Post Mortem - Skulls & Skeletons
Thursday, September 12, 2013
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| Sheila Christie & Adrián Verdejo |
In the heyday of paid magazine and
commercial photography in the 80s I regularly commanded a $2000 daily rate that
did not (I repeat, did not include expenses such as gasoline, food and film). Logging
and energy companies paid me this rate, in some cases for a whole week to shoot
across Canada or to spend
the week in BC, Alberta or Saskatchewan.
We all know that those days are long gone.
This year I did a shoot for The Walrus that paid half that rate but it included
all my film.
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| Sean Emeny standing, Chris James |
As you might suspect, since film is
expensive (in the 80s since our clients paid for film we used to say, “Film is
cheap.”) the less film you use the more money you can rake in. This is
especially important when what you rake in is minimal.
For years I have been shooting magazine
assignments in which I might use only one roll of medium format transparency
film (10 exposures in the 6x7 cm format).
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| Thibaut Eiferman & Danny Nielsen |
In the last 10 years my magazine
assignments have dwindled to nothing and I have spent more time behind my gas
mower than behind my camera on a tripod. That is just the way it is.
But for the last 10 years the Georgia
Straight has tapped me to shoot its Fall Arts issue. Perhaps around 5 years ago
I would take the portrait of two dancers (each one individually), plus musicians,
visual artists, comics and actors.
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| Sylvia Grace Borda & Khan Lee |
The bean counters at the Straight figured
that they had to pay me for 10 pictures plus the cover shot. So they had the
idea that I would photograph those people two at a time even if in many cases
the people involved had little in common or did not even know each other. This
was a tough assignment.
This year I have noticed that they have
imposed the same idea on the writer. Instead of the, let’s say, the theatrical
writer having to write two individual pieces (and get paid twice!) they now
combine the two actors as one piece.
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| Stephanie Izsak & Josette Jorge makeup by Devon Bree Baker |
I miss those single artist assignments. That
is how I was able to photograph a brand new dancer in Vancouver called Emily Molnar. Alone I could
do lots.
This year I had to photograph a ballet
dancer with a tap dancer. Go figure!
If this might sound complex, and it is,
consider that for this year’s Fall Arts Preview I used a camera I had only had in
my possession for a week and a half and with which I had only taken five
pictures. The camera in question is my first digital camera, a Fuji X-E1.
I must clarify here that all times during
this assignment (last week) I had in my trunk my medium format Mamiya RB-67 Pro
SD and film, just in case!
Just because I now had a digital camera in
hand I was not about to suddenly succumb to its so-called virtues and shoot
lots. Instead like Odysseus I lashed myself to the mast and ignored my
Circe-like Fuji X-E1. For this week’s cover I did not shoot 10 exposures on a
120 format roll of transparency. I shoot 7 pictures with the digitals.
For the first of the pictures, the
comedians I noticed that in my 5 or 6 exposures there was a variation in the
edges. I corrected this in the rest of the assignment by attaching my little camera
on to my very large tripod. It looked silly but I could concentrate on what I
wanted without having to worry what was in or out of my frame.
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| Makeup Devon Bree Baker |
I checked the Straight’s cover today and I
was astounded at the amount of shadow detail at the bottom. This is quite
incredible as the both the singer and the guitar player are dressed in black
and are standing on a black floor.
I shot the pictures with a rating of 100
ISO which is not recommended by Fuji
as they note that I would get a reduced shadow detail!
Every year there is a theme. Last year I
used an Arthur Erickson chair on an Arthur Erickson concrete wall (the roof of
the Dance Centre on Davie).
This year the location was an unusual
design studio run by Wendy Williams Watt on Maple Street. But if you notice in each
of the pictures here (there are 6 not five as the dressed to the teeth actresses
was an alternative cover) you will find either sculls, skeletons or skeletal
hands. Why not?
If you are perceptive enough by now you
must have suspected that my film costs were reasonable.
And lastly I must thank Georgia Straight
Arts Editor, Janet Smith for trusting this old man on a fun project for which I
will even (can you imagine?) be paid.
