About me[]
It all started for in 1928 in a small town called =="Hollywood", CA== . On 8/8/1928 that’s the day I arrived into this world, now back in 1928 both my uncles, work at University Film Studios as did my father, after high school graduation I moved to my sister’s house so I could get to University of Southern California, from her house without a car. I was fortunate enough to land a job working in the film department at Universal Studios. My first jobs as a cinematographer was as a first assistant cameraman (focaspuller), after graduation, from University of Southern California from their masters program, I worked in the film industry throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s. I cannot describe days on the film set. A focus puller is another term for 1st camera assistant. The actual term means adjusting the lens focus to keep the subject matter sharp. 1st AC (assistant camera) is the American term for a focus puller. Late no my uncle James worked at Universal Studios as a Motion Picture Stills Photographer. He would tell me stories about some of he had photographed such as Mack Sennett (Producer), D.W. Griffith (Director), Cecil B DeMille (Producer), Jack Warner (co-owner of Warner Bros), Charles Chaplin, William Boyd, Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Douglass Fairbanks, Eddie Cantor, William Powell, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, Buster Keaton, Jackie Cooper, John and Lionel Barrymore, Jimmy Durante, Harold Muller (Writer), Max Baer (Boxer) and a youngster named Mickey Rooney.
He always told me to go the extra mile for people and they would do the same, well most of the time and he had nothing but good things to say about the stars of yesteryear. That's was one of the ways he made money in "The Great Depression", back then he said people would do anything to stay alive.
In 1948 he bought six acres of land in La Crescenta, CA and had an old school house moved onto the orange tree covered lot that he paid cash for. He drove the pickup for about five more years then he brought ten Clydesdales horses to work his little ranch and also to rent them to the "Rose Bowl Parade". He did that for many years until the 210 freeway came in and took five acres of his ranch for the new freeway development. He died in the late 1980's after a long struggle with Alzheimer's he was in his late eighties. I remember as a kid all of his great stories of early Hollywood, and how he would always tell people "I only take cash, no checks, and no credit cards!” After he died I was told that he had left me all is photography equipment and that’s when I started working as a Motion Picture Stills Photographer, if there was on work as a focuspuller I always got work as a Unit Stills Photographer.
Motion Picture Stills Photographer
This to me was what I most enjoyed take thanking peoples pictures on and off the film set, this became my passion.
There is a middle way though, a type of photography that’s not quite as mundane as creating a movie includes shooting still images that are used in promotional material. It’s a job for the Unit Stills Photographer, someone who hangs around the set taking pictures and trying desperately not to get in the way.
The Second Most Important Photographer on the Set is a Unit Stills Photographers have to create two kinds of images. The first documents the making of the movie and includes close-ups of the actors and crew, wide shots of the crew shooting the action, the set and the equipment. It all sounds like straightforward stuff – and fun too – but shooting on a film set does pose some very special challenges. The biggest of course, is that the photographer’s camera is the least important on the shoot. The best position will always be taken by the movie camera which means that you have to work knowing that you’re missing the composition you’d really want because someone else’s gear is in the way — and theirs is much bigger than yours.
And you might miss the best moments too. Once the director shouts “action” the photographer has to stop working. While much of the crew and actors are standing around and waiting, you’ll be free to shoot as much as you want. But as soon as it looks like the fighting’s about to begin or the lips meet, you’ll have to put your camera away.
In the film industry, it’s all about who you know,” he warns. “Nothing means more than connections. You could have the top gear cameras equipment etc and have a great portfolio. It all about the other photographer knows somebody.”
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