Streetball on Speedway
Streetball on Speedway
The other day I went out hunting for some fresh street photography and ended up coming across a group of kids playing football in front of a new mural by local street artist Chase on Speedway, an alley just off the Venice Boardwalk. While I took a lot of action photos that included the ball, I found it more interesting to watch people moving in front of this unusual and playful background. A couple more photos of random passers by after the jump.
Nana @ Sunny Bak Studio, Venice, Calif.
Nana @ Sunny Bak Studio, Venice, Calif.
I recently had a fantastic shoot with my new friend Nana at Sunny Bak Studio in Venice. An artist, actor and model with an amazing fashion sense, Nana’s an incredible subject whom I had been wanting to photograph since I first approached her two years ago outside a local coffee shop. She’s one of the few people I’ve ever encountered whose presence can literally stop you in your tracks. The opportunity never materialized and I moved on to other things until deciding to try again a few weeks ago. Although I had never run into her in person again over that time, by then I had connected with several mutual friends and one of them, Sunny, was nice enough to reach out and vouch for me, which led to the shoot at her studio a few weeks later.
When Nana showed up to the shoot I knew she was a committed subject by the fact that, after getting stranded near the airport, she had hitchhiked to make it to the shoot. I was doubly relieved as I was not only looking forward to a much-anticipated shoot, but had also rented some extra gear and purchased film in order to make some exposures on an antique 4×5 camera I own but have never actually used. These photos are all shot on a Nikon D3, but I hope to be able to share the 4×5′s soon, pending positive results.
But even if they don’t turn out, the results of the D3 are enough to have made the shoot worthwhile. As you’ll see after clicking to the jump, I can hardly edit it down below 10 images made during a fun and fortuitous 90 minutes of shooting. The session was laid back and fun from the get go and only got better over time. Nana knows how to work the camera and we had a great time going through a variety of expressions, both posed an natural. Before shooting we came across a book by Robert Mapplethorpe entitled “Some Women.” I was mostly familiar with his more provocative work focusing on erotic male nudes, which is what most people probably associate him with. I was surprised when thumbing through the book to see this collection of beautifully lit portraits featuring young depictions the likes of Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon and Grace Jones, the latter of which is a personal hero of Nana’s. Although it didn’t affect the way I set up for the shoot, I think the book provided a source of inspiration nonetheless, particularly evident in some of the more stoic images we produced.
A bit of luck came our way too when, not long into the shoot, a shaft of sunlight appeared on the backdrop. At first I saw it as a problem, an unsightly blotch of white light smeared across an otherwise even background. Then Nana – also a photographer I might add – pushed her face forward and into the light. I had been stuck on keeping my lighting the way I’d set it up, but when I saw that I immediately changed my tune. Knowing the rays, which were coming from the setting sun poking through the studio’s front door, were fleeting, I quickly started scrambling to take advantage. I wanted to try two things and managed to get a crack at both of them before the light faded away. First, I started working on balancing out the natural light with the overhead studio light so the effect of the sunlight could be seen without being bleached out by the strobes. I managed to find the right balance, so the strobe maintained the shadow detail while the sun lit her face. Then, I took the opposite approach, cutting the strobes altogether and exposing only for the highlight on her face. The effect was to surround just a portion of her face in total darkness. Right after that the sun disappeared and we resumed shooting with my original setup, which was nothing more than a single, super-diffused beauty dish placed over head, and the occasional use of a reflector below. (I’ve actually posted a couple “behind-the-scenes” shots taken by my wonderful intern Shari at the end of this post.) But it was a good reminder to roll with the unexpected rather than fight it.
My original intent when shooting Nana was to produce a couple good portraits that spoke more to her personality. The first shot posted here is probably the closest to my original vision. It’s a moment that’s loose and natural and powerful, and shows her being herself. I’ve seen a lot of amazing modeling work she’s done recently but wanted to go a different direction with her that I hadn’t yet seen, which is more my style anyway. But posed or natural, she was able to help me produce several great images that I’m happy to be sharing here. Hopefully I’ll have more to share after processing the 4×5′s.
Overall it was a great shoot and I look forward to working with her again someday!
Dancing man through the beer tent fishbowl. The guy must run on Duracells.
Place was packed!
Last Sunday we spent a couple hours at the Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice. The annual event is a huge draw to the area and features tent after tent of local vendors selling everything from handmade jewelry to some pretty tasty peanut brittle. There’s also live music and a couple of beer tents, one of which where we spent a sizable portion of our visit. Always a fun event if you don’t mind the crowds.
Big Talk at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas
Last week I photographed the Stella Artois Draught Master competition at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. It was my second year in a row shooting the event and was much improved this year with the addition of a rock show by Vegas locals Big Talk to finish off the night. The band is a side project of The Killers’ drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., who in this band takes the role as lead singer and guitarist. The show was pretty good and helped draw a nice crowd to the event. I’d never heard of the band before, but of course am at least somewhat familiar with The Killers. Brandon Flowers, The Killers’ lead singer, made a crowd-pleasing guest appearance midway through the show actually. This is a shot I like from the end of the evening. I was pretty much done shooting the action and retreated to the bar to take a break. The color of the stage lights contrasted nicely with the color of the liquor bottles lining the bar shelf. Vannucci is actually a very expressive singer and I got numerous shots of him belting out the lyrics, head up, eyes closed, mouth agape. The image lacks that moment for me, but the color combo helps make up for it.
The next day I stuck around for a portrait shoot I’d set up on the side. It gave me the opportunity to explore Vegas off the strip, which I rarely have done. Most of my visits there are results of gigs that usually take place somewhere along the strip. It was nice to see more. I’ll show the results of that day’s work soon.
Flames in the sand, Venice, Calif., 2011.
I was browsing through some photos and found this miscategorized gem in a folder from a portrait shoot I did in January. Erinn and I apparently went out for a walk that evening and came across this cool pattern in the sand just north of the Venice Breakwater. I loved the suggestion of flames where the water recedes, and all the better that the flames were accentuated by the warmth of the setting sun. Lesson learned to either stay more organized or at least go looking through your old photos from time to time to see what you missed.
Jumping ship
Relaxing on the trampoline
A moment of guilt passes through my mind as I think that while we were out doing this, the majority of the country’s population was still in the path of, or trying to recover from, Hurricane Irene. But when things are perfect in your neck of the woods you’ve got to take advantage. And we did.
Last Sunday we got an invite from our friend, Roger, to join him and others on a sail out of Marina Del Rey. A heatwave that pushed the mercury over 100 degrees in the Valley coaxed the coastal temperatures into a much more tolerable mid-80s. Couple that with low winds and it was a perfect day for smooth sailing.
And we enjoyed every minute of it; relaxing, swimming and laughing with a great group of new friends made up of an impressive assortment of performers, entrepreneurs, adventurers and even a writer from the Daily Show (!). Normally I hate when those guys go on vacation, but when I get to hang out with them on a boat, I’m happy to make an exception. In the evening, several of us made our way over to Michael and Don’s place on the Venice Canals and kept the party going with some great grilling and beverages. If only every Sunday could be this perfect. As that’s unlikely, I took it upon myself to memorialize this one.
More photos after the jump!
Ethan DeLorenzo and Stormi Henley
Dylan Finneran
I’ve had a lot of fun shooting street photography on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, but decided this time to try something different. So, with my intern Nanette and a single strobe I set out to make some portraits. Unfortunately, the hour we had to shoot was cut short by a dead battery in one of my Pocket Wizards. So much for spontaneity. But we were lucky to run into a few cool people in our short window of time and I’m really happy with the results. I’ll definitely be heading back for more in the near future.
Street artist Jules Muck
Earlier this summer I got a chance to photograph local street artist and designer Jules Muck at 1320Main Studios in Venice. I had invited her to shoot for a personal project I’m working on on local artists and thought it would be a great opportunity to shoot some portraits using a couple of large Kino Flo lights that the studio had available. In this instance, I gave Jules very little direction other than where to stand. I didn’t want to do anything too contrived and I thought it would be best to just let her be herself. She showed up wearing a slip and carrying a chihuahua, so that’s what we went with. Other than lighting, the other thing that was important to me was that the background was green, as it’s probably the most common color in her recent work, which can be seen on walls throughout Venice. If you’ve been to Venice lately, the piece you might recognize most is her portrait of Lindsay Lohan with the words “Welcome to Venice” scrawled above her head. I photographed people walking by the piece several months before I had actually met Jules. Anyway, the studio happens to have a large green screen that is used most commonly for video work, so I thought it was the perfect spot to shoot. The shoot was fun, but brief, as Jules managed to fit me in just before running off to catch a flight to NYC. The life of a street artist is changing! Between formal recognition by major museums, such as the current Art in the Streets exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, to an increasing number of commissioned works on everything from local buildings to major ad campaigns, not to mention the Banksy-directed film “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” street artists are increasing coming out of the shadows and into the limelight. As much of the work is still considered illegal, however, I think the rebelliousness that made it so exciting in the beginning still exists. It will be interesting to see how it evolves from here.
Broken Fire Hydrant, Venice Beach, Calif.
Broken Fire Hydrant, Venice Beach, Calif.
Forget fireworks. This year the big Fourth of July spectacular in Venice Beach turned out to come in the form of a broken fire hydrant spewing water four stories in the air at the corner of Speedway and Clubhouse Avenues. What else to do but throw off your clothes and dance beneath the downpour until the authorities arrive? Or, if you’re me, take pictures. In many ways it was a welcome relief the disappointment we experienced from the cancellation of major fireworks shows in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey. We were still able to see distant shows to the north in Malibu and to the south in Manhattan Beach, but nothing that was in-your-face. On our way back from the beach after fireworks we came across this scene and, like everyone else, ran toward it. There, for 15 minutes or so, crowds of people cheered as people took turns dashing into the downpour until the authorities arrived, unwittingly making the show patriotic with flashes of red, white and blue light. After a few minutes they cleared out the scene and got to work capping the geyser. Apparently, the culprit was a car that ran into the hydrant, knocking it off its base. I haven’t heard that anyone was hurt and hopefully no one experienced too much flooding from the 4-inch deep river that formed in the alleys. Definitely a memorable cap to an otherwise great Fourth, despite the meager fireworks displays.
Check out more photos after the jump!
Sumo Champions – Images by David Zentz
It’s a little known fact that both Erinn and I are accomplished sumo wrestlers. Believe it. In fact, both of us hold silver medals from an officially sanctioned California Sumo Association tournament. While this is old news to us, I figured it’s about time I shared this tidbit with the rest of you, before it’s ancient history.
During the fall of ’09, Erinn and I set out to attend the Shuubun (fall equinox) sumo tournament at the “Dohyo of Dreams” in Garden Grove. We’d been invited by U.S. Heavyweight Sumo Champion Dan “Sumo Dan” Kalbfleisch after I’d asked him to sit for a portrait shortly after meeting him at a sumo demonstration at Venice Beach. He happened to be participating in this tournament the following week and thought it would be a great place to shoot, as well as to get some photos of the wrestlers in action. (You can see the portrait here.) Of course, I thought this was a brilliant idea, but at the time had no idea what I was getting us into. My first goal was to get a portrait that I liked, plus Erinn and I also thought we could collaborate on a story on the sport. When we got there, I set about lighting the portrait against the backdrop of a garage, which was decorated with Japanese script that I’m told translates to “Dohyo of Dreams.” The dohyo is located in Jim Lowerre’s backyard, behind his suburban Garden Grove home and, I believe, owes much of its name to the Kevin Costner classic, “Field of Dreams.” “Build it and they will come,” was the famous line, and it appears they have. Not in droves, but enough that the venue hosts annual spring and fall equinox tournaments as well as practice sessions. At least it did. An old link I had showing the dohyo is no longer active.
After the shoot they realized that there was only one female participant present – a 10-year-old girl – and turned to Erinn to see if she would be willing to participate in the tournament in order to give the girl a competitor. Caught a little off guard, she agreed. Saying no would of course send the little girl packing, so what choice did she have? Besides, how hard could it be for an adult woman to wrestle a 10-year-old girl? They went about signing her up, weighing her in and fitting her with a mawashi, the standard loin cloth worn by wrestlers.
This was pretty funny, I thought, watching her get ready. I didn’t expect that a minute later they would be convincing me to do the same. Uh oh. With my background in photojournalism, I usually try not to get involved in what I’m shooting. Often times that’s for ethical reasons, but it can also be for the simple fact that it can prevent me from doing my job. But, despite a moment’s hesitation, I couldn’t pass this up. We weren’t there working for anyone and when would I ever have this chance again. Suit me up.
Seeing as I didn’t bring my own, they were kind enough to lend me a pair of shorts to wear under the mawashi they lent me. How do you make a man in a mawashi look more ridiculous? Make him wear pink shorts underneath. After we were both fitted we went through a training session, first outside the ring with the referee, and then in the ring with Sumo Dan himself. You don’t realize what you’re really up against until you find yourself face to face with a 300+ professional, who, by effortlessly leaning into you causes you to buckle as you simply try to hold your ground.
Fortunately, neither of us had to actually wrestle Dan. After our training, which included a routine of tossing salt into the ring to purify it, squatting, stomping, clapping your hands and then raising them to show you are unarmed, we stepped out of the ring and waited to compete. While not competing, I was of course shooting while Erinn took notes and interviewed wrestlers. Then it was time to wrestle.
Erinn was up first. Her competitor nearly equaled her in size. The daughter of one of the male competitors, this was not her first time in the ring, and she quickly took Erinn in the first bout. Erinn stepped up and was able to push her out of the ring on the second bout, but lost again in the third. A valiant effort and enough to earn her second place.
Then it was my turn. Erinn grabbed my camera and I stepped into the dohyo. There were just enough men that we could have two weight divisions. Myself, another man in his 50s and a third approaching 80 comprised the lightweight division. My first competitor was the younger of the two, who effortlessly knocked me off balance by grabbing my belt and lifting as he pushed me backwards out of the ring. One of the keys to sumo, I learned, was keeping a low center of gravity. This I do not have, and lifting on my belt was enough to completely take away any chance that I could push back. But I had my revenge. Not on him, but on the 80-year-old. I shouldn’t be proud of that, but I am. You gotta take the victories where you can. We squared off and, using my reach and the fact that I was more than a foot taller than him, I overpowered him forced him out of the ring. Despite his overwhelming defeat, he was all smiles.
Following the sanctioned competition, I wrestled one more guy just for fun. Despite looking like a sumo wrestler, he was actually rather new to the sport and had traveled with his sister from New Mexico to compete. Someone volunteered me as someone with whom he could get another round of practice. I was given some tips on how to use his inexperience to his disadvantage, but my own lack of experience combined with his mass were enough to assure him of the win.
As this was an official event, a ceremony was held at the end of competition, and medals were awarded. Both of us proudly took our silvers and posed for a photo with our weight divisions and again with the whole group.
I did get some photos from the event that I liked, but it’s fair to say that my work did suffer from participating. But screw it. We medaled in a sumo tournament! I’ve had conflicts that have prevented me from going to some recent sumo events, but I’m hoping we can pick this up again and publish a piece at some point. I’ll be sure to share when we do.
