JEFF SINGER BLOG - SAN FRANCISCO EDITORIAL & COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Golden Gate Bridge 75

Jeff Singer — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:03:41 +0000

The Golden Gate Bridge turns 75 this month. It’s strange to live in San Francisco and drive across the bridge all the time and not even think about it. I guess everyone who lives somewhere a popular tourist attraction is feels that way. It is still a pretty cool site when you’re leaving the city or coming back.

If you like this image you can get a print at a discount for the rest of the month.

Cole Valley For American Way

Jeff Singer — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:48:42 +0000

Last month I did a shoot for American Airline’s in flight magazine American Way. They wanted me to photograph my old neighborhood, Cole Valley. I had a great time doing the shoot and visiting my old neighborhood. I was able to sneak my girlfriend and our daughter Chloë into the shoot as well. After shooting in the morning, my girlfriend and I went back later in the day with Chloë to check out a new ice cream shop Ice Cream Bar (one benefit of this shoot: free ice cream). If you’re ever in the Cole Valley neighborhood on a hot day (or even a cool day) I’d recommend stopping by. They have great ice cream and hands down the best home made ice cream cones I’ve ever tasted

As you can see by the shot, Chloë really wanted that milkshake.

If you’re about to board an American Airlines flight, check the seat back in front of you for the issue which is out now.

Free Film

Jeff Singer — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:25:55 +0000

Want some free film? Sure, it’s expired, but it’s been refrigerated. I was visiting mom for Mother’s Day and noticed a bag in the back of her fridge that had a container full of film. Quite a bit of it actually. So if you want it all this is what you’ve got to do: First you’ve got to retweet my tweet. Then follow me on Tumblr. Not on Tumblr? Well then you can “like” my Facebook page. Want to increase your chance of getting the film? Then do all three! I know, I’m demanding… but look what you’re getting:

11 rolls of 35mm film (some Kodak Tri-X, Fuji NPH, Illford B&W)
29 rolls of 120 film (mostly Kodak Tri-X, a few Illford Delta, and a couple Fuji Chrome.)

That’s 40 rolls of film! And you should be shooting more film anyway.

Of course, if you don’t shoot film you could still follow me on Tumblr and Facebook if you’d like.

~~I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday.~~

Thanks to everyone who entered and followed me on Tumblr & Facebook. The winner is Anna Larina who happens to be a Bay Area local. Congratulations Anna.

Canadian Magazine Cover Of The Year Nomination

Jeff Singer — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:19:33 +0000

I just found out a cover I shot for Globe & Mail’s Report On Business Magazine was nominated for a National Magazine Award in Canada. Alas, since I’m not Canadian I couldn’t be nominated in the portrait category. Maybe if they knew I lived in Canada for a couple years and I got started in photography there that would change their minds. Either way thanks to Clare Jordan for hiring me to do this shoot and congratulations to everyone over at ROB Magazine. Good luck!

The cover was of Jeff Mallett and the article was about his investment in Major League Soccer. You can see more pictures and some behind the scenes video on this past blog post.

Larry Kurzweil & Bart Simpson

Jeff Singer — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:34:41 +0000

I got to head down to Universal Studios Hollywood a while back to photograph the President of Universal Studios, Larry Kurzweil for Carnegie Mellon’s alumni magazine. The one requirement, not imposed by the magazine, was that one of the Simpson’s characters had to be in the shot. Universal PR was insisting on this one point and the magazine was ok with it so I obliged. The studio originally wanted Homer in the shot but the costumes are so enormous in real life that Larry was dwarfed next to Homer, so we went with Bart.

I think the best part of the shoot for me was that I was given a “VIP” pass to the park. That meant unlimited access to all the rides with no waiting in line. So where did I head first? To the Universal Studio tram tour of course; to confront a childhood terror. You see, when I was about seven, my dad took me to Universal Studios like any parent with children would do when visiting Los Angeles. And this included the studio tram tour which I enjoyed quite a bit… that is until, we came across Jaws.

If you’ve never been on the Universal Studio tram tour, it takes you through the studio lot where you can see actual sets used in many movies. It also has staged “exhibits” based on Universal movies. One of those exhibits was for Jaws. The tram pulls up to (what looks like) a serene scene with a man in a fishing boat. You then see a fin come out of the water and approach the boat and eventually the boat and fisherman get dragged under. But the danger isn’t over yet… the fin starts heading towards the tram. When it gets closer, BAM, a shark slams into the tram tracks and the tram falls towards the water and gets stuck. The shark goes around for another pass at which point it bolts out of the water with it’s jaws chomping as if it was trying to eat someone on the tram. It just so happened that I was seated EXACLY where the shark was at it’s closest to the tram, so that someone was me. Needless to say I didn’t take it well because as far as I was concerned, it was a real shark. I don’t remember anything else about that day other than the shark attack and balling my eyes out when it happened. To this day, I hate going in the ocean too deep.

Not having been on the tram ride since that summer as a kid, I was actually a little nervous when we pulled in to the Jaws scene. However now that I’m older, he doesn’t look so menacing (and they don’t do the whole tram falling into the water thing any more… probably got sued for mental anguish or something). I was happy to confront one of my childhood traumas and survive:

Joe Sullivan – Facebook CSO

Jeff Singer — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:27:18 +0000

As I mentioned in my Rebbeca Van Dyck post, I headed over to the new Facebook campus to photograph CSO (Chief Security Officer) Joe Sullivan for the cover of CSO Magazine.

I was hoping to get a shot that had a dark mysterious mood to it and after walking around Joe’s building in I knew I found my spot in this unfinished area. I felt like I was on an alien space ship with all the cables and tubes coming out of the ceiling. Of course, it could all be for the new Human Harvesting & Cloning Division of Facebook (Possible tag line: “Why does there only need to be one of you checking in to your favorite restaurant?”) Look for that feature in your Timeline soon.

Sorry, I didn’t get any Facebook security tips or ways to make sure that hot girl you’ve been chatting with isn’t really a 58 year old man in Russia.

The highlight from the shoot was possibly the free gourmet french toast they give out in the morning to Facebook employees (they made an exception for me).

And to show what a small photography world it is, just as I was preparing this blog post I noticed Bay Area photographer and friend Timothy Archibald just posted about his shoot with Joe Sullivan.

Happy Valentines Day

Jeff Singer — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:06:02 +0000

Is fatherhood making me cheesier? Possibly… but come on, how cute is she?

Happy Valentines Day

Rebecca Van Dyck

Jeff Singer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:05:29 +0000

Along with all the talk of Facebook’s pending IPO last week I had two of my own Facebook connections pop up. First, I was called to photograph Facebook’s CSO (Chief Security Officer) Joe Sullivan for an editorial cover shoot. And then, I read that Rebecca Van Dyck was just hired by Facebook to head up their marketing department. I photographed Rebecca a few month’s ago for AdWeek while she was still Levi’s Director of Marketing.

Now, if only I could get some of that pre-IPO Facebook stock.

Mamiya 7II

Jeff Singer — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:42:25 +0000

Last summer I bought the much hyped and hard to get Fuji X100 camera as a little carry around camera. After using it I instantly determined that, while the files it produces are very nice, the camera itself is infuriating to use. As I noted on my trip to New York City, even though the X100 was with me everywhere I went, I used my iPhone instead.

Then recently Fuji announced their latest camera, the X-Pro1. It looks like a pretty nice upgrade. This camera will have changeable lenses and better manual focusing. So I thought, “hmm, maybe that would be a good little camera to get.” The only thing I’m not thrilled about is the smaller-than-35mm APS-C sensor. But Fuji is doing something with this sensor that other manufacturers haven’t… they’re making the pixel patterns random to give it more film like look. Film like… sounds good to me.

But then I thought… What are they going to come out with next? What am I going to want NEXT year?!?! So I decided to buy different camera all together. It comes with a full frame 6×7 sensor with an ACTUAL film look and hasn’t changed much since it was first introduced in 1990′s: The Mamiya 7II. Ok, it’s far from what you would call a “little” camera… but I know I like this one thanks to Fabien Penso who let me come by and try his out last summer at his office (which has quite the view as you can see above).

I found a really good deal for a used 7II on ebay and it should be here tomorrow. I have some editorial shoots next week where I’ll put it to use now that I’m shooting film on editorial assignments.

Here’s some unsharpened detail from an Imacon scan:

Shoot Film

Jeff Singer — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:07:20 +0000

I’ve been shooting film on all my editorial shoots so far in 2012 and I plan to continue (unless things like deadlines call for digital). Whenever I mention that I’m shooting film to the Photo Editor or Art Director, they pretty much say the same thing; “Film? Cool! I love film!” A Photo Editor just the other day said to me: “Oh, you shoot film? No wonder I love your work!”

Then, when I get to the shoot and pull out something like my Mamiya RZ67, every subject has said just about the same thing; “Whoa, what kind of camera is that? You’re shooting film? Wow!” You know what I hear a lot when I pull out a Canon digital?

“Oh, I have one of those.”

Update:
Of course, the day after I post this, Kodak files for bankruptcy. Time to stock up?