After taking the Camp VJ workshop, I’ve been thinking a lot about the limitations of being a still photographer and working on the stories I want to tell. I fundamentally believe in Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment and the power of a still image to have a lasting effect on a person. I think of Eddie Adams’ image of the execution of a Viet Cong Guerilla. Stuart Franklin’s photograph of tanks about to run over a man in Tiananmen Square. I think of Dorothea Lange, Lewis Hine, Weegee, Robert Frank and on and on and on. [I almost feel guilty listing names because I could fill and entire page of people whose images have affected me in a big way.] And I don’t doubt that I will always be a still photographer. But I must admit that there is something truly spectacular about hearing the inflections in someone’s voice as they share a story, seeing the movement of someone across your frame of vision. There is just some wonderful thing about moving pictures. I think I may have found my new favorite medium. And this is very confusing to my brain.
So this back-and-forth confusion in my head came to fruition when filmmakers Adam Snow and Steve Albertson, of Horns and Tails Productions, recently asked me to help them shoot a documentary. It’s currently called Democracy in Chicago and it investigates the various roles patronage, pay-to-play politics and a variety of other systems/interests influence Chicago politics. I’m also probably not doing it justice with my one-line ‘review’ but I promise to link to the film when it’s done and explain more as time goes on.
AND, I’m actually getting the chance to see if this is really what I want to do [too].
So, for the past week or so, I’ve been helping shoot a bunch of b-roll, or non-interview footage, around town. I’ve also been shooting a bit of stills. Here’s the team at breakfast:
Steve Albertson, left, and Adam Snow
I also discovered that a perk of filmmaking is that the directors tend to feed you!
A few days ago, we spent some time at the old Meigs Field and around Northerly Island.
Today, we headed downtown to the Millenium Park area where I took my essential photo of the “bean” among other things…
I also learned the art of how to film using a ‘homemade dolly’ and Adam and Steve have been nice enough to snatch up my camera and take some shots of me working.
So, I am officially exhausted and extremely happy. I’m not sure how long I will hold out with a full time photo gig, shooting weddings and now working on this film, but that’s what caffeine is for, right? And I’m feeling pretty inspired and hopefully that will help me get out of bed tomorrow morning.
