Framed

Light Painting: First Attempts

Stillman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:47:48 +0000

I haven’t done much light painting and it’s something I want to explore. There seem to be almost limitless possibilities. Check out this image of a pagoda lit by hand, or this superb set of inventive light paintings on flickr.

(Swoon)…I love what digital makes possible.

Shooting Dance in the Dark: Two Approaches

Stillman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:34:20 +0000

Before the holidays, I had the chance to shoot a Contemporary movement class taught by choreographer Jennifer Archibald at Dance New Amsterdam. I’ve shot her Hip-Hop class before and was familiar with the challenges: she pushes her dancers to move fast and fluid, and the DNA studios are cavernous and dim. Oh, and Archibald likes to keep the lights off while she teaches. From a photographer’s standpoint: great, just great.

This time, I didn’t even try to make the dark, cave-like environment work for me – the results would be grainy (because of a high ISO), blurry (because the ISO wasn’t high enough, and the shutter speed too slow), and flat (because I was worrying more about my settings than getting in the flow). Instead, I brought my Strobist-inspired off-camera flash, an omni-bounce diffusor, a light stand, and my wireless triggers, and experimented.

I had a look in mind – peak moments in a sequence of movement, frozen by the harsh strobe, that were a little washed out and visually aggressive. It took me an hour of shooting before I started to get the hang of it and began thinking outside the box. I tried putting the strobe on the floor, in front of, behind, and to the side of the dancers, and even using it on-camera – anything to get interesting results. To my child-like delight, I discovered I could get big, puppet-style shadows by placing the strobe at a certain angle and then shooting the dancer in the foreground.

The second idea I wanted to try was working in the dark. I pushed the ISO to 3200+ and shot at a moderate shutter speed – guaranteed to give me both grainy and blurry images. In black and white, however, they have the look of a cropped film negative. There is a certain drama to them that I like – dark and not very contrasty, as if they were deteriorating.

As usual, I have Jennifer Archibald to thank for some kick-ass choreography and the dancers for putting up with my annoying strobe. I’m looking forward to explore these two approaches more in the studio.

Winter Landscapes

Stillman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:45:10 +0000

I spent the last months of 2009 shooting a lot of dancers and meditators, and my intention for the holidays was to get outside in the clear, cold evenings and shoot some landscapes. I haven’t taken winter photos since high school, when I would grab a tripod and my mom’s Olympus OM-10 film camera and try my luck on the mostly deserted backroads of southern Illinois. For me, the photo above is an indication of how far I’ve come, at least technologically. It is an composite of three different frames taken at a pond near my family’s house. High Dynamic Range processing, or HDR, allowed me to properly expose both the foreground and the sky – something that didn’t exist when I was 16. It’s the first HDR composition I’ve been happy with, and the winter atmospherics in Connecticut were really nice.

I also like this shot. On a hike the day after Christmas, the trees looked like hardened blood vessels on a slide. Spooky, but cool.

My Photos in the Shambhala Times!

Stillman — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:43:55 +0000

A couple feels the good vibes coming off the sitters in ABC Home

The Shambhala Times, the online newsletter for Shambhala folks has a post on the ID Project’s Sit Down Rise Up event that includes some of my photos. Shambhala is a major Buddhist community in the US – perhaps the largest – and I’m happy to be featured.

Know any meditators that need portraits of their, um, meditation? I’m available…

Dance Photography: Open Shoot the Second

Stillman — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:55:11 +0000

Last Saturday I hosted the second in an ongoing series of photo shoots dedicated to capturing dancers and their movement. As with the first shoot at Chez Bushwick, I was fortunate to be working with top-notch talent that made my job, essentially, that of a movement curator. Jennifer Roit, Amanda Wright, and Amy Schulster worked hard during the uptempo 3-hour shoot to get material we were all happy with.

I was on much surer footing this time in two important ways – I was more familiar with my gear, and I had a keener eye for what, in a technical sense, was good dance. I felt much more in control of what the camera was capturing, and my competency allowed me to work collaboratively with Amy, Jen, and Amanda to tweak a pose in real time, and get the shot the first time (or the third or fifth, instead of the 20th). This efficiency payed big dividends: they had the energy to try new ideas and bigger jumps, and their energy, in turn, made me more focused. In a sense, I was able to get out of their way and let them flow as dancers, and they rocked it hard. Also, my revised and updated photo shoot playlist was pretty great.

I’ll be hosting another Open Shoot at Chez Bushwick in January. Check back in a week for the dates!

“Sit Down Rise Up” From Behind the Lens

Stillman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:07:51 +0000

Originally posted on the Interdependence Project’s One City Blog. For more about the ID Project, check out their website.

For 24 hours on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6 & 7, volunteers from the Interdependence Project sat in the large display windows at ABC Carpet & Home at the corner of Broadway and 19th Street in New York and meditated to raise money and awareness about mindfulness. I knew this event was something different – a bit radical, perhaps a bit of a stunt – but I had no idea it would generate the energy and emotion it did from the sitters and people on the street. I had the opportunity to cover (nearly) the whole of Sit Down Rise Up from behind my camera and experience it from the cushion as a meditator, and these are my thoughts and reactions. For more photos, check out the Sit Down Rise Up flickr set.

ABC Carpet & Home was, in one way, a perfectly ironical setting for a meditation event. We were there to practice mindfulness, non-attachment, to focus on inner development over material grasping in the middle of a sumptuous landscape of beautiful and expensive objects. As hosts, however, ABC made a lot of sense: they are focused on responsible, sustainable consumption. After 18 hours, the place felt like home, and the staff were incredibly supportive. I would pass shoppers on my way to sitting and think, “they don’t really appreciate this place. They’re just here to buy stuff.”

There were crowds. In my two 4-hour meditation shifts, I experienced a range of reactions that truly surprised me. Some people stopped and bowed to me out of respect. Others banged on the glass and tried to break my concentration. Some just stared, the fact that people would just sit in windows temporarily frying their circuits. And then there was the hostility. I had one guy come right up to the glass and stand, legs apart, and stare at me angrily for a good three minutes until his girlfriend pulled on his arm and he left. I quickly realized – no matter what someone was doing to distract me, if I brought my attention back to the breath and waited, they would get bored and leave. Just like actual thoughts! Cool.

I’ve thought a lot about why people acted out towards us in the way they did, and with the frequency. I think it had a lot to do with us sitting in store windows – it’s as if we were instantly transformed, partially, into objects or commodities. We weren’t people engaged in a contemplative act, we were a sideshow. That, and the simple act of stopping and sitting together must have been oddly threatening. It may have seemed bizarre to some people and the discomfort of that led them to bang on windows and make mean faces.

Finally, there was the totality of the experience itself, and my fellow volunteers. After I had shot the folks who had sat through the night (Jess, Ethan, Rafi, Damaris, you guys are all ninja), everyone gathered in the break room, had tea, and told stories about sitting in the wee hours. It was a cross between a sleepover and a Dharma gathering at summer camp. The fellowship on the sitting and the way the city infused it all was pretty incredible. I hope ABC has us back next year!

Champions For Change: Shooting at the UN

Stillman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:26:19 +0000

On Wednesday of last week I had the opportunity to shoot for author, entrepreneur, and environmentalist Jane Poynter at a press conference for the launch of her new book Champions for Change. The event took place at the UN and included a panel of athletes featured in the book: Green Laces founder and professional soccer player Natalie Spilger, Cincinnati Reds player Chris Dickerson, Anne Quemere, the first woman to row across the Atlantic in both directions, ultra-distance swimmer Marcos Diaz, and three time Tour De France winner Greg LeMond. It was cool to seen such an accomplished group of people throwing their weight behind tackling environmental issues.

Meeting Greg LeMond was special for me because both of my parents were cyclists, and I heard his name around the house as a kid. Shooting at the UN was also a bit of a thrill. Check out more photos from the event and read about Jane’s book at the Global Sports Alliance site on Champions for Change.

Halloween in NYC

Stillman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:45:08 +0000

I took my camera along to New York’s Halloween parade but didn’t shoot much of anything worth sharing. My buddy’s costume, however, drew a lot of attention. Strangers came up to him all night and simply started pressing his buttons. Fortunately, he was both a good sport and a good calculator, and answered every problem given to him correctly.

Ninjas Don't Carry Nikons

Stillman — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:45:46 +0000

My friends carved pumpkins this week and I grabbed my camera when they were done. At the moment, I’m debating whether to bring my camera to the Halloween parade tonight in the Village. On one hand, great pictures. On the other, ninjas don’t carry Nikons.

Happy Halloween!

Cade Martin: Blowing My Mind

Stillman — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:42:38 +0000

Cade Martin is a Washington, DC based photographer with an impressive client list and mind-blowingly rich images. A friend (h/t Caitlin) saw I was interested in dance photography and sent me to his portfolio and I was immediately taken with his keen sense of humor and narrative. The dancers in the above photo call to mind ducklings or Abbey Road, with the wigged figure behind them both referencing the Capitol dome in the background and injecting a shot of the absurd. There is something both prim and outrageous happening here that is only possible in such an ethereal, atmospheric setting (no doubt carefully engineered). It’s as if we’re lucky enough to be up early and observing a secret, silly ritual that normal people seldom get to see.

Spend a few minutes with Cade Martin’s portfolio. Click on “Newest” for my favorites – a series that, in part, reference different stories and folk tales. They are elaborate, glamorous, technically virtuosic, and like the best art, speak to a deeper sense of mystery.

Mr. Martin, if you’re out there and willing to move your studio to New York, I will sweep your floors and fetch your coffee absolutely free of charge.