20th Anniversary Client Spotlight: A conversation with Gregory Crewdson
Back in 2008 I received a call from NYC that was a referral from another very good New York client. Digital was not at its infancy but it was finally being accepted as a strong alternative to large format film. 4×5 and 8×10 photographers were making the transition to digital capture and finding great success. This photographer was from the fine art side of photography and I am a photo nerd with a degree in Imaging Science from RIT. Needless to say we were not from the same world. However, that was exactly why we needed each other. It was quickly clear that the most important attribute in me that the photographer was looking for was trust. Trust that they would get accurate answers and not sales tactics. Trust that I would clearly listen to their very unique needs for their distinct shooting style and give honest advice and answers. Trust that I could have patience in this incredibly important transition to digital capture and be the long term partner they were looking for on the technical side of photography. Needless to say, the phone call went well. And so did the numerous subsequent phone calls. It then was in 2009 that I delivered the first digital capture system to the photographer on the other end of that phone line, Gregory Crewdson.
I had replaced film with many large format photographers in the past. This was not a challenge anymore. With my experience and testing, we achieved 4×5 capture resolutions with the 39mp sensors years before. But this was different. This replaced 8×10 film for one of the world’s best fine art photographers. At the time, our best CCDs were 60mp in resolution. This specific camera was the Phase One P65+ on a Cambo 5005 technical camera. While this camera (sensor and body) was the best in the the market at the time, I was not completely certain that it would meet the needs for not only such a discerning photographer but also his clientele that walk up and into his images and be completely absorbed by them. Needless to say, the days with Gregory and his crew went well. Technical questions were answered. Capture One training went well, and I handed them the keys to their new digital world…. and I then let them do their magic.
Gregory and his team at Hover Productions jumped in feet first with direct digital capture and have not looked back. Their last film project was Beneath the Roses, and their first digital capture work was done in Rome with Sanctuary. Since then, all of his work has been captured using digital systems provided by Capture Integration. Cathedral of the Pines, An Eclipse of Moths, and now Eveningside were all 100% digitally captured. What started with 60mp sensors is now being captured with Phase One 150mp sensors and the highest quality Rodenstock HR glass. In actuality, it has been a very easy move. 8×10 film capture is difficult. If you haven’t done it, then you have no idea. Focus needs to be precise. Depth of field is incredibly small. The 8×10 ground glass is extremely difficult to compose, frame, and focus in the corners. Your camera needs to be locked down tight, and you need to double-check that nothing loosened after every single Polaroid was pulled. With the amazing team at Hover, moving to digital was a very easy process.
A few months after Cathedral of the Pines was released I saw Gregory at a photographic lecture presenting his work. I waited until he respectfully answered all the questions and met with the line of photographers wanting to share the admiration of his work. When he saw me at the end, I asked him how shooting Cathedral went for him. He grabbed my by the arm and said “come here” while we just stepped behind the curtain. At first I was worried. I knew that Sanctuary was a learning process for them but we I wasn’t aware of any issues. When I saw his face with a large smile, I could breathe again. He stated that it was absolutely “night and day” different now. Where he had to shoot a focus stack of 9-10 images for each 8×10 film capture they were now just shooting 2 or 3. And he now had fine control of holding highlights while not blocking the shadow area like never before. To see Gregory that happy didn’t just make my day, it made my year. It is my job to understand the technical side of the digital photographic process and then help my clients easily gain that knowledge. When they then can seamlessly marry their creative process to the technical process, I have succeeded.
When thinking of who should be our 20th Anniversary Client Spotlight, it was an easy choice for me. What I absolutely love about my job is meeting new amazing photographers from all around the world from completely different genres of photography. My days are anything but redundant. We have clients in the fields of corporate, food, architecture, portraiture, landscape, and just about any sector of photography that you can imagine. My goal is to have myself and/or my team be the technical partner in our client’s business. We will handle the left brain details while you can focus on the right brain creativity. We have been incredibly fortunate to have a strong long term relationship with the entire team at Hover. Gregory, Juliane, Dan, Rick, and Zack are friends on the other end of the phone. They allow us to continue to be their technical partner and we are thrilled to have them as clients.
Gregory was gracious enough to allow us to film for 2 days while he created Madeline’s Beauty Salon last year. We then sat down for a one on one interview inside his home in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Not only do we share Gregory’s process and background but we also delve into the vendor/client relationship. We speak to the DP about how digital changed their process. We discuss the place technology has in fine art. And we speak to how the camera is “both a conduit, and a burden.” I hope you enjoy it.
