Three New Short Stories

Here are three new short stories.

My Daddy Always Said

 

 

Floating above America with new work in hand.  Did I achieve what I hoped to achieve or are the new images more of a promise than a reality?  “Stay open”, I often consul others, “Enter into a dialogue with your work.  Your pictures will point and tell you which way.  Don’t rush them, don’t judge them to soon or to harshly.”

 

So easy to say, so hard to do, I feel like a preacher with much sin on my hands.

 

Floating above America after a weekend in the Big Easy.  Hot, humid, a lot of hurry up and wait.  We had four to five portrait sessions scheduled.  We have dreams of a book.  We have dreams of the big time, we have dreams of making a difference, and we have dreams of a decent cup of coffee and a cool gin and tonic.

 

Like most self-funded projects, the type of projects you squeeze into an already crazy life. This project about the love and relationships between African American Fathers and their children has been more talked about than worked on.  We have dreams but we also have paying clients.

 

One of our five fell through before we began; the second canceled ten minutes before we were to meet.  But the three that we did hook up with worked out just great, I think.

 

What is it I want to say?  What is it I want to show?  Are these three portraits interesting, compelling, visual or even worth viewing?  Will my partner, Glenda McKinley English, like them or think that I am just another poser?

 

New works are like babies; we should not judge them to harshly.  We need to sit back, enjoy watching them grow. For our children can teach us even more than we can teach them if we learn to listen well.

Stop by our blog:  http://mydaddyalwayssaid.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Comcastic 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More photos at: www.zavesmith.com/projects/galleries/comcast/

It’s the building with all the buzz.  It is tall, it is green and it is very cool.

Last fall I received a call from an art director who I had lost track of.  She had left the agency world, married, divorced, traveled the world and was now working on a project for Comcast.  Comcast was just putting the finishing touches on its new world headquarters.

The new Comcast tower is the tallest, newest, greenest and most up to date skyscraper in Philadelphia.  She was working on several books and brochures promoting this new tower and wanted me to photograph the building.

“Debbie, while it is great to hear from you I cannot accept this assignment, I have never shot architecture”, I told her.

“I know”, she replied but I really want you to do this project.  “

“Have you talked to any architecture photographers?” I asked.

“Yes” she said, “and I still want you to shoot it.”

We went back and forth for a couple of days until she charmed me into saying, “yes”.

The shoot went as most large productions go with its long days, with unexpected hiccups along with unexpected delights.  I will never forget hanging out on the rooftop of an adjacent building one wonderful spring evening hoping to photograph the new lighting atop of the Comcast Tower.  A technical glitch that day would prevent the lights from coming on for several weeks but we got to enjoy a warm breeze and a cool view. Another time a chance encounter with the chief architect of the buildings interior would gave us a new understanding on the buildings visual treats.

Today as I float above America on a flight from New Orleans back to Philadelphia I realize how enlightening working outside of your normal boundaries can be.  I was in New Orleans to start work on a series of portraits that hopefully one day will be a book.  And while I was there to capture relationship between fathers and their children I could not help to notice a new found appreciation for the space that my subjects inhabited.  It will be interesting to see how the lessons learn while photographing a building will show themselves in my new photographs dealing with one of life’s most intimate relationships.

Sincerely,

Zave Smith

June 08