nickonkenShoptalk

Cidade De Deus... City of God

 

I have to write this as it's fresh in my mind and I'm still decompressing. I have to say shooting in the City of God will be an unforgettable and emotional experience. It's personal projects like this that remind me over and over how fortunate I am. The stories that have come from there are crazy. If you haven't seen the movie, City of God, you should as it is a true story of the drug trafficking that goes on there and is a great depiction of the reality of a this place. Almost every day there is hostile gunfire in these Favela. For those of you who don't know what "Favela" means, it means  "slum" and there are around 513 of them in Rio De Janiero. The drug trafficking is a huge problem, as the favelas are so poor that most young kids fall into it as a way to make money to provide for their families. The sad reality is that boys as young as 11 are on the streets with guns. Guns and selling drugs are power and run the favala. The police are always arresting the traffickers, and the traffickers fight back, is always gunfire going on. People die every day from this.

So now imagine what it takes to get into this place and how dangerous it is. My Brazilian friend Mari is one of the most amazing people I've ever met. She also knows everyone, and was able to lead us to a touching story of one of her best friend's husband, MV Bill. MV Bill is a legend and a hero. He grew up in the City of God, and became a well known rapper who's lyrics are all about inspiring youth to stay out of trafficking. He created a non-profit organization called CUFA to provide classes and recreation for kids to keep them out of the trafficking. He is active every day in the lives of so many people helping them, and most of all mentoring kids. Bill is a big guy with an even bigger heart.

Little did we realize how much work was involved for us to come. On Saturday, the day before we came, there was a gun fight in the morning between the traffickers and the police. It was what they say in portuguese "Chapa Quente" which means "Hot Grill". To make it safe for us to come the next day, Bill had to walk around all day to every drug dealer and ask them not to sell while we were there. Even when we called a taxi to take us there, they called us back to ask us if we were actually going "IN" to the City of God. The locals know how dangerous it can be. When I'm in the zone or the moment of shooting things like this, I tend to be oblivious to the things going on around me which is why I like to travel with a small entourage of key people. A translator and someone who knows the area. I always like to have at least one person from the area walking with me. As we were walking and shooting, Bill had to say ok, this area you can't shoot because there are dealers here. The risk of getting killed if I happen to get a dealer in on of my shots is a likely one.

For me the impact and emotion comes from the stories of the people in these images. Most of the time when people come to shoot in a favela, they show the dark side. They focus on the bad things that happen inside, and not the other side. This is a huge deal. To see a Bill get emotional when seeing the joy captured in the souls of the people in the images is hugely impactful. People who's stories he knows first hand of children without parents, and parents with kids who've gone into trafficking, and that have been in prison. This was the first time in two years that the has brought anyone into the City Of God.

It was a great feeling to be able to show the joyful side of the people in the favela. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to make an impact with my work. We are working on ideas to help Bill and Cufa and get and involved.

See the rest of the story here:
http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/CityOfGod/

Ari Graynor-Improper Bostonian Cover

Right before I bounced out to NYC and Brazil, I shot another cover for the Improper Bostonian. It's a well designed magazine. We shot Ari Graynor, a wonderful actress from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. She was lovely.

Here's the story:
http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/AriGraynor/

NYC, iPhone style

I was in New York for a week a couple week ago, and decided to shoot with a different camera. My iPhone camera. It was an interesting challenge, especially since you can't adjust the exposure. Definitely nice not hefting a beasty 1Ds MKIII all around the city. None the less with a little post, the results were not too shabby.

It's always good to challenge yourself with a different camera than you usually shoot with. I need to do it more often myself.

Story here:
http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/NYCbyiPhone/

Business and Marketing Plans

These are very important to have if you're serious about your career in photography, but I think they're important to write at the right time in your journey. It takes a few years to really figure out what you want to shoot, how you shoot it, and how you want to make money doing it. It's a lot to think about.

Earlier this year, I worked with a long time friend of mine Kris Nelson in LA who helped myself and another mutual friend Mark Leibowitz write his marketing and business plans. During the process Kris worked with me by helping me ask myself the right questions and to lay out hierarchical documents that describe my goals, vision, and break down how I intend on achieving them. It was a long process, but a good one. It's helped to clarify and outline where I want to go with my photography business. It was also a great piece of the package to have when meeting with different reps. They were very impressed that I had my marketing and business plans written out. (If you haven't read the Reps post, read it here.)

The documents are very personal, thought out, and quite a process. I highly recommend creating them if you are that stage of being ready to move your business forward. Kris was great to work with.

You can find out more at Kris' website, and contact him with any questions.

http://www.kramaconsulting.com/

Brown.

Yet another fantastic restaurant in New York. A hidden little gem in lowest part of the lower east side that has been surfacing amongst foodies in the recent months. Everything is made with fresh organic ingredients that is bought within a day of being served. Something also interesting, is they only use ovens. Nothing is cooked over a burner.

Here's a little idea of what I got to try:
•brown’s macaroni and cheese with 2 year aged gruyere, ricotta, fontina and mozzarella
•red snapper ceviche, corn, red onions, avocado, grape tomatoes, cilantro, house made taro chips
•roasted sweet water prawns, israeli couscous, brunoise vegetables, roasted asparagus, grape tomatoes 
•Avocado Toast, fresh avocados, melted cheese and carmelized onions accompanied by mixed greens (it was recently added, so I'm not sure the exact ingredients)

Is your mouth watering already? Mine is. I must revisit this place. Check out the little news clip on their website that Channel 7 did for them.

http://www.greenbrownorange.com/

Photo Plus Panel on Getting a Rep this Friday at 11:30

Amanda Sosa Stone, my consultant for the last few years is working with Lost Luggage/Team Envy this week at the expo and putting a few free seminars at the Lost Luggage booth. She's awesome if you're looking to figure out how to go about your business and marketing.

None the less, she asked me(and a few others) to answer some questions on her panel about the process I went through in finding my rep, Greenhouse. There will be a couple other high profile reps there as well answering questions. The seminars will be some really great information, so if you can make it, come by.

Info:
Friday(the 24th) 11:30 LOST LUGGAGE/BRAND ENVY BOOTH #1528

Come say hi!

Macondo

I'm sure you might have gathered by now that I like to eat. It's pretty rare that I run across a place that is amazing enough to blog about but it looks as though I've found something. I'm in NYC right now exploring and getting a feel for the city. I'll also be heading to pieces of the expo this next week.

That said, I know NY has many great places to consume goodness, but this one in the embarkment of my journey has topped the charts so far. I'd rank it up there with the goodness of Monsoon in Seattle. Macondo is a fantastic gourmet Spanish Tapas spot on the lower east side at crossing of Houston and Allan.

Each dish had it's unique spices and flavors to give those tastebuds a little party. We had the Chorishrimp, Cubanos, and their specialty guacomole which was pretty unreal.

If you're ever in NYC, it's definitely worth your time.

http://www.macondonyc.com/

Players of Character

Found this article through my friend/mentor, Chase Jarvis. It's written by Court Crandall, a founder of the agency Ground Zero down here in LA. What caught my eye, was the article was written about my friend Noah Clark and his resilient character and motivation. So, if you're reading this Noah, Kudos!

I believe a lot of what it takes to be come a pro photographer, and also as Chase says is hard work, and motivation. That is the core character of a job like this because it can be tough. You need to be very self motivated to excel in this world, especially with all the competition that is arising. That even extends into assisting and learning. Be willing to get your hands dirty for a while to learn. Attitude is everything.

Here's a bit of the article:
"Last week was about as bad a week as I can remember at Ground Zero. We lost two employees. The first was art director Noah Clark, who announced he's leaving to join Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Boulder, Colo. The second was a woman who made breakfast for the staff and cleaned the office, and who died of lung cancer despite having never smoked a cigarette in her life. (Having worked on the California Department of Public Health account for eight years, I'd be remiss not to mention that her father was a heavy smoker and she believes the second-hand smoke she inhaled as a child ultimately led to her demise.)

Clark interviewed to be my assistant a couple weeks before he was scheduled to graduate from the University of Southern California. Unlike the other finalist for the job, an attractive woman the rest of the creative department was imploring me to hire, Noah was more "boy band": spiked hair, fresh face, jeans that were more fancy than a guy needs to own. But there was something about him that reminded me of myself. And it wasn't the hair. He was just so damn eager to be in the business. There was no pretense, no attitude or entitlement. All he wanted to do was work hard, learn and help.

So I hired him, spelling out very clearly that the chances of his growing into an art director position with us were similar to the word at the end of our agency name: "Zero." He nodded along and said he understood. Then he set about completing every task asked of him to the highest standard possible. Between doing all the so-called "grunt" work, Noah grabbed every creative brief he found lying around the office and looked for ways to help out with layouts, taglines, new business presentations, etcetera. He never asked to be promoted. He never bitched about his day-to-day responsibilities or acted like anything was beneath him. Which is why when a junior art director position opened, I decided it was time to do what a guy named Peter Seronick did for me years before: Give him a chance. So I gave the kid who was Ground Zero the opportunity to join our creative department over all the guys and girls who simply wanted to work for Ground Zero.

In the four years that followed, Noah turned into an award-winning art director who did the kind of work students at VCU and Art Center now point to and say, "Someday." But that wasn't what made him special. The longer you do this job, the more you find that doing good work is the price of entry and it's all the other stuff that separates the folks you really like from the ones you can't live without.

In 15 years of owning Ground Zero, there haven't been many folks who regularly beat me to the office in the morning. Noah was one of them. It should also be noted that he was often the last to leave at night, if he left. I don't say this to glamorize long hours or a sweatshop mentality, but to point out that he typically wasn't burning the midnight oil or the pre-dawn oil to better his portfolio, but to make a presentation look a little better, work on the agency new business materials or polish an ad that was still a little too rough around the edges for his liking. This kind of dedication earned him the moniker "The Cleaner" from Laura Eastman, our head of account services. Like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction, Noah was the guy who fixed things, no matter how screwed up they might have been when someone dumped them in his lap. When another art director left on vacation, Noah picked up the slack. When another team dropped the meat in the dirt, he picked up the pieces."

Read the rest here:

MC Yogi's "Vote for Hope" video and Shepard Fairey

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

This Vote for Hope video by MC Yogi(youtube) is an amazing one. It was inspired by Shepard Fairey's work, one of my favorite street artists. The graphics and the message in this video are very inspiring.

The Wisdom Book

Andrew Zuckerman created a very inspiring personal project called Wisdom. It's a film where he interviews famous cultural icons and asks them what wisdom is to them. He also does a book of portraits of all the people in the film. The words of wisdom from these folks is truly inspiring. Check it out!

http://www.wisdombook.org/