Film Rec: Soy Cuba ( Kalatozov, 1964 )

In an attempt to maintain the degree of obscurity of my previous book and film recommendations, I've got a great one for you: Soy Cuba ( I am Cuba ) by Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964.

This 144 minute epic is constructed of several vignettes that each portray a different facet of the Cuban revolution. Because it was a co-production between the former U.S.S.R and Cuba, the words 'socialist propoganda' are the quickest way to describe it.


The film is not intended to be a documentary. The struggle of the Cuban working class is romanticized by both Kalatozov and his cinematographer Sergei Uresevsky through each elaborately lyrical sequence.
( Visually: Uresevsky would not film without clouds in the sky. In many scenes he used infra-red film to enhance the darkness of the sky and the lightness of the foliage. )


The most memorable and impressive sequences in the film are often due to Uresevsky's dynamic cinematography. The opening sequence is one of the most impressive, in which the camera descends from a rooftop party at a hotel to the pool deck many stories below. It then moves through the party and follows a woman into the pool, submerging and filming the swimmers below the surface.
Apparently the actors and crew would sometimes rehearse these scenes for days before filming. Here Kalatozov blocks out the rooftop party scene with a directors viewfinder:


And the resulting scene:


The film didn't receive much of a premiere in either the Soviet Union or Cuba despite over a year in production and a budget that is probably unable to be calculated for political reasons. The film was never premiered in the United States due to the embargo. It wouldn't have been a big success anyway...

I don't think the Cubans felt accurately portrayed by Kalatozov, but I don't blame him for his approach. His goal was to capture the revolutionary spirit of the Cubans, and he saw that in the liveliness of their music, culture and character. He was attempting to depict them as a romantic underdog, which I imagine made them feel like they were being used as a character on a larger world stage.

Soviet audiences didn't like it, I hear, because it, "wasn't revolutionary enough." I'm not going to pretend like I know what it means to say that, all I know is that they weren't impressed. People literally forgot about this film for 30 years.

A Russian historian dug up a copy of the film for a series on Kalatozov in 1992. By the next year the film was screening at the San Francisco International film festival, and in 1994 copy of Soy Cuba was screened for Martin Scorsese. In 1995 it was being distributed by Milestone with both the Scorsese and Coppola names attached to it.
I guess these guys were just so enamored with the film, they spent whatever it cost to bring it back to life.


Reasons to watch this film:
1. You like black and white cinematography
2. You have a sense of humor about propaganda and it's historical context.
3. You have a talent for reading Portuguese subtitles while listening to overdubbing in Russian and trying to guess what the hell is going on in English.

11 Questions for your wedding photographer

( aka. "this is how I do business" )

I've compiled this list of questions to help clients make the best decision possible when selecting a wedding photographer.

I'm doing this in hopes of clarifying everyone's expectations in this industry. Things have changed considerably with the transition to the digital age and I believe communication will help avoid unnecessary disputes and complaints.

A photographer worthy of your business should have the patience to answer these questions completely and confidently.

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1. What kind of deposit / retainer do you require with the signing of a contract? How does the payment schedule work?

Knowing when you'll have to pay your photographer is crucial. He/she should have a clearly outlined payment schedule that is described in their contract with specific $#'s. We charge deposits/retainers because unfortunately sometimes weddings fall through. We can't afford to take a total loss on anticipated income, especially when it means avoiding other potential clients on a specific date.

For example, I refer to my payment schedule as 20/40/40. 20% retainer ( non refundable by definition ), 40% paid the day of the event, 40% paid when the client receives all prints/files/etc that I've promised. Of course I've been screwed out of the final 40% several times. It isn't my conscience that will suffer.

Payment schedules avoid uncomfortable discussions about money. By being able to refer back to the contract, everyone remains on the same page. I've found this is one of the most commonly asked questions.

2. Are the specifics of your packages negotiable?

Well, mine are. In my opinion a photographer should be willing to negotiate with you in the event that one of their packages doesn't exactly meet what you're looking for. I often have people who want to scrap an engagement shoot in the interest of saving money, or get a different # of 8x10 prints than one of my packages provides. I can't imagine how many clients I would have turned off if my answer was simply 'no'.

3. Do you bring backup equipment to every event?

This one should be obvious. Equipment failures happen and can put a photographer entirely out of commission. The simple redundancy of two cameras and two flashes is a much safer way to go.

4. Can you provide a list of references?

A list of references will give you a good idea of how many satisfied customers a photographer has, even if you don't call any of them. However, making a quick phone call or two will give you insight to the character and professionalism of your potential photographer.

5. Will I receieve all the photographs from the wedding day? And will I have the right to duplicate ( print ) them?

I get asked this all the time! This is probably the #1 source of paranoia for wedding clients. The answer is complicated so bear with me.

A photographer should be willing to provide you with a copy of everything shot during the event ( aside from the absolutely unusable images due to exposure/focus mistakes, because they happen ). However, most photographers prefer to have the opportunity to retouch any images that might later be shown as a representation of their work.

My philosophy is: If you're going to print it, I'm going to retouch it. I require each of my clients to tell me which images are going to wind up as prints so I have the opportunity to make sure they look their best. Imagine a bride getting married without makeup. It would never happen. That's how we feel about our prints.

The second issue is rights to printing which is also complicated....

It used to be that everything was shot on film so the process of proofing / printing was expensive and time consuming. Photographers would often retain the rights to the original negatives so they could make prints themselves, as well as require clients to pay additional charges for additional prints. I believe this is where the paranoia has come from.

Welcome to the digital age. An exact duplicate of the 'negative' can be made so both the photographer and client can keep a copy for future printing. I provide a copy and keep a copy to avoid the image being lost for either party in the event of a hard drive failure.

Legally this gets complicated. Pay attention to your contracts. A photographer with a minimal contract may be operating under the terms of 'work made for hire.' Meaning, if you're paying them to take pictures, then you own whatever pictures they take.

My solution to this: My contract includes a clause about model release and rights to use images for promotional purposes. I retain the rights to use the images for my promotional purposes and the client retains the right to duplicate their images for prints indefinitely. Everybody wins.

6. If I order prints as part of my package, what rates will I be getting on the various sizes of enlargements?

Again referencing the days of celluloid film.... It used to be that only the party with the original negatives was able to make prints. For this reason I find that my clients are often concerned that I'm going to 'mark up' the cost of prints ( charge them more for prints than it costs to make them ).

I give every client the choice of managing printing themselves, or allowing me to do it for them at no additional cost. I call it 'prepaying for prints'. They pay me in advance for the basic cost of printing and shipping their prints.

I actually prefer to do this for clients because I have a lab that I use frequently which I know is consistent and professional. Though I explain this to clients, some prefer to manage printing themselves. If they go to RiteAid and their prints wind up looking like crap because a 16 year old is the photo tech there, at least I tried to make my point.

7. Can I see printed examples of your work?

Printed work is often different than what you will see on a computer monitor. If you're going to trust your photographer to manage printing for you, get a look at some printed examples they're willing to show for themselves. If their prints look incorrectly exposed or color corrected it indicates an error somewhere in the retouching or printing processes.

8. How will the proofing process work? Will I be able to review my images online and share them with my wedding guests?

Your photographer should have some kind of online proofing process. It is often the fastest way to see your images, and certainly the easiest way to share photos with your wedding guests.

The online process streamlines photo selection and retouching, and can be made secure with passwords.

9. Will my images be retouched? What types of retouching can you provide?

Some photographers will be willing to deliver images 'straight out of camera', meaning NO retouching. Clients often ask for this in the interest of their budget. I don't recommend it, but some people think that at some point in the future they'll pay someone to touch up the pictures. ( Imagine the probability of this actually happening )

I would recommend seeking out a photographer willing to offer basic exposure and color correction on all of your images. If you're going to be printing images to share with family and friends I would absolutely encourage selecting a photographer who is experienced in advanced retouching including cosmetic touch-ups. Everybody has at least one pimple or blemish on their wedding day. Although I have been the guy who has had to fix the same pimple 200 times, I recommend you pay someone willing to do this for you.

Black and white alternate versions, as well as 'selective colorization' are things you may consider asking about as well.

Quick lesson about 'Raw' images: Most people assume 'raw' to mean 'unedited' or 'original' images. In the photography world the term 'raw' actually has a different meaning ( often capitalized as RAW ). RAW is actually a different file format which is not viewable or editable on most consumers computers. While most of us in fact do shoot RAW files, we hesitate to deliver them to clients fearing that they'll complain about not being able to access the files. There was actually a lawsuit in San Diego about five years ago involving this exact misunderstanding. Be clear when asking for 'raw' vs 'unedited' files.

10. What other services or referrals are you able to provide?

A photographer with a list of referrals for videographers and DJs can be a good sign. It shows that they have working relationships within the industry.

I'm often asked for referrals and I only provide the ones I truly know to be professionals. Not only do I fear the blame coming back to me for their lack of performance, but I know who I prefer to work with. I often trade images/video with these same vendors to ensure that our mutual clients are as satisfied as possible.

11. How long can I expect it to take for our contract to be complete? ( ie. all payments and deliveries of product completed )

I hear horror stories all the time about people waiting 6 months or more for their pictures. The reality is that if you have no specific deadline in your contract, your photographer has an indefinite time line to deliver your images. It all comes back to the contract. If you have a concern, politely ask your photographer to add a clause to their contract. They should be willing.

I hope this has been helpful. I'm exhausted!

Book Recommendation: 100 Years of Solitude ( way off topic )

I've been realizing how powerful the correlation is between me not being busy and the amount that I blog. Would you believe that?


Here is a great off topic book rec for you: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Though the book has nothing to do with photography it is an amazing novel. I don't even like fiction ( let alone magical realism! ) but this book really roped me in.

I have to warn you, there are about 100 characters in the story and half of them have some variation of the same name. Incredibly confusing yet rewarding. As soon as I finished the last page I wanted to start it again.

Send your imagination for a holiday and give this classic a shot.

An announcement

On April 15th, 2010 Anthony Robertson announced in his blog that he is no longer a photographer. He will continue to take photographs for a living and be an artist who uses cameras regularly.

Canon 7D back from service center

"Your product has been examined and it was found that the product performed according to specification. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the AF assembly and product functions were confirmed. Other inspection and cleaning were carried out."

We shall see.

Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen!

I had the opportunity to work at Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen again today with Chef Gabbi and her culinary works of art. The latest news is that shes working on her own line of products, and possibly a cookbook...

Look out for these hot sauces, I hear the Habanero is out of control.

To be honest I didn't have time to learn about each of the plates we shot, so I don't really know what all of these are. Here is some cake.

For these food shots we were working on the patio and using ambient daylight as the key. I filled in from the right side using a Canon 580EX II speedlite at 1/16th power.

Gabbi's has a particularly dark atmosphere so exposure is always tricky. In the kitchen, I used a tota-lite 500w tungsten bounced against the ceiling to bring up the ambient exposure ( ghostbusters style ), and then the 580EX II as my key strobe. ( With full CTO gel to match the ambient temp )

They also wanted me to get some shots that capture the action in the kitchen, so I was using shutter speeds slower than 1/15th of a second at times. There is a lot of hit and miss involved here. This lady was a really good sport.

I honestly have no idea what this is but it looks nice. Something like a pork sushi roll I think.

Retouching, and re-retouching

The undeniable plague of the digital workflow is the endless editing and re-editing process. It can be hard to decide that something is 'finished' when you can always come back and launch photoshop again. I say all this because I'm guilty. Just thought I would let you in on the process for one of my portrait retouches:


Would you believe that the underexposed, off-color image on the left is what came out of the camera that evening! I remember being frustrated with myself for not exposing Amber better on this shoot and I knew I was going to take a lot of work to get these images to resemble the way I remember things looking.

The image in the middle is the edit I made back in 2008. It took me probably three hours and I was never quite satisfied, yet I've still used it in my portfolio since.

The image on the right is an edit I did yesterday. It took me only ten minutes and I feel certain aspects are improvements. The elimination of so much skin detail makes it look a little more plastic which I usually try to avoid. I might prefer somewhat of a compromise between #2 and #3.

There is a lot to be said for 'straight out of the camera' photographs, but unless it's specifically stated, you better believe we're all using photoshop :)

Composition Lesson #2: Correct Headroom

( Check out Lesson 1: The Rule of Thirds )

Incorrect 'head room' is a frequent compositional problem and it really annoys me. This is exactly the picture you get when you ask a stranger to take a shot of your family on vacation. I guess having your face in the center of the picture is better than having your head cut off, but for more reasons than I care to get into it makes for a horrible composition:

In high school I used to work at a cable station and got hours of composition practice doing television production. Almost all the same principles apply to photography, and they can even make your images have a more narrative / cinematic look to them.

The principle of headroom is simple: In any composition involving people there should only be a small amount of open frame above the subject’s heads.

The amount of space to leave should be relative to your shot size ( wider shot = more head room, tighter shot = less. )

In head shots and close up portraits it’s actually the convention to cut off the top of the subjects head slightly.

Like any convention in photography there are exceptions but there isn’t much you can do when experimenting with headroom. If you’re going to violate the convention make it intentional. I do it with my fashion and wedding work when I see an opportunity.

Generally you need either another subject to occupy all that space or at least something visually appealing. Clear blue skies are boring but dramatic clouds work out great. I like the atmosphere of the open headroom because it humbles the subject and shows more of the setting.

Mexico City again - Tips on traveling with your gear

Just got back from another short trip to Mexico City, Aguascalientes, and Puebla doing some video work for Cisco systems. I took my DSLR along this time but I had very few opportunities to shoot. This was the view from my hotel room on the 21st floor of the W.

I decided to compile a few tips on traveling with your photo/video gear because I was pretty proud of myself for not having to check any luggage or equipment the whole trip.

That being said,
Tip #1 : Don't check your gear if you don't have to.
Nothing is going to screw up your shoot like having your equipment damaged, lost or delayed. If your gear meets your airlines carry on size requirements ( generally about 14 x 9 x 22 in ) take whatever you can onboard. Cameras especially should not be placed with checked luggage.

Here are the few items that you cannot take onboard:
Certain flammable types of film/print stocks.
Compressed ( canned ) air products
Gaff tape ( not sure why, but I've had it taken by security )

Tip #2: Pack light and be creative
Tripods:
I was really concerned on this trip that I would have trouble getting my small photo/video tripod on board but a friend told me a trick. If your tripod has a removable head, unscrew it and put the head in your carry-on. If you strap the legs of the tripod to the outside of your camera bag, boom, all of a sudden you've got only two items that meet carry on requirements. ( I did get my bag inspected all five times I cleared security. They really wanted to see what that tripod head was. )
If your tripod has spikes on the feet see if they are removable. The ones on my tripod are fixed but I screwed the floor protector nuts down over the tips to make them appear less threatening.

Gaff Tape:
Take some foot long strips and tape them somewhere on the interior of your camera bag. For most small shoots you won't need a whole roll anyway.

Tip #3: Work with the TSA agents
When you approach the X-ray machine tell the agent that your bag has camera equipment in it and ask them if they would like you to place it separately into bins. Sometimes they will ask you to, other times they will just tell you to run it through whole. Generally after they see all the electronics in your bag someone will ask you to do a hand inspection. Just be cooperative and help them repack the bag if it helps keep your equipment organized. Remember they are given lot of discretion in the way they enforce the security regulations, so work with them.