#25 - Paul Wood - January 27, 2018 - Washington, DC
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Paul Wood and I had not seen each other since the spring of 1990, making it almost 28 years. We both graduated from RIT in Rochester, NY and Paul graduated from the photo program that year. Paul comes from a Rochester, NY family of scientists and engineers with family members working for Kodak and Xerox. He started out in the highly technical/scientific program called "Imaging & Photographic Technology". It is a highly scientific program and many graduates go on to work for governmental agencies such as NASA, the FBI, the CIA, and the US Treasury; corporations such as Google, Kodak, Hewlett Packard (HP), and Epson; and industrial powerhouses, including DuPont and General Electric.
After a while, in the highly demanding program, Paul decided he wanted to work as a photographer in the advertising and illustration field and switched majors to Advertising and Illustration photography. He also had to help put himself through school and at times worked three part-time jobs. After graduation, Paul worked as a studio photographer for the grocery store Wegmans as a photographer. In 2003, he moved to Washington, DC and started a job as a photographer for the US Department of Education - now he serves as the lead photographer and videographer there. His job often requires him to travel to schools all over the United States.
Paul bought a carriage house on Capitol Hill in DC and partnered up with Emmy award winning cinematographer and director of photography Christopher Albert to open StudiowerksDC in a carriage house adjacent to his home. (Chris lives above the studio - Paul lives in another carriage house across the courtyard) I photographed Paul in and around Studiowerks on a very pleasant late January morning. The studio is often very busy, but we used a two-hour gap when it wasn't being rented.
We did a setup and I quickly noticed that my camera was not functioning properly. The source was a dead battery. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening, the camera would fire but the shutter speed sounded wrong. I switched camera bodies to backup and was up and running again. After this false start, I ditched the first roll I had loaded and started with a fresh roll of film. I'm glad I did as the first few exposures on that roll were blank. Again - using a film camera is in some ways more prone to "painful" user error. You often won't know if you screwed up until you process the film. Seeing the processed film is the feedback. (Remember I don't shoot Polaroids now) Digital cameras provide a constant and instant feedback if needed. When I'm shooting with the film camera I'm much more careful with the mechanics of the camera - I listen to shutter speeds - listening to the camera operation plays a big part. I know how things should sound and feel as the camera clicks and the film advances. You need to be on "high alert" to how the camera is operating or you can make big mistakes if the operation of the camera is wrong.
After a while, in the highly demanding program, Paul decided he wanted to work as a photographer in the advertising and illustration field and switched majors to Advertising and Illustration photography. He also had to help put himself through school and at times worked three part-time jobs. After graduation, Paul worked as a studio photographer for the grocery store Wegmans as a photographer. In 2003, he moved to Washington, DC and started a job as a photographer for the US Department of Education - now he serves as the lead photographer and videographer there. His job often requires him to travel to schools all over the United States.
Paul bought a carriage house on Capitol Hill in DC and partnered up with Emmy award winning cinematographer and director of photography Christopher Albert to open StudiowerksDC in a carriage house adjacent to his home. (Chris lives above the studio - Paul lives in another carriage house across the courtyard) I photographed Paul in and around Studiowerks on a very pleasant late January morning. The studio is often very busy, but we used a two-hour gap when it wasn't being rented.
We did a setup and I quickly noticed that my camera was not functioning properly. The source was a dead battery. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening, the camera would fire but the shutter speed sounded wrong. I switched camera bodies to backup and was up and running again. After this false start, I ditched the first roll I had loaded and started with a fresh roll of film. I'm glad I did as the first few exposures on that roll were blank. Again - using a film camera is in some ways more prone to "painful" user error. You often won't know if you screwed up until you process the film. Seeing the processed film is the feedback. (Remember I don't shoot Polaroids now) Digital cameras provide a constant and instant feedback if needed. When I'm shooting with the film camera I'm much more careful with the mechanics of the camera - I listen to shutter speeds - listening to the camera operation plays a big part. I know how things should sound and feel as the camera clicks and the film advances. You need to be on "high alert" to how the camera is operating or you can make big mistakes if the operation of the camera is wrong.
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