BANJO IN THE BATHROOM

Shooting in a very tight spot can be troublesome. Luckily these bathroom walls were white and extremely reflective. I had my son hold a hot shoe flash up against to where the ceiling met the wall opposite the tub, which nicely diffused and spread the light. Usually I’ll use my White Lightenings or Aliens Bees strobes, however the space didn’t justify me going downstairs to the car. This was the last set up of the day, and extra walking wasn’t part of the plan……neither was standing on a tub, but here we are.

Matt Menefee, aka Matt The Banjo Player, keeping it real AND clean during his photo shoot.

Once again Nicholas is an unpaid assistant.

Firing the flash remotely, allowed me to stand in an awkward position on the edge of the tub. Matt's wife was working from home that day and her office was very close to where we were shooting. She was never told we'd be photographing inside, so I wonder what was going through her mind when she heard three male voices come from the bathroom. I'm sure my footprints on the tub led to more questions after I left the house.

Always a good time when shooting in someone’s bathroom.

The final result, an image that is easily one of my favorites from the last few months.

BMX CHAMP AND COOKIE DOUGH

There’s a sense of stress when your child brings home a folder filled with cookie dough catalogs and order forms. As soon as you see them remove that thick packet from their Sponge Bob or Hello Kitty backpack, you know, as a parent, you’re on the clock. You have two weeks tops to get as many coworkers as possible to purchase your child’s fundraising confections. Luckily everyone adheres to a specific unspoken office culture rule: if you support their kids’ BS fundraiser, they’ll support your kid’s equally as BS fundraiser. I can spend a full year buying their kids’ useless crap. I’ve bought things I’ll never need, from 10 pound bags of trail mix, which by the way contained NO chocolate, to wick-less candles. All the while, doing so with a smile on my face, because I know eventually it’ll be my turn to collect on those bills. Thanks to my son’s fundraising being so close to the beginning of the holidays, I (we) sold over 24 tubs of cookie dough. That amount was enough to make him one of the top salesmen in the school.

Matt doing tricks for the camera in an elementary school bus lane. This is the one image of his in which I’m the happiest.

When I was in school, the top salesmen in any fundraiser would be awarded with a myriad of prizes in which to choose: pencil trolls, a 10 pack of Smarties, spiral notebooks, combs, etc.. A veritable treasure trove awaited any student, or parent, who had the fortitude to stick out the fundraising window and ascend to the top of the leader board.

Of course that was in the 70s, things have changed greatly.

I was surprised when my son told me that the top 200 cookie dough salesmen get to attend an assembly with America’s Got Talent finalist and X Games Medalist, Matt Wilhelm. For those who don’t know him, Matt is someone worth photographing, so I contacted the school and volunteered to shoot the event. I've shot enough Fall Festivals and Milk & Cookies with Santas, to know that this school loves anything free, this time was no exception. Once I was cleared by the school, I emailed Matt directly, stating that I was shooting this particular event and asked if he wouldn't mind having his portrait taken before the assembly, which he agreed. 

I arrived early to set up outside, the bus lane behind the school was the only suitable location. Once the lights were ready, I marked a spot on the pavement in which I wanted him to do tricks. I knew how I wanted the images to look, plus I needed to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze his motion. The day wasn’t the sunniest, which worked in my favor. I used to low film speed, fast shutter and cranked up my two Alien Bees light heads. The large umbrella from the front spread enough light to cover Matt evenly. A second light was added behind the subject in hopes of adding more separation between the fore and back grounds. Not so sure that’s what was accomplished, however I do think it looks cooler. And in this business, you can never fail with cooler. Since he needed to pick up a little bit of speed to do so, he started about 15-20 feet away. Each time he rode up to the spot, he’d do a Tornado Flip, Bunny Hop or any other tricks I can’t name. We only could take one exposure per trick, so Matt would jump over his bike, then get back on, ride out 20 feet or so and start the process over.

Matt taking one of several passes in front of the camera.

After 25 minutes, Matt got off his bike and made his way back for the assembly. Once inside, he regaled 200 top cookie dough salesmen with an anti-bullying message and some of his signature bike tricks. Afterwards, Matt waded through the bleachers, and personally autographed postcards for every student in attendance. When each received a card, they walked down the bleachers to cross the cafe-gym-atorium floor and meet up with the rest of their classmates.

Seeing this, I ran over and got my son’s attention and motioned for him to join me below. I wanted to make sure Nicholas wasn’t just another over achieving cookie dough salesman who gets a card and goes back to class with no fanfare or special treatment. When Matt had completed signing 199 cards, I brought my son over to meet him, shake his hand, and of course get a photo.

Nicholas and Matt Wilhelm.

I got some amazing images of Matt that day, one of which was used for Matt’s profile on a sponsor’s website.

it’s crazy to think i owe it all to cookie dough sales. You never know where and how you’ll get your next great image………..or cookie dough.

LET'S A GO!! THAT TIME I PHOTOGRAPHED MARIO'S MAKER

We all live in fear. Some fears are rational, others not so much. When one gets older, priorities change and by default, their fears.

Decades ago, I always feared the waitstaff wouldn’t like me or I’d be judged by the gas station attendant for not buy something after using the restroom.

Now that I’m a father, my fear is greater than any validation I receive from strangers.

Most fathers have the same fear as I when raising a boy: the fear of my son not thinking I’m cool.

I received a call from banjo player Matt Menefee from the The Hit Points, who are seasoned bluegrass musicians from Nashville, TN, bringing their own acoustic Appalachian charm to the soundtrack of your childhood video game obsession……according to their website. The Hit Points had recently covered Mario’s Athletic Theme and Matt called to tell me that Nintendo VIP and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto heard their version and loved it. So much so, he requested a private showcase next time he was in Nashville. Upon hearing this, I immediately thought to myself that I have to get in there and get his portrait.

I had a week to obsess and I used every day to do so. After waffling on several ideas, I landed on Miyamoto playing with a Mario chess set. Unfortunately I landed on this idea before I knew a Mario chess set would cost $40 dollars. However, looking back it was a minor price to pay to get an amazing image and at the same time, giving my son an experience he’ll never forget.

The Violin Shop would be the location of The Hit Points’ showcase. Once my son and I arrived, we were ushered to what seemed to be the smallest workshop in Middle Tennessee. Somehow we managed to set up a 9FT wide background and three lights. While my son set up the chess board, I started taking test shots. It’s very important to get the lighting just right when you’re pressed for time. Miyamoto had no idea I was going to take his photo. So if I got the opportunity, I had to be quick.

The boy did a great job setting up the board. I knew if I actually photographed the Mario creator, there’d be someone out there who would know if the chess pieces weren’t in the correct squares. Once the board was ready, I photographed the boy and it looked great.

After Miyamoto arrived at The Violin Shop, I walked over to his interpreter and showed her my son’s photo. I explained that I’d like to photograph Miyamoto the same way. She got his attention, pointed to the back of my camera, spoke Japanese, then nodded his head. I don’t speak Japanese, however I know nods and that was a big one.

At the end of the night, we guided Miyamoto back to the workshop and squeezed him behind the chess set. He seemed genuinely amused with the chess board idea and that only made my job easier.

Miyamoto was enthusiastic and extremely in to the process, even picking up the Mario king piece and saying in a thick Japanese accent “chessmate”. Talk about an exclamation point on my night.

After less than 10 minutes of shooting, we cleaned up the workshop by moving chairs and trash cans back to their original place. After which my son and I walked back in to the main room.

We had no expectations of the night getting any better.

Until………my son asked Miyamoto to sign the chess board, and that was probably the best moment of the night for me as a father. He took the board, then methodically drew the face of Mario and signed it.

The look on my son’s face was worth me quitting college in my freshman year to pursue a career in photography.

Mario Creator and Nintendo Designer, Shigeru Miyamoto and the boy.