Photography

Sandra Bullock’s late partner Bryan Randall seen in his modeling days

Sandra Bullock’s late partner Bryan Randall seen in his modeling days

EXCLUSIVE: Sandra Bullock’s late partner Bryan Randall is seen posing as a young model in France in rare, unearthed photos

  • Rare photos obtained by DailyMail.com show late Bryan Randall in his early modeling days in France 
  • The budding young model, then 28, can be seen posing in a series of glamour shots taken for his portfolio in Paris and a magazine photoshoot in Versailles
  • Randall ,57, who died August 5 after a battle with ALS, would go on to become a fulltime photographer – which led him to meet partner, Sandra Bullock, in 2015

Years before he became a full-time photographer, Sandra Bullock‘s late partner Bryan Randall was doing most of his work in front of the camera as young, hunky, model posing for shoots and magazines in France.  

The 57-year-old tragically died on August 5 after a private, three-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, his family announced on Monday.  

Now, rare photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the late photographer in the early days of his career, posing as a budding young model for a magazine shoot by photographer George Kartis in 1991. 

Rare photos obtained by DailyMail.com show late Bryan Randall in his early modeling days in France

In his 20s, Randall was doing most of his work in front of the camera before ultimately switching to photography - which led him to meet his partner, Sandra Bullock

Randall would have been 28 at the time and was posing for glamour shots to include in his portfolio

The unearthed images include a set of glamour shots taken for his modeling portfolio in Paris as well as a photoshoot in Versailles for Max Magazine. Randall would have been 28 years old at the time. 

Bullock and Randall (pictured in 2018) had been together since 2015 but were very private about their relationship

While the shots are very telling of the early 90s time period – with a slick-haired Randall clad in bright colored, patterned crew necks, silk shirts, or leather pants – they showcase his timeless handsome looks. 

In one of his more risque shoots, he goes shirtless and shows off his toned physique in a series of monochrome photos. 

It’s unclear whether Randall went on to see much success in modeling or just chose to give up the profession to pursue a different line of work in the industry – which ultimately led him to meet his romantic partner, Sandra Bullock in 2015. 

The couple met when Randall was hired to take photographs at a birthday party for Bullock’s oldest child, Louis, in 2015. 

He was the first serious relationship for the actress since her split from ex-husband James, who cheated on her.

Bullock and Randall went public in October 2015 when he was on the actress’s arm at the premier of her movie ‘Our Brand is Crisis.’

In one of his more risque shoots, he goes shirtless and shows off his toned physique in a series of monochrome photos

Randall began his career as a model before becoming a photographer

The photos were taken in France by photographer George Kartis in 1991

According to those within the couple’s circle, they were all but inseparable from there on in, with Randall accompanying Bullock to press junkets, movie premieres and becoming a firm fixture on set when she was on location filming.

On their last public sighting together, in July, 2020, the former model was pictured gazing adoringly at his love as they arrived to an intimate gathering in studio city with her two children. 

‘It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS,’ his family shared to PEOPLE.

‘Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request.’

‘We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours,’ the family statement continued.

‘At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.’

The statement was signed off by ‘His Loving Family.’ 

The shots are very indicative of the early 90s time period - with a slick-haired Randall clad in bright colored, patterned crew necks, silk shirts, or leather pants

Bryan Randall

In one shoot, Randall appeared to be channeling his inner bad boy, posing against a truck while puffing on a cigarette

It's unclear whether Randall went on to see much success in modeling or just chose to give up the profession to pursue a different line of work in the industry

Randall’s family have asked for donations to the ALS Association and the Massachusetts General Hospital in lieu of flowers, according to People. .

There is no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS – and the disease is fatal, but it progresses at different speeds in patients.

People with ALS are expected to live two to five years after the symptoms first manifest, although 10 percent of sufferers live at least 10 years. It is also known in some countries as motor-neurone disease. 

The disease is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the US baseball player when he was diagnosed in 1939 at just 36 years old. 

The couple do not have any children together, but Bullock has two adopted children — son Louis, 13, and daughter Laila, 11 — and Bryan has an adult daughter named Skylar from a previous relationship.

Sandra and Bryan began dating several months after first meeting, and even attended Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s wedding that same year.

Randall's modeling career was hired to take photographs at a birthday party for Bullock's oldest child, Louis, in 2015

The set also include of a series of photos of the hunky model from a photoshoot in Versailles for Max Magazine

The couple, who kept their relationship out of the spotlight, pictured at the world premiere of Oceans 8 in 2018

Earlier on Tuesday, DailyMail.com revealed that while the pair never officially married, they exchanged ‘vows’ on the beach in the Bahamas in an intimate ceremony witnessed by friends and family in December 2017. 

Exclusive video obtained by DailyMail.com shows the couple dancing the night away following the ceremony which was not legally binding and involved no officiant but instead saw Bullock, 59, declare herself to the man she called, ‘the love of my life’ and him profess his love in return.

It was just three years before and a world away from when Randall would receive his devastating diagnosis with ALS, the illness to which he succumbed at the weekend.

Dressed in a kaftan, her hair in braids and flip flops on her feet this was the low-key affair that Bullock, who had no desire to remarry following her divorce from Jesse James in 2010, wanted. 

For his part Randall, his white shirt open at the neck, also in flip flops, with baseball cap pulled low and in casual black pants appears entirely caught up in his ‘bride’ and the moment.

According to one friend: ‘They really did this for the children, to kind of seal the deal and show them this was a forever thing. After the ceremony Louis (13) and Laila (11) started calling Bryan dad.’

Randall was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, but the couple kept his battle with the disease a secret until his death on August 5. They are pictured above October 2017

Although the couple never married, the two exchanged 'vows' as a way to 'seal the deal' and commit themselves to each other, sources say

Sandra Bullock

The couple's two-week trip to Three Bees Villa on Harbor Island was a celebration of their union as well as Randall's birthday later that month on December 31

The ceremony marked the culmination of a 14-day trip to Arpaud Busson’s Three Bees Villa on Harbor Island.

The exclusive retreat owned by the French financier, who was once married to Elle Macpherson and later fathered a daughter by Uma Thurman, is a favorite place for Bullock and her family.

One guest who was there explained: ‘It was Bryan’s birthday on December 31 so it’s like they wanted to celebrate everything all at once.’

In recent months rumors had swirled that the couple had broken up or that their relationship was on the rocks, stories to that effect had bubbled up just days before the announcement of Randall’s passing.

Today, DailyMail.com can reveal that while Randall’s illness put a strain on their union they were ‘more together than ever’ at the time of his death.

In fact, Bullock had been secretly overseeing and funding the round the clock care required by her partner of eight years who spent his last months ‘closeted away’ in her Beverly Hills home.

Dave Krugman’s “ROLLS”: The Convergence of Film Photography and Blockchain

Dave Krugman’s “ROLLS”: The Convergence of Film Photography and Blockchain

Dave Krugman, the esteemed New York-based photographer, crypto artist, and writer, is no stranger to pushing boundaries. Founder of the creative community ALLSHIPS, Dave believes in the age-old adage, “A rising tide raises all ships.” With his works like DRIVE, Drip Drop, and SPECTERS, he paints a picture of a world at the crossroads of art and technology.

His latest endeavor, “ROLLS,” is a testimony to his penchant for merging the contemporary with the classical. The project draws intriguing parallels between blockchain technology and film photography, a perspective Krugman once tweeted, viewing film photography as “a chemical blockchain.”

An Unconventional Canvas

At its core, ROLLS explores the similarities between film photography and blockchain. Krugman posits that both act as time chains and operate with proof of work mechanisms. In essence, both are record-making systems that rely on decentralized consensus mechanisms to verify relevance and truth.

Taking this concept further, Krugman sees each roll of film as a ‘block’ in a larger chain. “Photographers use a proof of work mechanic to ‘mine’ rolls,” he says, “and these rolls together form a decentralized time chain, an unchangeable record produced by a decentralized community of validators.”

Navigating ROLLS

The mechanics of ROLLS is as innovative as its concept. It starts with ten tokens being sequentially auctioned off on SuperRare, with each token symbolizing a frame on a roll of film.

Here’s the catch: Krugman sells these tokens before capturing the photographs. The artwork on the tokens is merely a placeholder.

Once sold, he will shoot the images with his Mamiya 7ii medium format film camera. The token’s metadata “develops” subsequently, updating with high-resolution film scans of the images captured.

This approach brings an element of trust into the equation. The collector is investing in an idea before its fruition. Krugman likens this process to a two-way challenge.

“This is a space of deep speculation- I wanted to give people the opportunity to buy an idea before I ever even execute it. It adds mystery, intrigue, and a two-way challenge. The collector is challenged to trust me and my ideas/process, and I’m challenged to create something worthy of that trust and investment.” Krugman stated.

“The collector is challenged to trust me and my ideas/process, and I’m challenged to deliver content worthy of that trust.”

Dave Krugman

Why Sequential Auctions and the Mamiya 7ii?

By auctioning tokens sequentially, Krugman believes he can focus on each frame individually and garner maximum bids. This tactic also piques longtail interest, drawing more attention and intrigue to the project.

“By focusing on one at a time, all bidders are concentrated on each frame as they sell. By extending the auctions over ten days, I also get the advantage of the longtail interest in the project.” Krugman shared with nft now.

His choice of the Mamiya 7ii for the ROLLS project is rooted in the camera’s quality and aesthetic. Each roll offering ten frames fits perfectly with the project’s structure. Additionally, the Mamiya 7ii holds sentimental value for Krugman, as it was procured with the profits from his DRIVE project.

The Horizon Ahead

With sales already surpassing expectations, the success of ROLLS for Krugman has been an affirmation of his innovative approach to art. While ROLLS offers myriad possibilities, Krugman clarifies he doesn’t like to set rigid expectations for his art. “It’s just art,” he states.

“What I’m most excited about is that ROLLS is just a scaffolding for so many other ideas. What if I sell a whole ROLL to one collector and then shoot something they ask for? What if I do a roll of portraits and split proceeds with subjects? What if I use a ROLL to raise money for a cause I care about? The possibilities are truly endless.”

“Supporting my work means supporting my ecosystem- an ecosystem that is driven by the desire to decouple artists from commercial interests. What’s “next” is that I will continue on this mission and do my best to add beauty to this world.” Krugman shared with nft now.

Dave Krugman’s ROLLS is more than just another project. It is a testimony to the myriad possibilities at the intersection of art and technology, pushing boundaries and challenging conventional narratives.

“What’s “next” is that I will continue on this mission and do my best to add beauty to this world.”

Dave Krugman

Photographer’s Epic Gigapixel Photo of Huge Concert Hides 3 Waldos

Photographer’s Epic Gigapixel Photo of Huge Concert Hides 3 Waldos
Rammstein concert
Rammstein playing at Stadspark in Groningen, Netherlands. The full gigapixel photo can be seen on Bos’s website.

A photographer has created a stunning four-gigapixel, super-high-resolution photo of a vibrant Rammstein concert featuring 55,000 revelers and three Where’s Waldos.

Roelof Bos spent 13 days shooting the gigapixel photo with the main day coming when the heavy metal rockers played. Viewers can get the full experience by heading to Bos’s website where you can zoom right in on any part of the 350-acre site and try to find the hidden Waldos.

Creating a Gigapixel Photo

Bos tells PetaPixel that he had the idea months before the heavy metal concert was due to take place in Groningen, Netherlands.

Camera rig
Bos and his multiple cameras.

After setting up on a nearby building, he rigged a Canon R5 with an RF 135mm f/1.8 on a self-modified panoramic head that captured the 80 photos needed to stitch together the gigapixel image.

“The panoramic head enables both preset horizontal as well as vertical increments,” explains Bos. “Once stitched by panoramic software, it results in a four-gigapixel image.”

zoomed in Rammstein gig
Zoomed in.
Waldo
One of the three Waldos hidden in the photo.

Bos also has a second R5 that he used to shoot close-ups and medium-range shots of moving objects emanating from the gig like fire and smoke which would otherwise be hard to stitch when shot on the panoramic head camera.

“A plume of smoke can easily cover four frames otherwise,” adds Bos.

For the Waldos, Bos tried to convince friends that were going to the gig to dress up as the cartoon character but instead settled on asking a friend to dress up a few days before the event and shot him from a similar angle of view.

Timelapse

[embedded content]

Bos had a third camera running during his mammoth photo shoot, a wide-angle shot that was there as a backup and reference tool.

Shooting the photo.
Bos shooting the gigapixel photo.

The backup camera shot 16,000 photos over a period of seven hours and so Bos thought it would be a good idea to make a timelapse from it.

“Turned out to be no easy job, both the amount of RAW images to process as well as adjusting the exposure of many images slightly to ease out pumps of changes in camera settings to adjust for the losing daylight.”

Last year, PetaPixel reported on photographer Jamen Percy who shot a mind-boggling gigapixel photo of last year’s Burning Man festival held in the Nevada desert.

More of Bos’s work can be seen on his website, Facebook, and Instagram.


Image credits: All photos by Roelof Bos.

4 Ideas to Get Starting With Street Photography

4 Ideas to Get Starting With Street Photography

Street photography is one of the most compelling genres in the craft, but it can be tricky to get started with. In this video, you’ll get some ideas and inspiration to get off the mark.

I have a bizarre relationship with street photography. It is my favorite genre to look at, my favorite photographers are all primarily street, and I have a go myself at every opportunity. However, I don’t live in a metropolitan or highly populated area and it requires a type of patience and dedication that I could give it, but it doesn’t seem worthwhile with how infrequently I can.

There is a real similarity with macro photography of wildlife in some ways. You have to narrow down the right area with the right subjects, and then you have to put in the hours. You could be the best macro photographer on earth, but you still need patience to get those great images, and that’s the same for street photography.

In my experience with street photography, there is one element that can act as almost a cheat code: the elements. Extreme weather is almost always a reason to not go out with your camera, but with street photography, heavy rain or snow make for incredible, atmospheric conditions!

What tips do you have for aspiring street photographers? Share them in the comments below.

Bride Wants a Refund After Photographer Slept With the Groom

Bride Wants a Refund After Photographer Slept With the Groom
Bride and photographer.
Stock photo.

A wedding photographer has taken to Reddit to share a shocking dilemma — Should they refund the bride after their second shooter allegedly slept with the groom?

In the eye-popping post, u/Wedding_dude says that earlier this summer they had a wedding booked but their regular second shooter couldn’t make it so they hired someone else.

“Her and I did the wedding, and everything seemed business as usual. Photos were edited, delivered to client, all was good,” writes the photographer.

“Then this morning I got an email from the bride. She was wanting a refund because the lady I had hired as a second shooter for the day ended up sleeping with her husband at some point after the wedding, and she also included photos from his phone to prove it.”

The photographer posted to r/WeddingPhotography and asks the forum what the best course of action is.

“She hired me for a job and the job was completed and product was delivered,” explains Wedding_dude.

“But I also feel like this would be as if I were a professional dog walker who walked a client’s dog, then came back and shot it later.”

They also add that the second shooter was a private contractor and not an employee.

“I really feel for this lady, but that’s also a lot of money to have to give back for work that was done,” they add.

In further posts, Wedding_dude explains that they found the second shooter through a friend of someone they had worked with previously and she had studied photography and also had a “decent portfolio.”

Response

The top comment underneath the post seemingly gives sage advice.

“Tell them you are sorry to hear that but there isn’t a way for you to refund for a service that has been completed per your contract,” writes u/austinolet.

“The second shooter is a contractor who I will not work with again but she is not directly involved with my business. I can not refund you because something unfortunate happened that I had no control over.”

It appears to be a reasonable response and the original poster (OP) seemingly agrees, adding “This seems like a good path forward.”

As of publication, there are no further updates on the photographer resolving this issue.


Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

Meet the man who created ‘probably the largest pinhole camera in the world’ in Yorkshire

Meet the man who created ‘probably the largest pinhole camera in the world’ in Yorkshire

Pontefract may be the home of liquorice but it is also the lesser known home of “probably the world’s largest pinhole camera,” according to a Yorkshire artist.

Bob Clayden – aka the Pinhole Wizard – stumbled across Pinhole Photography when he was trying to capture the minute’s silence which was held in memory of Princess Diana’s death.

He said: “I was trying to work out a way to capture the whole minute in a photo and that’s when I discovered pinhole photography and I’ve been hooked on it ever since.”

Bob has since experimented with pinhole photography all over Yorkshire as well creating a suitcase into a pinhole camera.

Pinhole Wizard Bob Clayden with CoActive charity who modelled for the photos
Pinhole Wizard Bob Clayden with CoActive charity who modelled for the photos

He said: “The results are much more satisfying than a normal photo, as they capture a moment in time rather than just a snapshot.”

Pinhole Photography is a basic form of photography using a lightbox, pinhole or aperture instead of a lens. Light passes through the pinhole to project an inverted image. It is often used at home in scientific experiments or to capture the eclipse of the sun.

After discovering pinhole photography around 25 years ago, Bob has now transformed a Victorian summer house in the Friarwood Valley Gardens park in Pontefract into a giant pinhole camera.

He said: “It’s probably the biggest pinhole camera in the world.”

Based inside the Valley Gardens, which is now a park, its land is steeped in history – much like pinhole photography.

The park has been built on top of the land which used to have a friary on the site until the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century. Prior to that the area was renowned for cultivating liquorice and rhubarb.

Now Bob, alongside local artist Rose Knight, is bringing a bit of heritage alive by using the pinhole camera to create life size full length portrait negatives on two metre long silver based photographic paper.

Bob said: “We worked with members of CoActive Arts charity who had the challenge of sitting on a bench to pose for a photo for 15 to 20 minutes.

“We then exhibited the photographs at Portobello Gala (Wakefield) with funding from Wakefield Council’s Culture Grant, as well as making them into a book.”

Bob added that pinhole photography is becoming increasingly popular as people are getting bored of the excessive amount of meaningless social media photos.

A New Show of Allen Ginsberg’s Photographs Will Also Feature Poems Generated by an A.I. Trained on Those Same Images

A New Show of Allen Ginsberg’s Photographs Will Also Feature Poems Generated by an A.I. Trained on Those Same Images

A new show at Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles will see Allen Ginsberg in dialogue with two distinct technologies: one of photography, which the late poet engaged with throughout the decades, and the other, entirely of our moment, A.I.  

Ginsberg acquired his first camera, a Kodak Retina, in 1953 and began avidly immortalizing his friends and lovers in pictures. He saw these pictures as “sacramental,” as he wrote in 1993’s Snapshot Poetics, a way of enshrining the spiritual gravitas of William S. Burroughs, say, or Jack Kerouac’s “exquisite… face and gestures.” 

“His photos just have that intimacy with deep reverence and admiration for his friends,” Peter Hale of the Allen Ginsberg Foundation told Artnet News, “which is a major component of his poetry: admiration of and reverence for humanity, a celebration.”

The exhibition, “Muses & Self: Photographs by Allen Ginsberg,” gathers such portraits of his Beat colleagues, including Kerouac, Peter Orlovsky, Neal Cassady, and Gregory Corso, captured candidly and spontaneously. But it also goes on to trace Ginsberg’s formal evolution as a photographer beyond this early interest.

Allen Ginsberg, Arthur Miller, William H. Gass, Hotel Royal Elevator, Copenhagen, November 1985. Photo: © Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles.

In 1983, after years of dormancy, Ginsberg renewed his photographic practice by acquiring better equipment on the advice of Robert Frank and Berenice Abbott, and engaging in what he called “continuous reportage.”  

“He basically went from taking a roll or two a year to a roll or two every week!” said Hale. “This period through the late ’80s, I consider his richest, with almost every contact sheet producing something significant.” 

As his fame and friend circle grew, Ginsberg’s images from this era span styles and subjects. There’s a casual group shot at the 1990 Small Press Book Fair, a selfie snapped during an elevator ride with Arthur Miller, a street scene of Keith Haring leaving chalk art on a pavement, and a tender portrait of Patti Smith and Burroughs.

A number of Ginsberg’s photographs further feature his handwritten captions (a custom he picked up from Elsa Dorfman), which fill out the pictures’ contexts and narratives. They were “gems of hyper-compressed information,” said Hale, works of art in themselves that harken back to Ginsberg’s knack for poetic incision.  

As Ginsberg wrote in Snapshot Poetics: “In a sense, writing poems and taking pictures have been two discrete but very closely related activities.” 

Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka with Jayne Cortez, Rashida Ismaili, and friends, Small Press Book Fair, December 2, 1990. Photo: © Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles.

It’s apt, then, that “Muses & Self” will also unveil a series of poems that have been generated by an A.I. model trained on Ginsberg’s textual and visual output, including his poetry, prose, captions, and more than 400 photographs. 

The collection, titled “A Picture of My Mind: Poems Written by Allen Ginsberg’s Photographs,” has been developed in partnership with theVERSEverse, a Web3 poetry collective, and based on its member Ross Goodwin’s 2018 work, Word.Camera. It is supported by the Tezos Foundation and the Allen Ginsberg Estate.  

“It’s been exhilarating to see the resonances and associations that pop up between seemingly disparate words, images and moments,” theVERSEverse told Artnet News, “to see from a sort of aerial view how all the relationships and personal encounters and sacred moments captured in Ginsberg’s photographs may have filtered into or out of his writings.” 

Built from such a comprehensive ingestion of Ginsberg’s oeuvre, the generated works “speak to us from the past and invite us into the future,” the group added.

The algorithmically generated “Shared Reflections: A Snapshot,” for instance, created in response to Ginsberg’s image, Calcutta Self-Portrait with Peter Orlovsky, 1961, offers: “Who can capture / the fleeting essence / of such a moment, / fragments of the infinite?” 

Allen Ginsberg, Antler, Poet, Brooklyn Bridge, April 7, 1990. Photo: © Allen Ginsberg, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles.

For his part, Hale has found the A.I. poems “fascinating,” locating them in the tradition of Burroughs’s cut-up experiments. The Beat writers’ choice technique of automatic writing is also echoed in the generative form, theVERSEverse points out. 

While the A.I.-generated poems that make up “A Picture of My Mind” have been edited and curated to keep it “true to [Ginsberg’s] inimitable voice,” theVERSEverse plans to further evolve its generator to reduce the need for such human intervention. Those results are bound for a long-form series planned for the fall alongside generative platform fxhash. 

“We’re essentially turning Ginsberg’s historical photographs into poem machines that allow us not just to read his work but also to engage, interrogate, interact, and continuously create with it,” the collective said. “We’re activating these photos and equipping them to talk back, invite us in deeper, and maybe even reveal things we don’t already know or see.” 

Muses & Self: Photographs by Allen Ginsberg” is on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 North La Brea, Los Angeles, August 10–September 23.

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Front Row Seat: ‘Cherry Man’ documentary grew out of friendship between photographers

Front Row Seat: ‘Cherry Man’ documentary grew out of friendship between photographers

DULUTH — Walter Griffin, Dudley Edmondson and I were preparing to wrap up a video call last week. First, though, I had an admission to make. I like cherries, I told Griffin, but the pits frustrate me.

Black man stands regarding the viewer, wearing utility vest and, around his neck, a camera. He wears eyeglasses and button-down shirt.

Walter Griffin in his younger years.

Contributed / Jeffrey Smith

“You could always get a cherry pitter,” said Griffin. “They are available even in hardware stores.” He went on to detail the year’s two cherry seasons, and offered to introduce me to golden-yellow Rainier cherries.

Technically speaking, cherries have nothing to do with Griffin’s profession: photography. For Griffin, though, sharing his love of cherries is a way of building relationships, and relationships are at the core of his work.

“With people, I love to communicate with them,” he explained. “After you’ve communicated with them for a while, then their guard’s let down, and so that’s when you get your best photographs, because then the person is not thinking about you so much, because we have had this interaction.”

A new documentary about Griffin, a short film premiering Thursday at the Zeitgeist Zinema, is titled “The Cherry Man.” It’s a collaboration between Edmondson — a Duluth photographer and filmmaker — and Griffin.

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“I don’t know anybody like him, in terms of who’s had as much life experience and being in the right place at the right time,” said Edmondson. “I sometimes jokingly call him ‘Black Forrest Gump,’ in that he just seemed to be right in the right place to capture images and meet people.”

Griffin, 75, and Edmondson, 61, have known each other for about 20 years, said Griffin. Both avid cyclists, they bonded during a drive to Ohio for a bike conference. “We got a lot of time to talk and learn about each other, and listen to some music and (have) a lot of conversation,” Griffin remembered.

“We both enjoy bikes, we both enjoy jazz, we’re both photographers, both Black men, so we had a lot of common ground,” said Edmondson.

As photographers, though, the two have different specialties. Griffin’s work, as seen in “The Cherry Man,” often focuses on human subjects — whether in ordinary moments of contemplation or joy, or in historic moments like U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ return to Selma, Alabama, for the 25th anniversary of the first Selma to Montgomery march.

Black woman dressed in blouse and strings of pearls sits at a table, looking up and to the left. Her hair is short, and she wears eyeglasses.

Writer and activist Maya Angelou, photographed by Walter Griffin.

Contributed / Walter Griffin

Edmondson, on the other hand, is best known for his nature photography. It was nature that brought the avid birder to Duluth in 1989; his Northland nature photos have been seen in numerous galleries and dozens of publications. He’s also active as a filmmaker, and travels frequently to guide birding trips and to advocate for outdoors inclusivity.

“With decades and decades, and thousands and thousands of clicks of the shutter and viewing images, you just get to the point where it’s like breathing,” said Edmondson. “You pick up a camera and you just do what you know how to do. Your muscles and brain already know what’s going on.”

“I moved to Minneapolis to work as a photographer” in 1986, said Griffin. “I opened a studio when I got here, and I got entrenched in the fabric of the community. One of the things that I did early on is, I wanted to connect with other Black photographers in the Twin Cities.” He became a mentor and community connector, while continuing his wide-ranging work behind the lens.

“The Cherry Man” highlights Griffin’s longstanding love of jazz. In the film, the photographer shares stories from years when he worked as a concert producer in Indianapolis, booking the likes of Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. Other music legends photographed by Griffin include Betty Carter and Eddie Harris, a former bandmate of the photographer’s musician brother.

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“My whole life has been about photographing people and seeing music,” said Griffin. Lately, though, he’s been spending more time outdoors.

“I’m learning more about nature,” said Griffin. “Now I’m beginning to snowshoe.”

Edmondson went to Minneapolis to interview Griffin on camera for the 18-minute documentary. “The original idea was just to have Walter telling stories and then use cover footage of him making coffee or walking down the street or fiddling around in a dark room,” explained Edmondson.

Smiling Black man wearing square-patterned suit and short patterned necktie over white dress shirt writes on a piece of paper he holds in his right hand.

In a moment photographed by Walter Griffin, professional football player Walter Payton signs an autograph for a fan in Chicago.

Contributed / Walter Griffin

Because Griffin’s stories were “so visual,” Edmondson realized, “I felt they needed to be illustrated in some way beyond just images of Walter living his life.” The filmmaker turned to historical footage to help establish the context for Griffin’s recollections.

One day-in-the-life sequence did make it into the film, though: We see Griffin shopping for cherries. “I always ask” about a store’s cherry stock, said Griffin, if he doesn’t see the fruit readily available in a produce section. “I know it’s time for cherries, because I know what time of the season the cherries are here.”

Film viewers learn that Griffin first developed his taste for cherries as a boy growing up in Chicago, where his first job was to bag and carry groceries for shoppers who would reward him with perhaps 25 or 50 cents. The young Griffin learned all the produce prices, and knew that cherries were just 7 cents a pound.

Both Griffin and Edmondson are currently working on book projects. “I’m trying to finish up my fourth book,” said Edmondson. “This one is on people of color around the country who are doing environmental things as scientists, as environmental activists and social justice activists, and combining them all in one book.”

For his part, Griffin is working on a career retrospective volume spanning a half-century of his work. But first, he’s coming to Duluth to join Edmondson at Thursday’s screening of “The Cherry Man.”

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“It’s Walter’s history, it’s American history, it’s Black history,” said Edmondson about the film. “It’s a combination of all kinds of things through Walter’s eyes and through his stories, and I think that it’s hopefully a film people will enjoy.”

“The Cherry Man” screens Thursday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. at Zeitgeist Zinema. The screening is free and open to the public.

Three exercises to learn more about photography

Three exercises to learn more about photography

Learning more about photography can be a daunting task. There are many options available, from YouTube videos, to conferences and workshops, to personal mentoring options. It can be a little overwhelming in some cases. Where to start? 

Here are some ideas to help you learn more about photography. A little at a time.

What do you want to learn?

If you’re like me, you make lists. Do you have a list of what you want to learn? Great. Choose one item from that list to focus on for this exercise.

Now, create an image of what it is you want to work on or learn through photography.

Maybe it’s a technique, using a new piece of equipment or a different approach to post-processing. It can be anything you want to learn, get better at and work on at the moment.

Will your image be great? Possibly not. But, it will serve as a marker and starting place. It will be a reminder of this one thing that you want to learn to improve your photography. At some point, you’ll be able to go back to this image (or set of images) and see how much you’ve learned.

For example, I want to learn more about my camera’s ability to create in-camera multiple-exposure images. At a recent car show, I practiced this technique throughout the day. It was fun to see the results.

multiple exposure image of an old car taillight learn
In-camera multiple-exposure of a 1958 Chevy Bel Air

Learn from what you already do

Take a photo on Monday. Think about this image all week. Go back and look at it. Break down what works in it and what you feel doesn’t work. Is it composed properly? Does it tell a story? What is that story? 

On Friday, retake the image and improve on the initial image you created. Take into consideration what you thought about all week. What changes occurred to you that might make it a better image?

This particular example is something that I still don’t seem to have learned: using my tripod! Seriously, it’s one very simple thing you can do to improve your photography.

Take notes from a master

This challenge will have you looking a bit deeper into the history of fine art photography. Edward Weston was one of the pioneers of presenting photography as fine art. 

He has been called “one of the most innovative and influential American photographers” and “one of the masters of 20th-century photography.”

You can find more about him and his photography here.

Take a dive into his portfolio. Make notes about his thought process and what images speak to you. Then create an Edward Weston-like image.

Edward Weston: Nude 1935 and Shell 1927

One more example

With so many post-processing options at our disposal, learning a new one can take time. If you’re used to doing things one way you may be hesitant to even try or use a new editing app. So, do it slowly. One slider, one preset, one layer at a time.

My personal learning style is playing and asking what happens if. That’s what I did with the Luminar Neo Magic LightTM Extention. I just started moving the sliders around to see what happened.

Share what you learned

For each of these exercises, tell us what you did. What was your thought process? How did you improve by doing these exercises?

We’d love to see your results and learn from each other by sharing in the Photofocus Community. Let’s have a conversation about each of these exercises.

The Daily Heller: A Lost Photographer of the Creative Revolution

The Daily Heller: A Lost Photographer of the Creative Revolution

William Helburn (1924–2020) was an American fashion and advertising photographer. He is best known for his contributions to advertising’s creative revolution in the 1950s and 1960s and his editorial work for magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Town and Country, Esquire and Charm. Helburn was a first-call photographer for Mad Ave agencies including Doyle Dane Bernbach, where he was praised by art director Helmut Krone for battling the “limits and style of the studio and the slowness of Kodachrome” to realize “a revolution in visual methods.” His photographs depict the era’s most important models, including Dorian Leigh, Dovima, Suzy Parker, Jean Shrimpton, Angela Howard, Jean Patchett and Lauren Hutton.

Helburn was born in New York City in 1924. He attended public and private schools in Manhattan and classes at The Art Students League of New York before joining the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942. Helburn served in the Pacific theater, where he and future partner Ted Croner learned to make develop film, including the first pictures of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. After the war, Helburn and Croner resolved to become fashion photographers. The two enrolled in Alexey Brodovitch’s Design Laboratory, which sometimes included Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Milton Greene, and Diane and Doone Arbus. Studying with Brodovitch led to Helburn’s first major assignment, a 10-page editorial shoot in the March 1949 edition of Junior Bazaar.

I was surprised I had been ignorant of his Midcentury Modern photography until being recently introduced through the 2014 book William Helburn: Seventh and Madison Mid-Century Fashion and Advertising Photography by Robert Lilly and Lois Allen Lilly. It was unforgivable to not have even heard his name since he worked with some of the ’50s and ’60s most famous modern art directors—Brodovitich, Cipe Pineles, Bob Gage, Henry Wolf, Gene Federico and others, as well as important clients. I was given the book almost a decade after publication. So I asked Robert Lilly to tell me more about Helburn’s career, the monograph, and how he and Lois helped revivify the photographer’s legacy.

Models: Anne de Zogheb, Jean Shrimpton. Client: The Coca-Cola Company. Agency: McCann Erickson. 1965.

What did you find appealing in William Helburn’s work?
In 2008 my wife Lois was working at Getty Images and was drawn to a Life magazine cover of a model (in “cancan lingerie”) that needed clearance for a Tommy Hilfiger campaign.  

Clearing the picture led to Bill—and Bill’s eldest son, who told us, “No one knows who my father is anymore. Can you change that?”

Once we saw more of Bill’s pictures we were drawn to his sense of humor and the feel for the absurd he used to such great effect in pictures like Bus Top (“The Skirt’s the Thing,” Harper’s Bazaar, December 1958) and Let Them Eat Cake (“Salon Permanent Waves”—for Helene Curtis, 1962). We also loved the elegant images he created, including “Mad Hats for New Fall Outfits” (Life, 1956) and Dovima Under the El (“Dior Creates Cosmopolitan Drama,” 1955), and the more provocative, sexy images, including some we discovered later, such as Jean Patchett Primitif (for Max Factor, 1956) and Lauren Hutton (for Van Heusen, 1964). As story-oriented journalists we also appreciated Bill’s tales of his years working and living the high life in Midcentury Manhattan—not to mention racing Ferraris (Sebring, Watkins Glen, Bridgehampton, Nassau, Havana) and other pleasant diversions. 

Salon Permanent Waves. Model: Angela Howard. Client: Helene Curtis, 1962.

What is it that gives his work the standout quality from others in the field at his period?
Bill’s images fall into several categories. His editorial images for Bazaar typify what he called his “shock value” aesthetic, tied to his drive to “do it different.” He told us, “Girls on tops of buses (Bus Top) was for Harper’s Bazaar. If she’s standing on a lamppost, standing on the roof of a bus—anything that’s out of the ordinary, that’s my persona or style.”  

For Charm—“the magazine for women who work”—Bill shot quickly, generally in office or “work” settings, and produced some charming pictures with a documentary quality unusual for fashion photography of the era. He also turned out elegant pictures for Town and CountryLife and McCall’s.

In advertising, Bill worked closely with Bob Gage, Helmut Krone, Gene Federico, Joe Nissen and other art directors he considered the equal, in advertising, of Alexander Lieberman at Vogue and Alexey Brodovitch at Bazaar in editorial (though Bill revered Brodovich, whom he studied with and who gave him his first big break). Bill’s ads can be sexy, elegant or funny—sometimes all three. They’re bright with bold imaginative imagery that makes you look twice or three times—that is, if you can look away at all. Both advertising and fashion photography are collaborative but even in advertising, Bill told us the idea was often his—along with the model, location and, of course, execution.  

Whoever he was shooting for, Bill’s pictures stand out. They get your attention. We interviewed Joe Nissen (Altman-Stoller Van Heusen From the Famous Shirtmaker for Men) for Seventh and Madison, who had this to say about working with Bill: 

“Bill was a working photographer in a time of many great photographers—Avedon, Lillian Bassman and Irving Penn and half a dozen others. But they were primarily editorial photographers and working editorially gave these people a lot of latitude, a lot of cooperation from the publications, and they were strictly style photography or styled by the publications. 

“Bill had all of the discipline; he had all the understanding. He had all of the style and the taste and the imagination but he was interested in the advertising business and he brought all those faculties to taking the photograph that would express the idea that was in the advertising. He combined the best of all those qualitie,s and because he was interested in both advertising and expressing ideas, he was a much better choice for me as an advertising photographer.

“If you’re set loose in Bulgaria with half a dozen models, an infinite amount of money and background, you can do interesting photographs. It’s much harder in the studio to take the kind of picture that impressed people in the two hours that you had to do the job. Bill was, in that world, the best of them.”

Client: Cadillac. 1964.

Why is he not as well known today as other high-end advertising photographers?
Bill liked to work and worked a lot. Midcentury photographers’ names rarely appeared on their magazine ads—Richard Avedon was a clear exception—but even when his name could have been included, Bill often left it off. Working a lot meant working for competitors—so far, we’ve logged 10 cosmetics/perfume firms and 15 automobile brands he shot for. Not being associated with any one firm made it easier to work for all of them. 

The book is beautiful. What was your goal with it? 
We appreciate that very much! The book was published in 2014. Its publication was part of our effort, with Bill very much involved, to make his pictures and his extraordinary life known—and by so doing, reestablish his name and establish a market for his fine art photography.  

As such, it was one step in our campaign that included getting Bill’s pictures into a photo agency (first Corbis, now Getty) so he would have an online presence, writing and producing Seventh and Madison, signing Bill with a gallery, producing fine art prints and having the gallery hang the prints in a show.

All of that has been accomplished. Bill’s work is now for sale in five fine art photography galleries in the U.S. along with two in Europe (and more to come). His pictures have appeared in gallery shows as well as the Brooklyn Museum, the Norton Museum in Palm Beach and at art fairs in Europe and the U.S. Seventh and Madison put Bill in context as a photographer who made artful pictures for editorial and advertising pages. It did its job.  

Harper’s Bazaar, December 1958. Models: Dovima, Jean Patchett. Art Director: Henry Wolf.
Charm – The Magazine for Women Who Work, c. 1952. Model: Jean Patchett. Art Director: Cipe Pineles.