PHOTOGRAPHS | THEIR STORIES
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This Portfolio is intended to display photographs taken under unique circumstances / while on assignment —
not necessarily photographs that tell stories but ones that have stories.
Limited to professional work.
Two month post, with exceptions.
If you are lucky enough to have such a photograph or two and would like to share, please send Photo & Story (limited to the length needed to tell that story) to Editors@aaqeastend.com.
Thank you.
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Sun’s Halo / June, 2011, Parrish Art Museum construction site / Digital photo:
Canon EOS 7D, 16 – 35 mm lens. © Jeff Heatley
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This halo lasted, perhaps, ten minutes, appearing & disappearing midday. I was on assignment to photograph the construction of the new museum for Ben Krupinski Builder, when this unexpected phenomenon took place.
Where to stand? Of the half-dozen photos I shot, this one is special.
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7 Hanover Square, NYC / 1985. © Jeff Heatley
“Famous photo” — Norman Jaffe called it, one of several I shot for Norman over the years.
This was a lucky photo: I was in the lobby at 7 Hanover Square (Norman’s first city building), setting up my 4×5 view camera for an interior photograph, when suddenly — unexpectedly — sunlight filled the west facing windows.
I knew there was little time to act — the sun can move very fast, at times — so I grabbed a 35mm camera — most likely a Nikon Nikkormat, loaded with color negative film, and rushed outside, leaving camera, tripod and equipment in the lobby.
I ‘rushed’ to the middle of Water Street, took a stand between passing vehicles, and photographed the sunlight at that moment — a moment later the sunlight went up the building like a ‘negative shade’, leaving only a few floors in direct sunlight.
This is actually a cropped image — half of the 35mm frame, as camera had to be held vertically. And, what is also extraordinary: the parked cars are in shadow, as is the neighboring skyscraper. Just lucky, with no time to wait.
When the contact sheet arrived from the lab, Norman wanted this view printed in black & white. He was one of only a few architects that I worked for, who would often prefer black & white images over color.
I don’t recall whether I made the print or the lab did, but when Norman saw it, he called it a “famous photo.” He showed the photo to another architectural photographer, and it brought “tears to the photographer’s eyes,” Norman told me.
Photographs have that power.
Construction at the site was not entirely finished, but that did not matter to Norman. The clock was working that March 15th, 1985.
While quality of an image (above was taken with an iPhone of a 4×5 print) was important, the image, for Norman, was absolutely critical, regardless of the surface.
The task in scouting & shooting was to find those images, so the story of the building could be told.
Note: this was Norman’s first city building / 1985.
A portfolio of his second city building, 1993, can be viewed at this link:
AAQ / Architecture — Norman Jaffe: 565 Fifth Avenue, NYC, 1993…. link.
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