Staying Connected
Recently I got to shoot some lifestyle images for an agency that wanted to showcase modern technology being integrated into different lifestyles. The tagline was “Staying connected” and I had some time to think about what this meant. Being someone that’s grown up in the midwest with it’s green forests, cold winters and open spaces I wanted to take an approach to the subject matter that said “staying connected” in 2 ways. The first being a reference to technology, smart phones, tablets etc and the second one referring to staying connected with our roots in nature. We shot right here in San Francisco believe it or not and within a few hours we walked away with some awesome images.
What does “Staying connected” mean to you?
1 Minute with Thora Birch
About 2 weeks ago I was asked by Iron Clad Productions out of New York if I would shoot some portraits of the cast and crew of indie film “Petunia” at it’s Debut at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. I happily accepted and upon arriving at the scene, it was packed with reporters. The green room was very small and intimate, with nothing more than a small couch and a coffee table. The director of the film was seated next to Thora Birch (of “American Beauty” and “Ghost World” fame) and was being interviewed by an independent reporter.
When the interview concluded I introduced myself and told them what I was there for, but they of course were very busy talking with other reporters, producers etc. When I had been informed that the theater doors had been opened I was told that I would have one minute with person. That’s it. I had never been in the Castro Theater green room before, was not allowed to bring supplementary lighting and there people and fluorescent lights everywhere. I found a window and plopped everyone down. The director was up first, Ash Christian:
Everyone was very nice, obviously in a hurry but they were sincerely grateful that I had been able to do this for them at such short notice. Thora was cast in her star roles very well – her personality is very similar to her characters, only she seems much nicer.
The whole shoot took less than 10 minutes and the cast was thrilled with their portraits, as was the production company. This just goes to show that you must know your lighting – I was working on very little information and very little time but I still pulled off a successful shoot and the client was very happy. Of course, it’s best to plan as much as possible but sometimes improvisation is the only way to go. So you’ve got to practice improvising, learn what works, know what you like.
GLIDE Springlicious BTS and updates
Wow, it’s been wayyy too long since I updated last, hopefully there won’t be anymore of that for a while I’ve been terribly busy this past month.
To kick off this blog post, here’s a commercial shoot I did for the San Francisco local non-profit GLIDE promoting their annual fund raiser Springlicious:
This is my 2nd year in a row working with GLIDE and it’s always a lot of fun. The models are all drag queens/kings and the shoots are always a blast. An extra bonus is I always get a couple VIP tickets to the fundraiser which includes free food and drinks as well as a drag show. Waaaaayyyyy too much fun for a Saturday night.
Here’s a little BTS video that they used to promote the event:
In other news, the “Portraits of the 99%” project is still going strong and recently received a 500.00 grant to help out with the mounting of images. I’ve got a dozen or so ready to show and I’m in talks with a few galleries and collectors about doing a show soon including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the financial district. Also, this guy won me an Outsanding Documentary photography award. Very exciting!
And speaking of which, you all should know that IndieGoGo has been integral in getting this project funded and they recently asked me if I would be an ambassador for them! Of course I humbly accepted so if you go to an IndieGoGo meetup in San Francisco expect to see me there as a speaker. And as an added bonus, they want to furnish their office with a few of my Occupy Portraits.
I’m working on a number of things over the next few months so stay tuned, I promise to update more often.
“Portraits of the 99%” fund raising continues
I’ve started fund raising again to get the “Portraits of the 99%” photographs mounted! There are 77 that I have selected for this process, and I’ve got a few done already to show to galleries. I’ve been shopping these around for 2 months now and I’ve got some places interested. You can check it out and donate here: http://www.indiegogo.com/Portraits-of-the-99-percent
You can also “Like”, tweet, +1 and share the page with your friends and family. Thanks for all your help!
Portraits of the 99% on TV and now in COLOR
Quick post today, I wanted to share the interview that KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland did with me on the project last night. (I can’t post the video but you can click the thumbnail and watch it on their page)
Click the thumbnail for the whole story and the video!
I’m very excited at the opportunities that could come of this, some of you know that I have been shopping around for a gallery to hang these images in and this has already gotten me a few phone calls.
The other thing I wanted to share was the jump into color:
I’ve been working on a new promo to send to magazines showing that I am a portrait photographer. I thought what better way to do this then use some of my most well known work but something felt a bit off to me. So now I’ve been playing with really tight crops and color images from the “Portraits of the 99%” series. Let me know how you like it!
Portraits of the 99% Published in the SF Chronicle
After a few back and fourth phone calls and some meetings, on Saturday November 19th the SF Chronicle dedicated not one, but 2 whole pages to the “Portraits of the 99%” (even though they didn’t use that title) and a story about me and the project. The datebook is the Chronicle’s most popular section where it features gallery openings, movie reviews of course, the comics. The Chronicle has a circulation of 1/4 million and is distributed all over California. After it was published I received a slew of emails, phone calls and donations to the IndieGoGo fund. The feedback on this project has been so wonderful and now with the fund raiser in full swing I can do this project right. I’m going to San Diego on November 29th, LA in December and New York in January. I’ll be setting up meetings with various big name publications in New York and LA and I’m talking with galleries about doing a show.
I’m so thankful that this opportunity has come to me and that I’ve been able to do just the things I have done already. But now, I get to take it that next extra step. Thank you, everyone who has donated, everyone who has been spreading the word and everyone who reads this blog. These photos are about you guys, not me. Thank you.
The little portrait of me on the upper left corner of the 2nd page/image was shot by my friend Bonnie Rae Mills. My favorite part of the article was the mention of how cool I think Dinosaurs are and that I wanted to be Indiana Jones.
Portraits of the 99% (cutting room floor)
Some left overs from my edits of the OccupySF portraits. I was much pickier before about what I was posting, but now I’ve decided that all of the portraits need to be seen.
Don’t forget that you can help me continue this series by donating a few bucks to my Indie GoGo page!
Portraits of the 99% Project
Many of you I’m sure are aware of the Occupy Wall Street protests, whether your with them or against them makes no difference to me. I saw the protest as an opportunity to photograph a variety of passionate people from all walks of life so I recently set up a mini photo studio on the block near the OccupySF protests and took over 60 portraits of the individual protestors. Feeling very satisfied with the results of the shoot, I thought it was done right there.
In less than 24 hours after I posted the images they had 4,100 views. My servers crashed. The images started popping up in various places, facebook and social media, news sources and more. People contacted me and told me they were inspired. This project suddenly became much bigger. I have setup a fund to raise money to fly to various other cities around California and do the same thing there. The images will be donated to the Occupy Wallstreet effort, in an attempt to raise awareness of the individuals involved. The money donated will go towards getting flights, train tickets, hostels and fuel to make this project happen. Donors will receive limited edition prints, posters, cards, books and more.
http://www.indiegogo.com/Occupy-California
If you don’t want to contribute, that’s fine. But please, unless you are deadset against this movement, spread the word. Forward this to a friend. Post the link on Facebook. Go and “like” the indie-go-go page. This project means a lot to me, and I want to see it through.
Thank you for your time.
The 99%
The Occupy Wall Street protests have been expanding nation-wide, and even internationally in the case with Occupy Toronto.
During the Occupy San Francisco protests I saw an opportunity to photograph a variety of passionate people in a very diverse city. So I hauled a c-stand some white foam core and a reflector over to 101 Market st (in front of the federal reserve bank building) and my friend Kevin helped me out some mad reflector holding skills.
I’m considering turning this project into a broader “Occupy Calfornia” type thing and hop around the state and do this same setup at all of the protests. LA, San Jose, San Diego, Santa Cruz… you get the idea.
A slide show of the photos is below, followed by an image gallery.
{Edit} I have set up a fund to further this project by visiting other cities and states and doing the same thing. You can find the fund HERE. Thanks for your support!
Clown shoot on Treasure Island
This week I did a shoot on Treasure Island with my friend Chris who actually let me dress him like a clown.
Now I know a lot of people are scared of clowns, or just plain don’t like them. The point of this shoot was all about juxtaposition, and since we were on Treasure Island I thought it would be cool to shoot a clown in an abandoned place.
Sure the photo is creepy, especially so if you’re scared of clowns but the feel I was going for was less “Oh my god scary!!” and more “What the hell is going on??” and I think I succeeded.
We also shot a little short, titled “Mr Diddles goes to work.” If you’re scared just from reading that, I take no responsibility for whatever happens when you actually watch it.
BART Protest, Powell St Station 9/8/11
The only reason I did not stay inside the station when they shut it down was because I did not have press credentials because I don’t usually do this sort of thing. I was simply at the right place at the right time. Some will say that I’m taking sides with No Justice No BART but to be honest I don’t agree with how either side handled this situation. I Think it was very foolish of No Justice No BART to think that they could get away with blocking the turnstiles or that it would even make a difference beside anger and inconvenience hundreds if not thousands of commuters.
I also believe that the SFPD were far too aggressive – I was shocked when they locked everyone inside the station and surrounded the protesters. I saw at least 2 people get beaten up and dragged away. The protesters were all very young – 18, 19, 20.
Gathering for the protest
SFPD preparing for what's coming
The arrival of some masked protesters
Banners arrive
Police forming a peremiter around the turnstiles
Protesters rushing the turnstiles
Locking up the station with the protesters still inside
A girl calling to her friend who is inside, being arrested.
Stuff the Streets Mission art fair photo-booth
Over the weekend I was asked if I could run a photo booth at an art fair being thrown by local Antiques dealer Stuff. They had food and music and plenty of artists selling their wares, but they wanted something fun, something more interactive. They got in touch with me and I was invited out to run a photo-booth, and I could sell my own wares as well.
I don’t often get to do these sorts of things, so I decided to run with it. I grabbed some old prints and got a small table and set up shop. I sold a few things and people had a blast at the photo booth. Here are some of my favorites:
For those of you wondering, I used a Polaroid Pogo printer, which prints unique 2×3 images that double as stickers. It’s battery powered, works with most digital cameras and is loads of fun to use.
Photoshop & you – 2 weeks of free awesome
For those of you who live in San Francisco who haven’t yet been to Adobe‘s Photoshop & you event at 550 Sutter St: Shame on you. Even if you’re not big into photoshop, or still shoot film – you should go. The event takes place over the course of 2 weeks from July 23rd to August 6th. They offer classes, lectures, demonstrations and raffles – all for free. You can view the full calender of Events at their website.
I’m really busy over the next week because I’m working on 2 films that are being submitted to Sundance, but I was able to make it to some of the weekend events – WOW.
Scott Kelby, if you don’t know who he is, is an educator, photoshopper, founder of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and an excellent photographer as well. He also tours the world giving his famous “Light it, shoot it, retouch it” seminar which he normally charges hundreds of dollars for. At the Photoshop & you event, he gave it to a room full of people for free.
It was an amazing talk, he worked with 2 models and did exactly what the name of the seminar says: He lit it, shot it and retouched it, all live. What was different about this session was he was working with continuous lighting so he let the crowd photograph the models as well. Personally, this is not something I did because I like to create my own things rather than work on something that has been done for me but it was still a blast.
After each shoot he demonstrated some retouching techniques in both Photoshop and Lightroom, and in the end did an amazing composite with the above model by placing her into a grungy alley and making it seem like she was really there, all in a matter of minutes. It was very educational and entertaining, Scott is a great presenter and a pretty nice guy as well.
After his seminar he agreed to do an interview with The Candid Frame’s Ibarionex Perello, which should be coming out next month.
Like I said, even if you’re not a photoshop junkie you should go. Go check out the calender of events, there are some great things happening there until August 6th. There’s some great people there who are happy to meet other photographers or retouchers and the chance to see and experience all of this for free is a really great opportunity.
New promo… promo
After several months of researching, designing, proofing and prototyping, my new 3D folding promo is coming out! It was a pretty large project to undertake, as we went through many concepts for the layout and design but finally came up with a design that would work. The initial inspiration was from the Cirque du Soleil Kooza soundtrack.
After some modification we made several smaller prototypes and tested them out before ordering them.
As for actually ordering the pieces I ran into some problems. The final dimensions of the promo when laid out on a flat sheet of paper were 21×13. To get a custom dye cut in that size would be very expensive so I decided to order everything on a 10 point coated poster stock and throw a party and assemble them by hand.
It was 4th of July weekend after all, so I threw on a pot roast, got some beer and invited a bunch of friends. It took us all day, but ultimately was worth it. I’m very grateful to have friends that will help me out with big projects like this – creative people do have lives outside of their profession(sometimes).
The front
The back
The inside
No 3-D glasses required!
The QR code isn’t active yet, so don’t even try. Eventually it will link to a hidden page on my website that will host a video that is essentially a commercial for me. Check out the promo in action below:
Print Give Away!
I’ve decided to have another print give away, I had one last February and it went over quite well – I gave away a signed and numbered 11×14 print of “Finding my way” to a lovely girl in Madrid. Well this year I’m upping the ante and giving away THREE prints, from my “Recreational Landscapes” series. The prints are 11.7×16.5 on Epson Premium archival Matte paper and they are signed and numbered. Each print is number 1 (That’s right, number ONE.) through 50.
How you enter to win is you simply tweet “I want to win the @robschultze Recreational Landscape print!” and you will be entered.
If you are on Facebook you can go ahead and “Like” my fan page and then share this story with your friends.
If for some reason you have neither facebook OR twitter you can simply mention this post in your blog and show a link in the comments.
Three winners will be chosen, each will win 1 print from the series, in the order that the winner was chosen.
The contest closes on June 30th and a winner will be announced July 1st. All entrants will be assigned a number and winners will be selected using http://www.random.org/ a true random number generator.
Good luck to everyone, I hope the turn out is as good as last years!
Recreational Landscapes 1
Recreational Landscapes 2
Recreational Landscapes 3
Always shoot video on your set!
Last weekend I shot a small campaign for Glide, a local non-profit that provides healthcare and other services for the homeless and needy. The campaign was for the Pride Team for an event that will be raising funds for the organization. The event was a Drag show, so the assignment was to take studio portraits of the performers. We took individual portraits, pairs of portraits and a group portrait. The group portrait has become sort of the center of attention for the campaign, but the individual portraits will be used during the event itself.
Anyway I had a blast working in the studio with the client, an art director and a crew of stylists and one thing I decided to do independently was shoot some behind the scenes footage with my trusty SONY NEX3, nothing too crazy but I wanted to document the shoot. I put together a 2 1/2 minute behind the scenes video and posted it to my vimeo, and within hours I got a flurry of emails from the client, the art director and a number of other people at Glide. They wanted to license the video for the event and for their website, and I was more than happy to comply with this.
Even if you don’t have a lot of fancy gear or don’t necessarily have a lot of experience shooting video, do it anyway. It’s a great way to learn, and you might make some money in the process. It’s simple at first, grab a friend and have them film some stuff around the set and then put a few clips together and you just might get a nice source of extra revenue.
My assistant Alanna and the art director with the performers
One of the pairs shots
A busy, satisfying shoot.
Dogpatch Days
I’ve been working on a series of landscapes and portraits in the dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco over the last 2 weeks or so, and I started shooting video-interviews alongside the portrait sessions. This is something I have been getting into the habit of lately, and I’m really enjoying the work flow. Hun (pronounced “Hoon”) ran away from home when he was a teenager to pursue his independence. He hitch-hiked across the country until he settled into San Francisco and bought a car. He assures me that he is satisfied with his decisions.
Check it out:
Portrait on a bus
Taken on the 38L around 11:00AM. This may turn into a full blown project/portfolio if I can continue to find this beautiful light on the bus.
Brush with the law
Self portrait? Where's Waldo.
I had been feeling restless lately, so I decided to head out to baker beach to take some pictures and relax. I took the 29 bus to the Baker beach parking lot and started walking around. It was therapy, and it was research as I had been wanting to add some new locations and looks to my work. Being an avid people watcher, it was interesting to see the nude sections of the beach collide with the “regular” sections of the beach. Fully nude people mingling amongst the people in shorts and vests. It was an interesting interaction to me. As I moved north along the beach, I began getting more adventurous and started climbing over the rocks and bits of land the covered the beach, separating one secluded area from another. Before I knew it, it was almost 5:00pm and the tide was coming in. I was very near to the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point, so I made my way over to avoid being swept away by the rising waves. As I made my way under the bridge to Fort Point there were some fences with barbed wire and signs that read “No Trespassing” but I made my way past them to avoid the tide. I thought I could maybe walk around the side of Fort Point, but the path was blocked by very high fences with barbed wire on top. My hopes of strolling on through the Fort Point parking lot unnoticed were beginning to disappear. I decided then that my only other option was to climb up the hill directly beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.
Restricted Photo #1
I began the hike up the hill and as I moved closer to top, near the tourist viewing point and parking lot, I saw a police officer and he saw me. He hopped off his bike and asked me to come over. There was another fence here that I was planning on climbing over but he unlocked it for me. He asked for my ID, what was in my bag and a few other standard questions. I told him exactly what had happened: I took a long walk on the beach, got so far out that I was forced to climb back up to civilization to avoid the destruction of my equipment by the rising tide. The officer was polite, stating that I was guilty of a misdemeanor because I was in a restricted area but he would let it go due to the circumstances. Right when I was feeling like I had really stuck it to the man, he asked me a question I did not expect. He asked to see the photos. I was hesitant but slowly pulled my camera from the bag. Upon viewing all 143 images, he asked me to delete the last 15 or so, which were taken when I was beneath the bridge. My mind raced as I thought of general photography laws and if they applied to my situation. “I can’t do that,” I said. He then ranted that he was giving me a lot of slack for trespassing and by not following his orders and deleting the images he could fine me, arrest me and have me detained. I explained that my photos were protected under intellectual property laws. He began to become more and more agitated.
Nobody wants to have a misdemeanor on their record. He could have easily given me one for trespassing, so I finally agreed to delete the photos but only because I had very reliable data recovery software in my studio. After a lecture about debating the law with a police officer, he dismissed me and I was off.
The photos I took today were for me. I had no real intention of publishing them or making a profit from them. But now the purpose they serve is to be shared. Take these views in, and know that if you see these things from this vantage point and you have a camera, you had better be weary of law enforcement. I feel slightly defeated because I didn’t know the specific laws about photography in California, especially in relation to being on private property. I will be spending the next few days researching photography law, so the next time I run into this situation I will be prepared. I suggest you do the same with your state and county as well. In the meantime, enjoy the restricted photos.
Restricted Photo #2
Restricted Photo #3
Restricted Photo #4
