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Forced Perspective in Motion Photography

forced perspective
I shot this in-camera forced perspective image as a test

[dc]C[/dc]an you teach new dogs, old tricks? It seems these days if you want to show something out of the ordinary in your film or video project, the default option is to composite, green screen, photoshop, or fix and create images in post, on a computer, in a digital realm. But before the days of instant-gratification cameras and super fast, powerful and affordable computers, a lot of special effects had to be created “in-camera”, meaning they were accomplished with lighting, optics and physics, which are the key elements in creating forced perspective images. In this article I’ll go over some history of the technique and show you how I used it recently. Continue reading “Forced Perspective in Motion Photography”

Steven Spielberg Portraits

I had a job last year shooting some images of Steven Spielberg for the opening of Universal Singapore. Here are a couple of those images. Click on them to see a larger version.

He was quite nice and very easy to work with. We had a great conversation about the next film he is going to direct about the Lincoln administration on the road to abolition. At the time Liam Neeson was going to play Lincoln and Spielberg seemed pretty excited about it. Since then, the lead role has gone to Daniel Day-Lewis.

Welcoming in a New Year

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

from In Memorium
by Lord Alfred Tennyson

South Wacker Drive New Years Eve 2010
The last image I made in 2010

It seems to be becoming a ritual for me to go out just before the New Year and make a few images and this year, just like last, I found myself in Chicago doing just that.

What I was trying to capture with this image was the sense of duality on Wacker Drive. Lower Wacker Drive has always fascinated me and has shown up in several of my other images in various forms, but as I was crossing this bridge I noticed the opening that allowed me to see both lower and upper Wacker Drive, so I composed this image which shows a night scene above ground with colorful incandescent lighting and the city lights reflecting off the fast moving clouds above, and the even warmer sodium vapor light spilling out the opening below.

There is an obvious juxtaposition at that opening also, where the trees and grass are fenced off from the concrete cavern.

From Wacker Drive I drove up north to have drinks and toast the new year with some friends, and on my way home I decided to make my first image of 2011 at the Water Tower on Michigan Ave. for no other reason than I thought it somehow a fitting beginning to a year that holds a lot of hope for so many.

Chicago Water Tower on Michigan Ave
My first image of 2011

Friday Night Lights, Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou is a big city in southern China just a few hours drive north of Hong Kong. Because I had to wait for my Chinese visa to be issued in HK I had a very limited amount of time in Guangzhou, but the thing that is really striking about the city is the way it is lit up, as though the entire city takes part in a celebration of light when the sun goes down.

I’ve been told that Guangzhou is very a-typical for Chinese cities and that it is a very new city, in fact the part I was photographing was less than a decade old and partly still under construction. Perhaps this is a testament to China’s relatively new foray into capitalism and they want to shine a beacon on it.

In the very short time I was in Guangzhou, I learned very little about the city or the Chinese people. But one fact was unmistakeable: the road between Hong Kong and Guangzhou is about 170 km (105 miles) and what I thought might at least partly be a ride through Chinese countryside was one solid mass of humanity. A megalopolis of manufacturing, mid-rise offices and tenements stretching from one huge city to the next.

Hong Kong Saturday Night

This is only my second time to Hong Kong but I love this city. It has a heartbeat like no other I’ve been to: it’s an electric, 60 cycle hum. You can feel it through your feet as you walk on the streets or in your hands as you lean on a railing looking out at Victoria Harbor.

The Funicular railroad that takes you to the peak that overlooks the island is an interesting ride, at one point accelerating while climbing at a 45 degree angle, trundling past the buildings alongside the railroad. Being Saturday evening, the cars were packed and standing in the aisle can be challenging at best. Most people in Hong Kong know this so as soon as the doors open, getting into the train is a free-for-all that is mostly elbows and attitude. But once you get to the top you know that whatever it took to get there was worth it.

Hong Kong at Night from the Peak
Hong Kong at Night from the Peak

The road to Delhi

I spent 48 hours in Delhi India which is a world of contradictions. Overcrowded and loud, traffic zips by you at breakneck speed, or is at a complete standstill. Driving seems tactile: all flashing headlights and blaring horns mixed in with a little dare-devil-may-care attitude. Brand new, high tech architecture rises out of dirty, broken-down streets. And yet there are moments of complete serenity.

Red Sari and Blue Door
Woman in red sari and blue door