Richard Jackson for The Chronicle of Higher Education
A few weeks ago I photographed Richard Jackson for the Chronicle of Higher Education. A professor at UCLA and former head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC, Dr. Jackson is the host of Designing Healthy Communities, a documentary miniseries airing on PBS this week and next. He is one of the leading advocates for better urban design, which in turn leads to better overall health for a community’s residents.
Jackson had the perfect place in mind for the shoot, a concrete island outside of baggage claim at LAX, where he says he often waits in a noxious cloud of cigarette smoke and car exhaust for up to an hour for a shuttle bus that will take him up to the UCLA campus. He spends his weekends in San Francisco, where his family currently resides. “This is my idea of hell,” he yelled over a cacophony of car horns and revving engine noises pinging back and forth between pavement and low cement ceilings as we exited the baggage claim area. He had a point. The place doesn’t exactly scream ‘welcome to paradise.’
Photographing at LAX is fairly easy as long as you don’t pull out any lights and are out in the public area. Swarms of paparazzi and camera-toting tourists are a daily occurrence, so there’s a certain level of tolerance built in for casual shooting. So, I kept it simple, shooting only natural light and using the bounce from the adjacent parking deck to light the subject. We were able to shoot for several minutes without being hassled, which is more than you can say for many public spots in the city.
The following day I went to shoot him as he was giving a guest lecture to a class at the university. The material he presented is pretty interesting, and I found myself sticking around after I’d packed up my gear to listen to what he had to say. Many of us, particularly in LA, are already aware of what poor urban planning can do to impede pedestrians, but seeing it presented in photographs of labyrinthian neighborhoods and charts tracking our nations health decline with the rise of urban sprawl and suburbia was still fascinating and frustrating. It’s amazing to see how an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and asthma can in part be traced back to civic planners from the 1950′s. It also makes you realize the hurdles advocates of cities designed around pedestrians, such as Jackson, have to overcome.
This also made me appreciate living in Venice, which is an unusually walkable and bike friendly neighborhood. In fact, LA has numerous walkable neighborhoods. It’s just when you try to get from one to another that the nightmare begins. Speaking of which, it’s time to get away from this computer and go stretch my legs.
Dr. Lucy Jones, aka "The Earthquake Lady" for Smithsonian Magazine
Dr. Lucy Jones for Smithsonian Magazine
I recently had the opportunity to photograph Lucy Jones for Smithsonian Magazine. We lucked out with our location, finding a spot at a private residence just north of the city that gave us a gorgeous view of the city, combined with a little touch of nature in the foreground, tying together her job as one of the nation’s preeminent seismologists with her role as a protector and voice of reason for the city’s earthquake apprehensive citizens. Jones, a science adviser for the USGS in Pasadena, has become somewhat of a local celebrity in Los Angeles for her regular tv news appearances where she explains the causes, risks and likelihood of tremblers before and after earthquakes have occurred. The story is an interesting read if you want to check it out. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Meet-Lucy-Jones-the-Earthquake-Lady.html#
On the last day of 2011 I met up with Matt Ivester for a portrait shoot for the Chronicle of Higher Education in West Hollywood, Calif. Ivester, the founder of the now defunct and controversial JuicyCampus website – on which college students could anonymously post rumors about one another – has just written a book, lol… OMG!: What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying during his summer off as a graduate business student at Stanford. I didn’t want to get too conceptual with this shoot, so avoiding doing anything that would try to illustrate the idea of ‘cyber reputation.’ I decided instead to just go with a straightforward portrait, playing a little with reflections to illustrate the about face he has made in his stance on the subject, but otherwise just trying to show him as is. As he’s from Palo Alto, we really didn’t have a suitable location to shoot, so decided to meet up at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood and wing it. He was easy to work with and we found a few good places to shoot, particularly across the street at the West Hollywood Library, despite not having permission to shoot there. I think it didn’t hurt that it was New Year’s Eve and staffs and security were at a minimum. The top image is what ran, but I like the headshot as well.
Well, not really. But a fun way to end the holidays. A few days back I got a last minute notice of a clandestine, late night bonfire on the beach comprised of a collection of Christmas trees set to be collected by the city the following morning. The dried trees were promised to go up in a flash. It seemed too fun not to witness, so we made an extra effort not to fall asleep on the sofa after having attended happy hour earlier in the evening and headed out to the water. When we arrived we were the only ones there, despite showing up ten minutes later than the announced burn time. We gave it a few minutes though, and just as we were about to pack it up spotted a line of people emerging like mice from the shadows, each with a tree in tow. Scurrying through the dark they dragged the trees out across the sand and beyond the berm, piling them out of site of anyone not already out on the beach and just feet from the water’s reach. Beneath the full moon, someone reached in with a lighter, igniting the needles of one of the trees. Within seconds the entire pile was ablaze, shooting sparks 20 feet into the sky as a group of 15 or so gathered around. As promised, the pile burned quickly and brightly and in a matter of minutes had nearly exhausted its fuel supply. By the morning the waves would wash away the ashes. It was a beautiful moment shared by only a few and was definitely worth waiting up for. Content, tired and smelling of campfire we decided to make the short trek home, stopping along the way to photograph our dancing shadows as they reached out to meet the surf. A fun way to officially end the holiday season. (More photos after the jump).
In November I photographed Chiara Daraio for the Italian magazine STYLE. Daraio, a professor of aeronautics and applied physics at California Institute of Technology, was being profiled for being a leader in her field, which in layman’s terms is the study of how stress waves travel through solid materials, which they will then use to develop new technologies. The shoot was fun and relaxed, using a combination of natural and strobe lighting in a variety of settings in her building at Caltech. Whenever possible, particularly with portraits, I try to research the subject I’m photographing to see what’s been shot of them before and also what’s other photographers have done with similar subjects. In doing so, I found that she had been photographed in the lab before for Popular Science, so I made that shot my lowest priority, not wanting to copy what had been done before. The editors had only asked that it be a photo that shows her as an intellect and a leader in her field, but I was pretty free to take it from there. While I did shoot her in the lab, in a fashion different than what had been done before, I was happy they chose to run this shot which just shows her relaxing in her office, where notes indecipherable by me, but pertaining to her research, were already on the chalkboard. On a technical level, the shot was pretty simple, using only a reflector to bounce a little window light back into the scene, but the results were good.
Erinn and I had a great trip to Tucson for the Thanksgiving holiday. Along the way I took numerous photos that had a rather quiet tone to them. Thought I’d pull them together for this post. While in Tucson, Erinn and I had a great time feasting with my sister and friends, trying out local breweries and visiting some pretty amazing locations, such as Ted De Grazia’s Gallery in the Sun and Mt. Lemmon. On the drive home we cut north on Rte. 86 for a very brief visit to the Salton Sea, which neither of us had visited in our three years living here. Only having seen images of decrepit trailers and short clips from the film Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea, I was surprised to see how many people lived there, primarily in the town of Salton City. We drove up the north shore looking for interesting sites and came across an interesting mix of abandoned furniture, dead fish and numerous birds. The chair I’d seen photographed before in different locations. It must be moved around as needed by the numerous photographers who have visited the site. The dead fish, it turns out, are a result of the ever increasing saline percentages in the water, which are making it harder and harder for the fish populations to survive. We had to stay on schedule to make it home by a certain time that evening for the arrival of some house guests, but I’d like to look into this area more. In addition to the eccentric people who live in the area, there are apparently some significant ecological issues going on there.
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.
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.
Yesterday I rode my bike up the beach to shoot the Santa Monica Pier Paddleboard Race and then met up with my friend Eric who was in town from New York to visit his cousin. Still working on those photos, but here’s one that I shot on the Pier while waiting for the race to begin.
Two weeks ago I had a great time photographing Los Angeles-based VJ and video artist Jesse Nikette. I first met Jesse as he was standing in a dark doorway on Market Street, wearing hot pink glasses reminiscent of Star Trek’s Geordi LaForge (I had to look that up) and jamming on a silent piano guitar that, rather than play music, controlled video projections being thrown on the wall across the street. Photos from that encounter, which happened while he was participating in the Venice Art Crawl, are a few posts back. After that night I invited him over to shoot some portraits that incorporated his video creations. I wanted to shoot him because I thought his work was interesting and I have a few ideas about a series of portraits on local artists. On the night of the shoot he brought over his gear, which included a laptop, a high-quality video projector and a few components I’ll, for lack of a better term, call thingamajigs, and we spent a good hour or two throwing up different projections and figuring out ways to incorporate him into the patterns. Most of his work was actually very colorful, and we even used a smoke machine at one point to cut across the light rays, but this one stood out the most to me for its graphic quality as well as his stance. It’s always fun shooting portraits just for the sake of doing it. It’s fun having the freedom to create without any guidelines and I’m almost always happy with the results. If you want to see more of Jesse’s work and learn a lot about video art and projection mapping in general, definitely check out his site, www.jessenikette.com!
I am a Los Angeles photographer specializing in portraits and documentary storytelling. I am available for assignment worldwide. For inquiries or bookings please contact me at dz@davidzentz.com or 310-745-9854.
