Working

With the new year, and avalanche of projects has come crashing down around me. In a good way! Right now, it's all about the mailing.

I've set some pretty lofty goals for the next four years and five months. (The goals were set with a five-year term a couple months ago.) I'm not necessarily comfortable publishing them at this point because they're very ambitious and they take a lot of leg work to get off the ground. But a key component to these goals is to send out mailings. There is the agonizing over which samples to print into postcards, the endless mailing list maintenance, the creation of the pithy little notes...daunting.

And fun. When I was an actor, I realized that I enjoyed the audition more than the rehearsal and the rehearsal more than performance. And a root canal more than tech. Of course I want international acclaim, wealth beyond my wildest dreams, and a front-row seat at the Academy Awards. Who doesn't? But it's not the result that is the real goal. It's finding the journey that you want to take that is the real goal.

As 2010 really gets underway, I'm finding that I only have time for one serious artistic shoot a month. Headshot work, my writing, and the routine of day-to-day living are taking up the rest of my time. But the January project has already been shot, and progress on the editing is coming along very nicely. I'm on schedule.

The other thing that I like about photography is that I'm able to call up the first frame I ever shot and compare it to the latest frame I've edited. One of my many flaws is that I tend to be hypercritical of myself and my work (sometimes almost paralyzingly so), but I know I've made progress when I look at my latest job and say, "Damn. That's good."

No matter what your journey, I hope your year is starting off as well as mine. Drop me a line! Share your success!

Andi Earles -- Winner

For the third year in a row, an Archetype Images session was the grand prize for the Saint Sebastian Monologue Match Up. This time around, the winner was Andi Earles, breaking the cardinal rule of auditioning -- she won with a piece that she wrote. This is a young woman that is about to break. Keep your eyes open for her!

A Whole New Year!

And here is my beach on Christmas Day.

There has been so much going on, and virtually no time to sit down and write about it all. Up this week: my first nude shoot!

Oy!

Merry Christmas, bitches.

Remember Summer?

When did it become November? In my head it's still June. Well, if I was going to be completely honest, in my head it's still June of 1988, but that's a whole different issue.

Last May I took on my first big fashion shoot. I cast six models knowing that not all of them would show. I got three. If I had to settle for less than what I wanted, I was thrilled to have the three I got. They could not have been more perfect.

If you can remember back to May, you might recall that we had exactly forty-eight minutes of sunshine the entire month. I booked my models three weeks in advance. The theme was an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, but done in color and to look something like an old snapshot from the late '50's or early '60's. We were scheduled to begin at 3:00 and it rained most of the day. I'm sure the weather had something to do with the three no-shows. I toyed with the idea of rescheduling, but held my breath and decided it was best to soldier on.

The first model showed at 2:00 and I spent an hour entertaining him with chit-chat. Small talk isn't really my thing. I have limited brain capacity and when I'm working, I'm all about the task at hand. This means that I have a set chit-chat patter, which I usually mete out strategically during a shoot to distract the model, to cover while I need to set up a light, or what have you. By the time the second model arrived, I'd exhausted every conceivable topic. By the time the third model arrived I felt like I had recited my entire life story, complete with accompanying ballet dream sequence.

I was not hopeful. The sky was gray. My mood was gray. The models were nervous.

But then, just as we reached the beach, the clouds broke. We started the shoot slow with the three of them sitting on a bench. The first third of any shoot is almost worthless. It takes some time for even the most seasoned model to warm up. But even the first few frames had usable shots.

I worked all three of them for nearly three hours. They ran. They jumped. The hugged. They kissed. One of them ran into the lake, carefully avoiding the floating chunks of ice. Then the last few frames I devoted to the girl. The sun was starting to sink. All four of us were exhausted. I sat down in the sand and just sort of pointed my camera in her general direction. This was the result.

And then it started to rain again.

Democracy

There are times when it seems like the heavens smile on you. This picture is one of those times.

I was again lucky enough to be asked to do the publicty shots for Eclipse Theatre. It's for Romulus Linney's Democracy. A comedy set in the late 1880's, I was sort of dreading this shoot. I wanted to do something that looked like it belonged on my grandmother's wall and when I described my idea to Nat, he seemed reserved in his enthusiasm. I think it had less to do with my idea for the picture and more because I said that it would take some time to get it right. Because everyone is very busy, these shoots are always done on a tight schedule. So, Nat said, "We'll see."

The shoot was set for the plant conservatory place in Lincoln Park. I'd only been there once before, and to be honest I preferred to shoot outside. But it was blessed cold on Sunday morning. We arrived at the conservatory just as it opened and the security person told us we could shoot as long as we didn't block traffic or use any props.

We tried several different things, but they all came out looking flat. The conservatory was filling and getting any kind of shot was becoming increasingly difficult. That's when I saw a patch of light. I pointed to it and Rebecca found it. With almost no coaching Jon and Rebecca found the pose and I clicked. It took less than a minute. With the exception of removing a little sign, this is pretty much how the shot came out of the camera. I couldn't be more pleased. It's exactly what I wanted.

It' Match-Up Time

For the third year in a row, I'm proud to be a supporter of the Seventeenth Annual Saint Sebastian Monologue Match Up. Last year an Archetype Images session was the prize for the People's Choice Award an Rina Sobel was the lucky, lucky young lady who won!

If you haven't done the Match-Up, even as just a spectator you really should. Actors have so few opportunities to see how other actors handle a monologue in a pressure setting. An audition class is not the same thing at all! If you're watching, you get to see what works and what doesn't. And if you're participating, you get to go into a relatively high-pressure situation that is also very supportive. Everyone there that evening is there for one thing -- to see good monologues.

The event is Monday, November 2 at 7:00 and there are only 40 competitive slots. Sign up now!