My assistants and I drove to his home in West Hollywood, set up a small portable studio in his garage, did a few lighting tests then let him know we were ready.

He came out with three different types of saxophones. For each we attached the DPA mic, and he played while I shot. What a cool way to get into a rhythm and riff off of another artist while in one’s own creative process.

To me portraits are the opposite of the big conceptual or fashion shoots. Simple, quick, intimate. Small crew, minimal gear. All about a conversation with the subject in which we are both giving and taking.

I have committed to doing a lot more of these in 2012.

Images below.

These images were shot on Hasselblad H3DII-39 and lit with Bron Verso pack and Unilite heads.

Related posts:

1. Motion Portrait

It follows the story of a special training facility for the “lethal arts & sciences”. It’s not every day you get to depict assassins and gun-play in a commercial shoot, so when the chance arises one needs to make the most of it. This is what we did with the opportunity.

It was a large team working on this from wardrobe, to casting and talent, to set design, production, and the assisting team. And that’s just for the still photography part of the shoot.

We shot in several locations — most of which was in the building where my studio is. But we transformed several of these spots, even people who know the building well would not recognize them. It always helps when the environment is physically built rather than doing it digitally in post. I think it leads to better images, and is certainly a more engaging experience on set.

Shot on Hasselblad H3DII-39 and a mix of Broncolor strobes and Kobold HMI’s.

Images below, click each for larger view:

Related posts:

1. New Work: Aviator Series
2. Behind-the-Scenes Video (Photo Shoot)
3. Photo Shoot Behind-the-Scenes (Time Lapse Video)

First, an article in the latest Hasselblad Bulletin on the OWS Portrait Series.

Hasselblad Bulletin, “Faces of Protest” Portraits by August Bradley

And recently the luxury art and culture magazine Le Grand did a retrospective story in their printed edition.

In addition to the interview, some of the info for the story they pulled from old articles (nice to see they did a lot of research, but should have checked the dates on the articles — particularly when they said I’ve only been shooting for “a few years”. That was from my first article). It’s a beautiful magazine, you can flip through it here or see the story pages below.

Le Grand Magazine digital rendition of Print Issue (p. 61+ for August Bradley Story)

And here are the pages from the print mag, click on thumbnail for larger view…

Related posts:

1. Rangefinder Magazine’s “After Capture” Features August Bradley
2. Popular Photography Magazine Details My Beauty Lighting Setup
3. Desktop Magazine Cover Story

With film (as opposed to digital), color was an obvious part of the Director of Photography’s job since color was a result of film selection, development technique, and the choice of lighting, lenses and filters. The DP would recommend and come to a decision with the Director before the shoot on what the final look would be, then execute that look.

Now that digital is taking over, the color tones are largely determined in post-production on computers (setting aside set and wardrobe choices). The tools range from simple sliders in the editing software, to separate software packages just for color grading, to full hardware/software integrated bay’s at the higher end like we have in the images here. This particular system is the Nucoda Film Master at the post-production house Keep Me Posted.

Here I was working with a professional colorist. I would explain what kind of look I wanted, he would apply it to the relevant clips or to precise areas within each frame. Then we would watch it again and I would explain what additional changes I would like and he would apply it. It’s a nice way to go if the budget is there to hire a specialist like this. On more guerrilla projects, I do it myself either in the editing software or with dedicated color software on my Mac tower (i.e., software such as Apple’s Color or Da Vinci Resolve).

This is a particularly fun part of the whole process because after working so long on a piece, here it very quickly improves and settles into its final form — this is near the very end of the production line for a commercial or a film. If there’s anything left to do after this it’s typically audio-related.

View images below…

It was propelled by being run with background articles in the The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The New York Times Lens Blog (one of the most respected photography presentations), and many others driving tens of thousands of daily unique visitors to the website. It all happened in less than two weeks, here’s a summary:

The site went live late on a Wednesday and posted I to my blog, Facebook, and Twitter account (@augustbradley). That Thursday and Friday most of the Occupy movement blogs, twitter accounts, and digital publications were posting it including a home page post on AdBusters, the media publication that inspired the occupy movement in the first place. That sent a big spike in traffic and hundreds of Twittter tweets and Facebook posts.

The following Monday The Washington Post and New York Times both expressed interest in working it into their online publication schedules. Then the next morning the police raided and evicted the OWS camp and the story hit a new level of urgency and interest.

The Washington Post ran it on their Arts & Culture blog immediately, pulling comments from my project description and from my blog post into their article (The Washington Post “Arts” Story). The New York Times Lens Blog, one of the most influential and widely followed photography blogs, called asking for images re-sized to their specs within three hours, and they did a twenty minute interview for their article which ran the next morning (NY Times “Lens” Gallery Story).

This led to discussions about the series on Slate, The New Yorker, and many others.

Early the next week The Huffington Post contacted me about doing a story, did an interview, and that went live the following day (Huffington Post Story)

With this media exposure, traffic to the site skyrocketed: Facebook had over 3,000 “shares” (i.e., people who posted it on their walls), and Twitter tweets were well into the thousands. Visits to the website reached tens of thousands a day.

One of the most exciting results was to be featured by and invited to join the organization Shoot4Change. This group uses the power of photography to change the world.

I knew it would get some attention, it was a headline with growing momentum and this was a unique look into it. But I had no idea it would go this far in just a couple weeks. I’m still getting requests from publications all over the world.

The lens is not only quicker for transitions (no lens changes), but also sharper than the Zeiss CP2 primes we had been using. The raw files are beautiful, with an extensive range to manipulate in post. I also love the well thought-out touch screen field monitor from which you control most functions in the camera. Fast, intuitive with exceptional image quality.

It’s not light, but compared with cinema cameras of even a year ago in the same category it’s far more versatile in terms of movement and rigging. The extra weight is actually nice on the larger fluid head, making moves on the slider (shown below) even smoother.

We had a curve-ball thrown at us in one shoot which required shooting portions at very dim lighting levels, and we had no problem matching the brighter shots with the more dimly lit ones.

Very happy with this new setup, this will be the standard in the immediate future for our broadcast tv commercials.

Photos from the recent productions below show how we configured the rig.

Related posts:

1. Testing RED Epic + Arri 18-80mm Zoom
2. Our New HDSLR Rig for TV Comercials

It turned into a more elaborate project than initially anticipated — my team and I ended up bringing a portable studio powered by Broncolor A2L packs with Lithium batteries and the MobilLED heads (a pretty sweet setup and super portable). Every image I had seen of the Wall St. protests had a snapshot or photo-journalistic feel. I wanted to bring a more distinctive look and sensibility, while still capturing the grit of camping for months in a concrete park and the intensity behind their efforts.

This series also takes advantage of the Hasselblad medium format super hi-res captures, showing a great deal of detail and crispness. There were a ton of other photographers shooting that day (and every day), virtually all with Canon or Nikon. I wanted to create something different.

Since the movement is non-hierarchical and is not represented by leaders or clearly defined personalities, any glimpse requires a broad sample. 99 people selected as arbitrarily as possible seemed like an appropriate, as well as symbolic, number to get a sense of what’s happening here.

This portrait series focuses on faces — no environment, no signs; each person with an honest look into the lens without any trappings other than what they were wearing at the time. We wanted it to be personal, these portraits are a look into the eyes.

You can see the collection at the link below. The series was shot with this type of grid-like presentation in mind, with the ability to click deeper onto any of the images.

Full Presentation:
www.99facesOfOccupyWallSt.org

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Related posts:

1. New Work: Aviator Series
2. Photo Shoot Behind-the-Scenes (Time Lapse Video)

We are also looking at changing from the Zeiss CP2 cinema lenses to an Arri/Fujinon 18-80mm 2.6 zoom to be able to do transitions faster without lens changes. I LOVE this lens, it’s my new favorite for cinema work and will increasingly be rolled into my productions. The trade-of for the convenience of a zoom with such sharp glass is size. The weight of the rig just tripled. But happy to make that trade in most situations.

With the ability to jump between 5k and 4k in the Epic (and the equivalent shift in sensor crop), I can get an equivalent range to the 5D of 28mm-100mm. Perfect for my kind of shooting.

Photos after the break…

Many thanks to my team members Lonny Danler and Ryley Fogg (both exceptional DIT’s and together a well-equipped RED rental operation).

Related posts:

1. RED Epic In Our Latest Productions
2. Zoom Magazine Cover Story on August Bradley

The images feature actress Ina Kopp who is a prominent name in film and tv in parts of Europe, and is now making a move to the American scene. Wardrobe by Louis Verdad.

It was fun shooting at the air field with the classic planes and all the wind and smoke. We shot in an airplane hanger and out on the runway, but space was tight as both were crowded with other planes and equipment.

These are actual planes from the WWII era. The distressed one was underwater for 40 years — set designers couldn’t build that very easily.

Had to keep our footprint small, and be in and out quickly so used one power pack (Verso) with two or three heads off of it. Played with colored gels to create subtle mixed colors in the light. Wind machine, smoke machine, and two great assistants. All shot on Hasselblad 39 megapixel.

Click on each image for larger view…

Related posts:

1. “99 Faces of Occupy Wall St.” Portrait Series
2. New Work: Academy of the Lethal Arts
3. Photo Shoot Behind-the-Scenes (Time Lapse Video)

No more. I’m clearing the schedule and creating the workshops I have always envisioned.

First up is a two-day workshop on June 25 & 26 all about Photography Production — how to plan the shoot, casting and working with model agencies, props and sets, and then all the elements around the shoot itself (working with the creative team, directing models, lighting, vibe, client presentation on-set, etc…).

I’m throwing a lot of resources into this elite workshop — including the sponsorship support of the premier camera company, Hasselblad, and the most advanced photo lighting, Broncolor. They’re going to give us an arsenal of gear to work with. My studio will become a giant sandbox to play in.

We have discussions planned on key parts of the business, and demo shoots, and hands-on instruction (your camera and/or the Hasselblad H4D cameras provided). We’ll explore both simple and complex lighting, concept development, and execution.

It’s my goal to make this a once in a lifetime experience that will rapidly take each participant’s photography to higher level. And I anticipate the dialogue started in the workshop to continue through the online platforms we’re building.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Early-bird discount for those signing up by May 23.

Details here: Photography Immersion Workshop

Related posts:

1. Studio Photography Magazine Article on August Bradley
2. August Bradley’s Photography in “Louver” Show