Herve Pelletier

With the temperature sinking to -18 this morning, it occurred to me that it might be nice to dig into the archives for a warmer image, something to remind us of the less hurried and harried days of summer.  Now, I know, the image above is not as stereotypical as you might have hoped for: no palm trees, no beach chairs, no sand dunes.  We’ve got all those, too, but for today I figured why not share something a little more off-beat.

So, I grabbed this 4×5 transparency, which is a dupe of a 35 originally shot on Agfa 1000 chrome film in the waaaay back dayz of film, motor drives, grainy film and lots of simple, elegant images that had a particular vibe that resonated back then, taped it up to the window and did a quick shot of it.  Dupe of a dupe, so to speak…  Still does, come to think of it.  (Apologies to our non-photog readers for the tech speak….)  In any case, we had lined up a shoot for a local (to Boston) clothing boutique – friends of a friend – models and stylist all set for a brief, but ambitious twilight shoot outside the studio on A Street, long before gentrification.  Trouble was, female model was a no-show.  Being resourceful, we pressed the makeup person into service. She was a really good sport about it all, and we had a fun, productive shoot. The car, a ’65 Ford Falcon, was mine. The guy in the shot later moved on to successful career in Milan, which was uber-hot back then, actually, still is.

Again, for photogs paying attention, it’s all about light, being prepped, scouting locations in advance (this one was particularly easy….), and assembling a reliable team.  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, same is true of journalism, weddings, still life, or landscapes. Cultivating a “style” becomes a lot less work when you simply play to your visual strengths, in an organic, but persistent, fashion.  All’s good.  Stay warm!  MTC… Herve