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Author Topic: A Thank You  (Read 8105 times)

snickgrr

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A Thank You
« on: December 01, 2009, 07:06:42 pm »

Graduated from Brooks in 82 and moved to San Francisco.  Got a job as a first assistant with a photographer whom I thought was one of the best studio still life shooters on the West Coast and worked for him for 5 years.
The first time I worked with him he was chopping a hole in a three hundred pound block of ice so a bottle of Almaden wine would fit perfectly in it.  He whispered to me as he was chopping away "Always look like you know what you're doing when the client is around."  That was my first lesson from him.  I may have gotten my technical chops from Brooks but Alan was the person who taught me everything else about the photography business.  Everything.  For five years we shot most everyday...mostly food and wine, mostly 8x10.  Years after I opened my own place when I encountered a head scratching situation I would ask myself "What would Alan do right now?"  and I would get answered.

One day he walked into the studio and handed me a heavy blue box.  He had gone to Fox Hardware and saw these and bought one for himself and one to give to me.  I've used them from that day forward for just about everything you can imagine...propping up small and big fill cards, lifting up things on the set, as weights and a million other things.  They're step blocks used in machine shops.
http://www.northwesterntools.com/stp_blck.htm#sets

During the dot com bust his business was slowing down and I invited him to share my studio to help him cut his overhead.  He died a year or so after moving in.

So I just thought I would say Thank you Alan Krosnick...couldn't done what I did without you.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2009, 07:16:12 pm by snickgrr »
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Don Libby

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A Thank You
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2009, 08:12:14 pm »

Nice!

gwhitf

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A Thank You
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2009, 08:34:29 pm »

Irving Penn meets M.C. Escher.
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Bonobo

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A Thank You
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2009, 08:41:58 pm »

I had a very similar experience with an amazing photographer called Louis Girardi.

One of the first photographers i worked with who sadly passed away coming up to three years ago.

He was based in London but originally came from Australia, He was energetic, mad, funny, stern, and above all, a joy to work for.

He really taught me my first lessons in photography, not all of them easy to take, but all valued.

And in a similar sense i often think "What would Louis do now?'

Always helps in a tight squeeze. As often the answer was "Put some fuckin Zeplin on and roll me a joint!"
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snickgrr

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A Thank You
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2009, 08:45:08 pm »

Quote from: Bonobo
I had a very similar experience with an amazing photographer called Louis Girardi.

One of the first photographers i worked with who sadly passed away coming up to three years ago.

He was based in London but originally came from Australia, He was energetic, mad, funny, stern, and above all, a joy to work for.

He really taught me my first lessons in photography, not all of them easy to take, but all valued.

And in a similar sense i often think "What would Louis do now?'

Always helps in a tight squeeze. As often the answer was "Put some fuckin Zeplin on and roll me a joint!"


Sounds like Alan except he liked Classical.  The joint thing though yep.
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Bonobo

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« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2009, 09:12:37 pm »

The other great influence in my photographic career was my dad, He was a photographer who went traveling in his early twenties with my mum around Asia.

They started in New Zealand, and went from there in to Indonesia, they then spent ten years traveling along the hippy trail until they settled in Daharamsala in norther India.

He became the official photograph to the Dali Lama. Through those years he traveled to Iran, Afghanistan, Burma, Ladakh, Tibet, Pakistan and many other destinations.

After we had moved to the UK and many years later he gave me his old Nikon F, which was well and truly worn to the bone (the brass pentprisim has no paint at all left on it).

With that and an old Weston light meter is where i first found my foot in photography.

He also sadly died in 1998, But his work, which i have spent many years scanning and cataloging can be found here.

http://www.nomadpictures.co.uk

Check out the Afganistan/ Buzkashi. Quite amazing, and never to be seen again.
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snickgrr

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« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2009, 09:26:41 pm »

Quote from: Bonobo
http://www.nomadpictures.co.uk

Check out the Afganistan/ Buzkashi. Quite amazing, and never to be seen again.


Wow!.  That stuff sent chills down my back.  Very powerful...and for sure authentic.  Is that a headless dog they're dragging around?
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Bonobo

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« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2009, 09:34:46 pm »

Quote from: snickgrr
Wow!.  That stuff sent chills down my back.  Very powerful...and for sure authentic.  Is that a headless dog they're dragging around?


Its a goat, its the origin of Polo, they have been playing it for centuries there.

Please excuse the difference in colour as well (I know its something some guys on here will bitch about) , the old ectachromes are getting well past there age. They were also take over a period of about 5 years, he kept on going back, as it was such an amazing spectacle!
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snickgrr

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A Thank You
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2009, 09:44:25 pm »

No need to apologize.  No need to pixel peep, no need to ask what lens and fstop bullshit, no need for any of crap.  This is photography.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2009, 09:44:49 pm by snickgrr »
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Colorwave

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« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2009, 10:36:48 pm »

Alan had a crusty veneer at times, but was kind and gentle once you got to know him.  I used to build sets and props for him in a past life of mine.  He was one of the best of what I know as Advertising Photographer v1.0, and then suddenly one day, he was no longer with us.
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Khun_K

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« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2009, 10:20:25 am »

This is nice!  A good photogrpaher started a fine craft, and others followed.  But I also wondered, such a nice tradition seemed more related to the photography many of use knew, or missed, the film.  But not the film itself, it is more or how to get the image work.  Now entering into digital, not that I don't enjoy it, I do, but the craft part is not as much as before, and not as personal as before.  It is true now we have more powerful tool, software, more control, but the transition from one generation to another is not like the old days.
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gwhitf

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« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2009, 10:33:03 am »

Quote from: Bonobo
Please excuse the difference in colour as well (I know its something some guys on here will bitch about) , the old ectachromes are getting well past there age. They were also take over a period of about 5 years, he kept on going back, as it was such an amazing spectacle!

Quite the contrary. I'm sure there are more than a few people here that would look at those old Ektrachromes, and want to ask, "Uh, how do I get my $40,000 camera to render color like that beat-to-hell Nikon F?"

So no, no apologies necessary. The color and contrast of the Buzkashi section of Afghanistan was stunning. And almost surreal, given the current events right now.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2009, 10:35:57 am by gwhitf »
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Rob C

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« Reply #12 on: December 02, 2009, 11:25:52 am »

Quote from: snickgrr
No need to apologize.  No need to pixel peep, no need to ask what lens and fstop bullshit, no need for any of crap.  This is photography.



Having just looked too, I agree with you.

Also, it makes me wonder at Western arrogance that presumes to export its own mores to these countries. I lived in India for seven or eight years and though I was very young when I went there and just a teenager when I left, it made me realise the futility of exporting religions and customs; people have their own, thank you very much.

Failure to recognize that simple fact has sure spawned a sack of troubles!

Rob C

Conner999

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« Reply #13 on: December 02, 2009, 12:20:08 pm »

Nice thread, nicely done.

Priceless:

"..As often the answer was "Put some fuckin Zeplin on and roll me a joint!""
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snickgrr

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« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2009, 01:54:34 pm »

Colorwave,
So you must've owned the set shop out in the Bayview on Yosemite Ave?

Rob C.
I think I can agree with you strongly on both sides!   My degree in Cultural Anthropology allows for the desire to live and let live for all peoples and their mores and customs.  It really doesn't take too much though to start butting into any one's own personal beliefs.  Don't have a problem with cutting off the head of a goat and dragging it around for sport. Bullfights?  I'm down for that.  Peyote and Native Americans, of course.  Scarification, big earlobes, tattoos, stretched lips, elongated heads are great.  The feet binding of China? A little strange but I'm ok with it. Peyote and Native Americans, of course I good with that.

I was in a bar recently and started to say "NAMBLA" fairly loudly.  It didn't take too long before I thought I was going to get a beat down. I could see people starting to clinch their fists. I was kidding, I have no affiliation with the group whatsoever but it was clear even in the most liberal of American cities, San Francisco, that you can cross over the line real quick.

I guess I draw the line at ethnic cleansing and practices like female clitoral mutilation.
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Rob C

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« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2009, 03:36:22 pm »

Quote from: snickgrr
Colorwave,
So you must've owned the set shop out in the Bayview on Yosemite Ave?

Rob C.
I think I can agree with you strongly on both sides!   My degree in Cultural Anthropology allows for the desire to live and let live for all peoples and their mores and customs.  It really doesn't take too much though to start butting into any one's own personal beliefs.  Don't have a problem with cutting off the head of a goat and dragging it around for sport. Bullfights?  I'm down for that.  Peyote and Native Americans, of course.  Scarification, big earlobes, tattoos, stretched lips, elongated heads are great.  The feet binding of China? A little strange but I'm ok with it. Peyote and Native Americans, of course I good with that.

I was in a bar recently and started to say "NAMBLA" fairly loudly.  It didn't take too long before I thought I was going to get a beat down. I could see people starting to clinch their fists. I was kidding, I have no affiliation with the group whatsoever but it was clear even in the most liberal of American cities, San Francisco, that you can cross over the line real quick.

I guess I draw the line at ethnic cleansing and practices like female clitoral mutilation.





Ummm... I live in the Balearics so haven't the foggiest idea what NAMBLA is.

Regarding the slaying of bulls for fun: I personally hate the idea, but as I am also grateful that I am allowed untrammelled freedom to live in Spain I refrain from comment where it might offer offence. However, I'd be lying if I said I don't give a silent cheer/prayer for the bulls... Binding of feet in China: they also did that in India to create crippled children for the begging trade. But when you have seen the real poverty and realise that nothing much is gonna happen soon to change it, who can you blame for trying to survive as best they can?

Ethnic cleansing or female circumcision? Well, as both stem from religion, ignorance and or belief systems, where to look for answers or even better ways? Perhaps sticking people into separate groups may work in some situations - or not. I don't know. Looking at the strange hatreds within and between Christian groups, between Moslem ones too, I somehow doubt ethnic cleansing will solve anything other than localise problems into different communities than those in which they exist at the moment. Is the world going to hell in a rickshaw? I think yes.

Maybe the only safe bet is that no thought system is ever going to be right for all people, so one might as well leave them in peace rather than create fresh problems for them and for one's self by offering/forcing acceptance of 'our' right way(s).

As for how this might impact with the troubles in the middle-east: forget the poppies; nail the guys who sell the final products and those who buy them at home, not the poor sod who plants them. Without the finance the Western drug users provide... save a soldier's life instead; bring them home and clean up home first. Maybe that's all the other guy wanted all along: to be left alone.

Rob C

snickgrr

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« Reply #16 on: December 03, 2009, 04:38:02 pm »

North American Man Boy Love Association.
They want to pass legislation that ok's consensual "relations" between adult men and well, boys.  
I BTW do not agree with it all, my point in the little bar exercise was to see how thin the line is between acceptable and taboo.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2009, 04:38:34 pm by snickgrr »
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Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #17 on: December 03, 2009, 05:18:46 pm »

Quote from: snickgrr
...but it was clear even in the most liberal of American cities, San Francisco, that you can cross over the line real quick.
and I think that line is about to be crossed here.

Let me help out: Topic Closed
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