Tuesday, May 13, 2008

big break


i came across this today. it was my first real job - portrait of john neville, artistic director of the stratford festival. i was hired by saturday night magazine to shoot this at his home in southern ontario (i was living in toronto at the time). my good friend and ryerson mate ian crylser was my assistant. funny thing - this is the style of photography i was known for, and the type of work i wanted to shoot. how did i go from this to shooting landscapes and dropping in skies??

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

doug, it probably happened because I was also shooting people and you quickly realized the competition would be too stiff in the area of people. You made a wise choice to move on and leave the people field for me. I trust you found success in the area of photography that you chose.

ian

Anonymous said...

This is significant. Perhaps you will reflect. Sounds like you are. Glad you sent this.

Anonymous said...

That is a classic shot. I'm sure it was great to discover it again.

It's not really that far from what you're doing now....oh wait...

Actually I think it comes from the same place as your landscape stuff. It's not tricked up, it uses a classical genre of photography and combines dramatic lighting and a sense of naturalism with a slight bit of the surreal.

Anonymous said...

Any more depressing and I may end up with the same foot on the stool, in Saskatchewan.

Anonymous said...

ian, exactly! that's the answer. altho subtle at the time, i guess i could feel your power! douglas e.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Doug - you didn't answer Ian's question. So I guess I have to ... YES, Ian, he definitely found success!

That is, if you consider "success" being retired at 40-something, with golf and fishing as your full-time pursuits. (He refers to it as being "unemployed", but don't let him fool you.)

Lucky for us, he's re-discovered his love of photography purely for the fun of it.