The ball

25 Years ago on January 14th, I was finishing up the Annual Report for National Patent Development Company. The next day, I was scheduled to start shooting the American Stock Exchange Annual Report. It was going to be an elaborate 15 day shoot, full of special effects and snazzy graphics. But when I got back to the studio that night, there was a message on the machine that the entire shoot was cancelled. I was despondent. I had just lost 15 days at full fee, and the opportunity to make a lot of great new pictures.

I awoke January 15th to an unseasonably warm day, so I called 2 friends, both also self-unemployed photographers and off we headed to the golf course. It was cold, and I started miserably. I had a ten on the par 3 2nd hole, which for you non-golfers out there who don’t know about these things is about as bad it gets. I then parred the 520 yard Par 5 3rd hole and felt only slightly  better.

I arrived at the tee on the 4th hole, a 149 yard par 3. I selected a seven iron, tried to clear my head of the cancelled assignment thoughts as well as the 10 on the 2nd hole and launched the ball towards the green. It bounced once, and spun into the hole.

A HOLE IN ONE!

I walked to the green and stared in disbelief at the ball. It sat comfortably in the hole, staring up at me.  A lifelong dream answered. High fives all around and general exuberance. The rest of the round was a blur, my total score did not matter.

The tradition is that you’re supposed to buy drinks for everyone at the club when you make a hole in one. I was a little nervous about a huge bar bill as we approached the clubhouse. We got to the restaurant and their were only two other intrepid golfers sitting in a booth, finishing their lunch. They declined the drink offer, and I was off scott free. The middle of winter, it turns out, is a very good time to record an ace.

A hole in one certainly dulled, but didn’t eliminate the pain of losing 15 days at full fee. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d rather have the money from the assignment or the hole in one. I returned to the studio high as a kite, but still aware of the next 3 weeks without any work booked. The message light was blinking on my phone machine, and one of the messages was from the Art Director at The Stock Exchange. She was extremely apologetic, and informed me that the Stock Exchange would pay 7 and  1/2  days full fee as a cancellation payment. High fives and general exuberance commenced once again.

A wonderful end to a very special day and clarity on the question, “Hole in one, or 15 day assignment”? The answer, easy. I’ve still got that hole in one, the money I’m quite sure would be long gone.

The witnesses

The Hole In One keychain - a gift from Foot Joy

Yesterday, the family took a trip down to see the 9/11 memorial. After crawling through traffic and snaking through entry lines and security, we entered the site and were immediately struck by the sense of sadness that we felt. The museum is not yet open, and the memorial itself is not quite finished, but our feeling was that they are doing a great job creating a space that’s appropriately reflective and sombre.

I didn’t really see “the” picture that captured the gravity and meaning of the place. But after leaving the site, we walked through lower Manhattan appreciating the plays of light bouncing off the buildings late in a winter afternoon.

Here are some photos from a wedding that I love for a batch of reasons. The bride, Michelle is the third sister from this family who’s wedding I have photographed. I’ve grown to know, and love their family as I have watched it expand. There are in-laws, grandchildren, cousins and a whole batch of new relatives who have woven themselves into the fabric of this family, and I have been there to photograph it all. Quite a treat. So here are a bunch of photos from Michelle and Chris’ wedding from the bride’s house in Pleasantville to the church in Katonah to the party at Beckwithe Pointe. The food was plentiful and the drinks were flowing, but the love in the room was palpable, and I was honored to quietly record a new chapter for a fabulous family that feels like much more friend than client.

It’s hard for me to imagine the anguish that families experience who lost loved ones on 9/11. I doubt that the pain ever goes away, but I hope for most that it has been tempered somewhat by time. I’m still angry at those attacks. I’m angry about the senseless loss of life, and I’m angry how they  changed our country and our way of life. We all lost on that day, and it’s still hard to believe that the towers are gone. When I drive down the West Side Highway, I’m still amazed, ten years after the attacks, to see no World Trade Center on the horizon. They were a huge part of the city, and of my life as well.

My first memory of them was of two golden, sparkling icons reflecting on the water in a Jay Maisel photograph. I haven’t seen that photograph in years, but my memory is of a striking jewel, powerful and imposing yet simple and beautiful. I fell in love with those buildings and I visited and photographed them many times over the years, for myself, and for many clients.

My first magazine cover was a picture of the towers that I made for myself, and it appeared on Avenue Magazine in September of 1981, twenty years prior to the attacks. After that, I photographed the towers from the air, from New Jersey and Brooklyn and from vantage points all over Manhattan. The Avenue cover shot was taken through an airplane window at La Guardia Airport.

In 1982, I spent 2 weeks at The Trade Center photographing a story about the inner workings of the buildings for Fortune Magazine. I photographed in the 6th floor sub-basement, in Elevator shafts and in the Lobby as well as from the window washing rig riding down the side. I climbed the antenna to shoot workers and the harbor beyond. Some of the people I met and photographed died on 9/11. All who I met there felt as though they were a part of something special. So did I as I spent day after day exploring and documenting the many recesses of those Towers. I look back at these pictures with a bit of selfish nostalgia for the time when these buildings were a glowing presence in A Jay Maisel masterpiece instead of a memory of sadness and anger.

A group exhibit at The Flinn Gallery in Greenwich includes some photos from Jodi’s 1994 book, SuperWomen: 100 Women – 100 Sports. The show is called “PUBLIC FACES, PRIVATE STORIES…Portraits of extraordinary people” and features the work of Nancy Crampton, Emma Dodge Watson and Todd Cameron Westphal as well as Jodi.

It’s good fun for us to see the SuperWomen photographs in this setting after seeing the exhibit in it’s previous incarnations in shows around the country. From the first opening at The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, to LA, Boston and many stops in between, it’s always a thrill to see these big prints of  Jodi’s athletes on public display. It was especially fun to see the new groupings of photographs as curated and hung by Debra Fram-Schwartz. The images stood on their own as unique pieces, but the elegantly displayed backstory offered  inspiration and education as well. And that’s what I’ve always loved about these photos. They stand on their own as images, but they also tell stories of hope, perserverance against great odds, and ultimately about success.

But this project goes deeper than a self help inspirational book (which would be just fine with me). As photographers, we love seeing and sharing beauty.  One of the things that has always struck me about the SuperWomen project is Jodi’s ability to see beauty in a unique way and point it out to others. That is true in many of her images, especially so in the case of Kristen Heaston, the shotputter. Here is a women who may not fit standard definitions of Hollywood beauty, yet one is almost hypnotized by her confident and warm brown eyed gaze. She appears to be totally comfortable in her own skin and one cannot help be moved by her grace and poise. This is a beautiful women, seen very strongly. Much the same can be said of Carol Sing, the Open Water swimmer. There is a warmth and a joy to this woman and one can feel her optimism. But this is not a formulaic approach to portraiture. Looking at The Boxer, Kathy Collins, one sees a fabulous mix of determined energy waiting to burst, coupled with the softness of available light twinkling from her eyes. Each women has a different story to tell, and Jodi has listened very closely to those stories so that she might share them with us.

A slight technical aside. We watermark all our images with our names, and as we are partners, my name appears on these images next to Jodi’s name. That completely misrepresents the creation of these photographs. They were conceived by, and totally created by Jodi Buren and any contribution I might have made came in the form of whipping up a quick dinner as Jodi returned home after a long days shoot.

All Photographs © Jodi Buren 2004

One of the things that drives us as photographers is that our work is also our hobby. We loved it before we turned pro, and we love it to this day. In many ways, photography chose us as a profession rather than the other way around. Although we need to charge for our services so we can pay the mortgage and put some bread on the table, when we notice something interesting, we just like to go out and shoot it.

Such was the case recently when Jodi came across a fabulous Yoga teacher in Chappaqua who leads classes in a yurt in her backyard. Her name is Osi and Jodi was taken with her skill, her infectious enthusiasm and to be frank, her Yurt. Jodi went back to photograph several times, made some fabulous still photographs of Osi and her students and ultimately made this little film. She shot with the Canon 5D MKII which is an incredible video camera, and the piece was cut together in Final Cut Pro. To view, click here on OSI final. We’re finding that our vision as photographers, coupled with the amazing new technology of the HDSLR cameras give us new and incredible tools to expand our vocabulary as storytellers. Most certainly, we live in interesting times.

Liftoff plus 9 seconds

We were in Florida last week visiting the grandparents and soaking up some sun when we noticed over breakfast one morning that the shuttle Discovery was scheduled to launch for the last time that afternoon. Jodi declared a “road trip”, I decided to scrub the afternoon round of golf, my mom gamely agreed to join us and it being well before noon, we woke Cary and jumped into the car and headed north. We figured with a brief lunch break, we could arrive in the vicinity an hour before the launch. This junket wasn’t exactly planned with military precision and most of the car ride was spent on The Google, looking for best viewing spots. As we approached Cocoa Beach, well south of Cape Canaveral it became abundantly clear that we weren’t the only ones with this idea, and possibly the last to have it. Traffic was building and cars completely lined the sides of the road. We lucked out with a great parking spot near the beach, so good that we almost passed it up because it seemed too good to be true. We walked the 100 feet to the beach, and a mass of humanity that had given a bit more thought to packing than we had. Soccer chairs, umbrellas, coolers, blankets and people galore. Retirees, tourists, locals, military and kids.

T minus 9 - countdown on hold

I had my Lumix LX5 and not much else, but this was so much more than a photo op. There was a shared feeling of anticipation, and a collective groan when a radio listening observer announced that the countdown was on hold due to a downrange computer malfunction. All manner of people were sharing this great experience, and not to get too cheesy here, we were all Americans sharing this experience. We all seemed to know one another very quickly. When the countdown resumed minutes later, the excitement was palpable. It was hard not to think of the Challenger as we approached liftoff, and a cheer went up as Discovery thundered past the Gantry and into the clouds.

T minus 2 and counting - My new friends

T minus 30 seconds - Cary, Jodi and my Mom

Many years ago, I photographed Challenger landing at Cape Canaveral on the back of a 747 that had ferried it from California where it had landed. I had organized press access for myself, and had left my family for the day. Although I wouldn’t dream of being at a launch, or even a beach without a camera, on this day, my family was more important than the photos. I hope that the day becomes a memory for my son in the same way that spending this day with him, and Jodi and my mom did for me.

One of the aspects of my work that I most enjoy is getting to be a participant in some of the happiest days of people’s lives. Although I see my job as quietly observing, and then framing the memories in the most flattering, meaningful and artistic way, I am a participant in the event as well.  This was never more true than several weeks ago when I flew out to Berkeley to photograph the Bat Mitzvah of Julia Bloom. Her father, Richie is an old and dear  friend and many years ago, I had been a guest at his Bar Mitzvah. Jodi and I also photographed the wedding of Richie to Isabel Alegria, and several years ago, I photographed the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Sammy. Our relationship has gone beyond friendship , and now a Bloom/Alegria family celebration is somewhat of a homecoming for us with lots of familiar and friendly faces. Over the years, Jodi and I have shot cars, people, still lifes, huge production, personal editorial stories and just about any thing else you can think of for magazines, design firms and advertising agencies. We’ve shot for ourselves, and we’ve created pictures for stock. But no work that we’ve done, is richer, or has more meaning than the photos that we make for Brides, parents friends and families on their big day. We help them remember these life events in the most positive way possible, and as a result, we become part of, and get to share in those memories ourselves.

We came across a sweet little mention in the “Behind the Scenes” section of Martha Stewart’s Bride Guide. These were taken at Lauren & Craig’s Wedding at Wainwright House in Rye. To view the piece, click here

And here are a few other photographs from the prep, always a charged and happy time.