Me too - similar stories. In the early 80’s I had one of two $5 million prototype Alfa Romeos in the whole world, and we piked up the car to drive to a location, the AD so famously said, “I’ll drive the sports car as I’m a much better driver than you.”
Before the car even moved I was calling the agency to send the other car. They put it on a truck post haste as we all knew the AD would drive the fast car into a tree. Not a tree, something better. Missing a stop sign, he drove the car off an elevated road and into a potato field at 100mph. Potatoes are best grown in mud. They never did find the right front wheel.
So here goes:
I cannot be my own editor, picture editor, or publisher. I
might be able to do some of the work, but quality will suffer. The most difficult
task is to find a good publisher, as it is I think, best to show students what
can be accomplished with good images. I know somebody who took Annie L’s. class and her review was mixed - sort of ‘meh’ again as mostly it seemed to be an ego trip. It’s fine to stand up and go on about
personal experiences, but the impact of photographs on students brings to light
the concept of a picture being worth a thousand words. This could be an e-Book
or an online book or even just a URL but it has to be something folks pay for, and not on paper. It’s
not that my photos of Americans are so important, it’s more about what they
show. They show an America devoid of anything digital, as well as devoid of the
myriads of distractions from life as we knew it today. Just think of what’s
missing from the world of ‘connectivity’. Working
behind the scenes, the highway department, AAA and other automobile associations, and others
have moderately successfully worked to not make Americans distracted when they
drive. This is the primary reason touch and other screens are not allowed near
the front seats. It is also the reason why a nurse of mine got ticketed $500 for going 70mph while texting. The
first eight months were spent shooting for the Office of Economic Opportunity’s
Opportunity magazine. I was like a
kid in a candy shop, and with my voucher book for renting cars, making flights,
and being on the road I was in some way trying to extend the work of the FSA
photographers working with Roy Stryker. I shot almost 500 rolls of mostly Tri-X in six months. My
initial assignment to shoot the heads in St. Louis was overblown and looked
like a beginner had made them. In fact, a beginner had made them, but his
bosses were too inexperienced to notice that none of the shots seemed to
connect with the viewer. I was only 24 and didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground. I mostly shot from across the room, as I was too
terrified to get close to George Meany (head of the AFL-CIO), Sen. Ted Kennedy,
Sargent Shriver (head of the Peace Corps), and my boss, Donald Rumsfeld, later Secretary of Defense. Later
I learned they just ignore you and refer to you as ‘the photographer’ and couldn’t
care less about your actual name. They just want the person who knows how to shoot pictures. So
the first assignment was ‘meh’. In the afternoon my driver took me into the market
area of St. Louis and I shot old people, the unemployed, regular folks at lunch
counters, workers around the central market, street folks, cops, and at night
Steve drove me over to Illinois to attend a Dylan concert. As I recall we sat
on the lawn, and took hits and passed along the many joints which came floating
by. It was Dylan with his band Big Pink. The
following day I flew to Philly to shoot OEO’s young lawyers, at that point
fighting housing discrimination in the inner city. Also scheduled were kids in
elementary schools. I was working exclusively in black and white, and my shots
were being picked up by USIA for use in photo shows in Moscow and other cities
behind the Iron Curtain. The ‘Iron Curtain’, for the uninitiated, was the
division of Russian and Western areas of influence in Europe. Somebody showed me a grainy print of one of my works of black
children blown up to the size of a door to show where the work was being shown in Moscow. http://artfaul.com/Ruins.html or go cruise http://artfaul.com/ for 500 other shotshttp://artfaul.com/Just_Folks.html The ruins from Scotland of standing stones and the like are all more than 5000 years old. Can
any of y’all recommend or refer me to a publisher I can trust with this project? Jan
PS: Why am I doing all this? In case you missed the news, a decade ago a guy in a ER fecked up and cost me my left foot. Shooting is very difficult and I have not really shot a project since 2009. So my ex decided that since I was down, she would make sure I was dead, sue for all my savings, and call all my friends to pay them to never speak to me again. She tried and some former friends took her money. She left me sitting in the living room of the house I had built sitting in my wheelchair. If I ever see her again, it will be too soon. So I am flat and need to move, buy a mew home and start working on Act 3. This is gonna be it. My credit is in the shitter, and they are coming to evict me in a month. If y’all want to help, let me know. I’ll figure out some way to repay you either with $$ or ??.
An intriguing idea. I have some teaching experience. At 4 universities around the world. I have been a professional photographer since 1975. (Cringe)... I have since that time worked only in photography and kept whiskey on the table. Bought and sold houses and apartments and cars. Put 2 kids through school and university all paid for by taking photographs. I've never been an artist. Had very few shows. But, via various advertising agencies, I've shot diapers for Procter and Gamble... Cars for Mercedes Benz... Trucks for BMC... Tequila for Avion... Travel for Vogue... Fashion for Versace and I could go on and on but I'll spare you. Do I have stories???? You betcha. The best ones come from when Ive messed up... I've had steel gantries fall on prototype cars in the cove. I'm electrocuted tropical fish. I've put a whole shoot of 40 rolls of Agfa tranny film through E6. endless. Hi All - A few days ago I read about Annie L teaching an online course on her style. Not how to shoot, but her style. It is a so-called ‘Master Class’. I’d been working on a similar project for a year, but I don’t have big bucks behind me. If my ex- had been less short sighted, I might have big bucks, but would still be writing to you. It recently dawned on me that the one thing I have in spades is experience. I have been a professional shooter for 50 years. I have 1.6 million shots on film and none of it is available on Amazon. I came to the profession by accident, although it was a planned accident. I never assisted, never went to photo school, and seemed not to follow a path most of you have taken. Like many, I began with a darkroom in my Mom’s basement. I was hanging a show in a government building and on the way out the door, stopped at the desk and asked if they ever hired photographers. I filled out a Form 171, told them I was getting married in a few days, and split. When I returned from my honeymoon, there were 27 messages on my phone machine and they asked me to call immediately. I called on a Thursday and told the woman I would be in on Monday. She responded with, “If you look out your window, you will see a Diamond Cab in front of your apartment. Get in and come down here right away!” I got in and the cabbie took me to OEO, whereupon a guy whipped me up to Personnel, had me sign forms, swear I would defend the Constitution, and then it was ‘Welcome to OEO!” Then we returned to the cab, and took it to National Camera Repair. We went in and watched Charlie pack up five Nikons and 11 lenses plus a couple of cases. We also took some of the 1000 rolls of mostly Tri-X we were buying. I had never shot a Nikon before, and had not shot more than 50 rolls of film in my life. I had until Sunday to learn the camera front to back, as then I would fly to St Louis for my first assignment. Was I scared? Nope, not for a second. I think it’s time to sell my and your life’s stories of assignments, good times, and offer to teach younger shooters how to build their own careers and styles. You can’t get them at Amazon yet, so we’re it. I’m sure all of you have amazing stories to tell. Annie does not have a corner on experience. I hope we can combine forces for an online school in the DC/Baltimore area, or if you have an empty mansion anywhere in the country we could use it. Course cost is proposed at $85 ea in a block of 15. I have 3 students already signed (2 more called this morning) and 68 in the wings. Various folks want to learn how to take pictures, and not with a phone. All my students work with Canon T5i, available at eBay for about $250, or if they have some dough, get a new T7i for a grand or so. What do I need from you? An agreement to share the planning, the profits, and to do so for telling others your stories. The classes will be online and eventually, a series of videos too. I have planned to sell blocks of 15 classes at about $85 a class - the same price as Annie’s group. W need a crackerjack web designer too. First I need to know who wants to join and who can help. I don’t need your money, but I do need partners. My credit is shot, as when you have a titanium leg, all your dough goes to its care and feeding. Without this piece of carbon fiber, titanium, and computers, I cannot walk. How long has it been? The 24th was the 10th anniversary. I thought about calling our school ‘The Edge’, as in cutting edge. I know that if we can assemble a team of shooters with long careers, we can sell our stories like the competition. We do not need to hear the precise details. If I had more time I’d write it as fiction and find a publisher to make it into a best seller. Questions? 240-988-7744 I’m open to a new name but I need some ideas. If you think of something, please advise. The members of my original crew must all be on vacation or asleep at the wheel or terrified. Nobody seems to have any ideas. I need input as I can’t do all this myself. I want to be 47 again, so I can plan out a lengthy future to invent war stories to sell others on the longterm benefits of shooting cameras. Also: camerawork, lightworks, mastersoflight, or similar. I’ll listen to any name, as if it fits, we’ll use it. I like names to be comfortable, soft around the edges and easy to like.
RSVP
The Edge
Maybe it should be called ’The Breeze’ after I get Eric to invest. JW Faul, Nyce Pictures nyce2jan@xxxxxxxxx
JW Faul, Nyce Pictures
RIT would kick the image, so go on Google and search for “Jan Faul Trinity B-29" Site of first A-bomb test, Trinity, White Sands Missile Range, 2002
One is permitted to visit inside the fence for 30 minutes. I was there for 22, and the next day I came down with pneumonia. Geiger counter wasn’t pegged, but almost. The ground looks a bit like it was hit with a large boxing glove as it is depressed around the center. That B-29 flying above was designed to carry one A-bomb and was not there when I was. This bomb was on a 600 foot tower which got vaporized and everybody who was there that day is in the ground. Including my Dad.
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