“The Morbid Sisters” web series
Some friends of mine have been writing this story for the last 5 or so years. It’s called “The Morbid Sisters” and I would describe it as a dark comedy/sci-fi/chick-flick. They asked me to be the director of photography on it and I just had to. I’ve never worked on anything action of effects driven before. We’re filming something of a “Pilot” and So I wanted to share with you the first two episodes:
Please share these videos, “Like” and Subscribe to the channel – there’s more to come, we’re looking to get some funding to make a whole series!
Western Circle Sword Fighters
Last week I took a drive to Half Moon Bay with an assistant and a trunk full of lighting gear to check out the Western Circle Sword Fighters’ annual “Best of the Best” tournament.This organization is focused on the martial art of sword fighting of all styles, fighters build their own wooden or steel swords and craft their own leather and steel armor and compete
in full contact one on one fights.
It was interesting to work with because everything was so shiny and metallic and all the fighters were wearing black leather. I wanted to them to have a very dramatic “lit” look, so we
set up a black background with a strip box on either side for a rim light, we used a 5 degree grid to highlight the face and an on-camera speedlight for fill.
We did half body shots of the fighters with their armor and swords, and then tight head shots. The photos were typically taken between fights so everyone was still pumped up on
adrenaline and sweaty. We got to watch a bit of the competition and I can tell you, these guys do not mess around.
Overall I was very satisfied with what we got and I will definitely be working with them again. Don’t miss the BTS video at the end!
GLIDE Springlicious BTS and updates
Wow, it’s been wayyy too long since I updated last, hopefully there won’t be anymore of that for a while I’ve been terribly busy this past month.
To kick off this blog post, here’s a commercial shoot I did for the San Francisco local non-profit GLIDE promoting their annual fund raiser Springlicious:
This is my 2nd year in a row working with GLIDE and it’s always a lot of fun. The models are all drag queens/kings and the shoots are always a blast. An extra bonus is I always get a couple VIP tickets to the fundraiser which includes free food and drinks as well as a drag show. Waaaaayyyyy too much fun for a Saturday night.
Here’s a little BTS video that they used to promote the event:
In other news, the “Portraits of the 99%” project is still going strong and recently received a 500.00 grant to help out with the mounting of images. I’ve got a dozen or so ready to show and I’m in talks with a few galleries and collectors about doing a show soon including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the financial district. Also, this guy won me an Outsanding Documentary photography award. Very exciting!
And speaking of which, you all should know that IndieGoGo has been integral in getting this project funded and they recently asked me if I would be an ambassador for them! Of course I humbly accepted so if you go to an IndieGoGo meetup in San Francisco expect to see me there as a speaker. And as an added bonus, they want to furnish their office with a few of my Occupy Portraits.
I’m working on a number of things over the next few months so stay tuned, I promise to update more often.
Film production stills
For the last several weeks I’ve been involved in a film project. Having just returned in January from traveling the country shooting the Occupy Wallstreet protestors for nearly 4 months my one-off assignments and small personal projects just hadn’t been giving me the fulfillment that the Portraits of the 99% project did. I really wanted to make movies when I was kid and now that photography and video is overlapping I decided I wanted to work on a film project. I called up several friends in the film industry and some who are still in film school and told them I had no idea what I wanted to make – but I wanted to make something awesome. So we meet once a week for several weeks in a row and discussed concepts, wrote stories and worked out characters. We decided we wanted to make a web series based in the desert with a theme of isolation. The webisodes would be short, 3-5 minutes each and jump back and fourth between several characters.
On Monday, April 9th all six of us piled into a van full of food, scripts and equipment and drove out to the Salton Sea where we had 1 scout day, 1 shoot day and 2 driving days. We recruited local actors and despite some setbacks we got some amazing footage. Once it’s completed we plan to enter it competitions and just get it seen in general. Then we pitch it for crowdsource or other funding and shoot an entire series. We want to surpass the typical quality you see on youtube or web series, taking a dramatic approach rather than comedy which there seems to be a lot of out there. I can’t talk too much about the project, we haven’t even started post-production yet. What I can do however, is share some of the behind the scenes production stills of the shoot. Enjoy!
The film crew at Bombay Beach near Salton Sea, CA
We hope to have it all finished this summer. Keep an eye out for it!
“Portraits of the 99%” fund raising continues
I’ve started fund raising again to get the “Portraits of the 99%” photographs mounted! There are 77 that I have selected for this process, and I’ve got a few done already to show to galleries. I’ve been shopping these around for 2 months now and I’ve got some places interested. You can check it out and donate here: http://www.indiegogo.com/Portraits-of-the-99-percent
You can also “Like”, tweet, +1 and share the page with your friends and family. Thanks for all your help!
Occupy CA fundraiser video!
As you can see, I’ve been busy. I decided to put together a video to actually show me working in the field on this project. Not many people were willing to talk to the camera, but we were able to snag an interview with one of my contacts in Santa Rosa about the project. Please help out with this massive and wonderful project, you can donate at the link below. Thank you for all of your support.
The 99%
The Occupy Wall Street protests have been expanding nation-wide, and even internationally in the case with Occupy Toronto.
During the Occupy San Francisco protests I saw an opportunity to photograph a variety of passionate people in a very diverse city. So I hauled a c-stand some white foam core and a reflector over to 101 Market st (in front of the federal reserve bank building) and my friend Kevin helped me out some mad reflector holding skills.
I’m considering turning this project into a broader “Occupy Calfornia” type thing and hop around the state and do this same setup at all of the protests. LA, San Jose, San Diego, Santa Cruz… you get the idea.
A slide show of the photos is below, followed by an image gallery.
{Edit} I have set up a fund to further this project by visiting other cities and states and doing the same thing. You can find the fund HERE. Thanks for your support!
This Beach goes on for miles
At a recent portfolio showing an image I shot about a week and a half ago became quite popular among the attendants, due to both the content and the technical details of it.
I’ve been really into surrealism lately and I’ve begun to create images that I have seen in dreams and from deep within my imagination. I’m not a huge photoshop and composite kind of guy, but this image obviously called for it.
It’s quite difficult to find someone who’s actually willing to let you put a fist-full of sand in their mouth, especially when it would take multiple times. Check out these behind the scenes photos and a video on the photoshop process:
Clown shoot on Treasure Island
This week I did a shoot on Treasure Island with my friend Chris who actually let me dress him like a clown.
Now I know a lot of people are scared of clowns, or just plain don’t like them. The point of this shoot was all about juxtaposition, and since we were on Treasure Island I thought it would be cool to shoot a clown in an abandoned place.
Sure the photo is creepy, especially so if you’re scared of clowns but the feel I was going for was less “Oh my god scary!!” and more “What the hell is going on??” and I think I succeeded.
We also shot a little short, titled “Mr Diddles goes to work.” If you’re scared just from reading that, I take no responsibility for whatever happens when you actually watch it.
BART Protest, Powell St Station 9/8/11
The only reason I did not stay inside the station when they shut it down was because I did not have press credentials because I don’t usually do this sort of thing. I was simply at the right place at the right time. Some will say that I’m taking sides with No Justice No BART but to be honest I don’t agree with how either side handled this situation. I Think it was very foolish of No Justice No BART to think that they could get away with blocking the turnstiles or that it would even make a difference beside anger and inconvenience hundreds if not thousands of commuters.
I also believe that the SFPD were far too aggressive – I was shocked when they locked everyone inside the station and surrounded the protesters. I saw at least 2 people get beaten up and dragged away. The protesters were all very young – 18, 19, 20.
Gathering for the protest
SFPD preparing for what's coming
The arrival of some masked protesters
Banners arrive
Police forming a peremiter around the turnstiles
Protesters rushing the turnstiles
Locking up the station with the protesters still inside
A girl calling to her friend who is inside, being arrested.
New promo… promo
After several months of researching, designing, proofing and prototyping, my new 3D folding promo is coming out! It was a pretty large project to undertake, as we went through many concepts for the layout and design but finally came up with a design that would work. The initial inspiration was from the Cirque du Soleil Kooza soundtrack.
After some modification we made several smaller prototypes and tested them out before ordering them.
As for actually ordering the pieces I ran into some problems. The final dimensions of the promo when laid out on a flat sheet of paper were 21×13. To get a custom dye cut in that size would be very expensive so I decided to order everything on a 10 point coated poster stock and throw a party and assemble them by hand.
It was 4th of July weekend after all, so I threw on a pot roast, got some beer and invited a bunch of friends. It took us all day, but ultimately was worth it. I’m very grateful to have friends that will help me out with big projects like this – creative people do have lives outside of their profession(sometimes).
The front
The back
The inside
No 3-D glasses required!
The QR code isn’t active yet, so don’t even try. Eventually it will link to a hidden page on my website that will host a video that is essentially a commercial for me. Check out the promo in action below:
Always shoot video on your set!
Last weekend I shot a small campaign for Glide, a local non-profit that provides healthcare and other services for the homeless and needy. The campaign was for the Pride Team for an event that will be raising funds for the organization. The event was a Drag show, so the assignment was to take studio portraits of the performers. We took individual portraits, pairs of portraits and a group portrait. The group portrait has become sort of the center of attention for the campaign, but the individual portraits will be used during the event itself.
Anyway I had a blast working in the studio with the client, an art director and a crew of stylists and one thing I decided to do independently was shoot some behind the scenes footage with my trusty SONY NEX3, nothing too crazy but I wanted to document the shoot. I put together a 2 1/2 minute behind the scenes video and posted it to my vimeo, and within hours I got a flurry of emails from the client, the art director and a number of other people at Glide. They wanted to license the video for the event and for their website, and I was more than happy to comply with this.
Even if you don’t have a lot of fancy gear or don’t necessarily have a lot of experience shooting video, do it anyway. It’s a great way to learn, and you might make some money in the process. It’s simple at first, grab a friend and have them film some stuff around the set and then put a few clips together and you just might get a nice source of extra revenue.
My assistant Alanna and the art director with the performers
One of the pairs shots
A busy, satisfying shoot.
Dogpatch Days
I’ve been working on a series of landscapes and portraits in the dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco over the last 2 weeks or so, and I started shooting video-interviews alongside the portrait sessions. This is something I have been getting into the habit of lately, and I’m really enjoying the work flow. Hun (pronounced “Hoon”) ran away from home when he was a teenager to pursue his independence. He hitch-hiked across the country until he settled into San Francisco and bought a car. He assures me that he is satisfied with his decisions.
Check it out:
Drunken Portraits
The following portraits were shot with a very specific concept in mind: How we look, act and emote when we are under the influence of alcohol. I brought some friends into a photo studio and took their portraits on a plain white backdrop. Then over the course of about 30 minutes to an hour, I gave them all in the area of 8 to 9 shots of rum. Needless to say, they were all pretty loose when they sat down for the second portrait. The results were exactly what I was going for, and the models had a great time as well. I’ll be continuing this series, and I don’t think I’ll have any problems finding volunteers for it. Who doesn’t love free booze?
Be sure to check out the Behind the scenes video after the pictures!
“Still, life”
Shot with a 5D MKII in one morning. About the stillness of life.
Pacifica Photoshoot
We did a shoot in Pacifica on Wednesday on a mountain near Rockaway Beach. We were almost blown away by the winds but everyone (especially the model) was a real trooper. It was cold, and my model was wearing only suspenders and a wife-beater. Did some serious shots and some more silly/goofy ones. Had some good times and got some good photos. There’s a video at the end of the post!
“Music in the streets” a 21st Century Bard’s tale”
This is a little bit late coming, it’s been out for about a week and a half now… but better late than never.
The Faces of Fashion
“The Faces of Fashion” is a project I have been wanting to take on for about 2 years. It reflects upon the unattainable standards set by the fashion industry for men and women alike. Last week, I spent an entire day on the project, including some shopping, some food, and a whole lot of shooting. Check out the behind the scenes video below!
You can see the entire “Faces of Fashion” series at my newly updated website: http://www.RobertSchultze.net
{Some Photographer} 
