I’ve often commented on how a photog’s life runs in circles, and there are pictures you make and people you work with that somehow, either stick with you, or you encounter again, many years after that first set of exposures. This weekend, there will be a small gathering of friends of the Ground Zero exhibit, with Tom Brokaw in attendance, and saying a few words. We both worked on the update of LIFE’s One Nation book, Tom writing the new forward, and me shooting the ten years later portraits. Not the first time we have ever gotten together.
Almost 30 years ago, we went to the top of Rockefeller Center, just when he was taking the reins of the NBC evening anchor chair. It was the opener for a cover story about Tom for People magazine. Good guy, knowledgeable journalist. And of course, in the distance….
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Hi from Joe….please consider today’s blog an invitation to visit Scott Kelby’s blog…..
I did a story once on Korean green grocers in NYC. Running a produce shop in New York is a tough, 24 hour a day job. To make sure the story got off to a good start, I of course needed a picture of a green grocer that, ideally, showed the enterprise, and the all night, 24/7 nature of it, and, very importantly, show the reader we were talking about New York green grocers, not, you know, ones in San Francisco, or Seattle.
After a lot of scouting, and some pretty fast talking, I got these folks to allow me to shoot their shop. Reason being, of course, the Trade Centers give it a sense of place. They of course thought I was just going to take a picture, not load up their fruit bins with flash. Which is what I did. There’s a bunch of strobes in the store, all green gelled, with a magenta on the lens of the camera. Standard operating procedure for Kodachrome.
Like many NY shooters, I go way back with the Trade Centers, now gone. I write a bit of that story today in Scott Kelby’s blog. Scott, as always, was amazingly gracious in offering me a slot for a special blog post during this very significant week.
My thanks go out to him, and all the wonderful folks at NAPP. If you have a couple minutes, head over to Photoshop Insider, Scott’s blog. More tk….
We set up the show on Tuesday night. When you need to get something done, it’s always good to have FDNY on your side. Louie Cacchioli rallied the guys, and over 25 firefighters showed up and worked tirelessly from 9pm through till 3am to get this in place for the Wednesday opening press reception. Pushing these frames around, many of which are close to 300 lbs., more than once I was like, “Why’d I have to shoot ‘em so big?”
I was just humbled, really, by the selfless way these guys, many of whom came from way out of town, just pitched in and got this done. My thanks also go out to Related, the owners of the building, which worked with me to allow this to happen. If we had to actually hire shippers and handlers to move it around, it simply would never get done because of the enormous cost. Louie, seen below, has been the face of the show since the book came out in 2002, and he ended up on the cover. I always tell people he’s firefighting’s answer to Robert DeNiro. He’s always been there to help.
It also would never have gotten done, were it not for the tireless efforts of Ellen Price, who has worked with the collection for almost 10 years. Her labors are done behind the scenes, organizing, cataloging, making sure it has been stored properly (24,000 lbs. of photography in museum quality, monitored storage!) and working with the 911 Museum to arrange for its’ eventual home. Below, Ellen works with the guys.
So it got done. It will be on floor of the Time Warner Center, free and open to the public, from 10am to 9pm every day until Sept. 12. After that, we’ll see what happens. More on that tk.
We had lots of press at the opening, and a bunch of subjects from the original project also graciously came. Below, Bill Butler speaks eloquently about the events of 911.
More than 75,000 people a day transit the TW Center. Which means that close to a million people will pass by these over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, they’ll stop for a moment, and remember.
(all video shot on Nikon D7000′s by Drew Gurian, Michael Cali, Mike Grippi and Lynda Peckham)
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This just in: Bethany College players suspended over nude team photograph.
Seems the guys on a college golf team got themselves into the rough over the last couple of days by shooting a naked team photo. The gang lined up on a hillside and made what has evidently been deemed a provocative picture, wearing only their irons and woods.
Quoting from news reports: “It was only intended as a bit of fun with the lads,” said senior team member Jack Hiscock who is from England. “We all have our shirts off, our shorts to ankles and we are holding golf clubs in front covering up our um, male parts,” said Mr. Hiscock.
According to reports filed, the coach’s reaction was dismay. “My stomach dropped and I thought this can’t be good,” said Bethany College Head Golf Coach and Athletic Director Jon Daniels.
Even though no athletic department regulations were violated, the lads have been suspended for three tournaments, which they feel, understandably, is a bit over the top. “The whole team is frustrated. We think the punishment is a bit harsh–not fair,” Hiscock said.
The golfers claim to have found pictorial inspiration in a photo done some time ago of the UCLA men’s golf team.
Uh, sorry guys.
I shot this for Golf Digest during the course of doing a story about the physique’s of young golfers. Inspired at the time by the powerful physicality of golfers like Tiger Woods, the sport was in the process of shedding its’ time honored image of portly duffers tootling around the links on golf carts, knocking back golf shots and beers in equal measure. The “new athletes of golf” as the story was slugged, spend as much time in the gym as they do on the course. They are finely tuned athletes in every regard, as is evidenced below, by another shot I did of the UCLA varsity.
All I can say is that I’m rooting for the guys in the midst of this heartland tempest. There’s all sorts of calendars out there, for instance, raising money for good causes, in which everybody from athletes to octogenarians doff their duds for a lark and a charity. As Bethany team member Norrie Steyn was quoted in the news, “It’s just a fun thing, we all had had a great time doing it.”
The Golf Digest story was certainly fun to do. For instance, I shot this of the formidable Scottish golfer Wallace Booth, bare chested, in a kilt, swinging a club. Not the way he usually attacks a course, but a cool shot nonetheless, and seeing his arms and torso certainly convey the sense that he can drive the ball a fair distance.
Take heart, guys. You may yet be vindicated, or at least remembered. I shot this of the 1996 U.S. men’s Olympic water polo team, and it has since gone on to become one of the better known water polo pictures ever shot. Go figure.
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From the Faces of Ground Zero Project
Joe Hodges, Ladder 6, FDNY, 2001
On medical leave, Hodges was undergoing a stress test at a doctor’s office in Staten Island when the attacks occurred. A 20-year veteran of the DNY, he is eligible to retire but has no plans to do so anytime soon.
“I pulled myself off of medical leave and hiteched a ride on a tugboat to Manhattan. Knowing that everyone I worked with was in the buildings, I had to go. There are so many young guys on the job now, older guys like me have to show them the ropes. It’s a tradition in the fire department. Now’s not the time to leave.
Joe stayed on the job for several more years after 911. He was a quintessential go to guy in the house–veteran firefighter, always up for a laugh or a prank. I have to imagine guys like Joe are the glue that hold a whole firehouse together. He’s retired now, and thoroughly enjoying that retirement, living out on Staten Island. We visited him recently, shot a few pictures, and had a beer. I know his wife Eileen, who calls him her hero, is happy to have him home and safe, no longer plunging into burning buidlings.
I caught up with Joe a few years back as well, and made a photo with him from Governor’s Island in the New York harbor on July 4th, 2005. For the technically minded, this is one small flash, off to camera right, TTL, and a six second exposure.
Joe’s images and story will be on the floor of the Time Warner Center in NYC, starting this Wednesday.
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