Impromptu Portrait Session - an Add-On to my Magnum Workshop Experience

I had the good (great) fortune of meeting this gentleman at the very end of my Magnum workshop in Provincetown, Massachussetts. I met him by being open to opportunities, and by approaching him with an honest request to make a few images.

 

David is a figure of some prominence around here, and was planning to have a photographer visit him next week to shoot portraits for a magazine article. However, he gave me the opportunity to come into his writing studio and shoot a few of my own. Here are the best four shots I got from my ten minutes or so with him.

 

All of these were shot on my Leica M9 with 50mm f1.4 Summilux. I would have liked to use my 35mm lens, as the writing studio was quite cozy and I was challenged to get far enough away to make the picture I wanted. But, I only had the 50mm lens with me, and made the best of it.

 

One of the things I learned (re-learned?) in this workshop is the importance of being out there, being ready for opportunities to make images, and even creating opportunities when necessary. I worked for five days on a project, having a very difficult time getting to even the rather meager number of 5-8 images needed for our presentation to the workshop and to the public at the Fine Arts Work Center here in Provincetown. The experience of meeting David was exactly what I was looking for all week.

 

I ended up using only a single image of David in my presentation (not one of the images shown here), but feel that the experience of meeting him significantly added to my workshop experience.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Quirky Rituals to Spur Creativity

I read an interesting post on the Writer's Circle blog, about odd rituals that famous writers have used to keep the creative juices flowing.

My Daughter and I, a Few Years Back, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor AF-D 35-70mm f2.8 Lens

iso 800, f13, 1/60 sec.

 

Apparently, Joan Didion sleeps with her nearly-finished books, Truman Capote avoided many things based on superstition. My favorite, even though I don't follow it, is Hemingway's creed of "Done by noon, drunk by three." It seems he lived by it.

 

(Click Here) to read the full post on Writer's Circle.

 

I'm about to head off on a solo adventure for three days in New Orleans. No real agenda, other than meeting up with a musician friend who's migrated there. I'm hoping that the change of scenery andsome time to hang out at a leisurely pace will push me in a new creative direction. Actually, I have had lots of ideas and even some progress in images related to them lately. A little extra energy never hurts, though.

 

Now to decide on what camera gear to take...

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com