Stop Motion Video: 1933 Bugatti

Staff at the end of Shoot

So much of commercial photography is engineering.  Clients usually supply you with who or what, maybe when, but solving the problems of where & how are your responsibility.  Confronted with taking a photograph of a priceless 1933 Bugatti automobile on display in a museum exhibition meant we could not have it delivered to our studio.  The museum had plenty of room to work in but shooting cars is one of the most difficult lighting tasks.  The light source has to be larger than the object.  When we shoot shiny, metallic vehicles outside, soft overcast morning or evening sunlight makes the entire sky the light source.  But inside we have to assemble huge, complicated light banks.  For this job the added complication was to construct, transport, then reassemble the light on location.

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From Russia With Love

Touch down at Pulkovo Airport (LED).  Hired car driving me to the hotel in the middle of the city.  Nose pressed to the window, staring out at unfamiliar landscape into a gray light.  Drab, overcast, partially raining.  A new city.  A new country.  The billboards are the only color albeit unintelligible.  A foreign language.  But I spot a word I can almost read.  Then another.  Like a child I phonetically sound out each syllable & guess at the unrecognizable leftovers.  By the time we reach my destination the startling revelation that I can read Russian becomes apparent.

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BBQ

Red states Blue states Barbecue steaks

When traveling I can go several days without eating. In fact I often do.  But with assistants & clients in tow I have to be much more conscientious about sustenance & entertainment.  Clients & art directors like nice restaurants.

Because I am always in an alien environment, finding the appropriate eatery can be daunting. Concierges at tony hotels can be helpful but many of the flop houses I am forced to frequent have very pedestrian tastes.  There are only so many chain restaurants you can tolerate. OLIVE GARDENs or OUTBACKs get tired after a while.

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