Drinking Fountain - Burton Chase Park
Marina del Rey kayakers
A sea lion at home in Marina del Rey, Calif.
I spent some time walking around Marina del Rey the other day and grabbed a few frames. Not too much to say about these, but I think I might make a life-sized enlargement of the drinking fountain and put it on a wall, right around drinking fountain height. The sea lion is from a family of them that calls one of the inlets home. This one appears to be quite happy there!
One of many sunken canoes on the Venice Canals after many, many days of rain. Bad weather can make slow times seem even slower.
Anyone who’s a freelancer is probably all too familiar with the deadening silence coming from your telephone during the month of December. Or maybe it’s just me? Between the extended weekends following Thanksgiving and the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years, there’s not a lot of time where any new business actually gets done in the twelfth month of the year. One thing that’s easy to do is to sit around waiting for phone to ring, growing increasingly depressed as the month drags on and your bank account goes down. Another is to whore yourself out (so to speak) for a quick buck so you at least feel like you’re working. This year’s unusual rainy season has made the first option the easy one this slow season. The second is a bad idea for numerous reasons, including that you’d be undercutting your industry and your time could be better spent. I’ve tried both approaches and neither does much good. A worthwhile alternative is to use your head and try to make the most of your so called “free” time. With that in mind, I decided to put together a “Top Ten” list of useful ways to help your business and yourself when things get slow around the holidays. Other than enjoy yourself and the time you get to spend with friends and family that is! I also realize December’s almost over, but rather than wait until next year I thought I’d put this out there while it’s fresh in my mind. Something to put away for next year perhaps. So, in no particular order, here are the…
Top Ten (or Twelve) Things To Do When Your Photography (or Other Creative) Business is Slow
1. Read and/or watch movies – Books, magazines and films are great places to find inspiration and activate your imagination. We just checked out Daren Aronofsky’s Black Swan the other day. He’s someone I enjoy for both his storytelling and cinematography. I’m also reading The Complete Joy of Home Brewing and rereading The Catcher in the Rye, which I picked up on vacation early this month. Perhaps the latter in honor of J.D. Salinger’s passing earlier this year. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it! Highly recommended, just don’t start collecting copies. I’ve heard that’s a bad sign.
2. Street photography – Get out and shoot! Even if it’s raining! Forget trying to find a subject ahead of time. Just grab your gear and go shoot what you see.
3. Update website or design and print a book – Go through your images from the last several months and see what you can bring into your portfolio (and, while you’re at it, take out!). Or print a portfolio book or a book focusing on a recent project. Blurb books have become particularly popular or print your own and put it in a Pina Zangaro or Lost Luggage binding. Both are more expensive, but look great as long as your prints are good. Blurb and others often have proprietary design software you can download for free. I prefer to use Aperture, which allows you to work from within your archive and can output in formats acceptable to most printers. In preparation for a trip to New York next month I’m printing one on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl and binding it in a frost style Pina Zangaro jacket. Looking good so far!
Keep reading after the jump!
Rip Cronk repaints Venice Reconstituted on Speedway Ave. in Venice, California
Venice Skatepark at sunset
$5 massage?
I went out for an aimless stroll along the boardwalk and beach as the sun was going down a couple nights ago. Along the way I stopped by to watch Venice artist Rip Cronk work on the latest incarnation of his famed Venice Reconstituted (1989), which is a large-scale mural on the side of the building that is currently home to Danny’s Deli and the Venice Beach Cotel (no Mom, that’s not a typo). Prior to being reconstituted, it was known as Venice on the Half Shell (1980), an obvious mix of Venus on the Half Shell and scenes from Venice culture, most notably local boardwalk legend Harry Perry. Unlike the previous two versions, this one has been raised above the first floor level to cover the entire three story building. This not only makes it much more visible, but will help protect the majority of it from the relentless taggers that over time destroyed Reconstituted. While Venus on the Half Shell was Cronk’s first mural, he completed the majority of the murals that have become icons of Venice Beach during the late 80′s and 90′s, including the Jim Morrison mural on Speedway and the Homage to a Starry Knight (again not a typo) along Ocean Front Walk. Cool to be able to catch him in action! Check out his work at http://www.rcronk.com/.
A parrot eyes plates of food at the Venice Ale House
Just a quick shot of a visitor that joined us while lunching at the Venice Ale House last week. The owner set him down on the railing before coming in for lunch. It hung out for awhile before scooching over our way to see what was on the menu.
In my professional career I have photographed riots in Miami, the dangerous slums of Cite Soleil and high-profile subjects like Dr. Dre. None of said situations were as nerve-racking as taking this photo of a musclebound man who looked like a marine using his daughter’s Minnie Mouse sunglasses to keep the light out as he slept on a flight home from Disney World where he’d just spent a week with his wife and young daughter. My reasons for being apprehensive were twofold. First, he looked like a pretty fit guy who could easily kick my ass should he wake up to find some unknown photographer trying to take an embarrassing photo of him in his sleep. Second, I’ve known other photographers to have been detained and questioned after taking photos on an airplane due to security concerns and didn’t feel like winding up in the same situation. These are two pretty convincing reasons to stay in your seat and not take the photo. But I just couldn’t resist! It’s not that I wanted to embarrass the guy, but the obvious juxtaposition and the story the photo could tell was too enticing to pass up. Plus, I was pretty sure I’d seen him reading a bible earlier in the flight and took this as a sign of what I hoped would be his forgiving nature. After getting up and getting my camera out of overhead storage I took a seat and figured out my settings. It was an evening flight and was pretty dark in there, but using a flash was out of the question as it would both wake him up and draw the attention of the flight crew. Thanks to the low-light improvements in recent generations of cameras and a fast lens, I figured I’d still be able to get something usable, so I pushed the ISO up to 5000 and opened up my aperture and hoped for the best. I ended up making several attempts, standing up to pop off a couple frames, sitting back down to examine the photos and repeating. They were turning out, but I just wasn’t satisfied and he was just sitting there, practically taunting me to keep shooting. His wife noticed me on the second attempt and smiled. On the third attempt her smile lessened as she warned “He’s gonna kill you.” I was hoping she was exaggerating, but took this as my cue to cut it out, returning to my seat for the final time. After he woke up, I waited for a few moments before I got my nerve up to show him the photo. I was relieved to find that he was both a really nice guy and had a good sense of humor! Which is good, since when he later handed me his card I learned that he was a former member of the Army and a mixed martial arts trainer and could probably crush me with his thumb.
Alan & Veronika’s wedding – Images by David Zentz
On one of the more perfect days in recent memory, last Sunday I was fortunate to join my new friends Alan Pottasch and Veronika Vrbacka, and about a dozen of their closest friends, for an impromptu wedding on the San Onofre Bluffs followed by a reception party at nearby Surf Beach. The location is special to the couple, as they regularly spend several days a week surfing there, driving down and sleeping in their kick-ass VW van. The ceremony was held along trail 6 on a tabletop cliff overlooking the ocean. Just before the ceremony began, a group of dolphins was seen swimming among surfers far below. The site was marked by a rug covered in rose petals. As many days do along the coast, this one started out overcast. But just like clockwork, the cloud cover started to burn off around the 10 o’clock hour when the wedding was to begin. This created a picture perfect environment of mixed light, giving the scene a combination of warm skin tones and a seafoam blue background. For fifteen minutes, the group of friends gathered there as the couple said their vows and exchanged rings. During the ceremony several surfers stopped along the path to witness the event. Included in that group was actor Mad Men actor John Slattery, who was being followed by a lone photographer, likely paparazzi, who stopped for a moment to focus his lens on the wedding. Following the ceremony we did some quick group photos before piling into our cars and heading to Surf Beach. The couple had reserved a shelter known as the Dogpatch. We spent the rest of the day there eating great food, surfing and generally enjoying ourselves. This also marked Erinn’s first day of surfing, which is very exciting as she can now join me rather than watch from the beach. I wish I’d taken pictures, but we were out there at the same time. As the day wound down we joined another group that was there around a campfire and sat around talking and laughing until the park closed. The next day we reconvened for a late-morning surf session before heading back to the real world. A really great couple of days!
The official line at San Onofre State Beach
Biking at Camp Pendleton
Erinn and I spent a couple days last week camping at San Onofre State Beach and surfing at nearby Surf Beach. The camping, sandwiched between the bluffs and I-5 and an active Amtrak rail, leaves something to be desired, but Surf Beach may be my new favorite place in Southern California. As a novice surfer, there’s really no place better that I’ve found in my limited experience. The beach is a mile or so long with low waves steadily rolling in for most of the day, making it a great place to learn without fear of getting thrashed about.
Aside from 4 trips out into the surf, we also went for an afternoon bike ride on a trail that runs through Camp Pendleton, which begins on the south side of the park and extends for miles down to Oceanside, just north of San Diego. Not really the prettiest scenery there, but it made for a good ride.
We also met up with some friends Erinn knows through work who frequent the beach despite the 1 1/2 hour trek from LA. They do it right though, cruising down in a late-model VW camper complete with a bed and small kitchen. We met up with them on the beach and then joined them at their van, where they treated us to a home cooked meal.
Oh, and despite the beach’s reputation as a nude beach, we saw no sign of it other than numerous signs warning would-be nudists to keep their shorts on.
Nude beach or not, I’m sure we’ll be heading back there soon and often.
After a brief walk around the neighborhood this afternoon I came across an extremely mud-splattered Jeep parked on my street. I thought it would make for some good found art, so I spent a couple minutes shooting it and came up with this. Kind of a photographic version of a Jasper Johns. Perhaps slightly less valuable, but I like it all the same.
Additional favorite images from the wedding weekend in Hart, Michigan. More photos after the jump!
The slobberingest French Mastiff I've ever seen
Looks like I wrote a lot! Don’t forget to click “Continue Reading” to see more photos
In a week forecast to be plagued with day after day of thunderstorms, standing within arms length of this 175-lb French Mastiff was about as close as I got to being rained on during my recent trip to Michigan. I spent the last week there, with a 24-hour jaunt to northern Ohio, in order to attend and shoot the wedding of Erinn’s sister and now brother-in-law, Heidi and Seth, who were married in Silver Lake, Mich., on the 26th. Since I was heading out, I decided to take advantage of the trip and spend a couple days visiting my beloved and too-seldom-visited sisters Tammy and Kim, and family, who all live in the area. First visit after flying into Detroit Rock City was with Tammy and Henry, who live on beautiful Lake Orion, an hour north of DTW. Although the forecast called for a day of thunderstorms, only one storm cloud rolled through in the late morning, making a quick exit after 30 minutes and leaving us with nothing but sunshine for the rest of the day. And take advantage of it we did, taking several spins in the lake to go waterskiing, tubing and jetskiing. In the afternoon some friends and extended family came over and joined us. We finished the day with grilled chicken and burgers and ample quantities of beer before I collapsed, exhausted, around midnight. I had taken the redeye in the night before and was running on empty after only 2 hours of sleep.
The next morning I arose at 6:30 and headed south to the home of my oldest sister Kim, who lives in the quaint town of Arlington, Ohio, which is outside of Findlay, which is outside of Toledo, with her husband Dave and 2 of her 3 children, Taylor and PJ. The eldest, Zac, is now living full-time at Bowling Green University and has recently moved off campus and into his first apartment. There I had a great time whooping up on the kids at Wii (at least that’s how I remember it) and catching up on all that’s been going on in their lives.
The last photos are from the end of the trip, skipping over the beautiful wedding that brought me there. There’s a lot to sort through, but I hope to post the photos within the next week or two.
That’s Erinn holding onto her new nephew Myles, who was born to her older sister six weeks ago and, other than the bride, was the center of the family’s attention during the week. I have much more endearing photos of him, of course, but like the humor in this one. The final image was from a visit to Muskegon, where Heidi and Seth live, the day after the wedding. It actually did rain quite a bit that day, but we were fortunate to get a break midday and took advantage by walking out to the beach, where we saw some lighthouses and enjoyed the post-rain humidity that so defines summer in the midwest.
The next morning we slowly made our way back to Detroit for an evening flight home. Along the way we stopped in the capitol city of Lansing and then took a quick drive through the Michigan State campus in East Lansing before stopping for lunch and a brew just east of there at the Michigan Brewing Company. Since we’ve been home brewing, anytime we’re out and about we try to find a local brew pub. It’s a great way to try a variety of great beers and there’s usually great food as well. From there we made it back to DTW and departed. Everything had gone pretty smoothly…
Until we got home. When we got there our friend came to pick us up and had the misfortune of breaking down in the LAX arrivals roundabout. It was just after 10 p.m., which is like rush hour there. So, not the best place to come to a halt. Lucky for him, he was still in the inner lanes at the time and was able to pull out of the way. AAA came to the rescue and after 2 hours we made it back to a garage about a mile away from our friend’s place. From there we walked back to his place and grabbed his roommate’s car and finally made it home. And then we couldn’t find our keys. After 5 minutes of looking Erinn finally found hers and we made it in the house. But not before I picked up my suitcase without having zipped it up, spilling my clothes all over the alley behind the apartment. “A perfect end to the night,” our friend said. You’d think so, but upon opening our apartment door we were greeted with the strong scent of natural gas. It was leaking from a hose on our water heater to the point that you could hear it hiss when you put your ear to it. No getting around this one, we opened the windows, called the gas company and waited an hour for a guy to come shut it off. Then, finally, at 2 a.m., 5 a.m. EST, we managed to end the night. This has me thinking about how there are no free rides, which is something I’ll perhaps elaborate on when I post the wedding photos.
