Families of Oakland

Not too long ago I get an email come in.
"I'm a photographer in Oakland and I'm looking for a photo studio to use for gratis.  I want to give to families in West Oakland who may not be able to afford it a holiday gift of a portrait session."
He says what non profit he is associated with.  

All ready for Young Wenlock

He's young.  Never really shot in a studio with big strobes and such.   So I set everything up for him.  Showed him where to plug the snyc cord into his camera and left him to his thing.
He tried to get the word out on the event via the churches of West Oakland....and there's a lot of churches.

He had some friends over to help him.  First up was a mother of one of the helpers.

Mother and daughter sharing a moment that almost brings tears.

Next was Wenlock's sister...

But eventually people started to arrive.

How cute is this?  Matching outfits!

So I fade into the background and let it roll.

Art Imitating Art

This is Ed.

Henry and I did a video awhile ago on Ed...Here..

Ed is one of the premier framers of art in the US.  The highest of the high modern art.  Some of his clients buy houses..big houses... not to live in them but to only house their art collections.  They have the art hung and have their people watch over it.  Maybe a party is thrown every now and then in the house.

So Ed's latched onto an idea, where feasible, that he builds a frame that goes over the art piece, I photograph the real art piece, we have that printed and then that print goes onto Ed's oversized frame.

The art is somewhat protected from the degradation of light and whatnot but it can still be seen in facsimile.

Today I was in a very nondescript warehouse in the Bay View doing just that.  Shooting Art to imitate the art but hide the art.

Ed, pulling out the pieces.

Ed, handling the pieces.....no, I do not handle the pieces.

He flips them over to show me the history of who framed, reframed, repaired, restored, etc each one. This one was at both the Guggenheim and the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice for some exhibits at a couple times in it's existence so far.

Next Up

I am beginning to see the last stitches to sew onto the Iron Bark Kimono.  Yesterday, I picked up the finish I wanted to shoot (spray) on it and as well with a five minute drive away, the next in line project material.
10 ounce premium veg tan for Jon.
What's funny is a wine client was down the day before dropping off a carload of things for me to shoot and I was telling her about the next project and she said.
"Make me two as well."

Blue Marble Super Moon

Morning Sun after Evening Moon.

How I do(did) it.

Not that I do a lot of inlay work but this is how I did this project.

Stuck down some painters tape where I wanted the leaves to go and with a couple small drops of super glue on the tips I glued them down.  With an Exacto I traced the outline around the leaf and peeled the leaf off with the help of a chisel.

It left the exact outline of the leaf but also provided a "ledge" almost that allowed the chisels to register against.  I'm finding I'm using the tape and knife method more and more to mark out work. Much much easier to see as well, as opposed to the other methods of layout.

Routed out the shape as close to the line as possible of course.

Mostly used a 1/8" chisel on it's side going downhill on the grain.  The above leaf's point wasn't too sharp so this one was easy but the others where the leaf ended in a very small point I sort of hacked away at with the Exacto knife and an engraving tool I ground down to a very tiny point.

The binocular close-up headgear (can't seem to remember it's real name) of course is paramount for this scale of work.

Glue up and the leaf right after taking off the clamps.

I like to do a rough trim down with a gooseneck Japanese chisel.  Very satisfying to feel the chisel peel off the wood and watch it curl up and away.

This is straight off the chisel work with a bit of moisture to see the grain better.

And that's that.

Archetype Leaf Inlays

I thought I would put some Iron Bark Leaves inlayed into the Iron Bark Kimono.  Have them scattered along the bottom half of the piece, situated around the slow curve that flows from side to front to side.

I don't have a clue as which of the Iron Bark species I have so I combined some of the different leaf shapes into one that is longer and slenderish.  Pointy tips with a bit of curve one way or the other.

Glued up some appropriate end grain from the left overs and hand penciled in shapes.

Arranging on the two lower drawer fronts to determine placement.
I'll real lightly glue them in position so there will be no shifting as I exacto out the shape.  The sharp tips need to steadied somehow to stop any lateral movement when the knife is against them.

Next up...cutting the recesses.

Off the J.O.B.

Took a short break from the J.O.B yesterday to work with Henry and Steve on a promo video featuring the new incoming president of an online airline/car rental/hotel room discounter.
You've heard of them.  I know you have.


Always such a good vibe (read inside jokes, ribbing, riffing, guffawing, no-none-zero ego)  being on the set with Henry and Steve.

Waiting on the corner. They were late! 

HMU

Which stands for Hair and Make Up.

Henry with his requisite pencil in the hat look.

Steve....and his assistant, the phone.

And check it.  It's nice to be in a building right smack dab in the middle of San Francisco that still has sash windows that open up.

And on set.