Monthly Archives: November 2011

SWRVE

November 15, 2011 – 11:45 pm

Is cycling popular or something? China thinks so, Amsterdam does too. I am not talking about the guys that you see at the coffee shops on weekend mornings brandishing the best neon spandex onesies plastered with sponsors, I’m talking about guys and gals listening to The Antlers new album on their new earbuds, looking like they stepped out of an Urban Outfitters Catalogue. I am not sure what has changed in the past five years (maybe fixed gear bikes? maybe gas prices?), but it really seems that cycling as a form of transportation and socialization has made it’s way up the hip scales. SWRVE is a company that I worked with a few months ago which is bridging the gap between form and function for people that want to be comfortable on their bikes, but still show up somewhere looking good. I am not saying that you don’t look good in spandex because you do!

SWRVE was rebuilding their site and Jon Setzen, the creative director at Something Massive brought me in to help with the lifestyle imagery. We shot all over downtown LA, where SWRVE is based, and ended up on the roof of their studio for the last shot/BBQ. All of the models were actual cyclists and the guy with the handlebar mustache actually co-owns Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake. Everyone was really excited about the shoot and the brand, so it made the shoot amazingly fun. I love lifestyle shoots because I get to run around all day and in this case I had to run even faster to keep up with the bikes!

The locations were great as well. We found a loading dock that you can see above that worked perfectly for a ride by shot. From the washed out color and the perfectly placed garage door to the yellow security pylons that added pops of color, I couldn’t ask for more. Downtown Los Angeles has a wealth of beautiful structures. Until recently, these were vastly overlooked because nobody was living in these areas. In the past ten years there has been a revitalization of downtown. When someone used to say that they lived downtown people would say, “really, I didn’t know anyone lived down there,” but now it is a very up-and-coming place to live, eat, and shop.

As I mentioned before, the last shots were taken on the roof while we had a BBQ. We got some great shots, had some great food, beer, and conversation with great company. The sun dropping behind the buildings made for a beautiful, warm yet urban backdrop that kind of said it all.

Tags beards, bikes, cycling, Swrve, swrve.us | Permalink | Comment (1)

Recent Work

The Shooting of Werner Herzog

November 14, 2011 – 7:35 pm

What, you want me to shoot Werner Herzog!? Let’s clarify, with a camera not an air rifle, like he was shot with in a BBC interview in 2006. I shoot the Talk section for the New Times Magazine a lot and my photo editor contacted me with this assignment. I was ecstatic to say the least. I grew up watching Herzog’s movies with my dad and have been a fan since an early age. He is one of my favorite artists? personalities? adventurers? around and now I had the chance to take his picture and meet him.

We were asked to show up at a screening of his new movie, Into the Abyss, and set up in the lobby. We only had ten minutes with Werner, so we had to set up well in advance. We were also told that Werner is not at all fond of having his picture taken. I completely understand this and it’s not uncommon for celebrities to tell me this. I absolutely hate to be in front of the camera, so I feel for these people. You would think that because so many of the people that are in front of the camera are great looking, that they would love to be immortalized in photos, but even Johnny Depp hates it. He was quoted in the last issue of Vanity Fair by Nick Tosches while talking about shoots, “Raped. The whole thing. It feels like a kind of weird-just weird, man. Weird…whenever you have a photo shoot or something like that, it’s like – you just feel dumb. It’s just so stupid.”*

Back to the story. Werner came out after introducing the movie and we introduced each other. He was such a nice guy and did not show any signs of not liking being photographed. We got right into it because of the very short time restraint and he was great. He told me about Disfarmer who happens to be his favorite portrait photographer and explained him in detail. When he was describing him and his photos it really felt like I was watching one of Werner’s documentaries. He is so descriptive and passionate, in a very mellow way, and I was just overall impressed by his presence. I did try to get him to smile and he just looked at me and, with no animosity, said,”I don’t do that in photos.” Straight to the point. Unfortunately we only had ten minutes, so there wasn’t a long time to talk, but what discussions we did have were very interesting. If you can’t tell I really admired Werner before I met him and meeting him has only added to that admiration.

Here is a link to the story and below are a few outtakes: Werner Herzog Lives Dangerously

Tags Brad Swonetz, New York Times Magazine, Werner Herzog, Werner Herzog Portrait | Permalink | Comment (0)

Traveling

Cuyamaca Hike

November 13, 2011 – 1:08 am

Last weekend we had a really uncommon thing happen in California, it rained! It was also cold enough for it to snow in the mountains, so Anna and I decided to take Bear, our 1 yr 3 month old dog/horse (if you follow me on instagram you may think I am slightly obsessed), to experience his first snow day. When we got out of the car bear wasn’t sure what this new white world was. He first put his foot in it tentatively and then went into a full bore puppy fit, we like to call the zoomies. He ran as fast as he could in big circles kicking up flakes like a dune buggy in sand.

After the initial reaction, we took him for a long hike in Cuyamaca. Cuyamaca is a nature reserve just outside of Julian, CA. Julian is a beautiful mountain town that is known for their fresh Apple Pies. Check it out if you are in Southern California. The hike was gorgeous and the company was pretty great as well. Here are some pictures from the journey:

Tags California, Cuyamaca, dog, dogs, hike, hiking, Julian, trees | Permalink | Comments (2)

Recent Work

Hollywood with Martin Sastre

November 4, 2011 – 10:11 pm

A lot of people have asked about the photo that comes up first on my website, so I am going to tell you. A couple of months ago I was asked to do a shoot for L’Uomo Vogue of a young director/artist named Martin Sastre. Martin is a video artist that has been directing full length movies lately. He’s from Uraguay, but now lives in Madrid and happened to be in LA to scout for his new movie.

Djuna Bel, the very talented stylist, was nice enough to let us use her house as home base to get Martin ready for the first shot at the Hollywood sign. Martin showed up and was a really nice guy. He got suited up, literally, and we cruised up to the sign and started the shoot. The suits were great (Phillip Lim and Burberry) and Martin played the mod role perfectly even though it was unbearably hot to be wearing a suit. At least it was peach and not black, I guess.

After we finished up at the sign we went back to Djuna’s place to get the next outfit and headed to the Griffith Observatory. I am sure all the people reading this in LA have been there, but if you haven’t, you should. It is an amazingly designed place. It feels like you have just stepped into a set for Blade Runner or something. It was finished in 1935 and is one of the coolest Art Deco buildings that I have ever seen. Go! We had to “guerrilla” it because we didn’t have a permit to shoot there, so we had to try to be as inconspicuous as possible. Because we were shooting natural light and not getting in anyone’s way, security seemed to turn the other cheek. So all of that to explain the main shot on my site, Martin walking away from the observatory. All in all, it was a great shoot and we had a lot of fun running around the LA landmark. Below is a kind of timeline of shots: