Posts tagged ‘New York’

James Earl Jones at Shakespeare in the Park

New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park has been a summer tradition for more than 50 years. The performances — which can be enjoyed free of charge, if you manage to queue up early enough — have starred many great actors. In August 1973, I was assigned by Saturday Review (no longer published, but for decades, one of America’s best cultural magazines) to photograph James Earl Jones, who was starring in the title role of King Lear.

This was one of those really rare occasions where the picture just gave itself to me, with no heavy lifting required. On a fine August afternoon, Jones, then 42, was rehearsing, alone, on the stage of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. No need for additional lighting, no makeup or wardrobe assistance — only a superb actor framed by the pattern of the boards.

James Earl Jones seated at the Shakespeare in the Park festival, where he performed the title role in King Lear

I do remember that after finishing the pictures, I sat at the edge of the stage, listening and watching, an audience of one. Today being another fine August day (almost 40 years later), I thought it a good time to share the image.

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Louis Mendes: Street Shooting at "Me Priority"

Louis Mendes with his Speed Graphic camera

A couple of weeks ago, I encountered a photographer who occupies a unique niche in the digital era. Louis Mendes uses a vintage Graflex Speed Graphic, instant film (now Fuji since Polaroid has left the marketplace), and electronic flash (although he'd gladly use flashbulbs if they were still readily available) to take pictures of individuals and families at locations around Manhattan.

You may have seen him outside B&H Photo, or in Rockefeller Center during the Christmas season… Mr. Mendes gets around, and was even the subject of a feature in The New York Times back in January. It seems there are enough willing customers to keep him busy. Mr. Mendes spoke disparagingly in The Times piece of the digital photo hustlers who work the tourist areas, saying "…They don’t know aperture priority from shutter priority. This, this is me priority. All manual. I set it."

I love it – 'me priority.' I had a Speed Graphic myself, inherited in the late '60s from an Associated Press assignment editor named Dan Grassi, himself a former AP shooter. That camera has gone to its final reward, but David Burnett, one of my oldest pals, and one of the finest photojournalists of the past few decades (and still working hard) has himself used his 4×5 Speed Graphic (with film) to photograph recent presidential campaigns and the Olympic Games. It's all about the discipline of getting it right in one (maybe two) carefully composed frame. And that ethic applies just as much today.

I used to think nothing of traveling on big international shoots with many cameras and even more lenses, but came to understand that the real creative challenge is to make great pictures with one camera, one lens. What I just wrote, "make pictures" I learned originally from the AP's Dan Grassi. Until he taught me just what those two words mean, I always said "take pictures." There is a difference.

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