After a long day for Cyndi shooting a TV piece my time with her was shortened to a couple of minutes and we still got 2 great shots. Besides a fantastic musician she’s a great subject that hits the marks perfectly.
This was shot for ” I have a dream” segment in Die Zeit Magazine, Germany, March 29, 2012 issue.
If you haven’t heard, and follow this story, the movie was picked up at Sundance by Fox Searchlight Pictures a couple of days ago. I hope that the press coverage, with the images we did, helped this project along to get recognized by the right people.
I even got my first NY Post reprint (interesting how this lines up with Fox Searchlight), if that pushed, it i’m extremely pleased with the outcome.
So congratulations to Gavin, the producers and the whole crew, and especially the actors, who barely had time to hold for a minute for stills (thanks).
You all probably worked as hard as i ever seen somebody, sleep deprived, but always cordial and nice.
It’s official: Gavin Wiesen’s directorial debut made it in.
My first movie that i shot stills and portraits during the whole shoot.
With such a fantastic cast and crew we can only hope it makes it big next year, so stay tuned and come to Utah. But please don’t break a leg, as i did for our friend Steven Sebring and his doc about Patti Smith in 2008 (which worked by the way, but i still suffer today, so don’t don’t).
See you out West…
Shot with my little iPhone and the Hipstamatic app.
Great snapshot setup, back to the 50/60/70′ties i say.
Messed up colors, burned edges and nothing is controlable…
Love it
Finally we’re moving into serious snapshot territory with the new iPhone. While it’s all nice and new (and quicker, with higher res. screen), the best part of this is that i finally discovered Hipstamatic.
I thought i have to move to Williamsburg to truly enjoy it, but the stuff i shot so far are dangerously fun by themselves. Thanks Steven for the intro on my birthday…
I promise i’ll post more snaps in the future
After doing research online and reading all the reviews I could get my hands on, testing equipment from Fotocare and Able cinema we got around to put a nice and small system together for better camera handling while shooting moving images with the Canon 5D.
What I do find interesting is that the Movie Directors of Photography keep the cameras and accessories small, with prime lenses and very little other equipment, maybe a loupe, maybe a small LCD.
But the still photographers try to add everything possible to the unit, large Matt boxes, a separate audio recorder with shotgun mics and huge shoulder rigs in addition to the loupe and monitor.
The last resulting in the most comical contraption that’s unwieldy and takes up huge amount of space to transport, rig and move around. Kind of defying the purpose of the small unit with incredible image quality.
The solution that I prefer is a simple Redrock rig with two handles upfront and a simple gun stock, while the camera gets a Zacuto loupe mounted on the small LCD.
I could see adding a 7″ Marshall LCD at some point, especially when shooting from a tripod.
But I really like the feeling of the handheld shooting, conveying and more engaging with an immediate point of view.
A great addition to the still image, i can see this mixing well on the iPad and web editions of stories all the while keeping the feel and perspective very close.
Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore on the Poster for the new movie Homework
This just in, during my month on the set i got some great photographs. And the shot of Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore along with a NYC scape made it to become the poster (or One Sheet in movie land dialect).
Now we just need national and international distribution for which the film will be showcased in Cannes, France this week.
Love it or hate it, but the iPad is here to stay (and it’s fabulous)…
The website is now also available in a iPad friendly layout, not quite as slick as the standard site but quick and efficient.
In the meantime, my portfolio just made onto my new little friend and looks great
I always hated those obnoxious, huge, heavy (and white) lenses. Never shot with them, hate the focal length, you get my drift.
But i had to get one for a shoot on a movie set that i was doing for the last month (in case you missed me).
And i have to say i’m flored, it’s still heavy white and enormous, but the image quality, handling and pure genius that allows low light photography at exposure times previously unheard of, is pure magic. I got fantastic shots with 200mm at 1/20sec, various ISO, super low light on the film set, at night, i still can’t believe it. I actually prefered the lens over the much lighter 24-105 lens i used on the other camera, just due to the stabilizing abilities and the rendition of the scene.
It will be some time till i can post a gallery on the site, the client is getting proofs today and the movie is supposed to be done by the fall.
I wonder, will it save publishing, will it replace my print portfolio, will we be able to replace Laptops, will we able to set it up as a preview screen on a shoot, how will my iPhone feel…
Anyhow, i can’t wait, my 3G is on the way, perfect for my trip to Europe. The hype is a little overblown, but it will do a lot.
I feel we’ll be ending up like those little round guys in WALL-E, sitting on a hover chair and having a iPad strapped in front of us. Interesting to think that Steve Jobs vision of the future is laid out in a children’s animation movie and no one picks up on this (iAd anyone?).
After a couple of great shoots recently i felt compelled to give them their own gallery.
Let me know what you think. I love to see their characters come through.
I just saw the play on 48th street. Great cast and great use of the set. Even the clothes felt strangely modern yet classic. Flowing coats and skirts and the men somewhat reminded me of the current inspirations of Steven Alan, J. Crew etc.
Anyhow, Scarlett was great, we saw her quickly after the show, nice as ever, with her hat pulled down and smoking away.
I think it’s her first big show on Broadway and she said she’s exhausted from the schedule, but that’s theater. I remember her, sitting in the back of the car, singing Disney tunes wile we’re driving all the way from MRY to the Ventana for a shoot a couple of years back.
Walking out into the street, flashlight mayhem with hundreds of fans, and that according to her, every night. All the while the rest of the cast just walks into the night or even rode their bikes home, love it…
It runs for only one more week and i highly suggest to go and see it, if you can score tickets.
Wasn’t there something like this not too long ago. Radio survived and that’s a good thing.
Now video is again at it, and the photo world seems to discover a new calling. Only, isn’t there something like a Director of Photography (who are great photographers themselves) on every film set. Nobody is waiting for the still photographers to come and reinvent the wheel. The DP’s are taking the small DSLRS and shoot footage previously unable or only obtainable with very difficult rigging. Maybe that’s the convergence of technologies. And it will be interesting finally and really incorporating editorial photography with video, at least to an extend…
My prediction: Still photography will come out of this even stronger than before. It’s hard to hang a movie or video on the wall, and moving images will enhance and add to the still portfolio in any publication (once we all have an iPad).
People will go back to actually capturing a moment rather than spending days reviewing, developing and editing RAW RED footage… In the end it’s all about the efficient method to get to the final product.
What a sad, tragic and early end to a fantastic designer who i expected to continue to fight against the demise of ambitious and great fashion.
I remember well when he first came to Paris in’96, changing Givenchy; not the easiest transition, after the genius John Galliano moved to Dior.
I felt recently he really hit a stride and I thought he’s just warming up…
Not so much new content went up, but the internal settings have been tweak quite a bit over the last couple of weeks.
I still have to work on some more fun and facts for the image descriptions….
Mailing post cards always makes me think and hope that one day email marketing will replace the paper campaign. But while i’m conviced that it’s still a viable and necessary way of showing off some new work, i’m always concerned about the impact this has on the environment.
So it’s nice to know that my vendor, Modern Postcard in Carlsbad, CA now only uses pulp from sustainable forests that conform to the www.sfiprogram.org and www.fsc.org .
And above that the printing paper they actually use has a 30% post consumer waste content to cut down the use of new fiber overall.
If you haven’t received a mailer from me recently let me know, but also check you email inbox. I do send out email much more often and to a little bit larger crowd..
Our great friend Alysse Bezahler was part of a panel of Movie and TV producers at the Hampton Film festival today, discussing the efforts of making movie productions more environmentally friendly.
And I really think there’s a lot that still photo productions can learn. From exclusive digital communication and file exchange in the production phase to renting Hybrid’s, renting equipment so it can be reused, using low power lighting solutions. To cutting down is disposable everything from foam core to foam cups, water bottles etc., and asking suppliers for “greener” and recycled products in general.
More ideas are here:
I’m happy that we implemented already a great deal of these ideas, from preproduction mostly done online; to the actual digital shoot, which requires less equipment, no chemicals and smaller crews; to digital file delivery versus the trusty world wide courier system.
And nice side effect was that productions also saved money implementing these changes, something that entirely makes sense.
So here we go, the site is up. The portfolios and some pictures need some more work but the basics are there…
blog, bio to follow soon
After some quality time with Dreamweaver I’m much smarter about the ins and outs of web design, content and theory, but will never become a web designer, now it’s time for a new site with new features.
I did some research over the summer and after looking very deep into livebooks, clickbooq, I decided the best solution for me is to work with Photofolio. I does everything I need, it’s straight forward, but complex enough to accommodate my vision and present my images in an uncluttered and professional way.
I guess I’m not taking any phone calls until this is done; my guess is by the end of the week the framework is up and by the end of next week I’ll start inviting people.
I fully expect to grow the possibilities over the next couple of month, but the new portfolio with new images shot in the recent past (on and off crutches) is on it’s way.
I just couldn’t resist, after some glorious food shopping over the past weekends I had to pack my studio and move east for a week to shoot some stills of the loot. We’ll see what works out, but I’m super exited.
Finally I get around cleaning out the equipment room a bit.
Now with the digital capture and the trajectory we’re all on I haven’t shot with this little gem in over 2 years. So I’m happy to see that there are still some guys interested in using/learning the classic ways of creating photographs with a vision and the right gear, Pola backs and all.
I really think eBay is a huge part of the “green” future of reusing equipment instead of filling up landfills. All our computers, printers and camera equipment in the past decade has been given a second live…
So our couples of days in Paris finally come to light. What a great team it was and I have to say that Dior are a fantastic client. And we all loved Marion and Toni…
http://www.ladydior.com/thefilm/
The web campaign looks great, what a mash up of media, images. I put a little gallery together with some of my contribution.
http://markschafer.com/#/NEW:%20on%20set%20Dior%20%2709/on%20set:%20DIOR%20%2709/1
Should be a fun couple of days, roaming my old town, love that everyone now is on bikes. Shooting for 2 days just outside the Periph.
Looking forward to take more pics around town…
Finally I get around to work on the new site. Now it’s all Dreamweaver designed, CSS styled and much deeper than ever before with a bio page, a client login area and links to photoshelter for some art and travel photography ready to license or print purchase, who knew.
Otherwise there’s still room to grow, looking forward to integrate the client preview pages, creating a print room to order some actual prints
Tested some new lighting setups, all with CFL aka Fluorescent light bulbs. Besides a greatly improved and very energy efficient way to light a digital shoot a real joy to work with. One could even shoot video with this setup.
Back to the old “see what you get” Peter Lindbergh sets, just with a very modern twist. And besides the bulbs it all folds and packs very small. Now we have to conceive a kit that can come on location.
Another great step toward energy efficient greener shooting habits.
Finally got my hands on the new Canon can’t wait to test it out. So much smaller than the 1Ds I usually shoot. And the quality is said to be on par as it uses the same image chip.
Well, at least there no small images anymore I my library.
Serious photography has to hurt a bit, if not it’s just not serious (anybody said Canon G10???)
A new year and it’s time to start the tech upgrades: this time a new Wiebetech RAID box a my primary image storage. It’s quite impressive how for down the pricing for this technology has come.
And the file transfer was done in a few days. Now I upgrade the offsite storage and we’re ready for a great year in photos…
What a week this was, had a great meeting to create images for a fashion designer. We actually want to make this a serial mailer and due to budget restrictions we decided to cut out the model, make up, hair department and shoot the outfits on a dress form. Can’t wait to shoot this…I got a call from the principal that night, that she loved my ideas and that i actually should create an Ad agency to do all the work on the project. Funny that there is the other flower client in Connecticut who want me to do the same…just online, we’ll see.
Interestingly enough that’s what happened at the first photographer that i assisted with, a year in we had our own little ad company, doing work for various german Fashion brands, and before you moan, BOSS and the Lagerfeld label was on the client list.
Otherwise we’re busy getting the finals retouched and uploaded for Chestnuts and updating the online system.
Today i met up with my old friend Julian Dufort. We met at Annie’s 10 years ago, he’s doing great now, shooting a lot in the UK and Germany, but published in the US quite frequently. He’s not giving up on film yet, even that he shoot a campaign right now with the P45+. We reconnected last year over an ebay ad, me selling my loved Fuji 690 kit, which he ended up buying. They’re his mainstay bodies and Fuji stopped making them a couple of years ago and i’m happy they found a great home with a friend.
Anyhow, due to Polaroid calling it a day, he now has to switch to Fuji-roid…Am i happy i switched to Canon and keep got so much better at the digital capture and post production early on.
so here we go: on the way to the Hamptons to shoot my friends daughter who just got accepted to Click models NY. Its going to be a fun weekend.
Disney got the Behind the scenes for the upcoming Ariel Ad shot by Annie L. That was a fun and full day at the Universal Studio lot, between Western Town and the tours going by…
And Tasha’s next music production goes into the final remix on Monday. We’ll reviewing artwork next week but we exchanged first impressions on the shoot this week.
