The Illegal American
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial, Tear Sheets
Over the past few months, I have had several assignments featuring everyday people facing big challenges. It’s a nice change of pace every once in a while, and I appreciate the opportunity to meet and work with people who have completely different stories than myself. It’s a humbling feeling to photograph someone in their 4 million dollar home one day, and the next day photographing someone out in the sticks who is really excited and impressed by my Hyundai rental car.
This portrait is of an illegal immigrant who has lived and worked in America for the past 20 years. There were no guarantees the subject would show up, which I guess is understandable considering the risks involved for her (being sent back to Mexico). I was told I could not photograph her face, only her shadow. However, after I met her and we talked for a while, she said she would let me photograph her from the back which is what I was hoping for.
I bought some small American flags the night before, and asked her if she would mind holding them. She said, “No, I don’t mind holding the flags. I love this country.”
Seattle Met / July 2010
Art Director: Benjamen Purvis
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Tags: editorial photographer, illegal immigration, John Keatley, Portrait, Seattle, Seattle Met
The Stuntman
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial
Economy got you down? Looking for a new career? Well, this man can help. David Boushey is one of the top stuntmen in the industry and the founder of the International Stunt School in Seattle. If you dream of a life in the movies and have no fear, David can teach you how to jump off buildings, set yourself on fire, punch someone in the face and all kinds of crazy stuff the well-known actors won’t do. In fact, the International Stunt School is thriving these days thanks to the bad economy. Lots of people are looking for a career change, and the film industry thrives when times are tough because everyone is looking for an escape. Enrollment is up this year, and David is in talks to create a reality show about the stunt school.
On set, David asked me, “What’s my motivation for this shot?”
I told him, “Once a week for just half an hour you have a regularly scheduled time for yourself. You always go to the same cafe, and you get the same drink and read the paper in your regular seat. You don’t talk to anyone, and you certainly don’t like people talking to you. While you are reading, you hear someone yelling. You try to ignore them, but they get louder and more frantic. It seems like they are yelling at you. You try to ignore them for as long as possible while your frustration and anger grows. Finally, you turn in the direction of the person screaming and snap off, “What the hell do you want!?”
I have started experimenting with video on some of my shoots for editorial clients recently, and this is a short I put together on how to throw a “picture punch”. So far I have really enjoyed working with video, and I hope to do more in the coming months. If you are reading this in a blog reader you may need to go to the John Keatley Blog to see the video. This was not my first lesson on how to throw a punch from one of my photo subjects, although my first lesson was about punching for real.
I have another short video on my Vimeo page of David telling a story about almost getting chopped to bits while filming a movie at sea.
Here are some links to the camera equipment I used for this shot.
Camera:
Hasselblad H3DII-31 w/ 80mm lens
Lights:
Elinchrom Ranger Battery Pack and Head x2
Profoto Acute 2 2400 kit
Light Modifiers:
Profoto White Softlight “Beauty Dish” Reflector
Wescott 45” Umbrellas
Elinchrom 7” grid reflector
20 degree grid
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Tags: David Boushey, editorial photographer, International Stunt School, John Keatley, photographer, Seattle Met, Seattle photographer, Stuntman
Vince Mira Live in Seattle
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Editorial, Tear Sheets
I have really been looking forward to posting these portraits and videos. I had so much fun working on this assignment with Vince, and as an added bonus, the story is one of those rare page turners that doesn’t come around all that often in a magazine. For me, it’s right up there with the Wired article on Dan Kaminsky which I worked on last year. Here is the intro for Vince’s story, which is in the July 2009 issue of Seattle Metropolitan. The link to the entire article is further down.
“Billed as the Second Coming of Johnny Cash, a teenager from Federal Way wowed rock stars, morning news shows, Ellen DeGeneres, and the Cash estate. There’s just one problem: Vince Mira is done parroting the Man in Black.
There was a moment in September 2007 at the Cash Cabin, the studio built by the late Johnny Cash outside Nashville, when everyone froze. In the room were musicians intimately tied to Cash and his music—his son John Carter Cash, his bass player Dave Roe, and Jamie Hartford, who played guitar in the Cash biopic Walk the Line. Vince Mira, the Federal Way teen flown in for the recording session, had just crooned the last line of his “Cold Hearted Woman,” a twangy harangue against a cruelly apathetic succubus (“…as far as you are isn’t far enough for me”), leaving his audience speechless.
Finally, Hartford, who’d been scribbling music dictation in a notebook, dropped his pen and paper and turned to the producer. “John. Carter. Cash. Does that freak you out?” John looked up, “Yeah, that freaks me out.”
John Carter had just heard a familiar voice pour from the mouth of the teenager. The producer had agreed to record an album with the talented teen—already making a name for himself with Cash covers—on the condition that “We don’t just record a bunch of my dad’s old songs.” Now, here was Mira performing an original, but his voice, a haunted baritone, was spot-on Johnny Cash.”
- James Ross Gardner. Read the entire article (here).
Before this assignment, I had heard stories over the past couple of years about Vince Mira, the young teenager who was discovered playing Johnny Cash songs on the street. I had seen the YouTube videos from Ellen (here) Good Morning America and a few others, but I didn’t become a fan until I heard him perform live. Wow. This guy is talented. He is the real deal. There are a lot of people out there with a gimick, or who sound like someone famous. But Vince has huge talent, and he can stand on his own. His similarities to Johnny Cash provided him with a great start, but it’s exciting to see him head out on his own now and show people what he’s got.
The first video above is Vince Mira performing an original song, “I’m a Goin Back Home”. The second video is a Johnny Cash song, “Folsom Prison Blues”. Both were performed at the gum wall in Post Alley, Seattle. I asked Vince to play one of his songs so I could film it, and it didn’t take long at all for a crowd to gather. After he finished the first song, someone yelled out, “Play ‘Folsom Prison Blues’!”. Even though he is trying to get away from that, he didn’t seem to mind.
Vince has an album out now, called “The Cash Cabin Sessions“. It was recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio by John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash’s son. It’s a great album. You can also catch Vince every Tuesday night at the Can Can in the Pike Place Market in Seattle. For now at least. I don’t know how much longer he will be playing there, as he has already toured with Pearl Jam, and played on some pretty big stages.
Vince Mira – Folsom Prison Blues from John Keatley on Vimeo.
Vince Mira – I’m a Goin Back Home from John Keatley on Vimeo.
* If you are using a blog reader, you may need to visit my actual blog to see the videos show above.
Tags: Can Can, Cash Cabin Studio, Celebrity, Celebrity Portrait, Ellen, Folsom Prison Blues, Gum Wall, I'm a Goin Back Home, John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, Music, Pike Place Market, Post Alley, Recording Artist, Seattle Met, Seattle Metropolitan, Street Performers, Teenage Singer, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Vince Mira, Vince Mira Performance, Vince Mira Singing, Vince Mira song, Vince Mira Video
