I Am Villager

It all started with Twitter.  Well, to be more specific, it all started with acclaimed photographer, Jack Hollingsworth, embracing Twitter and seeing the potential of its marketing power.  Jack shares his knowledge and insight around the professional photography and marketing industries within the confines of 140 characters and with such tenacity that it is nearly impossible not to be pulled into his orbit.

After some time, I started corresponding with Jack about all sorts of items involving the aforementioned topics.  And here is what makes Jack such a fantastic person to know… he always responds with insight.  For as busy as he can be, he takes care in acknowledging you.  And this struck a chord with me.

So, it was no surprise that when Jack asked if there were any Boston-based photographers who would be interested in assisting in a demo shoot for him, I immediately threw my name in. And so, Jack asked me to join him for a weekend-long shoot at his Cape Cod studio.  In his own words, it was a photography love-fest at its finest.

Jack had assembled a veritable A-Team of photographers and a videographer to assist with the shoot.   The team included our Director of Photography, Ben Eckstein, his grip, Chris Conti, our social media assistant, Keegan Hobson, and myself as the tech grip.  We were also joined by some veterans of the game, all friends of Jack, including Michael Skeggs and Glenn Bacci.

The details were straight forward.  We would chronicle the behind-the-scenes happenings of this commercial demo that Jack had orchestrated.  We had everything that you’d expect to find in a professional shoot – both studio and on-location sets, beautiful and handsome models, props, and enough photography gear to stock one of B&H’s supply rooms (thanks hugely in part to LensProToGo, Westcott, and Calumet)

Out of the 48 or so hours that I was there, I slept for about 10.  The rest of the time was spent either setting up, breaking down, or making some sort of adjustments to the sets.  We had our DP, Ben, shooting DSLR video the entire time w/his Canon 7D.  Keegan was letting the world get a look inside the production via Twitter, TwitPic and TwitVid.  Chris assisted with the overall production.  I was involved with the lighting and technical setup.  And Jack, well, he was the man with the camera.  He conducted his set with the precision and care that I assumed, but never actually saw, of a seasoned pro.

About a week before the shoot, Jack reached out and asked if I would shoot some HDRs of the sets, both indoor and outdoor.  He expressed interest in using the final results as part of this demo shoot.  Immediately, I knew that this was going to be a rock solid weekend.  Jack was very kind when he introduced me to the various people who showed up, each time playing up my HDR work.  It was very humbling and it made me want to knock these images out of the park.  Between the studio space and the various beach locales that we shot at, Jack provided me with plenty of ways to get creative with my brackets.  There was even some downtime in between wardrobe changes for me to show some of the other photographers how I go about processing my HDR images.  In the end, I think I came away with some great shots (I hope!), all of which will make their way on the blog and, hopefully, within Jack’s final products.

Now, you may be wondering what Jack is like to work with.  Let me try to answer that by telling you about the first 10 minutes of my arrival.  I park my car, knock on the door, and am greeted by a handshake and a warm smile.  Jack and I sit down and within two minutes, he is asking me about my photography.  My goals.  My aspirations.  My HDR.  He is asking about me.  And, he is listening, synthesizing, and fashioning a rapport.  He is one of the most approachable and structured people that I’ve ever met.  There is no pretense to the man.  He is a master photographer and marketer.  He doesn’t pretend to be better than anyone else and he wholly understands the importance of aligning himself with those who are better at certain tasks than he may be.

By the end of the 2.5 day shoot, I felt like I had known Jack for years.  And when I asked myself how that could be, it really boiled down to this: Jack is a guy who takes photography, and not himself, seriously.  It really is just about the love of photography and I can relate to that.  He’s been in the game for 30 years and the love of his craft has only grown.  He understands that photographers as a whole… we are greater than the sum of our parts.  Collectively, it takes a village to make wonderful things happen and I am proud to be one of the villagers.

All in all, I am very fortunate.  I got to meet and work alongside some extremely talented folks, all of whom I would be happy & lucky to shoot with again.  I also got to learn from a photographer whom I greatly admire.  Not bad for a random winter weekend, I say.

I look forward to more adventures with Jack.

To Ben’s, Keegan’s, and Chris’ experiences from this shoot, check out their blog entries below:

Ben’s Entry

Keegan’s Entry

Chris’ Entry

Cheers,

Brian