Kayla Stra for East Bay Express
Back in June I got a call from the East Bay Express to take some pictures for a feature about an Australian jockey named Kayla Stra. The article just ran this week, but at the time she was racing at the Alameda County Fair. I was given the number for some PR person with the company that manages the races there. I called to set up the shoot, we made an appointment for July 2nd, and everything seemed fine.
When I showed up at the paddock with all my photo equipment, I discovered that nobody had bothered to tell Ms. Stra that she had a photo shoot that day. She was (understandably) annoyed, and basically refused to pose for any photos. She said something like, “You can take pictures if you like, but I’m going to ignore you.”
So I did take pictures, and she did ignore me. Which would have been fine except that the editor needed a portrait as well as some racing action shots. I hung around and shot the races. Kayla was in four races that day and she lost every single one, so she was not in a great mood after the last race. But after a lot of pleading and begging, she finally agreed to pose for one photo in the paddock with a horse. She stood there for about 30 seconds (just long enough to get the frame above) before declaring, “We’re done.” and heading for the locker room.
I had been excited about this assignment, I showed up with a ton of lighting equipment and dreams of crafting the most epic sports portrait ever. I ended up doing a totally unplanned, off the cuff portrait using only available light. But I think it works. I suppose it could have been worse, at least I got to leave the fair before the swarm of angry bees attacked.
Redemption
I shot the cover story for this week’s East Bay Express. The article is about the rising cost of the curbside recycling program in Berkeley, as well as the “poachers” who raid the bins and take the cans to recycling centers and redeem them for cash.
I had always thought that the curbside recycling programs paid for themselves by selling the recyclable materials. But it turns out that they’re not free, and never have been. We pay for the recycling pickup along with the garbage bill, but the bill isn’t itemized, so nobody knows how much it costs.
To some extent, I can sympathize with residents who don’t want to pay more for curbside recycling when the bins are just getting raided by scavengers. But I have a lot more sympathy for the guy who has to go out and collect cans and bottles in order to feed his family.
I can’t help thinking how great it would be if there were some way to turn this situation into a real jobs program. If we could actually employ people to walk around with carts and collect the bins instead of driving around in big diesel powered trucks, that would be a much greener way of collecting the trash and recyclables, right?
Anyway, I took a lot of photos for this assignment. Here are some of my favorite shots and some outtakes that didn’t make it into the article:
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- Martin Bourque of the Berkeley Ecology Center.
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- Martin Bourque of the Berkeley Ecology Center.
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- A truck full of mixed recycling is dumped at the Berkeley Ecology Center.
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- Glass bottles, sorted by color, at the Berkeley Ecology Center.
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- A pile of glass bottles at the Berkeley Ecology Center.
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- Carlos Campos collects bottles and cans from restaurants and bars.
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- Michael Chevalier collects recyclables up and down San Pablo Avenue.
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- Raymond Graham collects recyclables from Dumpsters and bins in Oakland.
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- Berkeley resident Ann Riley has taken to locking up her recycling until the last minute.
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- Ben Bartlett, owner of Bartlett’s Organic Coffees & Teas, a coffee shop in downtown Berkeley, and heads up the subcommittee on poaching.
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- Ben Bartlett, owner of Bartlett’s Organic Coffees & Teas, a coffee shop in downtown Berkeley, and heads up the subcommittee on poaching.
Monahan Paper Co.
I took these while out scouting some locations around Jack London Square.
For some reason, probably because it’s so weathered and decayed, this building reminded me of ghost-towns I’ve seen in Nevada. It seemed to me like it belonged in the middle of a desert or wasteland.
Fisherman
This is the first in a series of images that I’m creating for a new portfolio.
The idea for this one came to me when I took a different photo of this same tunnel a while ago. The long exposure made the headlights of the cars stretch out into streams and it reminded me of a river.
The river idea made me think of all the commercial/lifestyle/stock photos I’ve seen of fishermen standing next to streams and rivers. Most of those types of commercial photos are composites; they shoot the landscape, and then they shoot the model in the studio, and then they put the whole thing together in Photoshop. So it’s kind of poking fun at those images by putting the fisherman into a completely absurd environment instead of a mountain stream at sunset.
This is a lot different than anything else I’ve done. I usually tend toward more “straight” photography, and I actually had to get some help with the post production on this because I’m not much of a Photoshop wiz.
The images in the new series are all loosely joined in the sense that they all include some sort of visual joke. Some of them (like this one) reference commercial photography clichés, others are just funny on their own, but I hope to keep the style consistent throughout. Stay tuned for more.
Big thanks to Jamie for helping me with the post-production on this shot, and also to Richard Orlando, fly-fisherman (and model) extraordinaire.
EBX Summer Guide Photos
I recently shot two stories for the East Bay Express Summer Guide (out now). It was nice to shoot something for a light and fluffy article, instead of stories about families being torn apart, or people’s dreams being crushed by harsh economic realities.
One article was about summer drinks from around the world. I ended up taking pictures at Saul’s restaurant in Berkeley, where they make chocolate egg creams, celery soda, and about a dozen other soda drinks. It was a lot of fun to shoot, but I ended up drinking about half of each soda they made (wouldn’t want to waste it) and ended up not feeling so hot after I left.
The other story was about seed swaps. I took pictures of Mat Rogers, the director of UC Berkeley’s Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology, in the garden behind his apartment building. Mat was a great sport about lying down in the dirt for a shot that didn’t even end up getting used in the article.
Here are some of my favorite shots and outtakes:
Unique Cleaners
I happened to drive by this fire at the local dry cleaning place on my way home last night. I happened to have my camera with me too, so I snapped a few photos. Apparently nobody was hurt, but the cause remains unknown.
In other news, my camera bag still smells like a chimney.
Halfway House
Don in 60 Seconds
I took these pictures of the Berkeley Opera’s Don Giovanni for lighting designer Lucas Krech a few weeks ago. This show is over now, but their next one, The Tender Land, starts in April. Watch the slide-show for an ultra-condensed version of this modern take on the epic tale of seduction, betrayal, iPhones, and pilates.
Poles
Out the window
Sometimes when I get bored on long car rides at night, I like to stick a camera out the window and take blurry pictures of the lights passing by. Here are a few of my favorites.
