How to get paid twice

 

This was a weird one. The goal was to imagine an Oil Heat Monster for the Brooklyn Union Gas company. The first idea was monster teeth biting down on money monster-like. We booked a model and had a dentist create fangs that would fit over his actual teeth. We asked him to not shave for a few days before the shoot, lit the image in a gutsy manner, had him bite down on actual money and then shot a bunch of 120mm film. The agency (Moss Advertising) had a die-transfer print made and got ready to go to print. It was then that one of the bosses at Brooklyn Union Gas was in bed with his wife and showed her the ad. All she had to say was "will that image be misunderstood?" That's all it took. Away went the ad. The next layout had a hand grabbing money. Like I said, we got paid twice for one ad. Not quite as cool as the first try but the money was great.

Alyssa Alia Malanga Food Stylist

This image was created surprisingly quickly. One great food stylist: Alyssa wanted an image for a Christmas card. We sat down together and came up with an idea. I sketched it out and added notes as we talked. We went shopping (in the studio prop closet) and the next day we went to work. Alyssa brought in the frosted cranberries and holly, I found the background (in the same prop closet) she shaved the white chocolate, made the mousse and combined it all into the final recipe. All that was left to do was for me to choose a high angle with my favorite 55mm micro Nikkor lens which becomes wide-ish when used up close, light from behind with an optical spot strobe and finally add a big broad light off the ceiling. Happy holidays!

Moss Advertising and Hitachi

Another fun one (but maybe not quite legal). After I was given this layout, I had to go to a coin shop and buy 4 or 5 silver dollars. The ones from the early 1900's were less expensive than the ones before that so I picked up those "newer" ones. 

This is before digital so I took a coping saw with a metal blade and carefully chopped up one of the dollars. Yes, back then we had to actually cut up the coin. Today I would do it all in Photoshop but back then we used a saw. The value seemed to live in the silver content so I didn't really care. Back light is the light of choice for showing embossed detail and the shadows coming forward look awesome.

Member's Only

When you are starting out on your own, you need to be able to shoot everything. I often tell my students that the answer is always "yes" and then you had better figure out how to do what you just said you would. This shot was for Moss Advertising.

It helped that I was a photo assistant for 4 years before going out on my own. I had lit shots like this for others in the past. Doing it on your own however was a whole different thing. As a studio we had to book all of the talent, make sure we had 12 foot white seamless and of course, a good assistant to wrangle every one and clean the bottom of their shoes. 

Back in the day we judged images and exposure with Polaroids and then just shot a lot of 120mm film. The 50mm lens was chosen mostly to fit 20 people into a small space but it cropped down perfectly and once again, the client was happy.

Lord Calvert for DDB

Just as we were well into our second year, here came a liquor ad for Lord Calvert! The agency was Doyle Dane Bernbach and the art director was most likely Jose Matamales. The holy grail for still photographers continues to be alcohol because it pays better than most products. It used to be alcohol and cigarettes but I don't think they advertise those any more. Jose was a friend (as good a friend as you can have when you are ADD) and not only did real awesome jobs like the one above but we did very nice test images as well! He also let me light the way I wished including the first job I shot using strobe sunlight. I light most images that way now.

LGFE

The layout was very tall but the image was going to be a very small part. Still, a simple band-aid had to look great. I shot many tests with actual band-aids and they looked terrible. I ended up making a 6 inch wide band-aid out of cardboard, sticky shelf paper and gauze. Life got much easier as I could lift the thing up off the background, add a nice shadow and make it look perfect. The Lord Geller Federico Einstein art director loved it (still thinks it was a real band-aid) and the ad was great. See? Photographers have to know how to do everything!

One year in the business and working for DDB!

This is the way my 41 year career has always seemed to go. My wife worked in a cool housewares store. A little old lady (probably 40 year old) said to my wife "what does you husband do?" My wife replied " my husband is a commercial photographer who is just starting out." The lady replied; "Well, my husband owns an advertising agency. I'll tell him you husband will be calling." That began a long relationship with Vito Catalano and the Catalano & Gornick agency and when they were bought by Doyle Dane Bernbach, I just began to work for art directors there. So here I was, in business one year, and working for DDB. I was absolutely blessed!