CALIBER

Contemplation by Eric Brandt

Eric Brandt is a Bay Area native who has spent recent years living in San Francisco, Minnesota, and Cambodia. He currently works at Kiva and spends his free time exploring, observing, and photographing the streets and alleys of SF. His photos can be found on Flickr and his website.

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Tell us about your photography. How long have you been taking photos? What’s your primary goal/thought/expression when taking photos?

Photography was an afterthought for me for the first 20 or so years of my life. I took vacation snapshots here and there, but growing up I was always more into drawing. My parents must have seen something in the photos I did take and got me an entry-level Pentax dSLR as a graduation gift in 2005. Something clicked, and I’ve been shooting religiously since. I haven’t dwelled much on my personal photography philosophy, but at its core it involves exploring and observing whenever and wherever I have my camera. I’ve found that I’m more observant when I’m wandering with a camera, and this is something I try to reflect in my photos. Currently I have a number of ongoing themes: street photography, graffiti/street art, decay/texture and urban exploration. I’ve never been a strong people photographer, although I’d really like to be, and the vast majority of my photos don’t have people in them. Mostly I just try to document the things I see on a daily basis. Someday I’d like to see more of my photos in print and possibly exhibit them somewhere.

What’s in your camera bag? Can you share your process and workflow?

I clung to my Pentax istDS for over four and a half years, and since I was taking the odd paying job I made the leap to the Canon 5D Mark II last fall. I use three lenses: a 16-35mm f/2.8, a prime 50mm f/1.4, and a 70-200mm f/2.8. All this gear can get bulky, so I usually use the 50mm on a day-to-day basis. I also have a little Canon S90 for when I don’t want to lug around the big gun. My workflow is pretty simple: shoot in RAW, organize in Bridge and process in CS4. I’d like to switch to Lightroom but haven’t transitioned yet. I usually don’t do too much post-processing, mostly tonal adjustments and grayscale conversion. Maybe 10-15% of what I shoot makes it on Flickr, and a select few shots go on my website.

What photographers past and present inspire you? If you could spend a day with a photographer, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I’ve always been moved by documentary photography and conflict photography in particular. Growing up I was really into military history, so I admired photographers like Robert Capa and Eddie Adams. I think my admiration stemmed not just from the powerful images they created, but also the enormous physical and emotional challenges they must have faced. As for inspiration, I tend to look to younger photographers like Matt Mallams, Elyse Butler and Tim Hussin. Matt Mallams in particular because he has many similar interests, especially a fascination with texture, street art and an emphasis on observations. For urban exploration inspiration, I generally look to Katherine Westerhout. And I can’t forget all the inspiring photographers on Flickr.

If I could spend a day shooting with any photographer, it would have to be Sebastião Salgado. I had the good fortune to hear him present his project Genesis at the Palace of Fine Arts last year, and I really respect his lifelong commitment to social documentary photography. Using powerful images to promote and advance social causes is a rare talent, and I’d be honored to spend some time with him.

You’ve traveled quite a bit… what’s your advice for travelers taking photos abroad? What’s the best gear and advice to take with you? Do you have an interesting travel/photography story to share?

Perhaps my most surreal travel photography experience came when I was working in Cambodia in 2008. Before leaving the states I compiled a list of interesting photo destinations in Southeast Asia using Flickr, and one that stuck out in particular was the Stung Meanchey municipal dump in the outskirts of Phnom Penh. It took a couple months before I felt comfortable enough navigating the chaotic traffic of Cambodia’s capital to bike out to the dump. Stung Meanchey is hard to describe, but locals call it Smoky Mountain due to constantly smoldering fires deep beneath the landfill’s surface. It reminded me more of a WWI-era battlefield than anything else, a toxic wasteland of garbage. Hundreds of people were scavenging for anything salvageable or recyclable, including children who chased after dump trucks as they arrived from the city. Cambodia was my first foray into the developing world, and Stung Meanchey was a sobering reminder of how destitute some people really are. I felt extremely uncomfortable taking photos at the dump, even though a few scavengers were friendly and interested in having their picture taken. It was good to have visited, though, since it was such a shocking contrast to the standard tourist attractions and Western expat scene in Phnom Penh.

Without researching areas beforehand, I wouldn’t have discovered Stung Meanchey or photographic gems like Bangkok’s Chinatown and Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Investigate interesting spots before you leave (Flickr, Google, blogs, whatever) and make a list of places to shoot. I tend to create my personal travel itineraries around really cool places to photograph. If I’m traveling alone I like to wake up early and hit the streets at dawn, the best time to capture people going about their morning business. As far as equipment, I prefer to travel light and inconspicuous.

What’s your favorite location locally for taking photos? What is your dream photography destination?

I have a fascination with abandoned places, gritty industrial areas, and urban decay, so I tend to gravitate towards peripheral SF neighborhoods like Dogpatch, Islais Creek, Bayview and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. I’d love to hit up Mare Island or Byron Hot Springs sometime for some night photography, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. My absolute favorite spot was the abandoned Washington Packing Corporation warehouse, but sadly it was demolished last year. For years my dream photographic destination has been Namibia, but then I read about Hashima Island. I can’t imagine how many memory cards I’d fill if you gave me 24 hours there.

Share a favorite photograph with us that you’ve taken and tell us about it.

I’m not sure if it’d be right to call this my favorite, but it’s one of my most powerful and personal photos. I was living in Minnesota in the summer of 2007, just a mile from the I-35W Bridge, and I biked down to the Mississippi when I learned that the bridge had collapsed during rush hour on August 1. My roommate actually broke the news to me, and initially I thought just a section had collapsed (like the Bay Bridge in 1989). So I went down to the river with my camera and joined the hundreds of others who had come to see what had happened. It was really a shocking sight when I saw that the entire bridge was in the Mississippi, smoke everywhere and cars tossed about like toys. I had about 15 minutes to photograph before the police cordoned off the area and pushed the crowd to higher ground, and during this time I noticed how few (if any) professional photojournalists were on the scene. When I got home I processed my shots and uploaded them to Flickr, where my stats shot through the roof and I saw that there weren’t many photos from the immediate aftermath of the disaster. I sent a few shots to local media outlets and licensed a batch through the AP, and was contacted by NPR to speak about this particular photo and the impact of citizen photojournalism in the wake of the 35W disaster. I think this shot really resonated with people because if captured the emotional impact of the disaster, which in turn complemented other images of physical damage. This was actually one of the last photos I took that day, and moments later a police officer asked this woman to evacuate. I didn’t consider myself anything more than a hobbyist at the time, but the whole experience made me more aware of the power of photography and inspired me to take the craft more seriously.

Thanks, Eric.

Wow.

Just found out earlier this morning that Caliber is featured in this year’s SF Bay Guardian “Best of the Bay” issue.  We won the “Best Eyes on The City” award, which is quite an honor. What a wonderful surprise to wake up to!

A big thank you goes out to our fellow San Francisco photographers (way too many to name here) for sharing your images every day and supporting our group! Please take some time and check them out in those links over there on the right, as well as in our collection of interviewees here.

For the past several months, my lower back has been producing sharp pains for hours at a time. It generally flares up after a long day of shooting, as my DSLR camera bag (with 3 lenses an an external flash) weighs about 18 lbs. Because of this, I’ve found myself carrying my camera bag a lot less in my day to day routine. It bothers me to no end, and I can’t even try to put a number on the amount of shots I’ve missed because I didn’t have a camera on me at the time.

This past Sunday, I decided to buy a Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera. I had researched this particular model for a few hours and after reading rave review after rave review, I felt comfortable making the purchase. What sold me about this model was its compact size, packed with powerful features, and the option of interchangeable lenses.

My next step was deciding where to buy it from. My first choice, B&H (awesome online retailer) was out of stock, as was Calumet (another awesome online retailer). So, I started searching on Amazon. I found a model with the lens I wanted, read the reviews (97% positive) and added it to my shopping cart. As I made my way through checkout, I paid careful attention to the shipping window as it was important to have it arrive by this Friday, the 23rd. I was a bit skeptical of purchasing through a 3rd party affiliate as I’ve had problems with some vendors in the past. I reread the customer reviews and the majority were positive with a heavy emphasis on how fast the products were shipped. Moments later, I completed checkout and made my purchase.

The next morning I got an email from the vendor, Wall Street Photo, and after looking up the UPS tracking noticed that it would not arrive until Sunday the 26th. Hmmm. I emailed Wall Street Photo and asked what the reason for the delay was. No response. The next morning, I sent another email inquiring about the difference in shipping dates between checkout and delivery confirmation. Again, no response. A little ticked off, I called Amazon customer service and talked with Kathleen, explaining my frustration. Kathleen quickly realized I was upset and indicated that this was not the first, second, third, etc. complaint Amazon had received about Wall Street Photo. She advised me to purchase the same model from Amazon directly and contact the vendor yet again and to let them know I wanted to cancel my order. (Kathleen was awesome, Amazon customer service is lucky to have her on their team). I sent another email to Wall Street Photo and let them know I wanted to cancel my order, as the delivery window was misleading and I felt like I had been mislead.

A few hours later Wall Street Photo responded with the following:

We apologize if you misunderstood the these shipping terms set by Amazon. If you have any concerns feel free to hit [sic] us an email anytime.

I responded saying I felt that the confusion was actually on their end, but nevertheless, I simply wished to cancel my order and forget about it after being issued a full refund.

Moments later I received a second response:

Cancellations requested after your order has shipped will require your refusal of delivery acceptance when the shipping carrier delivers. We will process your refund after your shipment has been returned to us. A nominal $10.00 charge will be deducted from the refund. Shipping charges will also not be credited in this case. Likewise, shipments which have had 3 delivery attempts without success and have been returned to us by the shipping carrier will also have the above charge deducted. Cancellations which are accepted when delivered are subject to a 20% restocking fee.

At this point I realized I was being swindled and was out $163. I wrote them back and explained that this response was unsatisfactory and asked them to give me a call so we could work this out. As of this posting I have not received a response from Wall Street Photo via phone or email.

Tomorrow, I look forward to receiving the second camera ordered directly from Amazon, and have no doubt it will arrive on time. I plan on working with Kathleen to try and reverse the various restocking and S&H charges, and am somewhat confident I will recoup some of my money. But it won’t come without headache, and will likely take several weeks until I see any of the monies from the first camera deposited back into my checking account.

I’ll update this post as the situation evolves, but in the meantime my advice is to be wary of a deal that seems to good to be true, because in the end it often is.

Update: (7/21/10) I received the camera from Amazon direct a few minutes ago. So, at least I have the camera for this weekend.

Upon further investigation (with the help of a friend) it seems that the vendor, Wall Street Photo, is not a licensed Panasonic seller, and is operating by selling refurbished and unauthorized merchandise. I have a note out to Amazon inquiring as to why they would do business with this vendor and am going to suggest that they discontinue the relationship.

Update #2 (7/21/10) The CEO of Wall Street Photo emailed me tonight, saying “Your email just reached the top of my inbox and its kind of late, so I’ll try to wrap this up tomorrow” but has not yet committed to a full refund (including S&H).

Update #3 (7/23/10) Still no word from Wall Street Photo. I contacted Amazon tonight, and let them know the seller has refused to return my emails. I also pointed out that numerous other buyers had made claims that their photography equipment was refurbished and unauthorized by the manufacturers. Amazon has committed to giving me a full refund (after I refuse shipment on Monday). Additionally, Amazon’s fraud investigation team is looking into multiple claims of fraud and general abuse of their Terms of Service.

Update #4 (8/9/10) Amazon has refunded my purchase in full, including S&H both ways.

This past weekend, I interviewed 4th generation and 85 year-old San Francisco photographer Fred Lyon at his Marina District studio. Since discovering Fred’s body of work a few weeks ago, I’ve found an incredible amount of inspiration to make my own good photos around the city we both love.

I asked Fred to talk about the photo he was most proud of along his 71-year career, who has inspired him photographically, and what San Francisco was like during his heyday.

“Golden Gate Bridge Under The Roadbed” by Fred Lyon, 1950

Talk about the above photo.

Looking at this image after all these years, I still have all the sensations that came to me when I was crawling around the steelwork under the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was from a magazine story about the bridge painters, whose work started at one end, went to the other and started all over again.

I feel the brisk morning air, the stillness that gives way to strong breezes and howling wind.  Plus apprehension from the knowledge that a careless step could result in a long plunge to San Francisco Bay.

But the dramatic elements demanded prompt action before the moment passed:  The silhouetted girders, the X composition from the outstretched worker, even Alcatraz in the center.

Plenty of time later to sweat over risk and anyway, in my mid-twenties it never occurred to me that I’d live beyond thirty.

Why did you take it?

Some long forgotten magazine buckled under to my nagging and around 1950 assigned the shoot.  Whenever my schedule slowed and the rent was due, my story suggestions spewed forth.  For this story I was even able to arrange a helicopter to meet me near the top of one of the towers—illogical, but the editor loved it.

For the most part you shot film over the past 70 years. Have you ever shot digital?

The last of my film equipment has recently gone away, being untouched for about the last four years.  I miss moving slides around on the light table, but I have a wall of file cabinets bulging with slides and negatives.  Today I’m not tempted by film. I use digital Nikons.  The digital tools allow me to produce images I could only dream of a few years ago.

You were  walking the streets during my favorite period in San Francisco’s timeline. What was The City like in the 1940′s & 1950′s for a young photographer?

The 1940′s and 50′s saw the end of the deprivation of World War II. There was a great nationwide sigh of relief.  Optimism was rampant, as much of the population entered the peacetime workplace in new roles.  The promise of new ventures, new technology, and new materials was heady stuff for young people, even for wary oldsters.

Meanwhile, San Francisco reveled in its role of Gateway to the Pacific, with shipping and the rebuilding of an ocean travel fleet.  It all felt like New Year’s Eve.

For a young photographer, it was an intoxicating time.  The Bay, the bridges, and The City, with its steep hills, fog, and cable cars were a delicious kaleidoscope parading before my lens.  Curiosity and passion for the impressionism of nature drove me on, barely ever letting the camera cool.

Speaking of Olde San Francisco, I’m a big Herb Caen fan. How did Herb’s columns impact peoples’ daily lives when he was alive?

Herb is one I really miss.  A disciplined newspaperman of the old school, he expressed his romantic vision of the town in his own style of what he described as “three dot journalism”.  Early on we shared an enthusiasm for jazz, booze, and wonderful ladies.  Later, I would forward prints while editing my files, until the day he said, “Fred, please don’t send any more pictures of me when I had hair – it’s too depressing.”

Tell us about a memorable instance where having your camera made an impact of what you were experiencing.

Let’s think about that.  Possibly it was a Colliers assignment of a Sacramento lobbyist, “The Secret Boss of California,” Artie Samish.  My portrait of him with a hobo doll, “This is my mascot.  I call him Mr, Legislature.  Every day I tell him what to do.”

That picture sent him to prison.

What photographers past and present lend inspiration to you?

The graphic qualities of black-and-white and its possibilities for abstraction have fascinated me from the first.  Rich, velvety blacks are infatuating.  So it’s not surprising that a critic recognized a Bauhaus look in some of my work.  And I fully credit the photographers’ friend, Rene Magritte, with feeding my voracious need to make fresh images.

Arnold Genthe was my first hero and it’s easy to see his vision in my Chinatown pictures.  Brassai, Robert Doisneau, and Jacques-Henri Lartigue were men I admired and knew slightly.  Bill Brandt, Andre Kertesz, and Henri Cartier-Bresson have been influences on my work.

Tell us something about yourself that few people know about (relating to photography….or not).

As I became older and crankier, I decided to focus on areas that appealed to me: Wine, Food, and Travel.  The wine and food world has never been the same.  Too bad for them.

Towards that end, I raised wine grapes in the Napa Valley for thirty years.  Often I’d climb down from my tractor to prowl vineyards all over the world with my camera.

Thinking back on all these years as a photographer, what advice or hindsight would you give to new photographers?

Of course you need technique.  But that’s merely the affairs of craftsmanship.  So don’t let it show too much in your images. Be enthusiastic.  Your clients will love you and you’ll be better able to handle the inevitable drudge parts of photography. Indulge your curiosity.  It’s the basis of creativity.

Above all, bring a lot of joy to your work.

Thanks, Fred.

Make sure and stop by to say “Hi” to Fred in person at his book signing this Thursday at the Modern Book gallery in Union Square.

I’ve known San Francisco-based photog Ando Caulfield since the mid-to-late 90s.  We met through skateboarding of course.  

Ando’s passion for photography budded roughly 10 years ago when he knocked the dust off an old Polaroid camera and started documenting the times and crimes of him and his friends.  (The sheer volume of Ando’s Polaroid collection is really quite impressive.) 

Overtime, Ando’s passion for photography morphed into an obsession, eventually leading to the purchase of a high-end DSLR and a strong desire to master skateboard photography.

Today, Ando has established himself as one of the chief skate photographers in The City.  His photographs have appeared in just about every noteworthy skate rag in print.  Suffice to say that if you skate and are involved in the industry, then you know Ando — or of him rather.  Ando’s considered somewhat of an ambassador for Bay Area skateboarding, so it is with great pleasure that I’m able to showcase he and his work here on Caliber.

Enjoy the interview…

For more on Ando, visit www.sewerskidz.com.

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Talk about your chosen image? When and where was it taken? What did you think of your image once processed? 

The image I chose is special to me because it is of one of the best skateboarders in the world, PJ Ladd. He is also one of my favorites and one of the hardest to photograph.

The photo was taken last July in Tokyo for a DC Shoe Company tour article in “Transworld Skateboarding Magazine Japan.”  I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

Tell us about a memorable instance where having your camera made an impact on what you were experiencing.  

This is kind of a hard question to answer because I feel that having my camera on me at all times make the instances memorable. I really like to document the normal things in life because someday they become memorable moments.  I feel that everyday I have my camera impacts what I experience. I really enjoy having pictures of everything.  

How long have you been making photographs? 

I have been around cameras most of my life from the old Kodak disk cameras that my Aunt Margie would let me play with when I was young to my uncle George who taught me indirectly about SLRs, composition and color. His photos made me realize the power in a photo and at a later age inspired me to take my own photography seriously. I have been shooting seriously now for about 10 years. It has been a progression from Polaroid party shots to high-end digital and film cameras and shooting for magazines. 

Walk us through your current camera gear and workflow. 

My current camera gear consists of a Canon 1D Mark III, a few Canon lenses, a couple of Canon flashes, and a Sunpak flash.  I also have a Hasselblad 501, a bunch of Poloroid cameras, and a few Pentax point-and-shoot 35s that I picked up from the Goodwill.  

I am out shooting skateboarding roughly three or four days a week, but always make sure I have a camera on me for whatever else pops up. 

I always try to process as soon as possible because I’m curious to see how the photos from the shoot turned out. If digital, I upload and label, separate sequences from stills, and try to keep everything organized by date, skater/person/people/place, and then get them were they need to go.  

Are you working on any current projects? Let’s talk about those. 

In addition to shooting whatever comes up, I’m currently working on a John Cardiel interview for a Japanese bike magazine as well as shooting pictures for an upcoming documentary about the Lost Girls of the Sudan, which is very exciting.  

What would be your dream destination for photographic purposes? 

Right now, my dream destination would be Africa.  It seems like an amazing place to be and shoot.

Any tips on shooting skateboarding for our readers? 

Skateboarding can be a little difficult to shoot. I think it just takes a lot of practice in getting the timing down right. I also think having a good group of people around is important, meaning the skateboarder needs to feel comfortable with the photographer and vice versa.   

Stills or sequences? 

I prefer stills but sometimes you need the sequence to really capture the trick.  An example would be a flip in to flip out manual trick.   

What photographers past and present lend inspiration to you? 

Joe Brook, Gabe Morford, Grant Brittian, Ted Pushinsky, Ken Goto, Dylan Maddux, Oliver Fader, Annie Lebeowitz, Massan Fluker, Rip Zinger, Atiba Jefferson, Pete Thompson, My uncle George, Kyle Camarillo, Matt Daughters, Dennis McGrath, Josie Ramondetta, Dave and Ray Potes, Ben Colen, Mike O`Mealy, MOFO, Bryce Kanights, Lance Dawes, Mike Blabac, Ari Macropolus…too many to think off, and almost everyone I know with a camera. 

Who is a photographer that we should all know more about? 

Kyle Camarillo.  

If you could spend a day with any photographer living or dead, who would it be and why? 

Malcolm Browne.  He’s the man who shot the picture of the Vietnamese monk burning himself in Saigon. I would like to ask him about his time covering the war.

 Tell us something about yourself that few people know about (relating to photography….or not). 

I used to speak Chinese when I was a kid, and I would like to be shot into space when my time comes.