Staying Creative and Other Stuff During The COVID-19 Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic takes our world by storm, many of my fellow photographers as well as myself have wiped our calendars clean of all photo shoots until further notice. I’ve been keeping myself busy with some re-edits from past assignments, photographing birds and attending online town hall meet ups and forums with other professionals, using the ZOOM app, The 2 I have attend are Fashion Photographers Connect created by renowned fashion photographer Melissa Rodwell , also owner/creator of The Breed and Alice magazine, and lastly the ASMP., Both have been very mentally therapeutic.

XM Radio has given me another outlet to escape, especially with the Marky Ramone: Punk Rock Blitzkrieg channel and the Howard Stern Show, it tears me away from the TV, listening and watching the number of infected and dead grow larger each day, here and around the world.

Even my wife, the avid quilter has been keeping busy with making masks for those that need/want them, in fact the cover image for this blog I am wearing one of her creations. She makes sure I have a mask with me at all times, since I am considered “high risk” because of a respiratory disease that I was diagnosed with in 2012..

Below are the self assignments I had given myself, the next assignment is to get some decent images of our furbabies, some where along the lines of the work by Alexander Khoklov and Veronica Ershova.

Lastly but more importantly, I just wish people would take this pandemic more seriously, social distancing works, staying home works, we need to bend this curve of recklessness and selfishness, NOW!! cause tomorrow may not come for many of us if we don’t. I know this, I want to live.

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This image was actually an outtake from the assignment I did last month for this client, I edited it Capture One software

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This image of local musician Bo Mcmillion was an assignment I shot in 2011, I reedited the image in Capture One software, converting it to black and white.

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We have a few bird feeders in our yard, sometimes I put some out on a table on the back porch, I decided to take advantage of a good situation.

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From all the birds that stop by to feed, this one stood out .

Road Stories: My First [Paid] Live Gig Pt. 2 of 2

1996 was supposed to have been the year I moved out of Chicago, I had already quit my job with Kodak and was actually pretty excited of a change of scenery, but things happen and I was going to be in Chicago one more year before finally relocating in the winter of 1997.

I pushed myself more than ever to get in more studio time to make ends meet, I had already been Ronald Anthony’s [my mentor] location/studio assistant in Park Ridge since ‘94, and the desire to photograph bigger events was becoming more and more intense than ever before.

I spent my free time trying to make new connections and reconnect with some people in the music industry, mostly in the rock n roll scene. Namely with some of the indie record labels; Roadracer [later to become Roadrunner], Nuclear Blast. along with radio station WWBZ [TheBlaze] later to become Rock 103.5. There were a couple of things that played against me at the time, 1. most people I had known in the industry during this time didn’t stay with their label but for only a few months at a time, there were always new faces when the A&R and sales rep people would come around. and 2. everyone was either wanting to photograph the Rock scene or had a pretty good hold onto there spots. So I needed a new game plan, I needed to do something different, think outside the box. Then it hit me. Country music, nobody was covering this genre in Chicago, though it was picking up momentum and hitting the mainstream quite quickly.

Marty Stuart, Country Fest, 1997

WUSN [US99] it did look to be a good fit for me, so I asked around and though it took several months of cold calls I Found CBS Broadcasting had recently acquired the station, which brought in a new station manager (Alan Sledge)  program director (Steve Lee), a good opportunity for me to make a connection and present my proposal in becoming their event photographer. So at this point, I started to write out many key points for what I had to offer; such as meet and greets at events, live images of the events (both crowd and stage) and on the air coverage of guests.

I believe it was late winter or early fall in 1996 that I got the nerve to pick up the phone and make first contact, and with that call and initial meeting thereafter, I became the official event photographer for WUSN-FM (US99), covering all their station sponsored concerts, I also photographed all their behind the scenes and meet and greets between 1997 and 1998. This opened a lot of doors that would have been left closed, if I had not taken that first step and believed I was good enough to be that guy in the pit, and why not me.



Wynonna Judd, Country Fest, 1997

Bryan White

Country Fest, Chicago, Il. 1997

Keith Urban

Lambs Farm, Libertyville, Il. 1997

Paul Brandt

Country Fest, Chicago, 1997

What’s in my bag

Often at times I never get asked “what’s in my bag”, well that’s not entirely true, when doing events is when that question would arise……at times.

Bags & Cases:

Timbuk2 Medium Messenger Bag (custom)

Domke F7 (black)

Domke F1-x little bit bigger bag (tan)

Elinchrom Hardshell Case

Tenba Hardshell Waterproof Case

Anvil Heavy Duty Flight Case

Cameras, Lenses:

Digital 35mm:

Nikon D800

Nikkor 85mm F1.8 D Lens

Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 Lens

Sony Alpha A7R II

Sony FE 135mm F/1.8 GM

4x5 Film:

Toyo GII (4X5 camera)

Schneider Symmar-S 180mm f5.6 MC  (Large Format Lens)

Riteway 4x5 Film Holders

Medium Format Film:

Rolleiflex MX series TLR

Mamiya RB67 Pro SD

Mamiya Sekor 50mm C f4.5

Mamiya 140mm F4.5 macro type “C” Lens

Mamiya K/L 90mm f3.5 Lens

Mamiya K/L 180 f4.5 Lens

Mamiya CDS Prism Finder

Mamiya Model 2 Prism Finder

Mamiya RB67 Waist Level Finder

Mamiya (RB) 6x8 Motorised 120 Film Back (2X's)

Mamiya (RB/RZ) 6x7 Motorised 120 Film Back

Lighting:

Elinchrom Quadra Pro Flash Head

Elinchrom Quadra Action Flash Head

Elinchrom Speed AS A Head

Elinchrom EL-1000 flash Head

Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid Battery Pack (400ws)

Elinchrom Quadra RX Battery Pack (400ws)

Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS Battery Pack (1100ws)

Elinchrom RQ Adapters (2X's)

Elinchrom Deflectors set

Elinchrom Maxispot Reflector

Elinchrom Rotalux 39" Deep Octabox

Elinchrom 17" Silver Beauty Dish

Elinchrom Basic 8.25 Reflector

30-degree Grid Spot (8”)

Elinchrom Skyport Plus HS Transmitter (Nikon)

Elinchrom Skyport Plus HS Transmitter (Sony)

Elinchrom EL-Skyport Transceiver

Elinchrom EL-Skyport Receiver

Honey Grid 40cm- 25-degree Grid Spot 

Vagabond II Battery Pack (used w/Elinchrom EL-1000)

Mola Demi 22” Beauty Dish (White)

22” spot grid for Mola Demi (20 Degree)

Photek Softlighter II

Phottix 35cm X 155cm Strip Light

Nikon SB-26 Speedlight

Misc:

4'x 6' California Sunbounce w/ Silver/White Reflector Panel (2x’s)

42"x78" PVC frames (2X's)

42"x78" Calumet Translucent 1/2 stop Fabric

42"x78" Calumet White/Silver Fabric

Savage Seamless Paper (Thunder Gray) 86"x 36"

5x7 Canvas Backdrop Olive/Medium Texture

Rosco Color Gels

Bogen/Avenger Rolling Stand

Matthews Century C+ w/Turtle Base (Black)

Matthews Baby Runway Stand with Wheeled Base

Matthews 40” Hollywood Head/Arm (black)

Matthews 40” Hollywood Head/Arm

Matthews Half/Full Size Apple Box

X-rite ColorChecker

Workflow:

Dell XPS 17” Laptop

Dell XPS Desktop (32GB memory) Dual 27” Monitors

Wacom Intuos Pro (Medium) w/ Pro 2 Pen

WD External Drive 500GB

WD External Drive 3T

WD External Drive 6T

WD External Drive 8T

Adobe Lightroom cc

Adobe Photoshop cc

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Master Collection

Capture One

Accessories:

Mamiya G2 Lens Shade

Tokina Lens Shade

Nikon Lens Shade

Sandisk Type II & III CF Cards (10X's)

Sandisk Card Reader

Nikon Battery Charger

B+W UV Filters (8x’s)

Sekonic L-358 Light Meter

Bogen 3021 Tripod (bought this in 1991)

Bogen 3030 Head (bought this in 1991)**retired

Arca Swiss B1 Ballhead

Arca Swiss Universal Plates (4X's)

77mm Neutral Density Filter