As I was walking down the street, brilliant morning sun began to burn the sidewalks warmer. Soon the day would be up to 90 degrees and cloudless. The sun can be touched overhead because of the elevation. Just reach up.
A man was walking along the sidewalk next to me with a serious camera. I asked him if he was on assignment and he said he was. He had been sent to take a picture of a car, a full sized vehicle crashing through the wall of an insurance company’s upper story office. The advertising brochure he was commissioned to create would feature this dramatic image. We enjoyed talking with one another and stopped to have a coffee. While we were sitting, he told me his story. He had been an advertising executive and was downsized. Afloat and in the “void” as I am now, he decided it was time to become more creative. He had been part of the company that handled the Dove real beauty campaign and had years of training for shoots, setting up graphic images and he was now putting that training to use more directly.
He had been selected to photograph the City of Chicago’s bid for the Olympics and the images that he shared with me on his phone were stunningly beautiful. Of course, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and I began to critique them. “This one is strong because of the sense of delicacy. This one had an airbrushed gray light effect. This one is a bit busy and could be cropped.” What surprised me was he really began to take interest in my reading of the images. He pulled out a calendar that was entirely for the purpose of selling a multi-million dollar house.
Only I would say, “These photos aren’t good.” I couldn’t believe I had said it. But that is me. Honest and open. “What is wrong with them?” he asked.
Well the cover photo with the reflection in the water is downright disturbing. The reader sees the reflection as more predominate than the actual house and it is confusing. We flipped the picture back and forth and agreed that it was true. As for the rest of the pictures, they weren’t about anything. Just flat pictures of a mansion with expensive furniture, no warmth. I waited with a kind of catch in my throat. He said, “I didn’t take them. They are asking me to reshoot the house.” Whew!!
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It was really exhilarating talking with him. His photographs in the Chicago Cubs Cookbook were really indicative of his ability to bring out the character in the various players.
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Cubs-Cookbook-All-Star-Favorite/dp/1600785271
I invite you onto Bob’s site to see how precise, clear and effective photography can be. The day held so many unexpected discoveries.
http://milkovichphoto.com/section/769.html
Taking the day as it comes, being in the moment, looking around with unhurried eyes leads to adventure without adrenaline. There comes to be a sense of self without self. The tourist or “viewer’s” narrative softens and the place itself seems to enter. It is very different than I have ever traveled before because it was quieter, more gentle and much more open. What was my intention each day? It was not to get through a list of things to see or do. It was to be very still and walk through a city scape, or next to a body of water and be very open to the energies of the place. The colors, the people such as the beautiful Muslim girl who smiled at me on the train and then got up to give me her seat without a word, the baby grabbing on to my scarf and waving her hands at me, the conversations with so many people who told me their stories, their adventures that day or in the last few years, were all an unexpected gift.