Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Company Car

Well, we're back in the saddle again.
Here is what you get when you buy a junker, replace parts from the crashed car, and buy a few new ones (like a rebuilt transmission). I have to thank All Tune & Lube in Dover New Jersey who did the great work for a great price and saved the business some debt. Now we have a 24 valve Dura Tech engine, dual exhaust and even reasonable gas mileage.
A funny thing is that over the winter when this whole mess was getting straightened out, we only went on location once and took only minimal equipment. Since the car was fully rebuilt, we have been on location using the gurney 6 or 7 times. The timing was perfect.
Anyway, there you go. Nothing in life is ever easy, but in the end, it's always good.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Dane Sonneville


Here's a tip of my hat to my great friend Dane Sonneville who passed from this world last Tuesday after a VERY full life.
My relationship with Dane began in 1982 when the awesome artist and art director Tim Barrall introduced us and he became my rep in NYC for 7 years. When we closed the New York studio he remained my friend for the next 20 years.
Later in his life, Dane lived half of the year in Sonora Mexico where he became a writer of novels and a painter of pictures which can be found on the Oovu gallery website. Dane will be sorely missed by me and his other friends and family.
As we walked the streets of NYC together, Dane taught me: "treat every human you meet as the most valuable thing in your life at that time because they can either move you forward or stop you in your tracks". I saw him live that as he treated every doorman, receptionist or creative director as the most important person to him at that time, and that made everyone happier, and propelled him onward.
As for the image above? That is what I call my 6 degrees of separation from Bill Truran. It shows that every one of my clients has come from another client. None have come from direct sales. And everyone has become a good friend. So my clients find me other clients and we are all friends. That's a great way to work, it's a great way to live. And I learned to live this way by walking the streets of NYC with my friend Dane Sonneville.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Money for Photo


When asked the question: "do you shoot...?" The answer is always: "yes!"
This time it's for a magazine about commercial flooring. I brought a small hand cart, bungied a light stand and light to it, put my camera case and Speedotron strobe on it and just rolled around from shot to shot. I had a shot list, but (as I was told) shot anything that looked interesting. I even went to up high on a forklift to shoot a big room. This shot is of the Seamless Flooring crew. No matter what language each of us spoke, we all got along and had a great time. Oh - and the client was very happy with the results. The answer was: yes, and I shot something for the first time and the client was happy. I already got a check, and now everyone is happy!