June 28, 2011

Lineman


This shot came about completely by chance.  I was doing extensive work for a CATV company.  They wanted everything shot: buildings, equipment, construction sites where cable was being installed, the corporate offices, the engineers' drafting room, and the administrative offices.  I had complete freedom to shoot whatever I found interesting, I even had a cherry picker at my disposal!

While shooting in the equipment garage, I noticed a pair of climbing spikes laying in the corner.  They looked like they hadn't been used in years.  I recognized them right away because I had an uncle who was a lineman for the telephone company (that's "the telephone company" when there was only one, aka Ma Bell).  I found someone who knew how to use them and we went out, found a pole and made this image.  A mural sized print now hangs in the company's corporate headquarters.

June 27, 2011

Flowers / Tattoo


This is a little different post.  I took this in New Orleans, in the French Quarter, Bourbon Street if I remember correctly.  I was walking behind the young couple and I was looking at her tattoo.  I liked it, to me if you are going to get a tattoo, go for it, go big.  Then the older couple in the Hawaiian shirts appeared and I just shot. There was only time for one shot, this one.


    This photo was recently included in the Chase Jarvis project in New York City,   Dasein at the Ace Hotel.

June 21, 2011

Steel


I feel very comfortable in this environment. I wish I could shoot in steel mills more often.  I worked in a steel mill, it was how I earned money to pay for undergraduate school.  I was a millwright and I worked at Bethlehem Steel, Lackawana, New York, Hot Strip #5.  My first day on the job, the foreman gave me my hard hat, it had a number on it, my number.   He said, "If something bad happens, this hat is not to protect your head.  It is to identify your body."

Big steel, long since closed down in Lackawana, except for one thing, the coke furnances are still on and Hot Strip #5 is always freshly painted on the outside when other buildings are left to rust.  I drive by when I am in town.




These images were taken in a smaller mill and are lit entirely from the glow of the molten steel, as hot as I remembered.





I am available for assignments in this environment, in fact, I keep a hard hat in the trunk of my car, just in case.

June 6, 2011

Skyfire



This is a photograph of the backyard patio of Skyfire, the home of architect Vernon Swabach.  Mr. Swabach studied under the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright who had an architecture school here in Arizona, Taliesin West, a school Mr. Swabach saved from extinction.  Shooting on assignment, I had permission to shoot whatever I wanted and had full access to the property.  The home was simply stunning and perfectly situated on it's lot to take full advantage of it's location in the McDowell Mountains northeast of Phoenix.  This shot was made at dusk using only the patio lights and the natural ambient light.  I was shooting a magazine feature on Mr. Swabach and this photo was used for the cover.