YOU'RE THE STAR OF MY MOVIE

I can now cross SUPERMODEL off my photos-to-take list! Want more details: This was easy, I’m lucky, she’s awesome. You can read an interview on LOVING and learn about her secret blog. She is an excellent photographer: Listen to her speak and see some of her work for Oxfam. Thank you Helena!

The BBC doc “Cracked Actor” about David Bowie circa ’75 is up on Vimeo (for at least a little while). He talks in a limo while driving through the desert, applies makeup, plays with Burroughs’ cut-up technique, mimes, talks death… The Ziggy Stardust-era footage of dressed up fans alone makes it worth the watch. It [...]

Director Josie Whittlesey came by my little studio set up on West 10th street a few weeks ago. I prefer natural light but… 1) my long term plans include laughing at my current light setup and I was thinking I should first really understand exactly what a couple of $3 photo floods can do. 2) [...]

Here’s a shot (I apologize for the crappy cellphone photo off my tv) of a nice looking scene from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. The way the sparks lit up (shown here in the lower left) when the Michael Pitt character flicks a cigarette against a wall really jumped off the screen. The episode was shot by [...]

I shot the stills for Holle Singer’s short “Bang” recently. (Yes, there were bunnies on set and yes they are cute!) On the Electric Circus site you can see, and vote for your favorite including shorts by Duncan Cargill, Rachel Macaulay, Ben Gutteridge, Sean Gray, Lee Ford, and Achim Bornhak.

I had to watch A Prophet after seeing The Beat That My Heart Skipped last week. When director Jacques Audiard, and DP Stéphane Fontaine work together it is genius. My wife says I am always deciding which of two things is better (is this a male trait?) and these two movies could be a movie [...]

I just finished Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children.” She is a compelling storyteller and draws vivid, complex, and believable characters. There is some “what would this look like photographed?” language, but it rarely gets overly descriptive. The writing is mostly in service of the storytelling and you can read the whole thing in a couple [...]

I’m now reading: Freddie Young & Paul Petzold’s “The Work of the Motion Picture Cameraman.” It inspired me to post an exceprt from Dviga Vertov’s “Man With a Movie Camera.” Make some popcorn because it’s a stone cold classic. I must have watched it 20+ times in school. (This is the popper we use and [...]

Director of Photography extraordinaire Harris Savides shot the new Sofia Coppola movie Somewhere with Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning. Here’s the trailer… (and here’s a great interview with him)

I came across the 4×5 work of Dannielle Nelson Mourning recently and I am particularly captivated by the open-ended quality of this picture. There is much to read into the filmic nature of the gesture (she is casual, yet determined and I have to wonder what happens next). The look on her face (deep in [...]