My homage to Andy Warhol

I don’t do much of this type of stuff but did a series of them from some pictures I’d taken at the Salton Sea. Something about the subjects and their beat up and burned out look lent itself to abstraction. This was an abandoned trailer next to a cinder block house on the western shore of the lake. It’s kinda funny that it is abandoned and left to rot but someone put up this big barbed wire fence to protect it.

Shot the photograph with a Nikon D2x and a 17-55mm lens. Was really easy to do this in Photoshop. Worked with the master photograph and changed the hue until I got four different ones and assembled them together. It looks OK small but is one of those images that the larger you see it the more interesting it looks as a piece of artwork.

Photo © Craig Brewer

Getting out of the sun.

Another shot from Monument Valley. It was still morning as you can tell from the long shadows but was already unbearably hot. This horse was loose and could have wandered off anywhere it wanted to go but was content with the only shade around for what little relief it could get from the blinding sun. This is up on a rise next to John Ford Point and the Navajo Indians take people on tours by horseback at this location. Will have to give that a try next time I visit as I have never ridden a horse in my life.

In the background you will see a wooden “male” hogan and a dirt domed “female” hogan. I asked one of my Navajo guides what the significance was of each. In the female hogan the wife will have their babies, do all the cooking and chores and teach her girls the same. And the husband will hang out and educate his boys in the Navajo way in the male hogan. There are a few sweat lodges in Monument valley too and that is where you would take a bath so to speak. Water is at a premium in the desert so you just can’t turn on a faucet or jump in a river to clean up and get the dust and dirt off you. So The sweat lodge is teepee shaped and rocks would be heated up and water poured on to make steam where you would sweat the grime off of you. Photo was taken with a Nikon D2x and 85mm f/1.4 lens.

Photo © Craig Brewer

The Blue Wall

This is a picture of the side of a grocery store in a small town on the west side of the Salton Sea in the California desert. The light was just right to bring out the diamond pattern of the cinderblock wall which is quite ornate for such a plain boxy shaped building. Used a Nikon D2x and a 17-55mm lens for this photo.

If you live in southern California or are visiting, the Salton Sea is a must see place. It is south of the Palm Springs area and not too far from the Joshua Tree National Park. I shoot a lot of random and unconnected photographs but for some reason was drawn back a couple of times a few years ago because I found the place so fascinating. When people see pictures from there it really piques their curiosity of this remote and abandoned place and I get asked more questions about the Salton Sea pictures than just about anything else I have shot.

Photo © Craig Brewer

Santa Barbara Mission

This is the interior of the historic mission in Santa Barbara. Was taken with a Linhof 612 PCII panoramic film camera on Fuji transparency film. Was very lucky to get the interior without any visitors standing in the way although it was by accident. This picture was taken in the early 90’s and was the first California mission I had ever been in. So there was a bit of ignorance on my part. Was taking pictures of the outside and noticed the front doors were closed. What I didn’t know was that they charged you to tour the mission and the entry way to that was not clearly marked. Every church I’d ever been in you just walked in and sat down and that was it. Even the historic and famous Bruton Parish in Colonial Williamsburg and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

So all of a sudden the front double doors swing open and a crew of guys bring a piano in and head down the aisle and into another room. Not knowing any better I followed them in and set up a tripod and started shooting. One of the staff cleaning ladies came in and closed the doors and started glaring at me in a way that was not very church like if you know what I mean. Then she stated speaking to me very angrily but I had no idea what she was saying because she was speaking in Spanish. Like the persistent photographer I am I paid no attention to her and got my shot and proceeded to tour the rest of the facility. Then at the end I came to the entrance and saw where you had to pay a fee to get in. Duh, now I got what she was upset about, she had seen me come in without paying.

 
Photo © Craig Brewer

Wide Open Spaces

Was driving in the Antelope Valley (northern Los Angeles County) near the poppy fields and saw these beautiful winter clouds with the mountains in the background and could not resist stopping and taking a picture. Having spent my life in different areas of the United States I am continually amazed at how big of a vista you can see in California. In certain areas of the country you can hardly see even a mile at at time because of buildings, hills, trees, or whatever blocking your view.

Used a Nikon D100 and a 12-24mm lens for this photograph.

Photo © Craig Brewer

Fire!

This was taken a few years ago when we lived in Northridge, California. Yep, the place that had the big earthquake in 1994. Fortunately we didn’t live there at the time. The fire had started on the other side of the Santa Susanna Mountains and the winds shifted and brought it over to our side. Was at home and heard helicopters and planes flying over the house and I turned on the news and saw that it was close to where we lived. Got in the car and drove about a mile up the hill and there were people parked everywhere watching the planes and helicopters drop retardant on the flames. Jumped out and put a 300mm lens on a Nikon D100 and got lucky with this shot. Fortunately they got the fire out quickly and no homes were burned in our area. But the builders and developers learned nothing from that and now those hills are filled with very expensive houses.

Photo © Craig Brewer

Let There Be Light

This was an out take from an assignment. The original shoot had things sticking in the socket but saw the chance to make a good stock photo by reducing the props and make it simpler. This was not a working electrical outlet because there would be no way to mount a light in the wall. First I got a sheet of plywood and glued a rubber industrial mat that had raised ridges in it. Then sawed an opening and screwed the socket and chrome cover into the plywood. I cut open the back off of the sockets so that light could pass through where you would plug in a cord. 

I shot this with a Cambo 4×5 view camera on black and white film and used one Speedotron flash head in a soft box coming from the right to highlight the ridges and give a nice reflection to the chrome. There was a sheet of white foam core on the left for another highlight on the chrome and some soft fill light.

I placed another light with a snoot behind the plywood and aimed it through the hole in the light socket. Then I used Polaroids to test the light balance. To get the light rays to show up from the light streaming through the socket I used smoke. It was actually a multi exposure on one sheet of film. Shooting with a view camera requires a lot more light than using a regular single lens reflex because of bellows length and other factors. So you set the camera on a tripod, turn out the lights and open the shutter while popping the flash the number of times it takes to record the proper exposure on film.

It’s kinda fun figuring it all out and if memory serves me correct it took about 20 pops to light the smoke up and maybe three or four to light the front. Now here comes the difficult part of the shoot, normally you would use a smoke machine to do an effect like this. But since I don’t own one and it was too late to rent I had to make do with the only thing I could think of. I bought a pack of cigarettes and would light one, inhale the smoke in my mouth and blow it on the prop in the dark as I popped the strobe 20 times or so. And you can’t just shoot one piece of film because  you didn’t know if it was going to come out right or not as each negative was different.

To make a long story short, no, I don’t smoke, and even though I was careful not to suck the smoke into my lungs some would go down anyway. Guess what happened? Well I got dizzy and sick and threw up. So you have to tell me, was the picture worth it? LOL

 Photo © Craig Brewer

My First Toy

I had another greyhound lover request more pictures of guess what? More greyhounds of course! Here is a shot I did documenting a rescue group going to a track in Mexico and bringing in a load of dogs that had retired from racing. It’s a long day for the dogs and they are inspected and handled in every kind of way. Finally before they are off to their foster home they get to relax a bit with a nice meal and something to play with. Our dogs love their stuffed animals with the squeaky thing in them and this dog was no exception as he seemed to hold his new best friend.

Used a Nikon D2x and 17-55mm lens for this shot.

Abacus

This is the companion for the Money/Invest photograph I posted yesterday and was on the back cover of an investment brochure for a bank. The art director did request an abacus to symbolize addition and I found this old one at an antique shop. Again, he left me to my own devices to shoot it any way I wanted. Used a Bronica ETRS and Fuji transparency film to take the picture.

Also used the same colored gels so the color would be in harmony with the other photo that had the newspaper clippings and magnifying glass. Hung it upright from a boom with wire and used three Speedotron strobes. One light from above did not have a gel, from below the light had a blue gel and the third had an orange gel and was aimed at the background. The background was a hand painted grey canvas with swirls in it. 

 Photo © Craig Brewer

Stock Photos

It’s hard to predict what will sell in stock photography. Some that I’m sure will find a ready market flop, and others that I think are iffy will sell over and over again. This photograph is my all time biggest seller and has been licensed hundreds and hundreds of times for years on end. It is very rare that I happen to stumble across one of my pictures because the stock agencies don’t reveal who has licensed your picture. But this one I have seen a number of times.

It was originally shot for a bank for use in an oversized investment brochure. The art director and I had worked together for years and left me to my own devices as for what to shoot. That is rare as most projects are very detailed in what you are asked to shoot. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do so I bought a Wall Street Journal and looked in my local newspaper business section for inspiration. Decided to cut up investing terms and buzz words and lay them out on a table. Set up a Bronica ETRS on a tripod and started shooting Polaroids to see what I had.

Looked pretty boring so I got out some colored gels and placed them over the Speedotron strobe heads. Still lacked something so went digging through props from old shoots and decided the magnifying glass would work to highlight the word “Invest” and make the photograph more visually appealing and reinforce the idea that you have to do a lot of searching and investigating to plan a financial future. So a few more Polaroids to firm up the composition and there it was. Also did another photo for the brochure back cover that I’ll post tomorrow. It has sold fairly well as a stock photo but nothing at all compared to this one.

Photo © Craig Brewer