Hanging out with photographers and bikers and shooting in black and white. (Glossary for elitists, black and white = monochrome).

 

N. on her Vespa.

My friend, David, hangs out at Jo's Coffee on Sunday afternoons. There's live music at the coffee house then. A bunch of David's friends who are really into motorcycles of all kinds show up to sit around a small table out front, in the open air, to drink coffee and catch up. Every once in a while you'll hear a high revving motorcycle approaching from the north or south end of South Congress Ave. and David will stand up, get his camera and lens set and then pan the motorcyclist and his bike as they go zooming by. His hit rate is amazingly high. Practice, practice, practice. 

As a friend of David I am now able to join the group at their table and listen to the conversations. Yesterday I took some photos of the laid back coffee event. A woman in the group has a wide range of cool bikes but yesterday she was riding her Vespa. She is currently working on the restoration of a 1959 Vespa as well. 

I thought it would be fun to do a portrait of "N." and then a "ride-away" shot just for grins. I was using a slow set up. A Leica SL2 coupled with the Thypoch 75mm f1.4 M lens. It's a manual focusing lens designed for rangefinder cameras. I shot everything in color, in raw, but this afternoon I thought I'd see what the stuff looked like when I converted the files to black and white in Lightroom. Well, they look like this. I've included one color shot at the bottom of the group of photos just to show the difference. I'm torn. I think there's more relevant information in the color images but more nostalgic fun in the black and white images. It's nice that we can have them both ways --- if we want to. 

I've recently put on my advertising agency hat to help a photographer friend market a museum show that he has coming up in late January. We spent the middle of the day brainstorming and getting each other up to speed. Me up to speed about what he wants the show to accomplish and He up to speed about the nuts and bolts of good marketing. The bottom line for most good marketing is to be able to tell a story about the show. Not just the technical or artistic details but the underlying reasons for making the particular art on display. What makes the work unique and significant.  I spent nearly a decade in the advertising business. Some stuff has changed but the underlying ideas remain pretty much the same...

Since it is a museum show our goal is not to sell work but to share the vision of the artist with a wide audience and gain some recognition for the work. We'll transition the show to a conventional, commercial gallery after the museum show in order to sell some of the work. Artists... they love the creative process and sometimes disregard the money side of the art equation. But even the best artists have to eat to survive... The marketing folks are the translators between creators and the money people.

We're on the right track and have enough time to create good marketing and have it do its job. 

This is David. He's a really, really good people photographer. 

Better than me by a long shot at putting people immediately at ease. 

I could learn a thing or two by showing up on Sundays...

three bikers. S. Congress Ave. in the background. 

I wonder if it's okay to bring an electric bike...

N. Getting ready to ride.

A sample in color.

I am one of the financial sponsors for an upcoming museum show. On Wednesday evening this week I'll be attending a cocktail party at the museum. I'm already preparing some talking points for my ideas about show marketing. I think photography is quite a different beast to advertise effectively than painting and other media. I hope I can remember how to tie a necktie. 

Last night we watched the movie, "The Holiday." A perennial holiday favorite. Eli Wallach and Kate Winslet are wonderful actors to watch. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law are no slouches either...

The year is ending calmly here --- so far. Everyone is healthy, well fed and happy. We can only hope that it continues. Hope your holidays are happy.