Paula Lerner

Paula Lerner had a freelance photography career that spanned nearly 30 years. She succumbed to the breast cancer she fought since 2004 last week on my birthday, March 6th.

I had the good fortune to assist Paula Lerner in July 2008. There are photographers to emulate because of their photography. And there are photographers to emulate simply for the people they are. Paula was both. She had big ideas about personal work without much financial gain and she did them. She also didn't have her head in the clouds and ran a successful photography business in order to be able to do the personal work.

She told me each job is made up three parts. In no particular order 1). The people you work with 2). The subject matter 3). The money. And, you're lucky if you get two of the three.

I didn't know she had cancer until it returned in 2009. Paula fought. In 2009 she made one of her trips to Afghanistan to continue shooting with BPeace which helps bring entrepreneurial skills to women. The calculated risks Paula took and the obvious pride she took her in work will be guiding lights to me the rest of my career.

For those interested in photography as a career, among many things here are two Paula would have steered you towards:

Paula's Photojournalism Open Letter
The Vendor Client Relationship

What's Happening to Civility?

Blog_120217_AmericanCivility - Images by Mike Ritter

Last Friday, I attended Civility and American Democracy: A National Forum at UMass Boston. The winter is slow, and I was happy to sit in on what proved an interesting discussion and shoot a few photos just for kicks. The Forum was organized by UMass Boston, Mass Humanities, 90.9 WBUR, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Tom Ashbrook of WBUR's On Point moderated.

The Forum was wide ranging and I'd like to just bullet point some of the most poignant thoughts and opinions I heard:

* We're all connected and if the sum parts (interest groups) are stronger than the whole, we / democracy are in trouble.
* Violence can prove necessary according to Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy (this I'd like to think isn't true but suppose I understand it although MLK was brought up to argue the counterpoint)
* Civility should be limited. When power won't concede anything, civility isn't possible - John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison were used as examples.
* We're confused because we don't know our history and aren't literate.
* When asked what ails the American Spirit just before the Kennedy assassination, Richard Hofstadter said people try to get existential values out of politics... religion seeps into politics with questions politics cannot answer.
* Life and death are incredibly complex. Only in the most simple rendition are they made up of two sides yet we have two political parties and each has its platform Having to adopt your party's platform wholesale leads to "zombie politics."
* Can civility be immoral? The civil thing to do is follow all laws. What if you feel the law is unjust? Civil rights were won with non-violent protest which could be looked at as being uncivil since it went against the laws at the time.
* Our discussion is different and seemingly more uncivil now because we have so many more outlets. There was little room for unscripted proclamations in the days before social media and cable TV.
* Thoreau's civil disobedience was incredibly selfish in Boston College professor Alam Wolfe's opinion. You've got to stay in society to truly protest and change it.
* A courtroom is probably the most civil place imaginable and yet some of the most unjust punishments / rulings came from them.

Now it was a very intellectual forum. And points were raised from the audience that the panels were mostly liberal and academic. It could have made for a more lively debate and more of a civility in practice to have more people of differing opinions there.

The theme that kept seeming to pop up was about opinion. One person's civility is another's unthinkable action. Definitions are very important. For example, if Citizens United deems money as speech and corporations as people, well it seems perfectly reasonable. But, if one doesn't subscribe to those definitions, it can appear a very reckless decision putting much of what we consider democracy in danger. Randall Kennedy best summarized it saying, "It all depends."

The Ritterbin End Card

I really enjoy creating my year end card to send to clients. Over the years, I've done odd fashion shows, a Being John Malkovich type scene with me being everyone in a restaurant, mob hits, and now this year's general financial angst. I try for them to be topical and or humorous. For this year, the one-liner is "I'd rather work with you any day."

So, to make an image like this:
1). Browse Alamy, DreamStime, and Corbis among others looking for royalty free work. Royalty free means you can use the image for whatever you like (including alter it) after the initial purchase without having to pay for each usage or type of usage.
2). Dance and smile when after hours of searching you find an image that will work perfectly. There are two serious financial dudes who are diligent but also seemingly confident in what they are doing. They're the perfect set up for your exasperated clown. And, it's like the photographer left that seat in the foreground open for you to take center stage.
3). PAY for the rights to use the work. This can seem quite odd to many folks, especially the younger you go, but for photographers, musicians, creative types, and more and more just about anyone, to continue their work they must get money for it. Think of it like a public radio donation if you have to. Yes, if you listen to them, you should donate.
4). Set up a table and chair in roughly the same position as the photo. Put your camera on your tripod correctly framed. Put a slight fill flash on the camera and set up another flash across the table from yourself. This is the key light and it should mimic the light in the photograph. Rack it out a bit to make it a harder light but keep a diffuser on it. Also, put up a gobo to block the bottom part of the light. The guys bottom halves are blocked from the light by the bank of monitors. Luckily, you don't need an expensive monitor, just a piece of black foam core.
5). Pre-focus and set your camera to timer.
6). Think about your IRA, 401k, house value, bank fees, career politicians saying Washington DC is the problem, how does one lose $1.2 billion?... alright, stop, stop! That's too much. Take a breath, think about kittens and with your proper level of anguish set, go about mugging for the camera.
7). Snap out of it. This is fun... and hopefully darkly funny. Pick the pose you want to work with, use the Pen Tool to cut it out in Photoshop, and drop it into the royalty free image you PURCHASED.
8). Write a blog about it and share with your mailing list.

A Christmas Story in Milton

This year I held the Ritterbin Holiday Card contest. Ideas were had, votes were cast, and Cher-Marie came out on top with her idea to stage the flag pole scene from A Christmas Story with her son.

We met at Milton City Hall just a decent rain started to fall. Cher-Marie had most the props ready. I brought along the bomber hat for her Flick and the glasses for her son's Ralph. The town flag pole was wood and kind of gross so we looked around for other locations. I'm not a fan of lots of post work but sometimes it actually frees you up rather than trying to find all your elements in the correct positions. Now we could just get all the pieces and blend them later.

The red brick town fire hall served well as a school building. I set up the tripod for consistent framing and because it was pretty dark. It was unseasonably warm but the winter clothes made it look cold. First I had Cher-Marie's son stand in and act like he was looking at her stuck to the flagpole. He did a pretty good job since nothing was really in front of him. I enjoy talking people up into somewhat exaggerated poses or expressions. Next I had Cher-Marie stand in on the left side of the frame, stick out her tongue, and give her best anguished bet-regretting face.

I had read that the flagpole in the movie actually had a small hole with suction to grab Flick's tongue. I figured maybe I could recreate that with a straw on one end of Cher-Marie's tongue and a thumb on the other but it didn't work so well. I would later pull her tongue with Photoshop's Liquify tool.

Our shoot done, we hustled out of the rain to the cars. The next day I found a bike rack in the shade that would serve as a good, clean flagpole. With all my elements I went back to the computer to get what you see above. I hope it brings lots of laughs for Cher-Marie's family and friends.

Beaujolais to You

112911_Blog_BN - Images by Mike Ritter

Took the photobooth to the Second Glass' party for Georges Duboeuf's Beaujolais Nouveau earlier this month. In case you as rough around the edges as I was a year ago when I first did this, a Beaujolais Nouveau is the first press of the year and a good sign of how good this year's wine quality will be. This year, we were at the Artists for Humanity building. The Second Glass' Morgan and Tyler put on another show and it was a pleasure being there.

Boston Book Festival

111121_BBF_Blog - Images by Mike Ritter

More and more things are going digital, but I believe there will always be a place for book with a spine and pages. Last month, I was privileged to shoot the Boston Book Festival. While plenty of e-stuff was happening, I saw plenty of people buying the real thing from the various vendors on site including the Harvard Bookstore.

On Friday night, there was a Wire symposium. Among others, Jaime Hector who played Marlo was there. When I met him backstage, I was a bit intimidated having only seen him in (scary) character on TV before, but he was the nicest guy.

Then on Saturday, I bounced between 4 venues downtown stopping in on discussions on Steampunk, writing Memoirs, How to Live (not a very ambitious topic, I know), the Civil War, children's author Mo Willems and Sports Writing. Even though I was moving all day, I don't think I saw 20% of the things going on. By day's end, my path would cross with WBUR's Tom Ashbrook, Bill Littlefield, Richard Russo, Governor Patrick, and Michael Ondaatje. I also got a good excuse to get into the tower of Old South and look out over all of Copley. It was an exhilarating day. Kudos to the BFF staff for pulling off another festival of fascinating programs and people.

Family Day In the Poconos

PA Family Day Blog 2011 - Images by Mike Ritter

Back in June, we continued what has become an annual tradition since my Dad ran for state rep in '08. We ran a family day to raise money for the campaign and three families have stuck with it ever since. Two work with my biggest promoter (Mom), and one is an old high school friend. Another high school friend visited with her new daughter as well. I've gotten to see these kids grow over the past couple years and siblings be added. I've seen painful shyness turn into uncontrollable glee.

This year we shot at my family's cabin in the Poconos. There was great greenery, buildings, and a lake to work with. The three blonde sisters remained absolutely cherubic with an occasional crying session. The two brothers weren't as interested in photos this year; but once we gave them things to do like throw rocks in the lake and throw apples at the photographer, they settled in. And my buddy Ben's two daughters remain the most hands on sisters I know. They will run with, chase after, collide into, roll over, and hug each other all day.

As Ben's family packed up to leave, his oldest daughter made me smile when she turned and said, "OK, see you next year."