Last week, I shot some headshots for Fiona Choi. Fiona's an actress, a friend, and the mother of Anton, Benjamin's very bestest best friend in the entire whole-wide world. She brought along her own makeup artist, Segal Yehudai, who did an absolutely spectacular job. Of course, she did so spectacular a job that you can't see her work!



In preparation for this shot and the "Suckers" shots I did just before, I picked up a new 53" octagonal softbox, and I must admit that I'm completely in love with it. It's effect is much more pronounced in the "Suckers" shots, where its soft light just brings up the mysterious foreground ever so slightly, but it's beautiful light is just money for headshots as well. I just threw on a rim/hair/accent light in the back and I was good to go.

In other photography news, a photo of mine of the new Citi Field was used in the Schmap New York Guide. It was a quickie shot I took with my iPhone while I was taking a long walk down Astoria Boulevard in Queens. And judging from the page, about eight million other people's photos were also used, but their terms of use were fair, and ain't nothing wrong with free publicity from a nothing-from-nothing cell phone shot.



Yesterday, insane tech geek that I am, I got a new iPhone 3GS. I must admit, that the better camera is one of the big selling points. The best camera you can get is the one that's always with you.

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No, I don't mean that I conned some people into shooting for them. I mean I shot some promotional shots today for "Suckers" the latest play written by my brilliant and prolific playwright friend Duncan Pflaster. Duncan also had the very good sense to cast my wife in a leading role, which only further endears me to him.

"Suckers" is a comedy about vampires, so I wanted to go with kind of a spooky, dark, hard light. The purple curtains in the rehearsal room we shot in were nice, since they made the atmosphere lush and dark but not just plain black. This shot of the whole cast (at least, the members of the cast who could make the photo call) just makes me unbearably giddy.



The rest of the Suckers photos can be found here.

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Alas, there is no photo credit, but I did get paid for the gig, so I ain't complainin'

Backstage Online: The Urge to Merge

The Municipal Art Society of New York asked today if they could use one of my photos on their website. A few Mermaid Parades ago, I braved the crowds and took my camera along and got a pretty neat shot of the crowd on Surf Ave. (The shot's from a pedestrian bridge, and you can see the lines of the fence in the image.)



Well, the Municipal Art Society seems to represent lots of things that I think are totally awesome (urban planning, architectural preservation) so I enthusiastically granted permission for them to use the photo.

Here is the full story at the Municipal Art Society.

(I wish they'd have used my full name, rather than my flickr handle, but them's the breaks.)

Edit: Well, golly! They actually read my tiny little blog, and credited me with my full name. Well, that's the way the cookie spontaneously re-assembles itself. :)

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My mother always told me that I was a smart kid, and I was reading when I was two years old. As I came to know your average two-year-old, I realized that this had to be nothing more than my mother optimistically exaggerating my talents again. If I tell my mother I'm in a play, for example, she'll tell her friends that I'm starring on Broadway. Perhaps, though, she was right. My two-year-old son can read.

We were watching a commercial on TV (he generally watches educational shows on PBS, but mommy and daddy need their Jeopardy!) and I saw him say a word that appeared on the screen, but wasn't mentioned by the voice-over. So I quizzed him. I printed a word on my computer screen in very large type. And, gosh darn, he read it! Word after word, I'd bring up. Some of them, he'd read right away, recognizing them from his books. Others, he'd carefully sound out, jumping and squealing in delight when he finally got it. And some he'd get wrong, but he'd get them wrong in ways that show that even now he's applying the cognitive shortcuts we all employ (like getting the first and last letters, and assuming the content between).

So, naturally, as any good Jewish father would, I worry. Will he be bored when he finally goes to school? Will he realize that he can get by on slacking off and putting in half the effort that all the other kids do? Will he be filled with creative ideas, but never completely follow through on them until the next idea grabs his fancy? Will he be crippled by endless self-criticism? In short, will he be too much like his father?

This afternoon, I did a fun photo session with Clara. The intent was to be a pseudo-fashion shoot. As you will plainly be able to see, Clara's modeled before and is a dream to work with.

Clara's more than just a good friend of mine. She's my creative muse, my career coach, and my greatest cheerleader, all rolled up in one. Our creative partnership has lasted many years now. In the theater, I've both directed her and been directed by her. I've performed with her and even won an award or two with her.

And, one more thing: She's also heart-achingly beautiful:







Click here for the rest of the Clara: Red set on Flickr

Please consider Clara for all of your acting, directing, modeling, and awesome-being needs.

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This evening, I endeavored to photograph one of my favorite subjects: My two-year-old son, Benjamin. Naturally, everyone has the innate desire to photograph their children, but the ante's actually upped a little in my case. This past Christmas, we purchased a digital photo frame for my in-laws, and we promised them that we'd update their photo collection throughout the year. So I've got to make with the picture takin', or the in-laws gonna' be pissed...

There are several inherent hazards to photographing the toddler in his natural habitat. First and foremost: Toddlers never stand still for more than 0.03 seconds. It makes it somewhat difficult to set up your studio strobes when your subject will happily stand everywhere except the spot you metered on. (Why yes, I do whip out my studio strobes to take a photo of my toddler. Doesn't everyone? :) ) And focusing? Good luck.

Then there's also the issue of trying to photograph him in my decidedly non-photographer-friendly apartment. Since there's a two-year-old living there, it's always cluttered and messy. Since it's in New York City, it's microsocopic in size, so the white walls spill my light everywhere, and I have to use real wide lenses which makes it look all fun-house-mirror-y when he comes close to the camera, which he loves to do.

And still, sometimes, it all works out:

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Once in a while, my wanderlust takes over, and I feel the need to explore this wonderful city. I've been known to take random subway trips to the middle of nowhere from time to time, but this time I just got the urge to walk. I got the urge to walk a lot.

Last weekend, I took Benjamin to the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. When we left, he'd fallen asleep, so I decided that rather than try to climb the stairs to the subway without rousing him, I could just walk home. Well, I did, and when I came back home I felt invigorated. I wanted to do it again.

So today, the plan was to walk Astoria Blvd. From one absolute extreme, in the Astoria Projects right by the East River, to its terminus near Citi Field.

( A Journey in Crappy Cell-Phone Photos... )

Here's the route I took today, courtesy of Google Earth. About 16 miles, round trip.

My very good friend Duncan Pflaster is engaging in a new independent theatrical venture here in New York City. His theater company, "Cross-Eyed Bear Productions," is joining with Small Pond Entertainment and Theater of the Expendable to put on three plays: "Squiggy and the Goldfish," "Mare Cognitum," and "Ore, or Or." This wild three-way arrnagement has emerged with a wild name: "Theater of the Small-Eyed Bear Presents: Get S.O.M."

It's a mouthful, but Duncan is one of the legitimate masterful raconteurs of our day, and if any production company deserves such a name, it's a production company with him in it.

Naturally, I was delighted when Duncan asked me to shoot some promotional photographs for the group.



I wish them many broken legs in their endeavors. Wait, do producers break legs, or is that just actors?

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Here's a shot from a series I'm working on called "Geek Girls." I realized that I know a slew of awesome, fun, devastatingly intelligent, and, yes, geeky women, and I wanted to photograph them doing the things they love.

My first subject is Cheryl, one of the coolest alpha geeks I know. She's currently a user experience engineer at Microsoft, and she's previously worked in the rarefied geek-world of console game design. She's also a supremely talented actress, kicking ass in musical theater and taking names in the Seattle improv scene.



Oh, yeah. She also loves Pikachus. :)

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This weekend is the weekend of mollyx and my 5th wedding anniversary. So, as usual, grandma and grandpa took Benjamin for the weekend, while we had a brief taste of food paradise.

( The most expensive Asian food at a counter we will ever eat... )

( A walk through Central Park... )

( The least expensive Asian food at a counter we will ever eat... )

And so, with a little (very little) help from the MTA, we headed home, a happy, five-year married couple.

It's not the equipment that makes the photo.

I know this is an old saw in photography circles, but new photographers are minted every day and it bears repeating. You don't need the super-expensive, high-end equipment to make great photos. While it certainly makes things easier, it is by no means necessary. Even the low end of modern photo equipment is sufficient to create truly amazing photos.

If it's such an old saw, why repeat it? Well, I was inspired by a comment I got on a photo in my Flickr pool:



The comment from Flickr user "VanLeslie" reads:

Everyone of these pictures in this series is beautiful. My 10 D doesn't take pictures like this!

And my response:

I assure you that your 10D is perfectly capable of doing so. :) This was shot with a 30D, firing an ST-E2 to trigger a 430 EX flash which was hand held by my wife (if she wasn't in the photo) or one of my other relatives. There's nothing special about the 30D, other than its ability to fire a flash, that made this set.

And it's true. :) While VanLeslie's 10D is a bit older than my 30D (and my 30D is getting a little long in the tooth nowadays), there's no reason that she couldn't have shot this photo. The only "special" bit of equipment is the ST-E2 remote flash trigger, and that can be replaced by a cheap radio trigger for almost nothing.

Of course, it's vitally important that you get your flash off of your camera somehow... But that has been extensively covered elsewhere.

Originally published at J. Specland Photography.

Here are the results of my headshot session with Peggy this past weekend. I've actually been directed by her as an actor, so it was kind of weird directing her as a photographer.

In addition to me, she also hired a makeup artist/stylist who was super awesome. I'm totally hooked. I'll be hard pressed to do another shoot without one. This woman just had such a great eye for detail, and noticed all the little things that are hard to see through a viewfinder, but drive you crazy in Photoshop afterward.

Anyway, I'm really proud of this set.

More photos from Peggy's headshot session here.

Edit: I'm pretty sure she won't use this particular shot, but the goofy expressions are always my favorites.

When mollyx and I found out we were having a child, there was one thing that we didn't have to argue about. We were in instant agreement that the baby would be raised Beatles. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Elvis, but when it comes to raising my children, I'm a Beatle Fundamentalist.

Now, all the hard work has paid off:

• 16:38 My favorite exhibit in the New York Hall of Science is the utterly unscientific preschool play area. #

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• 01:20 I know I'm many years late coming to this party, but I just saw "Memento" for the first time. HOLY CRAP! #

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• 12:57 Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. Cafe Zest was too crowded, so I went to Dainobu. #

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• 11:17 @Remy How can I get a job in the WMC "Love Tips" department? #
• 13:20 @kprevas Pros: Weightlifters want to be thick as a brick. Cons: Pan-flute solo not an inspiring way to do so. #

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Sometimes I tell myself, "Never again will I write a post consisting solely of a link to an xkcd comic." But then xkcd makes me to laugh once more, and I am compelled to repost.

• 09:14 @MikeyPod Why no "sweatshop?" If it's "American jobs first!" then go ahead. If "kids shouldn't work there!" Then read: is.gd/idE9 #
• 11:46 @jenatesse You're a slant-rhyme poet, and you didn't know it! #
• 15:39 Attention NYC Homo Bretheren: Oscar Wilde Bookstore to close: is.gd/igE9 #

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