On March 14, 2011 by vard
This one has been a long time in coming…too long really…and not long enough at the same time, at least for me. The 300 Almost Naked People Project was something that I came up with last year to accomplish a couple of tasks:
- attempt to make a visual reality of a silly and inspiring idea from a friend
- to push new ideas in ‘social and interactive’ shooting
- to raise some money for The Berwick Movie Theater
- and to add something different to my portfolio of images
My friend Courtney giggled out an idea for a picture to me one day while waiting for our kids to get out of school. She thought it would be hilarious to capture an image of the cliche advice that if you’re nervous about public speaking to picture everyone in their underwear. We laughed together about it for a few minutes, talking about what some different images might come out like. And right in the middle of our funny little conversation it hit me like a ton of bricks that we should just make it happen. It was such a duh moment it was almost embarrassing. But I got over it and started thinking about what it would take to make it work.
First, we needed a place to shoot…a theater would work…and our studio happens to be 2 doors down from The Berwick Movie Theater. My ace in the whole here was, as is often the case, Connie 
. Everyone loves her and Mr. Vincent (owner of the theater) was no different. A quick conversation and some handshaking later and Mr. V was cool with the idea. At this point, aside from a location to shoot in, I didn’t have anything else worked out about it: how to get people there, anything regarding the technical side for lighting and whatnot, nothing…just an idea and a location.
Then, as is very often the case, 95% of the idea flooded into my head one day while I was running. The project should have it’s own website, a catchy and informative name, something going on to entertain the participants while I messed with lighting and that we should probably record it too. In the course of a 6 mile run I had most of it put together. The name – 300 Almost Naked People – made me laugh…it wasn’t just a couple of friends, it was 300 almost naked people; bordering on absurdity. Every time I said the name I laughed…that was good enough for me. And we would use the website to host info leading up to the event. As far as ideas for shoots go, this one was developing nicely. Next up was getting some help on board.
Berwick might be small, but it doesn’t lack for talented people. For this one I ask my friend Annie to help make a couple of promo commercials and to record the days events. We had fun working together and I learned a lot from her. Smart man Jeff Haskell proved his technical prowess by helping us live-cast the event on the internet. In reality, Jeff’s part wasn’t really considered until just a few days before go time, and on the morning of the event I handed him two laptops and a modem and told him to see what he could do. The live-cast wasn’t really planned out, but I figured if it worked it would be a nice accent to the ‘social’ aspect already woven into the idea of the shoot. What Jeff actually did was WAY beyond anything I could have hoped for! He’s a motivated dude. Thanks Jeff. Long time friends Dylan and Dave of BriggsFest & The Highland Games fame used $100, a few cases of beer and an afternoon or two to build two custom telescoping light stands in order to get my lights where I’d need them. I had no idea how they would get it worked out, but I knew they would. My father once told me I didn’t have to know all the answers, but I should have an idea on how to FIND the answers. I’ve always appreciated that advice. I would also need someone to keep anyone that might actually show up entertained. Waiting for me to set up another shot can get boring…at least, I always worry that it can. So I asked local comedian and DJ Chris Romig to MC for us. Rock it he did! I wasn’t ready for how funny he could be, but dammit he was hilarious! Thanks a million Chris. And finally, while not my idea or specifically part of the planning for this shoot, sisters Tara & Leah surprised everyone with a seriously amazing treat – a scale rendition of The Berwick Movie Theater made of cake! Unexpected and completely awesome!
On the day of the shoot everything was working smoothly. People were showing up pumped to get undressed, the gear was all working and things were moving as best as I could hope for. The day started off pretty darn nice, but I was about to be reminded of one of the most important lessons of being a photographer; preparing for what you can, adjusting when needed and NOT loosing your cool when it starts to hit the fan. While I thought I had accounted for everything, or at least thought about accounting for it, I hadn’t. For whatever reason, I assumed Mr. Vincent wouldn’t be at the event. It didn’t seem like his style and I had been working with his granddaughter Renee for access to the theater whenever we needed it. That was very a rookie and stupid mistake on my part. Of course he would be there…it’s his place. He’s an old school dude and that’s they way it’s done. My plan was to make sure everyone helping had what they needed and then mentally prepare myself for shooting. If you shoot you know what I’m talking about, if you don’t I probably can’t explain it. As it turned out, the preparing myself part never happened. Mr. V was so involved, rightfully so, with everything that was going on, rather than having to worry about 1 or 2 things I had 15 people all asking me what they should do about whatever Mr. V was asking them. It totally threw me…I was never able to focus on anything regarding image making. I just snapped away. I kept reminding myself to create rather than just capture, but I never got that far….it was just frame after frame trying to get to get to the end of the shoot. I hadn’t felt that out of control behind a camera in a few years at least. And it wasn’t like the unraveling was happening in a vacuum…I was aware of it, but I couldn’t keep my cool enough to even address that, much less make an image.
Despite my emotional implosion, I still feel that the 300 People project was a success. Maybe not a success like the version I had played out in my head, but successful no less. Lots of people willing to help and 50+ brave souls ready to shed it all for a fun and entertaining time. Artistically for me though, it just didn’t do what I was hoping for…I never felt really connected in the way that I need to when shooting to feel good about it. But I can live with that. I swung for the fences; I just didn’t connect solidly. It’s taken forever to get these images posted for a few different reasons. Getting the studio ‘work’ out takes priority, but it wasn’t hard to ignore these images because I just didn’t ‘feel’ anything for them. Self-applying the word ‘artist’ has never been something I felt comfortable with, but it’s about the only explanation for ‘why’ 300 People didn’t work for me. It’s art and it’s personal, as public as we made this. I liken it to how musicians or painters work…they produce lots of stuff that we’ll never see or hear. I think this would have gone down that road if I didn’t feel like I owed it to the amazing people that helped and took part in the idea. It was important to me that they see something from this for their efforts…a huge thank you to everyone that was there, clothed and otherwise. It literally couldn’t have happened without you.
So, that’s it…I enjoyed doing the 300 People project. It was a great exercise in coordinating a big shoot with lots going on. The live internet feed was awesome – that we decided to do something like that for a first attempt at a big production shoot is funny as hell to me in hindsight. Glad it at least appeared to work out. People seemed to enjoy the event…I tried as much as I could, but I was so off my game ‘joy’ wasn’t really the emotion I was dealing with. If you were there, you rock…if you watched, thank you. That we didn’t get 300 people almost naked is a non-issue for me. It was always about just doing it and seeing what happened. And hell, it’s motivation to try again…and again. The basic idea for 300People II is already worked out. Not sure when I’ll get to it, but it will happen.
And I want to say thanks again to Mr. Vincent. I deeply appreciate your kindness and boy did I learn a lot! Thank you.
…here’s to trying for big, accepting reality and working hard to do better the next time out. Thanks for reading.
Yah-sure, ya-betchya!
