William Anthony Photography

Hiatus

2010-04-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Due to Blogger's discontinuation of FTP publishing support, the WAP blog will go on hiatus until I can reconfigure to a different (better) blog publisher that will work with my site.

Until then, keep up with me on Facebook or Twitter. Or drop me an e-mail to say hello.

2010 will bring many big changes. Stay tuned.

Wm. A

Saturday Drive

2010-04-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

I went for a long drive today to clear my head. These are a few things I saw.

Apartments. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Redondo Pier. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Polynesian. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Poseidon. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Queen Mary. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

The Peps.

2010-04-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

This is Pepper. (aka "The Peps.") She was made by our good friends Tom and Kristy. Yes, that is her real hair. No, I did not Photoshop her eyes. She really is just that cute. (And better behaved than some celebrities I've worked with.)

Look out Anne Geddes.

Spectral Motion Shop Tour

2010-04-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

Atlas of Clinical Dermotology (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

On the occasional Monday night, I play on a pub quiz/trivia team called "Titicaca." (Don't ask.) One of my teammates in cerebral calisthenics is a guy named Brent Baker. Each of us on the team have our trivial specialties. Mine are biology, aviation, photography and Precious Moments™ figurines. Brent's are TV, film, horror movies and special effects. Which makes sense because he's an amazing special effects artist with a long, distinguished filmography.

Brents. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

A while back I asked him if he'd be interested in a portrait at his shop. Why? Why NOT? He has one of the coolest jobs in Hollywood. I dream of portraits like this. Plus, I think it's important, every now and then, to turn the spotlight around and shine it on the people who don't see much light because they're quietly working in a non-desrcript industrial shop in Glendale. Thankfully, he agreed.

So earlier today, I got a tour of the Spectral Motion studio for a scout. It was pretty amazing. Being a scifi geek and lover of all things fantastic, I wandered around wide-eyed and slack-jawed. This is an amazingly talented group of people and I felt pretty lucky to be invited in.

Paint shop. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Same to you buddy. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Spectral Motion has worked on many feature films including M. Night Shayamalan's Lady in the Water as well as Hellboy. And every so often I'd turn around only to be staring right at Hellboy's sawed-off horns or down the jaws of a snarling robotic tinder wolf. Hostile workplace at it's truest.

Hellboy sculpture by Ryan Peterson. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Animatronic wolf head. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

My visit was timed so any and all top secret projects they may (or may not) be working on were not in view. They're currently working on an upcoming Martin Lawrence movie. (See below.) I saw dismembered portions of Mr. Lawrence throughout the shop. His head here, lips there. A leg on a shelf, torso on a table. Really, really surreal.

Martin Lawrence mold. (Click image for large.) © William Anthony

In the next few weeks we'll set up a time and concept for his portrait. And given the location and subject, anything is possible.

Stay tuned.

Artistic Cross-Pollination

2010-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Last November, I had the honor of meeting and photographing the award-winning Los Angeles architect Michael Lehrer. As stated in his feature in Architect magazine, he is a big proponent of cross-disciplinary artistic exploration. In other words, he actively encourages his architects to occasionally take a break from drafting buildings and instead allow some time to simply, and loosely, draw the human form. So a few years back, they began holding life drawing classes at the studio.

While striking our lighting at the shoot back in November, I humbly asked if I could participate in one of those classes. "Of course!" was the answer. "Bring your own art supplies and $10 for the pizza & wine fund," were the extent of the instructions.

Last night, I dropped in and drew for the first time in twelve years. The last time I got charcoal under my fingernails (not to mention all over my face) was several years before I first stained my tee shirts with photographic developer and fix. My last life drawing class was in 1998. Oh how I missed it.

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

I hadn't imagined how much that college drawing class informed my later photography. And inversely, I was amazed to see how much my photography informed the drawing. Economy of line, line contour, value, shadow—it all came back. But best of all, there were no rules. No equipment failures. No hovering publicists. No weather cancellations. No CF card corruptions.

Paper. Charcoal. Model.

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

I encourage other photographers to experience this themselves. You don't need to be able to draw well. It's not about that. It's about freedom and exploration. It's childlike. We all did this when we were children. The only difference was that art was crayon or markers and usually ended up on the refrigerator for sibling critique. But for some reason, as "adults" we rarely make time for this sort of freedom.

The world is complicated. Business is complicated. Relationships are complicated. Drawing is simple.

Thank you Michael, Travis and Mary. Thank you very much.

(Click image for large.) © William Anthony

Cindy Ortega for Eco-Structure Magazine

2010-04-07T13:15:00.001-07:00

Click image to go to site.

My portrait of Cindy Ortega, Senior VP of Energy and Environmental Services for MGM Mirage, photographed at the new CityCenter in Las Vegas is now featured in the March 2010 issue of Eco-Structure magazine. We did the shoot in the beautiful pocket park area between the Aria casino & hotel and the Crystals shopping complex.

Ms. Ortega did the impossible. She oversaw the "greening" of the largest privately-financed construction project in history. No small task. She was gracious throughout the shoot and her enthusiasm for the project beemed through her smile. There's no doubt her pioneering management of this daunting task will forge a path for all new construction on this scale to do so with minimal impact on the environment. If CityCenter, under the skilled guidance like Ms. Ortega's, can do it for a 16,797,000 square foot, $11 billion (with a "B") complex, anyone can.

Quote of the day from the shoot while discussing cheap, overused, environmentally caustic plastics: "You know that new car smell everyone loves? It's really bad for you."

(Click image for supersize.) © William Anthony

Len Anderson IV in Plane & Pilot Magazine

2010-04-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Click image to go to site.

My photograph of pilot-turned-actor/screenwriter Len Anderson was used in a recent feature in Plane & Pilot magazine.

Jetstream

2010-04-05T08:30:00.001-07:00

Starfighter (Click image for supersize.) © William Anthony

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was known by its pilots as "Zipper, Missile With A Man In It, Widowmaker, Flying Coffin, Ground Nail, Bullet & Blades, Badmash & Wicked One."

And those are the flattering ones.

Easter

2010-04-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

(Click image for supersize.) © William Anthony

I took this photograph March 3, 2003—the evening before we invaded Iraq at a peace rally in Seattle.

Southland

2010-04-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

(Click image for supersize.) © William Anthony

“I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.” - Andy Warhol

Laurie Records - Casting Director

2010-03-31T20:51:00.001-07:00

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Laurie Records is a casting director. She is the sole proprietor of Laurie Records Casting, and fellow Seattle transplant. I was introduced to Laurie by my good friend, incredible musician and all-around awesome human being, Jared Clifton.

Jared's been a big fan of my work since forever and when his long-time friend needed some portraits, he was gracious enough to recommend me. Laurie moved here to L.A. ten years ago from Seattle. We met up to talk photos and ended up talking about our weirdest experiences in Los Angeles. (And there were many. Too many.)

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

We scheduled a shoot a week later. She's an absolute sweetheart and completely photogenic, despite her saying otherwise—repeatedly. She really made my job easy.

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Credits
Photo Assistant: Pamela Sunnarborg
Humor Consultant/Stunt Best Friend: Fawnda McMahan

Not a good sign

2010-03-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Saving this sign may cost millions...

Plan to Save 'Hollywood' Comes With a Hefty Price Tag

Robert Stromberg - AVATAR Art Director

2010-03-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

I had the distinct pleasure and honor to meet an Oscar winner a few days ago, the smile on his face still fresh from picking up his statue and giving an emotional acceptance speech on the stage at the beautiful Kodak theatre.

Robert Stromberg won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award for Best Art Direction for the James Cameron epic AVATAR. I photographed him for ARTSTARS.us. And I was fortunate enough to sit in on the interview as well. I learned a lot in those 45 min.

Robert grew up in Carlsbad, CA, a short one hour drive from L.A. As a child he wanted to be an artist for a living, but wasn't sure how. Like countless others, he moved to Los Angeles in hopes of making a career out of a passion. He enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and slept on a friend's couch while working a labor job loading boxes into a van. A short-lived job that ended when, get this, he was caught drawing on the job.

One by one, Robert landed industry jobs. Sweeping an entire empty theater as a production assistant one day, a commissioned matte painting the next. And with each paycheck, he would say to himself excitedly, "Can it get any better than this?"

Then came the plot twist present in any movie worth its salt. Only this was all too real.

After hearing his name following "the winner is..." he walked to the mic and revealed, to many for the first time, that he is a cancer survivor. Thirteen years ago he was given a grim diagnosis followed by an even more grim prognosis. But he fought it and the fight was worth it. After beating the disease, he promised to make the rest of his time worth every minute. He speaks fondly of his wife, but especially his kids. Tom, creator of ARTSTARS.us, is a brand new first-time father. So it was not surprising that the first 15 minutes of the interview were dominated by talk of being a father. Come to think of it, though enthusiastic about AVATAR, it was overshadowed by his love of fatherhood.

Here I was, looking at a man at the top of his game—his life for that matter. Triumphant in every way.

Tom asks a few of the same questions to every interviewee. One is "Any advice to young people getting into the biz?" Robert answered with the expected requirements of passion and drive, but he also added in that "luck favors the prepared." I laughed to myself quietly. This is one of my favorite quotes and my fiancée had just texted this to me earlier in the day as an affirmation.

We shook hands and he was off as quickly as he came. But his impression on me stayed behind.

Cancer survivor, family man, Oscar win for doing what once got him fired from a job—can it get any better than this?

See his entire interview at ARTSTARS.us.

Dad's '57 Pontiac

2010-03-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Shot in Aledo, TX (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

This was the first car my father bought in the United States, brand new in 1957, in Austin, TX. It's a '57 Pontiac Chieftain 2-door sedan. This behemoth spent most of my life draped in blankets in our garage. Every once in a long while, my Dad would uncover it, re-inflate the tires and start up the V8 beast. We'd drive around the neighborhood a few times just to keep everything running. I used to love these drives. My Dad loved these drives. We'd chug along at a comfortable 35 mph while we'd wave to the neighbors. Unfortunately, as quickly as he brought it out of the garage, we'd be pulling back into it. I'd help my Dad cover it up again with the blankets and start dreaming about someday being the guy driving and waving myself.

My brother is now the steward of this great old automobile. When I was in Texas visiting him in '05, we re-lived the ritual. Only this time it was my brother's garage and I actually got to drive it. (And wave. Though this time to an audience of dairy cows.) Since my Dad has such a fondness for his former state of Texas, and it's where he bought the car, we decided to take it out to the wooded back roads and get a nice, proud large format photograph of the Chieftain for him.

Framing up with the 4x5 (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

My Texas fan base (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Last week, while in an antique store, I found this old ad for Pontiac. Very cool.

Pontiac advertisement dated Feb. 16, 1957. (Click image for full size.)

By the way, my Dad loved the photo.

Architect magazine -Spacio Design

2010-03-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

The March issue is out with my portrait of Kiel and Shaunt.

Outtake. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Curbed L.A. picks up the 90021 story

2010-03-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Click image, check it out.

*THE* real estate blog in Los Angeles likes The 90021 Project

Now I'm blushing...

PSFK likes 90021

2010-03-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Click image, check it out.

NYC-based PSFK contacted me about The 90021 Project and did a nice little write up on it.

Their upcoming conference looks pretty amazing.

A View from a Loft

2010-03-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Click image check it out.

The 90021 Project got a nice little hat tip from Los Angeles Arts District blogger Ed Fuentes. Click the image above to check out his blog, A View from a Loft.

Thanks Ed!

Oh great! Ok Great!

2010-03-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

A looooooong time ago (circa '99), when I worked for a small boutique ad agency, dreamed of Gold Pencils and permanently smelled like spraymount, I hired an intern named Carolin. She was/is (still) awesome. Way back then, she had an innate sense of smart design aesthetic that I knew would take her far. Unfortunately for the West coast, it took her far across the country to North Carolina.

We parted ways but kept in touch sporadically while we both worked our asses off in our careers.

Just this morning, I received a nice message telling me she blogged about The 90021 Project on the colorful design blog Ok Great.

Have a look here.

And be sure to check out her work and follow her on Twitter.

Space Ghosts

2010-03-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Mercury program helmet. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

We visited the California Science Center today. They have two actual full NASA spacesuits on display. I was fascinated by the helmets. We find such interesting ways to protect the precious organ that gets us in all the trouble in the first place—the brain.

Apollo pressure bubble helmet. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

about:face submission highlight

2010-03-11T10:55:00.001-08:00

Almost Famous in Vegas

2010-02-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

While setting up for a portrait at the ARIA Resort and Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas, the hotel dispatched a young man named Brandon to help tidy up the location. While he did, I asked if he'd be willing to stand in for a light test. He responded, "Will I be famous?"

Well, I guess if you consider my blog fame, then yes Brandon, you are now famous.

Thanks for your help buddy...

On the Road - Las Vegas, NV

2010-02-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Spacio Design

2010-02-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Shaunt Yemenjian and Kiel Famellos-Schmidt (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Yesterday, I made the long drive up to Fresno to photograph Shaunt Yemenjian and Kiel Famellos-Schmidt from Spacio Design for Architect magazine. We met up, had lunch while discussing the photo and then wandered around downtown scouting for locations. Kiel recommended the view from the top of a nearby parking structure. When we got up to the top I completely forgot about the view from the top floor and began loving the view of the top floor. The light fixtures were straight out of the 1950s and I was being given a gift of good skies and light. We shot for an hour or so and I absolutely love the results.

Look for their story in the March issue.

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T21:58:00.000-08:00