Behind the Scenes: A Documentary Film Shoot in Cape Cod

Under director Vanessa Vartabedian a small documentary film crew steadily unpacked cameras from the trunk of a Volkswagen. It was a chilly day in December in Wellfleet, MA and also my first time traveling to Cape Cod. After purchasing my postcard, I'm pleasantly surprised to notice a friendliness in the cashier's small talk, something I thought could only be found in my small hometown in the Midwest. While both places are seeped richly and deeply in landscape the Cape has an incredibly special golden afternoon sea light that I've never seen in the midwest or at my home in Boston. Vanessa shared that this distinguished light is her favorite part of her "second home".  I smiled and began my experience to witness the Cape through two unique lenses: Vanessa's film passion and a man named Chuck.

Chuck, Vanessa's first interviewee, adorns a massive white beard and is an oyster-er, boat builder and lives in fantastically designed yurts. I've never been in a yurt and they are unassumingly super spacious inside. Chuck has dedicated different yurts to a sauna, kitchen, bedroom, and, the grand daddy of them all, one yurt to home his entire library and there's still space for his sewing projects inside. While we filmed in this giant ballroom of a yurt Chuck snipped away at sailing fabric and cheerfully told us the weaving of his dream to live on a boat full time someday. That'll surely come true.

Chuck also works as a DJ at a local radio station, WOMR (Provincetown, MA) and while filming in the radio studio I listened carefully to his voice on air. I was entertained as I heard him read a Christmas story from a book while sliding buttons to add dramatic sound effects to his listeners. During the interview sessions Vanessa showed her unique skill set of listening whole-heartedly to every word spoken.  She is experienced with this type of attention from her passion project "The Mosquito Story Slam", a live event where storytellers have 5-minutes to tell a true story based on a theme. Stories also seem to be Chuck's expertise; with an open heart Chuck told the film crew of loving family moments, future aspirations and shared how to honor his version of "the true meaning of life".  Hung on the front entrance of his kitchen yurt is a small, green banner with a Dalai Lama quote printed on it. Much like Chuck's charisma, these words are shared to welcome anyone who takes the time to read them.

“We are visitors on this planet. We are here for one hundred years at the very most. During that period we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives. if you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true meaning of life.” - Dalai Lama

Discovering Environmental Portraiture: it already exists where you are

After I hit reply to my email thread with studio artist Tony Astone I re-read my response: "Don't worry about a thing, I'll make sure to bring my wide angle lens." He warned me about the size of the artwork (huge) and wanted to make sure it would work for our upcoming portrait session together. 

When I got to Tony's apartment in Somerville, MA, I walked in and was shocked: Lining the kitchen walls and all the hallways were 6+ feet canvasses. He wasn't lyin' about the sheer size of his art work. Luckily our photoshoot wasn’t a “copy photo session” (meaning the photographing of his paintings with even lighting, usually for portfolio reasons) but an individual lifestyle shoot to capture an environmental portrait for Tony’s recent achievement of being Somerville Arts Council Artist of the month. Before each shoot I always ask myself “what should be the backdrop of this environmental portrait?”, and within one second of walking into Tony’s kitchen I knew the paintings were the environment and perfect backdrop. So we photographed in front of them, gabbing the whole time over our shared love of American artist Cindy Sherman and my suggestions to channel his inner Dominic Chianese (The Godfather, The Sopranos). Tony easily and quickly relaxed with this suggestion, one hand on his kitchen windowsill, while his city-slicker cat, Zamboni, looked on. Zamboni is a black and white indoor-outdoor cat and is well known in the community and as friendly as his owner. But Tony has an intellectually charged deeper side in his artwork: the paintings are fantastically grotesque filled with brutal realities and metaphor. These paintings are fiery, political, sharp, honest, playful, and refreshing all in one colorful breath of a view. After our hour-long shoot together I asked myself: What makes a person dig this far into the depths of their creativity?

Tony’s latest politically charged oil painting lined an entire wall of his bedroom. In bold primary colors with comic book sensibility, I witnessed a painting of young children playing within a murderous scene in a classroom. This painting was intense - with a tension between playful and terrifying. The bold red color of the blood jumped out at me because it matched the same hue of red as the leather chair Tony sat on front of it. On a lighter note, Tony had amazing dark Italian hair with one strand that fell over his forehead, which I called “the Uncle Jesse strand” and we laughed and agreed John Stamos is a dream boat.

Tony’s sketchbook was another great element of discovery from the shoot. He opened the large black-bound book and with a tinge of vulnerability began showing me some of the most intricate sketches I’ve ever seen in a sketchbook. With tight line work and precise use of minuscule dots each drawing looked like a polished rendering. This is where his brainstorming occurs. After politely and directly telling me about the process I learned how Tony would spend months prepping each painting, sometimes laying them out in Photoshop, often changing the concept at the last minute, then spending hours (even days!) with a brush rendering them to a large scale.

Perhaps it was Tony’s schooling from Rhode Island School of Design, or the impressive amount of time he puts into his studio practice, but this work is impactful and liberating. It was an amazing photographic experience to witness an example of an artist who leaves behind no “should-haves” in his life. I highly recommend you see the paintings in person because they’ll swallow you in and spit you out covered in goopy insight.

If you’d like to see more of his work you can visit his website and read the full artist interview here. 

Take Good Pictures in Bad Lighting (flash-free on the iPhone)

Shooting in low light can be a scary, scary thing. Most of us prefer nice sunny days, our viewing screens filled with as much natural light as possible. But there are times when this simply isn't the reality. There's no windows. It's 10pm at night. You're at a concert and have to work quickly to make the shots as hot as possible. Yes, these situations can be tricky but here is some advice so you can focus on your subject vs the lighting hurdles.

Grab your phone because it’s time to try these tips!

1. Adjust your exposure in Camera Mode

Tap the iPhone camera screen on the dark areas to boost up your exposure of the image. It’ll brighten things up! Like a DSLR camera adjusting its settings, the more light will be exposed to the sensor, allowing you the most light into your camera as possible.

2. Add more lighting

How many photographers does it take to move a light bulb? ONE AND IT'S YOU. Grab a lamp nearby and light like you had a studio of lamps! No one will see that library-style desk lamp that you're awkwardly holding three inches away from your subject, just out of frame. Get weird! You can always send me some behind the scenes photos of your wildest lighting, I'd love to see how creative you can get!

3. Shoot somewhere brighter

If you are shooting indoors with low light and it's during the daytime, take the subject outside or pull some of those still life's to a picnic table outdoors. Move somewhere where there is more light. If you are in the center of a dark room during day time try your setups next to a window and let light flood over your subject all pretty-like.

4. Smooth with a filter

I use the VSCOcam app and love their editing features. You can adjust your “clarity” if the image looks a bit too grainy. Also, feel free to sharpen things or change to black and white in VSCOcam. Black and white photography has a long lineage of being grainy and offering wonderful contrast for low-lit situations.

5. If it can wait, then wait

What is this, a candlelit dinner date? No, it's a photograph! Can it wait until morning or tomorrow afternoon for you to shoot the perfect iPhone image? If it can, go ahead and wait. Your audience will be here when you’re ready. 

6. Embrace it

The truth is, I LOVE the drama of low light. If you only have one source of light at your disposal, try some new things! Photograph at a striking angle. Change your position. Try the photo with different subjects in the light and out of the light. Explore silhouettes. Now is your chance to be expressive! Shoot within your comfort zone but don't be afraid of challenging yourself with low light. I dare ya.

 [Special thanks to The Kevin Hayden Band for allowing Dakota Lenox Photography to shoot their group shots and behind the scenes of their show.]

Local Feature: Creative Influences of Musician, Robert Noyes

Robert Noyes is a local musician of Somerville, MA with a knack for sweet vibes and awesome sounds. I reached out to photograph him for the Somerville Arts Council because he is the Artist of the Month for June!

Robert Noyes of Somerville, MA

When I emailed Robert to arrange the photo shoot, he surprised me with the fact that we’d be shooting in his main space of inspiration - his home. I LOVED this immediately, excited to get a glimpse of the influences that fuel his work. Upon arriving, I noticed Robert’s extensive record collection that rivals some of the best I’ve seen. With Laurel Aitken’s reggae/funk/soul vinyl record “Sweet Rocking Mama / Reggae Serenade” (1975) hanging prominently in the living room, I knew this guy had impeccable musical taste along with talent.

In true cat lady fashion, one of the best parts was meeting his silky black kitty, Onyx. This old gentleman was kind to me and gets to live the ultimate life - listening to the sounds of Robert’s guitar everyday. Lucky dude *and* he photographs so darn well!!

Robert strummed his favorite guitar as I began to photograph, slowly drifting into a blissful state. He effortlessly created a beautiful acoustic ballad on the spot. I knew he practices for hours, honing on his natural abilities with the instrument, and this was dream-like.

While It was amazing to witness, it was evident this particular photo shoot would be less “directing” on my part (I didn't want to interrupt his flow) and more observational photographing. So I mentally switched gears, something that is often tricky for photographers. While he stayed in the zone, I allowed myself to drift and pay close attention to the details of his home studio; I loved the pile of handmade art on his music stand, the beautiful and delicate eggshell artwork in his kitchen that his girlfriend made, and enjoyed photographing closeups of his guitar as his fingers glazed through each note.  Special thanks to Robert for the free short concert, I will forever be impressed by your musical talents!

You can find more of his music and get in contact with him here:  robnoyes.bandcamp.com & https://www.facebook.com/robmnoyes/

To read the full interview with Somerville Arts Council please visit: http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/artistmonth/2016

Local Feature: Inspiration From Master Tinker-er, Jeffrey Warren

Jeffrey Warren, co-founder of Public Lab

Artist Jeffrey Warren and I had only corresponded on email and had never met prior to his portrait photo shoot in Somerville, MA. I wasn't sure what to expect; I didn't know his age, projects, style, etc. But immediately upon meeting his warm smile, talkative and robust personality, and wired brain, I knew he'd be exciting to work with. I mean, he does share an office space with children all day, and their playfulness was rubbing off on him.

Jeffrey Warren is a co-founder of Public Lab, an open community and non-profit investigating environmental concerns. Jeffrey was recently featured as the Somerville Arts Council Artist of the Month, and we spent a Wednesday afternoon shooting some primo portraits.

I arrived with my camera backpack ready for action. We met at his office building, weaving our way through the toy-filled corridors of Parts & Crafts, a member-supported family makerspace and community workshop in Somerville. As we passed a small spinning kid, Jeffrey shared a nice "what's up?" and a high five. Jeffrey turned to me laughing, and told stories of the kiddo's pressing their luck while balancing on chairs in the facility. He's begun to take count of the risk-taker's failures on a white board in his office.

Somerville's Artist of the Month, April 2016

Jeffrey's office was filled with boxes and papers, reflective of the numerous ideas that flow through his head. I began to photograph while he enthusiastically showed me various small mechanisms he'd built, including a "Papercraft Spectrometer" for Public Lab. His face lit up with rainbow light as he tested his most recent project, "Spectagram Records", a project combining CDs and vinyl records (too friggin' cool, see below!). I'm known for my spontaneous shooting style so after he mentioned his new purple commuter bicycle, I had to get some pictures. We wandered around outside and, on the beautiful streets of Somerville, shot portraits next to his trusty 2-wheeled, metal steed. When the shoot was wrapping up, we walked back through the halls and I noticed some incredible skylights above beaming in.

"We have to shoot here," I exclaimed. "You'll look like a rad villain!"

The whole photo shoot took about an hour, and Jeffrey was extremely comfortable to be around and photograph. Also, did I mention his shoes paired with orange socks?! Dude's got style. I'm thankful to have met Jeffrey and observe his curiosity and bright, youthful attitude that effortlessly compliments his casual personality and impressive crafter/builder artistry. Jeffrey Warren is the artist to follow so keep an eye on this fella'!

To read more about Jeffrey Warren, visit the full interview here: http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/artistmonth/warren