Available Light

Destino on KICKSTARTER Funding successful!

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:20:29 +0000

45 DAYS, 127 BACKERS, $10,425 PLEDGED OF $6,800 GOAL (153% funded).

Thank you to everyone who backed, Destino, a photography book project portraying the epic journey across Mexico by freight train of undocumented Central American migrants as they attempt to enter the United States in pursuit of a better life. Please visit the project homepage on KICKSTARTER to learn more.

For additional project information, check out the following interviews:

The Image, Deconstructed

Interview from TID continues on the PJ Photo Editors blog

Photo-eye Blog

Rea + Emmett

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:50:30 +0000

Just say macaroons and I’m there. I met Emmett and Rea for the first time at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, over their dessert tasting sampler. Popping a macaroon in my mouth, I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I got big hugs from both of them. Instant rapport. I’d already been all over their wedding website, so I knew they were planning on having a Soul Train dance line. I grew up watching Soul Train. You can not go wrong with a Soul Train dance line! Ever. Here are some highlights:

Thanks to DJ extraordinair Chris Laich for keeping the line moving smoothly and soulfully! Huge round of applause for Assistant Director of Catering at the Four Seasons, Tina Nader.

Most of all though, congratulations, Rea and Emmett. The wedding was memorable. I look forward to a lasting friendship and Thai food when I get back from Mexico.

Tiffany + Meredith

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:39:59 +0000

Tiffany and Meredith got married in New York City in July, but the big ceremony and celebration took place at the Hotel Monaco in DC on October 15.

Congratulations Meredith and Tiffany!

Thank you Trevor Blake from MyDeejay for keeping everyone on their feet.

Bryce + Boaz at the Tabard Inn 6.12.11

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:37:38 +0000

I love the Tabard Inn, especially in the winter. You can settle into a deep armchair or sit on one of the stiff sofas near the fire, sipping scotch or hot toddies and pretend you’re somewhere in the English countryside. The fish tacos are better than any I’ve ever had in Mexico. The National Geographic headquarters are just around the corner and if you drop by the Tabard in early January when the NG photographers are in town for their annual meeting, you could potentially bump into some legends like David Alan Harvey, Maggie Steber, William Albert Allard and Alex Webb.

I met Bryce and Boaz back in February. I’ve photographed plenty of lesbian commitment ceremonies and weddings, but thus far, I had never shot a Gay wedding. Boaz and I sort of have mirror experiences, he being born in the U.S., but grew up in Israel while I was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Syracuse. This was going to be one day where I wouldn’t need to worry about stepping on a dress. And I couldn’t wait to meet the Israeli contingent.

Thanks guys! It was a pleasure and an honor. Sidra, one more wedding together makes a trifecta!

Unbound @ LOOK3

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:11:03 +0000

LOOK3, Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA is like the Lollapalooza of photography. Billed as three days of peace, love and photography, the festival transforms the small pedestrian mall in downtown Charlottesville into both an indoor and outdoor venue for screenings, exhibits, open air projections and lectures by legacy artists such as Mary Ellen Mark, Sally Mann, Anton Kratochvil and Nan Goldin. If you were looking to boost an M9, this would be the place. Charlottesville in early June is where you can find the largest concentration of 25-year-olds with pony tails and Leicas on the East Coast. I’ve never made it to LOOK3, as I always have a wedding to shoot on that weekend. But this year, I decided to take one of the workshops – UNBOUND that takes place during the week leading up to the three-day festival weekend. Taught by Alex and Rebecca Norris Webb, a married team with about nine published photo books between the two of them, the workshop is intended to help photographers edit and sequence a long term project. You would think that with all of the wedding albums I’ve designed over the years, sequencing photos – the process by which images are paired together on facing pages would be something I was comfortable with. But sequencing a book that doesn’t really conform to a literal or chronological order is very different from sequencing a wedding album, where images fall neatly – almost rigidly along a circumscribed timeline of Getting Ready, Ceremony, Formals, Cocktail Hour, Reception.

I filled a pair of leather saddlebags I had picked up in a market in Mexico City with about 150 small work prints of my Destino project, tossed them over the seat of La Bestia, my brand new 150cc Genuine Scooter, gassed up and headed over the Key Bridge on a warm morning with low humidity and not a lot of traffic. Just past Warrenton, VA, the back tire blew out going 65 miles an hour on the 29 Bypass. At first, it felt like I’d just been buffeted by a huge blast of air, but then La Bestia started yawing back and forth like some plucked marlin flailing on the deck of a boat. I squeezed the breaks trying to slow her down, but she kept fishtailing while dragging hard left. I thought for sure I was going down. So long, sayonara, good night, but somehow, I managed to guide her to the spit of gravel and weeds along the median, my left foot skidding to a trembling halt. Traffic slowed to a crawl, then stopped. People got out of cars to make sure I was OK and then a Sheriff’s Deputy pulled up in a patrol car. I thought I was in for it as I only had my learner’s permit. Instead, he offered to call a tow truck. I thanked him but called the toll free number for Genuine Scooter Company’s two year complimentary road side assistance and the Sheriff’s Deputy waved and drove off. I sat down in the weeds, under a grudging sun as traffic rushed by on 29, chewing on a ham and cheese bagel, pondering whether there would ever be peace in the Middle East and if cats farted or if I was contracting Lyme Disease while waiting for the tow truck to pick me up. At a Warrenton motorcycle shop, a couple of good ol boys marveled that I wasn’t road pizza, saying, “She rode it out like a champ!” They yanked a one inch nail out of the back tire, gave me a cold Diet Pepsi and patched up my tire for free.

By the time I got to Charlottesville, the building on Maine Street where the workshop was taking place was locked, the meet and greet session scheduled for the first day over. I chained La Bestia to a bike rack on the pedestrian mall and sat down at a round metal table outside a restaurant near a giant Antonin Kratochvil photograph, lit a cigarette and ordered a Corona. As the late afternoon sun grew less intense, I sat, slightly lightheaded from an ebbing adrenalin rush and a mild beer buzz. I thought I saw Mary Ellen Mark walk by, trailing long dark braids and a musk-scented effluvium.

Arriaga railyard, Chiapas 2010 (L) Security cameras and Jesus, San Luis Potosi, 2011 (R)

The rather grueling but productive week that followed was spent editing, sequencing and re-sequencing photos and with daily trips to Revolutionary Soup and Java Java. Each day, the eleven diverse projects were critiqued, gradually evolving into a tight edit of paired images. By the end of each day, everyone was too fried to do much of anything other than stagger back to the dorms on the University of Virginia campus, passing out in the spartan, cell-like rooms made of cinder block walls slick with moisture, amidst the pervasive odor of dorm life: an amalgam of beer-soaked industrial carpeting, socks, generations of sweaty late night grope sessions. The week culminated in a slide show highlighting the work of all three workshops – ours and the two taught by Chris Anderson and Mary Ellen Mark.

Oaxaca, Mexico 2011

The next day, I saddled up La Bestia and made it back to Takoma Park without incident, having one full day to decompress from the week and prepare for Bryce and Boaz’s Tabard Inn wedding.

Olivia + Sean’s backyard Memorial Day Weekend wedding

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:29:18 +0000

God, what a relief to be in a deep, verdant Chevy Chase backyard with its riot of flowering trees and shrubs and an eclectic assortment of friends and family instead of anywhere near the Mall with Rolling Thunder and other logistical Memorial Day Weekend, DC headaches. After the ceremony, I jumped into my Subaru Outback and hightailed it to Woodend, ahead of the guests to make sure Chris, my assistant had lights set up inside for the reception. By the way, assistant means schleper of stuff. The guy who keeps the engine running when a speedy getaway is required. The one who makes sure I’m hydrated. The behind-the-scenes equipment set up person, gone shortly after the posed family photos are taken. All on the QT. My first question whenever I interview a potential assistant is Can You Drive A Stick? Assistant never means second shooter. Mine is not a team effort. Aside from my three dogs, Maggie, Nina and Ozzie Spumanti, collectively known as The Aristocrats, there are no Associates. I believe in crafting a recognizable signature style and having a point of view over providing blanket coverage. Sometimes less is more. Chris actually is a great assistant. He can drive a stick, always shows up on time or a bit early, and he brings along a light meter and a couple of spare Pocket Wizards.

At Woodend, the light outside was nearly perfect – the time of day when the sun is more color than heat, the grove suffused with muted light. The kind of light photographers and Impressionist painters alike go wild about.

Here is an example of good planning. At three in the afternoon at the end of May, the sun is punishing, the light harsh and contrasty. Colors wash out, shadows accumulate like sink holes. Inside, however, the light reflects and bounces off the white walls. This is what you want on a wedding day:people inside bright rooms when the light outside is harsh, gradually transitioning to outdoors later in the afternoon.

Nice moment + nice light = good picture.

The indefatigable Matt Odom from Venice Beach, CA, without a doubt, the coolest videographer I’ve ever met.

A perfect transition from outdoors to in. The natural light now almost completely gone, I switch over to my remote controlled strobes mounted up high on light stands, bouncing them into the cream colored walls. This helps create that same soft but modeled natural light effect as having a large window letting in a lot of indirect light that bounces around the room. Light is the aesthetic component of photography. It’s the quality that counts. It’s why pictures taken outdoors in the middle of a clear, bright sunny day or pictures taken with direct flash look like crime scene photos. The light is dreadful.

This is more of what I’m going for – the little moments that take place regardless of whether a photographer had been present or not.

Thank you Olivia and Sean for picking me to document your wedding day. Thanks to Alexandra Kovach for recommending me and also to her team who did an outstanding job (as usual). It was also a pleasure to finally meet the wonderful Sidra Forman.

Parvo Puppies, Washington Animal Rescue League, May 23, 2011

admin — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:45:43 +0000

Puppy being treated for parvovirus in the isolation room at the Washington Animal Rescue League on Monday, May 23. The puppy was one of 37 dogs and 5 cats transported from Tuscaloosa, Alabama after devastating tornadoes tore through the region earlier this month. Ten of the rescued puppies tested positive for the highly contagious disease. Puppies have weaker immune systems than older dogs, making them highly vulnerable to the deadly parvovirus.

Destino – project update

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:56:46 +0000

I spent close to five weeks in Mexico in January and February, visiting migrant shelters in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, and Coahuila as part of my ongoing project photographing Central American migrants. For safety reasons, I had to abandon my initial plan of traveling from Mexico City to the U.S. border (I made it as far as Saltillo in the state of Coahuila, about a seven hour bus ride from Nuevo Laredo along the Texas border). In Nuevo Laredo, Los Zetas – the erstwhile armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel now control the Rio Bravo along the Texas border where migrants pay coyotes up to three thousand dollars to be smuggled across. I was warned repeatedly not to travel to Nuevo Laredo, and heading a good friend’s advice about not taking any stupid risks, I hopped a bus back to Mexico City and from there took an overnight bus all the way down south to Arriaga in Chiapas – an area I knew well.

Central American migrants travel through the Mexican state of Chiapas on top of a northbound freight train. Migrants call the train La Bestia - The Beast or El Tren De La Muerte - The Train of Death because of the many hardships endured along the train route, including kidnappings, assaults and injuries suffered from falling off moving trains.

Freddy Niño, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

I had met Freddy Niño back in July at the Home of Mercy migrant shelter in Arriaga. The first thing you notice about Freddy is the deep scars across his face and arms. I asked him about the scars – how he had gotten them. He just looked at me and said, “Son cosas de vida” but he wouldn’t elaborate.

Tierra Blanca, Veracruz

Salvadoran migrant, Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Honduran and Salvadoran migrants. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Salvadoran migrants. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Gay migrants. Posada Belen migrant shelter, Saltillo, Coahuila

Young migrant with a cigarette. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Migrant getting a haircut. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Casa Cáritas migrant shelter, San Luis Potosi

Security cameras and Jesus. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Migrant. Casa Cáritas, San Luis Potosi

Old woman. La Partrona near Cordoba, Veracruz

Migrants chasing train. Tierra Blanca, Veracruz

Boy huffing glue. Tierra Blanca, Veracruz

Rosalie and Verner. Hermanos En El Camino migrant shelter, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Rosalie and Isaac. Hermanos En El Camino migrant shelter, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Verner. Hermanos En El Camino migrant shelter, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Hermanos En El Camino migrant shelter, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Gerald, Hermanos En El Camino migrant shelter, Ixtepec, Oaxaca

I met Gerald on La Bestia, on the leg of the journey from Arriaga in Chiapas to Ixtepec, Oaxaca, as we rode on top of the metal cargo wagon roof baking in the noonday sun. The train lurched past barren hills and windswept fields of China Palms that refracted light like shards of mirrored glass, past mango groves and small villages and towns, where people sometimes waved, as if they were watching a parade passing through. We smoked. Gerald told me he was from Leon in Nicaragua. His mother had abandoned him. He had a sister – a twin who was murdered. He went to El Salvador where he found work. He married a woman whose son he adopted and with whom he had a daughter. In 2005, he was struck by a high voltage cable and suffered third degree burns to 90 percent of his body. The accident caused massive head trauma and brain injury. He spent a year in the hospital. He lost his job. His wife left him, taking the children. Gerald said he didn’t really have any plans. He stared off a lot, sentences trailing unfinished.

Oaxaca, Mexico

China Palms, Oaxaca, Mexico

To learn more about my ongoing project Destino, please contact me at info@michellefrankfurter.com. Photographs from previous trips are currently on display at The Gallery at Vivid Solutions in Anacostia until June 3.

Jake’s Bar Mitzvah Bash at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fairfax

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:11:45 +0000

What’s not to like? I have the palette of a twelve-year old. A slider and ice cream sundae buffet and jars of Gummy Bears is my idea of an epicurean delight.

Jacob with parents Amy and Charles

Jake's brother Eli - a master hula hooper.

Jake's sister Noa

Noa, you're a Stah!

Thriller!

This is going to be me at my niece and nephew's Bat/Bar Mitzvah.

Mazel Tov Dude!

Thank you Amy and Charles for choosing me to document this wonderful day in your lives.

Jennifer + Tom at St. Matthew’s Cathedral on March 5, 2011

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:03:45 +0000

After spending almost five weeks in Mexico working on my project, Destino, I was more than ready for a change of pace. In an email, Jennifer asked me if the switch from riding freight trains in Mexico with Central American migrants to photographing a wedding felt like emotional whiplash. I explained that the two seemingly contradicting disciplines actually balance each other nicely – one being the Yin to the Yang, although I’m honestly not sure which is which. The week of the wedding, I found myself shifting gears – making a mental diagram of March 5, working out the logistics in my mind, charging batteries, formatting cards, checking every piece of equipment and packing camera bags. I emailed instructions to my assistant and then I emailed updated instructions. I brought the car to New Hampshire Car Wash. I had the pre-wedding jitters, which is how I knew I was ready. Because I don’t rely on a script or the usual series of canned images – something my good friend, Carl Bower refers to as “visual bromides”, being prepared for anything and everything is crucial. This means having a good understanding of how the day will unfold in order to be able to anticipate moments before they happen.

Getting ready at the Hotel Rouge on 16th Street.

On our way to St. Francis Hall in Northeast DC. You've probably noticed that I stuck with the rouge theme.

St. Francis is one of those hidden gems I had never been to before Jennifer and Tom's wedding.

I love the Dutch Masters type of light.

I thought he had a beautiful face. I was determined to get a good photo of him before the night ended.

Special thanks to DJ Michael Bell from mydeejay for keeping things hopping!