was on the verge of losing its only daily (non-free) newspaper. Connor is responsible for the paper’s continued survival during a very difficult time for newspapers. Next up is Nan Heald, executive director for Pine Tree Legal Assistance. Through an army of volunteer laywers, the PTLA has changed lives for the better here. I end September with Chystie Corns, who takes the idea of ‘invent your dream job’ to a whole new level. Her talent is that she makes it look so easy.

Let me know what you think.

Just in time for Halloween….

September 23, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, On Assignment, On Location

I recently had a fun shoot for an e-book project called The Witch’s Code by author P.J. Mann. Earlier this week, the book was published for sale online, so I thought I’d share the cover as well as some photos that didn’t make the final cut. This is the first time I’ve gotten to work directly with my good friends Arielle Walrath, Kevin Brooks and Sean Wilkinson of Might & Main. As it turns out, after searching for an appropriate model who also would fit the author’s well-defined notions of the main character (uh, let’s see…a 20-something female detective from Salem, Mass., with wavy long brown hair, who can channel her inner witch….). After everything was said and done, it turned out that Laura Flood —my makeup and hair stylist of choice—was perfect (and willing, which was definitely a plus). I also have to thank South Portland P.D.’s Steve Webster (a bona fide real detective) for his expertise and help as well.

The finished cover, with post-production provided by Might & Main is pretty cool–definitely my favorite photo of the bunch. Here are a couple of others I liked a lot (Laura is holding her hand out as if it contains a glowing spell as in the final finished book cover). Great job all around, and a way fun shoot on location in the bewitching city of Portland.

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Lose the gear and become a better photographer

August 16, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News, On Assignment, On Location

[photoshelter-img width=’400′ height=’627′ i_id=’I0000EHrXNHkbRsc’ buy=’0′]

I love nothing more than getting a visit from the UPS fairy, bearing boxes of the latest gear or light modifier.

But with experience comes the realization that a great photograph has less—much less—to do with fancy gear or expensive equipment and much more to do with what’s going on with the person behind the camera.

In short, it ain’t about the tools you use. It’s how you use them.

When I first learned how to use studio lights on location, I was so excited to bring out my lights and stands, position the subject, etc. I would spend a lot of time worrying about details like exposure and light shaping and correspondingly less time engaging with my subject. Invariably, the result looked technically sound but lacked soul.

On the other end of the scale were the seat-of-your-pants moments as a newspaper photojournalist. With just two cameras, a couple of lenses and a flash I was able to focus on capturing the moment. Sometimes the photos were grainy, or were shot in less than ideal lighting conditions, but the content and moment elevated them far beyond the realm of the average “pretty picture”.

Once I did a week-long assignment covering a wilderness teen camp–you know, the type of program where troubled, out-of-control teens are whisked away in the night to find themselves deep in the wild, learning discipline through hard work and routine for weeks or months on end. This one was isolated in a remote area of high Arizona desert, and everything I needed was packed on my back for the daily marches to each night’s new camping spot. Within an hour of hiking, I slipped while fording a river, dunking a camera, a lens and smashing another on a rock. I shot everything for the next five days with a backup Nikon FM2, a 24mm and a 35-70mm lens while the wet gear rusted inside a plastic bag.

And the photos were great. Limiting myself to a couple of lenses and a single camera body helped me focus on getting the moment, gave me less distracting choices and ended up helping me get a very strong photo story. I also learned to start a fire with a bow and stick, but that’s another story.

Moment + Light

July 14, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, News, On Assignment, Shop Talk, Showcase

For me, photography boils down to two key elements: moment and light. You may have one in greater proportion to the other, but for most types of photography—certainly any imagery with people—you need both.

I used this criteria as a newspaper photo editor when judging daily work and the many portfolios that came across my desk.

You kinda know a “real” moment when you see one. It’s a look, an expression, or an interaction. Usually from the viewer’s perspective, it looks like you’re viewing a private scene, voyeur-style, and the subject appears totally unaware of the camera.

As a photojournalist, real moments are mostly found situations. In feature situations, the goal is to shoot photos (usually with a long lens) before the subject really becomes aware of your presence. You get something ‘real’ of the subject doing something interesting and later you deal with getting their permission and name to actually use the photos. In news situations, such as fires, accidents or events, the subjects are usually so focused on the happenings that getting moments is pretty easy, giving you time to work on composition and light too.

At the newspaper, moment trumped light any day of the week and twice on sundays. Robert Capa’s grainy, ghostly images of the landing at D-Day fails from a purely technical standpoint but no one would argue that the moment it captures place this work among history’s finest.

As a commercial and advertising photographer, my subjects are (mostly) aware of what I do. They are paying me to be there, or my clients are paying them to be there. It’s me, them and bunch of obtrusive lighting equipment, so the goal is to get the subjects to relax and give me something real despite the unreal surroundings. When successful I get a true serendipitous moment—a peice of chaos that I thankfully can not, and don’t want to, control—in the midst of a controlled setting.

The only difference between editorial and commercial photography in this regard is that non-editorial shooters have the luxury of not having to wait for the perfect light. Regardless, being attuned to capturing the authentic moment will help turn otherwise ordinary photos into memorable images.

That’s still theway I approach the debate between moment and light. Make sure you have a strong moment, and then work on the light.

Memories from the front lines of 9/11

July 1, 2011 0 Comments read Blog, On Assignment, On Location

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Steven Kanarian, BS, MPH, is an accomplished EMS professional with over 25 years' experience including paramedic, EMS supervisor, FEMA USAR Medical Specialist and EMS educator. (Brian Fitzgerald)

Steve Kanarian was at work on September 11, 2001. Since his job was as an EMT with the New York Fire Department, Steve’s view of the devastation was a bit more up-front and personal than for most other New Yorkers. Lieutenant Kanarian (ret.) lectures on EMS topics, terrorism response and does corporate keynote speeches. He’s also a writer. His book, The Downwind Walk: A USAR Paramedic’s experiences on September 11, 2001 takes you to the front lines of 9/11 and delves into lessons learned from a quarter-century with the nation’s premier fire department.

Steve contacted me after getting referred to me by another client. Once he saw my work, he wanted to move forward because he liked the gritty style of my environmental portraits and my familiarity shooting law enforcement, military and other paramilitary organizations.
In talking with Steve I determined he needed professional headshots, a portrait for his book and soome lifestyle images showing him training firefighters. Since we couldn’t do it in NYC, we ended up shooting in Maine—first in our Portland studio, then in a few locations we set up and arranged beforehand.

Note: most photographers I know have a running file of locations that they can tap for future shoots. When Steve and I spoke, I knew I’d have to shoot in a narrow, grafitti-covered alleyway located in Portland’s Old Port. We ended up shooting my favorite portrait of the day there. Steve was happy to do it, and commented that it was cleaner than the NYC equivalent: “It doesn’t smell like urine,” he remarked. I think the simple portrait captures some of the drama and gravity of his job.

After a few hours of shooting, Steve and I had a great time and ended up with a handful of images that give him great flexibilty when building his brand. Great job, Steve!