Andy Ihnatko
Earlier this week I got the great honor of spending some time with and making some portraits of the great tech writer Andy Ihnatko.
Definitely near the top of the list of nicest subjects ever.
Jonathan Coulton
A few weeks ago I spent a couple of portrait sessions with singer/songwriter extraordinaire Jonathan Coulton taking some pictures to help promote his new record Artificial Heart (which he kindly offers in lossless FLAC files, wish more artists did this). For the record, on top of being a great musician he’s also a terribly nice guy.
Here are the fruits of our labor, hope you like them.
Inspirational Photo Books
Let’s face it, we all need a little inspiration sometimes. I don’t know about you, but I find that I’m much less self-judgmental when I’m looking at a famous photographer’s work in a nice big coffee table book rather than flipping through 600px files on a website. To that end I’ve put together a list of books that I own and will pull out when I’m in need of some love.
Cover images link to the relevant Amazon.com page for your surfing pleasure.
Richard Avedon “Avedon at Work”
This behind-the-scenes look by Laura Wilson into Avedon’s American West series is a classic. Beautiful prints as well as some interesting stories about dealing with subjects. I especially like the set pictures of his big 8×10 camera setup pointing at a corrugated metal wall on the shady side of a building in the middle of nowhere with 3 assistants required to run it all at the speed he wanted to work. So bad-ass. Amazon Link
Something of my bible in my ways. Karsh was an absolute master of light long before all these modern photographers with one big light were in diapers. Hard tungsten and soft fill, this guy is one to emulate. His portraits of men are especially good, I think because you can get away with more severe lighting, it only makes them more manly. Amazon Link
Saul Leiter “Early Color”
I the 90 year old Saul speak a few months ago. Imagine the cutest great-grandfather type you can imagine, who’s also a street photography genius. This small 8×8″ book was suggested to me by my friend Cynthia. It can be hard to find and isn’t cheap, but the prints are great and the photographs sublime. Amazon Link
William Eggleston “Democratic Camera”
This is the companion book to the Eggleston show at the Whitney a couple years ago. To be honest, I was never a big fan of his, then I went to see the show, then I went again, it was amazing. Most of the classic William Eggleston’s Guide make an appearance and so much more. Don’t feel bad about not having the ‘Guide’ this one will make up for it. Amazon Link
Platon “Platon’s Republic”
I have a love/hate relationship with Platon’s work. I love the tones of his images and the intimacy he sometimes gets with his subjects, but at the same time I think he repeats himself far too much (I mean, how many really wide angle, heavily vignetted, black and white studio portraits on white seamless can one man take?) That said, if you haven’t yet, spend some time watching interviews with him. I’ve found them fascinating. Amazon Link
Mark Seliger “In My Stairwell”
I’m not in love with all of Seliger’s work. I think it’s all excedingly well done, I just think that they’re sometimes a little too contrived and conceptual. This series of 8×10 b/w portraits taken at the top of the elevator shaft in his building here in NYC is pretty great. I love how stripped down it all feels, how he had to work in the tight space, and the fact that it’s all lit by the skylight above. Good stuff and I’m jealous that I don’t have a location as great. Amazon Link
Henri Cartier-Bresson “An Inner Silence”
His ‘Europeans” book is also great and includes most of the super-famous shots which everyone has been trying to top for 80 years now. This book is instead a collection of his portraits, for which he is generally less known. They’re much more intimate than you would expect for guy who’s famous for hunting his photographic prey. Definitely a different facet to such a famous guy. Amazon Link
Dan Winters “Periodical Photographs”
Dan is one of those photographers that I aspire to be. His classic montra is that you shouldn’t be worrying about where to put light, you should be finding the right places to take light away. I try to emulate his work all the time, failing miserably on most occasions. Not only is he a great portraitist, but he also includes pictures of a space shuttle launch. Enough said. Amazon Link
Dan Benjamin
I keep a wish list of subjects that I’d love to meet and & shoot, and it’s a real treat that I got to snag one of them while visiting my sister and her family down in Austin over the holiday weekend. This time it’s Dan Benjamin, the man, myth, and legend behind the 5by5 internet broadcast network.
If you don’t already listen to Dan’s shows, well then shame on you. Go right now and subscribe to Back to Work and if you’re a little on the geeky side, add Hypercritical. This is good stuff and Dan is a consumate host with knowledgeable and usually quite endearing co-hosts.
Dan took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to meet us downtown at 7AM on a Sunday. That’s dedication folks. The streets were completely empty, but it made for interesting backgrounds and nice conversation. An hour walk, 150 or so pictures, a quick breakfast omelet when we were done and now we feel like old friends.
Seriously, this guy was so nice to Heather and I, that I have to think that he and Gina Trapani have some sort of side bet on who can endear themselves to me more. It’s a very very close call.
Gina Trapani
As you may know, I’ve got something of a wish list of people I’d like to meet and take portraits of. So when I knew I was going to be in southern California last week I thought it would be a great opportunity to swing by San Diego and meet up with Gina Trapani. If you don’t know, Gina founded lifehacker.com, which is very cool. Nowadays she works on a piece of software called ThinkUp which is currently being used by people like, well The White House. As if that wasn’t enough she also writes for Fast Company and is one of the hosts of This Week in Google on Leo LaPorte’s TWiT Network. Oh and did I mention that she’s also a total sweetheart? Enjoy.
Day 97: Edward Tufte
Edward Tufte has been on my wish list for years now and today I got the chance to shoot him at his private sculpture garden in Woodbury, CT. Two birds, one stone.
If you don’t know who he is, educate yourself. Tufte has written multiple groundbreaking books on visual information design, in some ways inventing the field itself. He is also an accomplished sculptor of many large scale works.
Click to enlarge.
Hero – Tony Vaccaro
Hero – Ray Kurzweil
On Monday I had the opportunity to shoot another subject from my wishlist. So I took a zipcar out to the Wellesley, MA headquarters of Kurzweil Technologies.
For those of you unfamiliar with Ray, he’s an inventor/futurist/author who’s got 16 honorary PhD’s and is a recipient of the National Medal of Technology, which is a really big deal. He pioneered text to speech in the 70’s, designed synthesizers for Stevie Wonder in the 80’s, takes 150 nutritional supplements a day so he can live long enough to live forever when The Singularity hits in about 30 years.
Very nice man, and I left with some signed copies of his books too. Double-win.
Hero – Mick Guzauski
On Friday I took the train up to Mount Kisco to meet and shoot recording and mix engineer legend Mick Guzauski. Mick is one of the top guys in the biz and has been around since the 70’s, not to mention he’s got 8 Grammy’s in his front hallway and enough platinum records on his walls to tile my apartment. Plus on top of that he’s a really nice guy.
Mick’s the guy who recorded “That’s What Friends Are For” and Chuck Mangione’s “Feels So Good” to start with. On top of that he’s mixed everyone from Ray Charles, Earth Wind & Fire, Talking Heads, Michael Bolton, Christina Aguilera, and a bunch of Clapton records just to name a few.
He even played me some of the 5.1 surround mix of Thriller which was never released because of what I can only imagine are legal reasons. Sufficed to say, it was insane.
Oh, and then he took my out on his boat after. Thanks Mick!
Hero – Matthew Carter
This is the first of a series of portraits of what I’m calling ‘heroes’ of mine. A list of people who inspire and interest me that I think would make great subjects. You can see the list and explanation here: http://billwadman.com/thelist/
Matthew Carter
For those of you who have ever used the fonts Verdana, or Georgia, or Bell Centennial, or a myriad others, thank Matthew Carter. He’s the man who designed them. And yes he still uses the G3 on the right, because apparently the version of Fontographer that the heavies in the business like to use is still OS9 only. Oh, and he was a terribly nice man.
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