The Joy of Drinking

As I often say, the best part of being a photographer is the people you meet, this could not be truer than in the case of Barbara Holland. I am truly richer having met her. Barbara seemed like an old friend the minute I met her. After we were done shooting we went for lunch and martinis, it was a perfect day. Shortly after the image was published in AARP The Magazine, Barbara contacted me about using the image for the jacket of her new book. I was flattered.

Auto Show

I know next to nothing about professional sports and have often joked that the only reason they do not take away my “guy license” is that I love all things with wheels. As a child I would drive around with my mother and name all of the cars by make and model. As an adult the Speed Channel completes me. Last week I made my annual pilgrimage to the New York Auto Show and this year I took my camera. My favorite client is currently working on an Infiniti campaign and used a slideshow of my travels in Taiwan to pitch an Idea, so I decided to see if I could make a slideshow using details from the Infiniti model line as a sort of spec spot. I had never made a slideshow on command and also thought it would be good way to show how my slideshows could be used in conjunction with a product. I have no doubt that the people staffing the Infiniti booth thought that I was up to some sort of corporate espionage. The other first for me is the music choice. I had a hard time finding an appropriate soundtrack and then remembered a little piece I did fooling around with Garage Band, so this is my first all Josh production.

Cross Your Fingers

I learned yesterday, that my image of Lordes and Esteban was chosen as a finalist in the American Photography 23 competition. The winners will be announced in April, so please send out good vibes.

Bomb and Cradle

This is the result of me falling into a creative black hole of time. In this case, it all started with my two very good friends Michael Loncar and Erik Carlson. Loncar is an amazing poet, teacher, musician, filmmaker and man about town. Erik Carlson is an amazing musician, architect, photographer and all around artistic handyman. Loncar is currently living and teaching in Taiwan. A year and a half ago Erik and I made our way there, on what I refer to as “Sideways, without the premarital affair and wine.” Our trip to Taiwan was amazing in so many ways, but I will always remember it as a photographic safari. Fast forward to last week. Erik asked Mike and I if we had any video footage from the journey to donate to the making of a video for his song Trick With A Knife. Loncar rose to the challenge and locked himself in his apartment for a weekend and made a great video. When I watched the video, I realized that the last two and a half minutes of the song would be a perfect soundtrack for images I had recently taken at The War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. I watched Mike’s video in the morning and then proceeded to have a productive day of photographic office work. Mid afternoon, as a reward to myself for hard paper pushing work, I decided to just “start working on the slideshow.” Five hours later the rough draft was completed.

Dr.Robert

Often in my creative process, one thing leads to another. This little animation grew out of another “great idea” that went horribly wrong. When I was thinking of different scenarios for the Apples In Stereo photo shoot, I had remembered hearing that Robert Schneider, the lead singer, likes to do calculus for fun. I decided to photograph Robert working on one of his equations on Plexiglas to give the impression that I was shooting through the blackboard. As individual shots they just do not look great, but when i clicked through them quickly in the browser they came alive. The music is a little teaser track on the Apples new record, New Magnetic Wonder. The band liked the final result so much that they included it in the enhanced features of the CD.

I have wanted to include this in the blog for some time, but I just realized how to post video. If you would like to see more slideshows of my travels please visit www.joshuakessler.com and click on the bottom half of the orange square labeled slideshows.

www.joshuakessler.com update

Much of the last week was spent updating my website. It is such a tedious, but greatly rewarding task. New additions include: Mandy Moore, Antonio Banderas, Jared Leto, Tara Reid, Crispin Glover, Bob Balaban, Judith Light, Paul Dano, Jake Paltrow, Queen Latifah, Glen Hansard, Riley Smith, Justin Theroux and Scott Speedman. Take a look.

Houston and San Francisco

This week was all about contrasts. Once again AARP sent me on another great adventure from Houston to San Francisco, straight from recovering from the Sundance marathon. The great thing about being a freelance photographer is that even back-to-back assignments can be completely different. You never know where the next job will lead you. In this case I went from celebrities worrying about where to get gift bags, to people we all know worrying about not being able to get health insurance. There are always some constants in what I do, but no two photo shoots have ever been the same. I am so lucky to rarely be bored.

San Francisco was the true bonus of this trip. This was my fourth brief visit and it never ceases to amaze me. The minute we were done with the shoot I turned into an instant tourist. Luckily for me Danelle, my trusty sidekick, had lived in San Francisco before and became my tour guide. The evidence of my tourist alter ego can be seen above. O.K. I was also a little bit of a tourist in Houston; I love BBQ!

Sundance 2007

One of the best parts of a photo shoot is the minute after the client/subject leaves. For a brief moment there is an incredible sense of satisfaction, a personal victory lap. I am now in the midst of a three-day victory lap. The Sundance Film Festival is the photographic equivalent of a marathon. There is no time for celebration, because the minute you finish shooting someone, you have to run to your next appointment, deal with a publicist, reschedule someone, find parking, find a new location, to replace the one you have just gotten thrown out of, think of an idea, convince someone not to cancel, upload files, eat one meal a day and sleep a few hours. Yes, it is exhausting but I am not sure it could be more fun.

After three years off, this was my fourth trip to Sundance. In that short time away, the festival has really changed. There are more filmmakers and actors that are known rather than unknown. Everything is more concentrated geographically and in terms of schedule, Main St. in Park City is now the epicenter instead of somewhere to buy a souvenir t-shirt. The opening weekend is the main time to be seen and party, then things start to dissipate towards the conclusion at the awards ceremony.

This year I was working for my stock agency Retna and Total Film Magazine in the UK. We really were the underdogs going into the festival and I could not be happier with the results. I had planned on blogging everyday from the festival, but that was just plain naïve. I am in the process of compiling a gallery of everything we shot, but until then, enjoy Jared Leto and Mandy Moore. Words cannot describe the vibe that Park City takes on during the festival. I am fortunate to have been able to experience the craziness, delight, disappointment, challenge, triumph and exhaustion. If you ever get the chance to go, take it and see the movies and madness in the mountains firsthand. It is the only way to describe it.

Vietnam

I apologize for the gap in posting, but my wife Beth got access to my frequent flier miles, abducted me and took me wandering Vietnam from north to south. Referring to Vietnam in terms of north and south is not a current way to look at it. The main thing I took away from my visit, was that it is now a country divided between new and old. Even if I return I am not sure it will be possible to see the same country again. Vietnam appears to change on a daily basis, more scooters, more cell phones, more factories, more homes and the W.T.O. From speaking to expats that have been living there, Vietnam is a completely different place than it was even five years ago. Seeing all of the construction, wedding stores and hipsters, I can only imagine what it will be like in even five weeks.

Just saying Vietnam conjures up all sorts of things in all sorts of people. I am not sure what I think, on the tale end of major jet lag, but I know that the country I visited will be with me for some time.

L.A. and Such

At Thanksgiving dinner, one of my aunts in Ohio asked me, “what do you do when you are not working?” this may be the greatest misconception of photography and freelance work in general. I never thought I would say this but taking the picture is the easy part of being a photographer. When I am looking through a camera I know what to do, what path to take, what to say. The hard part is getting to the point where you are looking through the camera. So what does this have to do with Los Angeles you say? Well, last week I was in L.A. working, but not taking pictures. From the very start of my career I have always tried to hit the bricks and show my portfolio. When you sit in a room across from someone looking at your work, you can really gage if you are going in the right direction.

The above picture was taken while landing at JFK.