Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ending 2008 On A Good Note

One of the great things about my job is all the people that I get to meet. I meet people from all walks of life, each one with their own unique story. More often than not, my time with these folks is limited and rarely is it possible to see the looks on their faces when they see the photo that was taken of them. I assume that most people might not ever see the photo that was taken. Some might be surprised when they see themselves in the newspaper. If I do get feedback about a job I have done, it is usually from my editors, colleagues or the PR guy who wants me to give him a picture for free. But, every now and again I will shoot something that touches the heart of someone.

I received an email the other day from a man I met on his wedding day. It was a gay wedding at San Francisco City Hall. It wasn’t a big wedding, just the man and his partner along with his brother - a simple union. I was taking photos for a story I was doing about gay couples rushing to get married before election day because the threat that Prop. 8 would overturn gay marriage in California. I asked the two men if I could photograph them getting married and they both agreed. At the time, I had no idea that this photo would mean the world to these newlyweds.

Here is the note I received from the couple…


Dear Justin,

My name is Wendell and I am one of the Chinese guys you took a wedding pic of at City Hall on October 15th, 2008. I don't expect you to remember me or Jon but I wanted to thank you for what you did.
You were this nice unassuming dude just waiting in the hall with the rest of us when you approached me and Jon and respectfully asked if you could snap our picture because of our Aloha shirts. I would pretty much guess this was just another news story for you to cover, however, the picture you took helped to immortalize the day for us and turn what we thought was not a big deal into a very meaningful day.

You have no idea how many family and friends were excited to see this "bonus" pic of our ceremony as we did not clue very many people in on the event and many reprimanded us for not letting them know about the ceremony in advance. Your picture helped them to feel like they didn't miss anything and after many of them saw your picture, they asked us if we had hired a professional photographer!

Now we have become huge fans of your work and expect you to be a Number 1, most sought after photographer in the next few years to come! We can't wait till you become even more famous than your web site so we can tell everyone, "Yeah, that's the dude that took our wedding picture way back when!" Till then, we wish you continued and ever growing success in your career endeavors and best wishes to you and your family in 2009! Thanks again for helping to make a difference in our lives.

Kindest regards, Wendell and Jon
It is a rare occasion that I get such a generous and thoughtful note. When I do, it reminds my why I love my job and how great it is to be able to bring happiness to someone through a captured moment.
Happy New Year.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Sign Of The Times

The organizers of the “Put Your Talent to Work” job and resource expo hadn’t planned on so many people attending the job fair. The event, hosted by the California Employment Development Department, was expecting close to 400 job seekers to attend. Two hours into the expo nearly 1200 people had arrived.
Laid off construction workers, real estate agents and mortgage brokers dressed in suits carrying briefcases and folders containing their resumes crammed into the Crown Plaza hotel in Concord in hopes of landing a job. I was blown away at how many people there were. They just kept coming in the door.
Companies like Comcast and Sears were courting unemployed workers. I am not sure how many jobs were actually available but I thought I heard someone say 200 from the dozens of vendors in attendance.
A range of different faces peppered the long line as people waited to get in to the expo. People from all walks of life did their best to make light of the difficult situation. I overheard two women talking, one of them saying that she had been out of work for close to two years. The other would be one year in February.
I can only hope that things will improve for these people and for the many good friends of mine that are in a similar situation.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Gas Man

Gas Man, Petrol Boy, Gas Price King, Gas Huffer, Mr. Gas. You name it, I’ve been called it. Since 2002 I have been shooting gas prices on a very regular basis and friends and colleagues make sure to poke fun at me regularly. The jokes continually roll in.

I even had a little bet with a co-worker a few years back. At the time, he was shooting a lot of subway security and he thought that by the end of the year he would have shot more security photos than my gas prices. Well, he was wrong. I think I edged him out by 2 or 3 assignments.
There were some weeks that I would do gas prices twice in one week. Gas trucks, prices through the raindrops on windows, tight shots, loose shots, people pumping gas. The list goes on. I even shot gas prices on vacation once. I see a pump and I am drawn to it. It’s an illness, I know.

In 2002 the big story with gas prices was that they were nearing $2.00 a gallon. Every time it inched closer, I was there. People were pissed. Two dollar gas?!?! Since then we’ve seen the price reach beyond $5.00 a gallon in areas around where I live. Yup, I visited that station more than once. But, I never expected to see what is happening today. Gas for $1.59 a gallon.
I honestly never thought I would see gas for less than $3.00 in my lifetime, let alone under $2.00. People are thrilled, everyone loves them some cheap gas. You would think my assignment today would be a positive one about gas buyers rejoicing. Sorry. In case you didn’t get the memo, there isn’t any good news anymore. Even when consumers finally get a break they get dealt a blow. Seems that the cheap gas is all of the sudden hurting the economy.
Anyway, on my quest to find a different approach to shooting gas prices today, I saw a gas truck making a delivery at a gas station. Sometimes you can get something decent from this scenario, so I pulled in to the station. I went up to the guy, who I think I may have photographed before, and asked if he minded if I took a few frames of him doing his thing. He came back with the most ridiculous line/excuse I have ever heard. He said “ever since 9/11 we can’t allow you to take photos of the gas truck or the operation.” He went on to say “if we see people taking photos we are supposed to call the cops.”
I stood there for a second trying to understand. I almost started laughing. My better judgment prevailed. I asked if he was sure about this policy since it was the first I had heard of it and had shot these trucks several times in the past without incident. I’ve actually had some good conversations with gas truck drivers.
This line is becoming all too popular with police and other security types and it really bothers me. Yes, 9/11 was terrible but do we really need to use that day as an excuse to try and block people from taking photographs of bridges, buildings, gas trucks and popular tourist sites? Even worse, do people really need to be detained and in some cases arrested for doing so? There are way too many cases of this.

One thing I can say is that “ever since 9/11” I have shot a ton of gas price pictures.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Product Review - Think Tank Shape Shifter Backpack

It was back in July when I first laid eyes on prototype of Think Tank Photo’s newest bag – the Shape Shifter expandable backpack. E.P.A. photographer John Mabanglo and I were attending one of our last design board meetings with Think Tank founders Doug Murdoch, Kurt Rogers and Deanne Fitzmaurice when Doug surprised us with the then unnamed backpack. John and I were smitten with this bag and we wanted to get our hands on one as soon as possible.

Luck came my way in early September when I was fortunate to receive a pre-production Shape Shifter. For the past three months I have been using it on a daily basis and am more than happy with this backpack.
As a news photographer who has to shoot and file on the run, this bag fits my needs perfectly. It is great when I have to go on the subway, plane or some other mode of public transport to an assignment and I don’t want to have cameras dangling from my shoulders. When I’m ready to work I don’t have to go through my assignment with a bulky empty backpack (like the Airport Antidote) on my back. No more knocking people over with my empty Antidote as I try to move through a crowd. Obviously, this won’t be a good fit for everyone since it is a relatively small backpack that won’t accommodate the long glass needed to shoot sports or wildlife. It is definitely geared towards a photojournalist or documentary photographer.
Here’s how it works. The backpack expands and compresses by way of a zipper that creates room to store your cameras (2 bodies and up to 3 lenses) when expanded. Your camera gear is held in five neoprene pouches that cinch at top with bungees. The laptop compartment has a removable Artificial Intelligence laptop case that can hold up to a 17 inch laptop and is included to add a little more protection. I haven’t used the case since the compartment has more than enough padding on its own.
The camera section gets a little tight when all of the pouches are loaded with cameras and lenses, but everything fits. I have been using mine with 2 bodies and 3 lenses, the 70-200, 24-70 and 16-35. The actual production models will be a little bit bigger to accommodate Nikon cameras and lenses, which are a tad bit longer than Canon. This should remedy the space issue. Also inside the camera section are two large mesh pockets that have zippers. Good for storing credentials, cards, pens and maybe condoms if you’re planning on getting lucky after your evening assignment.

There are even more pockets on the outside of the bag. The top part of the outside opens up to a good place to store your card reader, card wallet, air cards, notepad, cables and other gadgets. There is quite a bit of space in this storage area. Directly below is an even larger area that expands with even more zippered pockets. I haven’t used this area yet – I just don’t carry that much stuff. But, it’s good to know that they are there.

The padding feels nice on the back with a large area that allows air to flow through so you don’t get too hot with the backpack on. I’ve worn it out and about on warm days and never felt like my back was overheating like it does while wearing other backpacks. There is a support belt to use with heavy loads that easily tucks away into a pouch on the bottom or can be removed entirely when you don’t need the support. I really like this feature. There is nothing worse than dangling straps.

Do you like numbers? Here’s how the Shape Shifter adds up.

Outer Dimensions When Expanded:20”H x 12.5”W x 7”D”

Outer Dimensions When Compressed:20”H x 12.5W” x 3”D

Laptop Compartment Inner Dimensions:19” H x 12”W x 1.5”D

Weight:3.75 lbs

The Think Tank designers have hit a home run with this well thought out bag. The compression and contraction design definitely makes it a very versatile and unique. Like I said, it won’t suit the needs of every photographer out there, but it marriage made in heaven for newspaper, wire and documentary photographers. I also think it would be a great bag to take on vacation so you aren’t walking around the Venice canals displaying all of you precious camera gear. Definitely take a look at this bag which is on sale now for $249.

More information can be found HERE.

Friday, December 5, 2008

The Dealership

Have you bought a new car lately? Probably not. With the economy in the tank, nobody seems to be buying anything, let alone a new car. My latest economy driven (no pun intended) assignment was to cover the decline of the new car dealership. Several Bay Area dealers have shut their doors in the past few months with many more poised to follow suit. Ellis Brooks Chevrolet, a San Francisco institution, decided recently to stop selling new cars before the end of the year and focus on selling used cars. Used cars turn a better profit than new ones. Ellis Brooks has been in the car business since 1939.
I spent close to 3 hours hanging around the dealership. In that time, only one customer came in. Just browsing, didn’t buy anything. The phone rang periodically. They had 11 calls the previous day. I chatted with the owner, John Brooks, who said they just can’t turn the profits that they used to selling new cars. The best they can get is a couple of hundred dollars over invoice and people are usually not even happy with that. Plus, nobody is buying them. SF Mayor Gavin Newsom even snubbed the local dealership and went out of the city to buy his Hybrid SUV. What's up with that Gav?
I had never thought of it before, but John told me that auto dealers are one of the only sales based businesses where people demand to know how much the product cost the dealer to acquire. We don’t ever question those Nike sneakers that probably cost eight bucks to make but sell for $150 or the bed that costs over a thousand bucks but probably costs a fraction of that to make. We just pay it. But when we buy a car, we need to know exactly what the dealer paid for it so we can throw them a few dollars over that price. That seems a little lame.
Time seemed to stand still in the showroom. The salesman named Bobby sat at his desk at the end of a row of empty desks. He worked the phones – nothing doing. It was eerily quite. Back in the day, dealerships like Ellis Brooks would sell 3,000 cars a year. Now they sell 300 if they’re lucky. Dealers are doing all they can to survive. Some have even discontinued the free coffee for employees and customers - anything to save a buck. It seems that it will only get worse before it gets better. If you live in SF and need a new GM car or truck, head over to Ellis Brooks before Decemeber 15. After that, no more new cars. They will give their remaining stock of new cars back to the manufacturer.