“STREET STUDIO” as Inspiration
Ok, I have already received several emails regarding the previous post about the free photographic omnibus. It seems that seeing some sources of “street portrait” inspiration strikes a cord…
Einstein said, “the secret to creativity is hiding your sources…” so maybe I am blowing it by showing you some of my sources of inspiration. But honestly, I don’t really care. I think that these guys are doing such great street portrait work. I think you would all be missing out if you didn’t see some of their images.
So, in that vein, here is another “street portraits” inspiration:
This time, a NYC photographer named Clay Enos.
You may have seen these images:
Turns out that besides being a great photographer, Clay was a friend of Zach Snyder and his wife back in college and was hired as the unit photographer for the movie. He made some really fantastic images during the process… I mean, really, really good stuff…
I originally began following Clay’s work back in 2005 when I had the opportunity to travel to Cambodia with the VII agency. I had work featured in the Angkor Photography Festival and Clay had work displayed as well. I didn’t get a chance to meet him, but heard about this project that he had set up in Siem Riep. Simple backdrop and simple portraits of people cruising around town. Turns out that Clay and another photographer Stephan Ghukfvin had developed a great “Street Studio” project in which they would set up on various street corners in NYC to make portraits of passers-by. Their express goal: to make a portrait of everyone in NYC. No big deal, right? The images are really pretty fantastic. All Hasselblad cameras and black and white film. Great combination. Clay, when I first heard of the project, was in the middle of travelling and bringing versions of the “street studio” to cities all over the world.
Some NYC images:
They made a companion site for the project, called StreetStudio that is well worth poking around for a half hour or so. You can see a little behind the scenes video of the guys working or just browse the images…
This setup and the photographers:
Well, I have truly been inspired by the project and by Clay’s mantra: “make pictures.” If he were talking to you right now I am pretty sure he would say, “Just shoot. Go ahead, shoot. Right now. Put down what you are doing and go make an image.”
One of the things that I resonate with is Clay’s tendency to use natural light. Find the right place, find the right time, find the right light. That is how I work. He makes me not feel stupid about it, given how “overly” lit everything tends to be right now.
I stumbled upon this short video of Clay shooting (a seemingly) impromptu StreetStudio session:
Ok, now back to the Watchmen. In addition to the normal unit photography, Clay set up his StreetStudio on set and photographed hundreds of the cast and crew. Some in costume, some in makeup, some guys holding rigging. Talk about StreetStudio to a new level. Well, it seems that everyone else involved loved the images as well and they have turned it into a companion book, Watchmen: Portraits
Check out some of the images:
That is natural light folks.
Ok, last semi-related thought: it seems that when I find someone’s work or a specific project that I really am inspired by there is always a dichotomy of emotion. Part of me is compelled to grab my camera and get out there. Immediately. Like right now, even just seeing these images as I write this post, I want to go set up a street studio. The other part is this little voice that seems to whisper, “you will NEVER be able to make images that compelling” (or some version of that…) It is subtle and can be crippling. I mention that only to say that it is normal. Don’t be afraid. Use that energy and channel it into shooting, into your next project, into your next interaction…
Ok, that is it for now. This turned into a pretty long post. Thanks for making it through…
I should say, all of the Watchmen images are © 2009 Clay Enos/Watchmen Portraits (Titan Books);Watchmen and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
Everything else is © Clay Enos
And now, as Clay would say, “go make pictures.”
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