Richard Holt Hutton

Transcription

FEMALE SPEAKER: Welcome to Photographers at Google, a new series that we're putting together. And we're really excited to have Alan Shapiro with us today. He's from New York, visiting us here at Mountain View at Google headquarters, so it's great to have you, Alan. He is the chief creative officer at the world's largest advertising network, and he's worked on projects such as M&M, Mars, Heineken, and Dos Equis, and Unilever. He's award-winning photographer, he's passionate about photography, and he's been published in private collections and galleries, and he has a real talent for getting people to open up to him. In fact, I got to witness this just the other day at Chinatown. He can get people to smile with joy or sorrow, and at one point, he had an old woman with a cane about to hit him over the head, but she was smiling, so it's all good. And his words reflect and archive the moment that he captures behind the camera. And so the topic today he will be sharing is Dear Photographers, Use Your Words. And I'm pleased and excited to have Alan Shapiro join us today, so thank you. ALAN SHAPIRO: That's it? Come on. AUDIENCE: Confetti will be-- ALAN SHAPIRO: Later. Alright. You see? [APPLAUSE] Wow, that's cool. Crowd control. I'm actually really humbled and feel incredibly privileged to be here, so thank you Laurie, and Brian, and all of you for coming. Google has literally changed my life. Google+ has changed my life, but Google as an entity has changed my life. And so for all of you, and all of your peers, thank you. Because as a society, what I call this Generation ADD, we're jumping around way too much, and that can be an opportunity, but it can also be a detriment. And the technology that you've created has brought us all closer, has given way to umpteen amounts of information that we can share, and I think it's a wonderful thing. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. So we're going up we're going to erase this part. I'm going to go back a little bit, and I want to look at that photo. It was the first photo that, as a young child-- by the way I've only been photographing for about six, seven years, but that photo stuck with me throughout my entire life. And now, I want you to-- anyone know what the background for that photo is? Other than Karen. Anyone know what was going on? Isn't that a shame? One of the most iconic, brilliant people in the world sticking his tongue out. So if you're a photographer, what happened? How did you do that? If you're Einstein, what made you do that? And so, there's not a lot on the internet other than being able to find out that one of the photographers, Arthur Sasse, who worked for UPI at the time, and it was Einstein's 72nd birthday, and he's tired of having all the photographers take his picture, so he stuck his tongue out and it made for one of the most iconic portraits in modern times. But now that's good, but it's not good enough. What was it like for Arthur? Anyone have any idea? I'm a photographer, and I love working with people, and if I had the opportunity to get in front of an Einstein, or Larry Page, or Sergey, or whoever I happen to find here, what would I do? What would I think? How would I feel? And so, I think there's a huge lost opportunity. So let me go to another one. Anybody know anything about this photo? Another iconic photo in our modern day history, Dorothea Lange, photographing during the Depression in the vegetable fields here in California. What went on? So, you can find a little bit of information. The thing that speaks to me-- and I want to read this to you, because it's the genesis of this talk-- I saw and approached the hungry, desperate mother as if drawn by a magnet. And I want you thinking about Dorothea now. You probably know nothing about her. There aren't that many recorded interviews with her, but as you listen to the words, think about the photographer and how that makes you feel about her, and that becomes a branding opportunity. I don't remember how to explain my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I can't imagine that moment. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I didn't ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32, that she had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and the birds that her children killed. That she had just sold the tires from her car to pay for food. Then she sat in the lean-to tent with her children, and somehow thought that her picture, Dorothea's picture, might help. How do you feel about the photographer now? Do you like Dorothea? Do you like the mom? Do you know enough? So most people here, I hope, are photographers. Even if you think you're a photographer, or don't think you're a photographer, you've got a device that will let you take a picture. So we're all photographers. Welcome to the club. Some of us are a little more passionate, a little bit more involved, make a little bit more money, but we all have this opportunity to document society, and that's a wonderful thing. There has never been a better time to put pictures up, to share them, to see the world in its infinitesimally small bits, because of photographers around the world. Again, thank you, Google+ for bringing that to my life. But now, there's a lot of laziness that accompanies that. You take a picture, you post it, you take another picture, and you post it. If you're a family photographer, you pick thirty pictures and you post it, and then that's it. Now there are some people, I don't mean to overgeneralize, who do write, and I love you. I love you. And I love the people who will provide the context, because that's what this is about. Now the reaction-- so here's the reaction to use your words. Some people will shout loudly. Sorry I had to get this in, Brian, you know that. But most often, when I teach, I get this look, or this look, sometimes this look, and usually this look. The story that goes with this, this is my 100-year-old grandmother, who passed away just a few months ago, after turning 100. A few years back, my two children and I were visiting, and I was taking thousands of pictures, and she was getting annoyed, because at the time, she was 97 or 98, and the camera clicking, you get annoyed. She said, please stop. And I wouldn't, because I couldn't. She's my grandmother. And the kids whispered in her ear, give him the finger. And she didn't know what that meant, so she did this to me. And then she did this, and then, someone-- my daughter-- whispered in her other ear, no, it's the middle finger. And so she did it. She did it, and there's that photo. And she said, but what does it mean? She had no idea what it meant. And so my son whispered in her ear, and she said, why would I do that to my grandson? I adore him. And my daughter said, well, people do it to him in New York all the time. So before you heard that story, which is one of my favorite stories about one of my most favorite people, and I have shared it, and it has gone around the world. And this is now in the collection of a very large insurance company. It sits in one of their hidden hallways that they only show special people, because it is what it is. But now, does that make a difference to you? Does that help a little bit? Do you feel a little bit different about Bubby or Alan? So what's the difference that words make? Now, I'm going to talk, and this isn't going to be a lecture. I'm going to show you a lot of pictures, and I'm going to tell you a lot of stories, but I want you to think about just the four things. One, we're able to document everything now, thanks to cameras, thanks to Google Maps, thanks to all of the technology that allows us to capture all of these things, and that's important. But now we want to go beyond metadata. So what are the happenings that are going on, and what can we do to add a little bit more context to that? Now, I'm a portrait photographer sometimes. So sometimes it's about making connections. Because when I approach someone, I'm not one of those stealthy guys, I'm going to come up here, see? And I'm going to make you smile. And I'll bet I could make you cry. AUDIENCE: Probably. ALAN SHAPIRO: And that's where the connections, the using your words as a photographer, is equally important. It's not just after the fact, it's before the fact. Education. I think this is the single most important thing that photographers should do, and I can tell you, having worked with some very iconic photographers, it's the last thing they want to do, because everyone has secrets. I don't want to share my secrets. Sorry. I don't want to share my secrets. And to those people, I would say, you have to share your secrets, because that's going to make you a better photographer. Because as soon as people know how you do what you do, it's going to force you to do something else. So instead of getting stuck in a rut, teach. And by the way, I'm a huge fan of causes, and I think teacher should be paid like rock stars and athletes, and athletes and rock stars should be forced to teach, but that's a whole other talk. So let's talk about, sort of, beginnings. I think every photographer, whether you're a starving college kid, or middle aged guy who picks it up to reduce stress-- and by the way, that's exactly what I did. I work in advertising, I've spent lots of time with photographers, I was sort of jealous of them because they seem to have a lot of fun working with models and whatever. But I also got very stressed, and a photographer friend of mine put a camera in my hand, and I immediately got too happy place. But as a storyteller in my day job, as someone who create stories around brands, the idea of seeing what stories emerge from my photographs, what could I do with them that either illustrate, enhance, complement, provide context? That became important to me. And it became a daily exercise regimen. You really are passing that around, aren't you? Cool. Good, OK. Just worried about the guy in the white hair. Don't know that I trust him. So like most New Yorkers, there's a huge homeless population. Which, to me, is absolutely a horrible thing, as I'm sure this to a lot of people. No one likes it. And so we started spending time. But this was a bad photograph for me, because I couldn't talk to this person. You know I later went back, and I got to know Jason, because homeless people have a territory, and I got to know him. This is one of my favorite stories, and this is something that I may get mushy about. This is a gentleman named Boris, and he is easily the scariest person I've ever met when he is off his meds. And he's rarely medicated, and when he has medicine, people steal it from the shelters. He's horribly scary. But as is my thing, I would walk by, and I would leave lunch bags, breakfast food, whatever. And they never talk to me, and I really kept my distance. But then one day, he said, hey, camera guy. And I stopped. And he said, come here. And I got very scared, but I did. Because I'm cautious. And he said, would you take my picture? I said, why? I said, I would love to take your picture, but why? He said, well, I've got a granddaughter, and she I haven't seen her in several years, and want her to know I'm OK. So I got really honored, and we took pictures. And then the next day, I came back, and I brought my laptop, and I had all the pictures I took, because I took it easily 100, and I would have taken 1,000 but he got tired. And we sent the pictures, and we edited them together. We sent them off, and then a few weeks later, he came and he had a letter back from her. And it was magnificent. And then he gave me this big stinky hug, with clothes that hadn't been washed in probably a year or two. And we-- one of the most amazing moments of my life. Now, I'm telling you stories now. I've obviously written these things down, but it's important to me. It's important to me to share because I want you to know that things like homelessness are things that we need to not allow, we need to raise our voices on. But also because as human beings to human beings, making those connections, making his day just by doing something by talking to him, by noticing him, is something that's very important to me. So here we are in Chinatown with Richard. And long story short, I went in and I bought four Peking ducks and a couple of racks of ribs, and we sat and we just took stuff. But I saw this-- it looks much better on my screen, by the way-- and I had to talk to him, and I had to find out what's going on, and I had to share it. And then I started playing a little bit. So this is from an ongoing series called Fallen, because in my mind, what if these people roaming among us, homeless, what if they really were the angels put down upon us? This is Scottie, he's from a little bit further south, and I think the post on this was start by covering left hand side. Sorry, I'm a little backwards. Start by covering that, and look at that man. He's got three children, he's had three companies that he was CEO of. Had a big car, had a boat, was happily married, and then he started drinking. Now cover that and look at this guy. And now he's lost everything. And depending on when you see these people, you're going to see a different aspect of them. I was fortunate in that on this day, I saw both. Because I came back later in the day. Because that was my morning shot, and then that was the afternoon shot. This is a guy named Russell. Harriet, who sang me a beautiful song, and I wish I'd had my video recorder, because I wanted to take the lyrics down, because it was about a brown eyed guy from New York, and it just went on and on, and it was magnificent. And then that led me to starting a project with a guy named Mike Shaw, who is another kindred spirit of mine, who lives in the UK, where we talked about the need to spend time with people and connect with people and use our words with people. And then that led to a statement that I've had written down for years, and I've made a campaign-- because as a photographer and as an advertising guy, I have the ability to put messages out there, at least in my social networks, but also in media-- about don't spare change, make change. That led me to veterans. This is also a guy named Richard, and this is what I saw. He's a World War II vet, and he's bitter, and as we talked about things, we got him to open up and smile, and see that there were possibilities. And this is where I left him. Now, homelessness and veterans married for me in this world. This is on Veterans Day, and this is a homeless guy named Stefan. And the fact here is that one in four veterans are homeless in this country, are homeless at some point coming back. So don't spare change, make change, and meeting veterans, it took me to all sorts of places. And so the connections that you make, the people that you meet the stories of theirs that you can share. By the way, every single one of them, of these people, have allowed me to tell their stories, because I do ask. I think that's critically important in street photography for me. Whenever I'm going to add a story to an image, I have to get permission. Did I get your permission, Brian? I know I-- sort of. OK. So this led to a whole series of veterans, and I'm not going to take you through all of that just in the interest of time. But here's another story that I want to tell you. It's Veterans Day. Not a great shot, but there are thousands and thousands of photographers accompanying the tens of thousands of veterans in New York. And someone brought an eagle, because it's our simple of patriotism. And the eagle is sitting proudly, and he's looking, and you have the beautiful soldiers behind, and everyone was photographing, and it was a sea of shutters. I mean, it was like listening to the ocean over rocks, there were that many shutters going constantly, and so the sound, the sonic branding that was going on was incredible. But then the eagle looked down for a second, and it got deathly quiet. Except for me, because I had to keep clicking, because there was a moment that I saw. But it was odd to me, that among all these photographers, you would think that everyone would just keep shooting, but nobody did. And so I recall the silence, and that silence combined with the image for me, on Veterans Day, where we're remembering our fallen, is incredibly powerful. But you would never know that if you saw this image without the story, without the words, would you? Nor would you know how much I care, how deeply important this is to me. So I want you all to think about that as you're taking your pictures. What's important to you? And are you telling as much of a story as you want to? So there's the first thing to put out there. This is a guy named Rocco Moretto. He's a World War II vet, three Purple Hearts. His platoon landed on Omaha Beach during the Battle of Normandy. He was one of two survivors of his original platoon. Two. I met him on Veterans Day, and I got to meet him and get to know him, and his girlfriend Margie, who was a World War II woman's Army Corps person. Didn't realize they were boyfriend and girlfriend til just a few months ago, but they were always together. And so you see these two 90-year-old World War II vets, and it's a magnificent thing. And Lockheed Martin called me a few months ago and commissioned me to do a series on veterans as a result of my passion for this. And so, that was a big honor, but then-- and Rocco was one of the first people I asked to shoot. And we got to know each other better. And then a few days after that, he called me, and he was calling me like 40 times a day leading up to the shoot. Are we still on, are we still on, where are we meeting, what should I bring, what should I wear? It was great. Because if you remember, a few months ago, I lost my grandmother. But I found a grandfather. A magnificent, heroic, tiny little grandfather who loves cannolis, and pasta, and just listening to stories about my children. And he called me, and he said, the VFW-- Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Queens, that he was a member of-- was being renamed after himself, and would I be his guest? So I went. Right? Right, this-- I know. Right? AUDIENCE: Keep going. [INAUDIBLE]. ALAN SHAPIRO: And so, what you can't see are the hundreds of people behind Rocco. But at some point after the outside ceremony, where we had congressman and senators and all of these people, because he's a big deal. There aren't that many World War II vets left. This wonderful singer started singing Andrews Sisters songs and crooning to him, and everyone was behind me, and that's what I saw. And it was dark, and I didn't have a flash, and didn't even want to bring a flash because that would be disrespectful. I didn't want to interrupt what was going on. And so it's what I think is a crappy photo, but for me, it is incredibly iconic, and it speaks to me just like the "Life" magazines and "Look" magazines that I used to look at it as a kid, and I see that same thing in it. And that makes me proud, because it means I'm getting somewhere. That I'm seeing things differently. But more importantly is that I was there to share it with him. And that's what I want you to know about me. When I meet people like Francis, the first thing he told me is he just came out of a coma six months ago, and he was immediately taken to jail. And he just got out. And he wouldn't tell me why he was in jail, or why he was in the coma, but they were related. And don't call me Fran, or Frank, or anything, you have to call me Francis. Which immediately, I laughed, and so he gave me that look. And I said, oh shit, oh drat. And that's the photo. And there was a lot more to it, and now he invites me to his mixed martial arts meets, where he gets to beat up people who are even meaner looking than him. These are his hands, by the way. This is a Houston Street Romeo. Brian knows Houston Street. He was cruising uptown chicks. I just walked over and I said, I need your hat, can I have it? Can I buy it? And he said, no, because it is made for my head. And we had this ongoing conversation, and you know that hat, I mean, he spent at least 20 minutes putting his hat on at exactly the right angle. You knew that, and practicing his smile at home. Well, at least I hope you know from looking at the picture, but if you didn't know that from looking at the picture, now you know it, because it's written down. Again, I don't mean to beat a point into the ground, beat a dead horse. This kid had never heard of Steven Spielberg or "The Goonies". So I pulled out my phone, and I pulled up a YouTube clip, and I said, oh my god, when they do the modern day remake, I'm calling Steve, you're first in line. That was the look I got when I told them that I could call Steven Spielberg. The ugliest girl in your grade has a crush on you. Go. Because sometimes when you find the right people to connect with, to talk to-- this happens to be my daughter's friend, Will-- it's amazing the expressions you get. You just have to be prepared to make that connection. And it doesn't always work. I mean, you have to be a good gauge of character in order to know what you can do with some people, where you can just offer up generic questions and get wonderful answers, visual answers. We were talking about tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes in particular, and salsa recipes in its absolute particular thing. And I told him that I hated salsa. Mind you, the conversation about salsa went on for 15 minutes before I finally dropped that bomb. It's like, I just don't like it, I don't get it. Click. This woman recently arrived from the Middle East-- I don't recall the country, it's somewhere on one of my writings-- where her husband beat her, after her father had beaten her, after her grandfather had beaten her mother, and so on, and so forth. And so she came to this country to be free. So sad eyed girl without a little bit of the back story. And I could go on with the backstory. This gentleman wanted to be a waiter. Can you imagine him coming up and saying, can I take your order? I met him on the street, and that was the look I got, and it just went on from there. I think there's another one. I said, well, OK, so let's see, I order ketchup with my foie gras, what's the face you're going to make? And we've got to that. Here's a World War II veteran, but from the other side. And his family came from Hiroshima. And so we were talking about that. And this is a little girl, and I said, can you imagine if I went into your room and tore all the heads off your teddy bears? That's the look I got. And I said, OK, you win. Because clearly she was going to rip my head off. This is the nation's most famous boylesque dancer. I think he goes by the name of Tigger. I don't know if he still goes by the name of Tigger. Doing his best Al Jolson at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. And a starving artist. I'm going to go through. But what started to happen to me is, as part of my daily exercise, I started thinking about another day. And that's the genesis of the "Another Day, Another 600 Seconds" that Mike and I did. Spend 10 minutes with people. See the difference it makes. But here another day, another 10 round fight with the checkbook, dealing with the mortgage, car payments, two college tuitions, and far too many other assorted monthly bills that aren't going to pay themselves while dreaming of being a Bruce Willis understudy. So it becomes a little bit of a creative writing exercise, sometimes. Because I know what's going on, but I'm looking for something that will complement it. And here, another day, another few dollars closer to bringing his family to America, where his granddaughters can expect to receive an education, rather than beatings. Social commentary. It can be important, and when you have a platform like Google+, why not use it? Now, I'm not looking to pick fights, and I'm not looking to stand on a soapbox, but things that are important to me help define me. And if I can't bring attention to them, who can? So maybe we all have obligations to talk about stuff that people aren't talking enough about. And yeah, people can unblock me, and uncheck me, and mute me, and do whatever, but what is the obligation of a photographer? What is the obligation of a human being? Rhetorical question, because I don't really have the answer, and I don't want to take it too far. But that context and all of that stuff is really important. Connections. Making connections using your words. When you have a 14-year-old son, using your words is an interesting thing. But I can tell you that when I asked Drew if he would pose for me with an octopus-- that was the first conversation-- I got the biggest smile I'd seen ever. And when I was doing the shoot with him, and I pulled this octopus out of milk-- because that's the only way you can somewhat get rid of the smell-- and put it on his head, and watched him gag and retch. And I thought, as a father, this is the most defining moment ever. It is perfection times infinity. And then he started laughing and smiling. And so, for that afternoon that we were shooting-- because I wouldn't let them go. This was not going to be a 10 minute shoot, this was going to be as long a shoot as I had memory cards for. Payback for everything, Drew. One of the best photographic experiences of my life. But as a proud father, and as a teacher, I want you to think about those opportunities. Because I know lots of people who say, I can't approach people on the street. I'm scared of them. Well then, do something fun with your kids, or your wife, or your husband. So this is my daughter, Lindsay, because I had to get her into the picture, too. This is a little bit later. I have hissing cockroaches from Madagascar in my home office. I don't know why, my daughter wanted them because she's like a nature freak, next Jane Goodall, hi Lindsay. And then she got tired of them, so they ended up with me. And they really are awesome creatures, and they're like this big, and she was jealous of the octopus shoot, so we did this. Because it's like, how do you top sort of a live, fresh octopus on your head? Well let's go with the hissing cockroaches. We'll see how tough you are for your next trip to Borneo. And I added textures and things like that, because I was playing as a creative guy. Again, another incredible opportunity. So for the parents out there who want to do stuff with photography, try one of these exercises. Think of the grossest thing you could do to your kids, and beg them. And guess what? You may not have to beg them. And here's a follow up shot, because we wanted, again, I have to stretch it out. Because it's torture, it's payback. It's all those things. Because we all know, 14-year-old kids are pure evil, and when she walks into the room, she levitates and all the doors in the house close, and it gets really cold. That's just the way it is. And then she smiles and says, hi Daddy, and it all goes back. Where was this taken? Beautiful silverback gorilla. Rare, rare to have eye contact, if you're believe the National Geographic photographers. Anybody? AUDIENCE: Bronx Zoo? ALAN SHAPIRO: Right. Bronx Zoo. But it could've been Uganda. So does that matter? Probably not. But when you start thinking about images like this, is he on the outside or the inside? And maybe, just maybe, for those photographers who don't write, maybe adding a little bit of context will help. Either tell the story you want to tell. Because this obviously-- obviously, in quotes-- is a gelada, cousin to a baboon, who's inside, who's trapped, who's sad. But I can tell you, because I was there taking this picture, that this was the happiest gelada ever, and he was outside because, I was inside. And he just was so curious with the people coming by with whatever-- his keepers, his handlers, his photographers like me, who had the privilege of going right up there-- that he would come and he would sit with his feet up, and he would watch. And I swear, if I put a can of popcorn there, he would have had it in his hand, with the exact same look and popped it in his mouth. He was so happy. But you'd never know it. So it's my decision. Do I share the story or not? Because I can use it in one of two ways. Use your powers for good or for evil. You choose. But if you're not doing something, if you're not adding those words, you're just being irresponsible. God, that was a strong word. You're being lazy. Another strong word. You're not telling as much of the story as you could tell, and it's doing yourself a disservice. Here's another question for the group. Take the favorite photograph you've ever taken, and even for those of you who don't think of yourselves as photographers-- just like family historians, documentarians-- think of the favorite photo that you ever took, and think about your great great grandchildren looking at it some time in the future. What are they going to know? We don't live in an age where we can scribble on the back of a photograph, but we do live in an age where we can catalog everything on social networks and personal portfolio sites. But if you're not doing that beyond metadata, beyond this is this point in time and here's what was going on, et cetera, et cetera, lost opportunity. I just love this image, because I did a whole long conversation between the two gibbons about what it was. It's not a hippopotamus, even though it looks like hippopotamus and it sort of smells like a pig, and it just went to this whole, it was like me writing a comedy bit. And I probably should've put it here, because it really was funny. Trust me, I'm a good writer. But whatever. Same thing with the gelada. Is this dog happy or sad? I can tell you this is a world champions sled dog, lead sled dog, dog. Happy as a pig in mud. Safe, comfortable, in the freezing cold northern Canadian wilderness that I was in. So happy, and you'd never know it. Same thing here. Without the story, the guy in the middle had just finished having his way with his two favorite ladies. Does he look sad? I don't know. Now that you know what's going on, is he just tired and wishing he had a cigarette? Power of story and context. I'm going to go a little quicker here. Now, education is important, I said that before. I started a series a few years ago for the Ritz Carlton hotels, textured birds. I was inspired by the Renaissance portrait show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I just wanted to recreate it. And so I started doing these things, and immediately people start saying, well, how do you do that? Well, the decision is made. Do you tell them or not? And of course I'm of the mindset of course you show them. You show them, and show them, and show them. And thanks to Hangouts on air, and all the wonderful things that you all have provided, it allows me to teach. I have my own television network, I have my own TV channels, and shows that we all can do, and all that does this make me better, and make me happy when I see people being inspired by the work. So share using your words, for good, to make other people better I don't know, I'd say that's a pretty important thing once you get to a certain level of maturity. I was channeling Ansel Adams. I wanted to be him for a period of time. I was in a really dark place, literally and figuratively, emotionally. And it's amazing what happens when you just go for a walk when you're in a bad place, because, in this case, it follows. Sometimes happy places find you, but it allows me to excise demons, so to speak. We had Hurricane Sandy last year on the east coast. I'm sure some of you may have heard of it. But we've also catastrophes, and I didn't want to go out and shoot, because it felt too personal. Because so many people had lost things, and this is the Hudson River. So I went to a part that I normally go to shoot sunsets. We have crappy sunsets on the east coast. You guys, I'm so jealous, you have much better sunsets. And this is what I saw. And it took me an hour, normally a five minute drive, to get to this place, because so many trees were down and so many roads were closed. And it was really despondent. It was so sad that this was going on. And then I took a walk further that way, and this is what I found. I found this glass is half full, I'm excited, fishing's is going to be friggin' awesome! And immediately my mood lifted, and I had to share it. I had to share it because so many people on the east coast were so funked out. And so being able to talk about it helps. This is from a photo walk I just did in your honor a couple of weeks back. My first time over the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was this couple, and they seem to be kind of happy before. And I called her over, and I said, how do you really feel. Is this the guy you're going to marry? I said hold that thought. Go back. I called him over. How do you feel about this girl? You're going to show me in a second. Hold the thought. And I said OK, show me how you feel about each other. Click. So it's fun to talk to people. It's fun. Including people you would never ever talk to. Because this guy was kind of scary, too. Anyone who had tattooed their face, I mean, they would think nothing like taking a spork and trying to tattoo mine. That's kind of the thing. So it's also a little bit of confidence builder, a bit of a creative exercise to go and approach someone and to say, oh my god, you are fascinating, and I just want to take your picture. May I please? Not yours, yours. And sometimes it's like making that decision. Because when you get a group of interesting people, I want you, but then this one wants to get into the equation. All right, now go ahead. Or you get a group mentality and you start playing one off the other, like all right, show me something, good, OK, now your turn, now your turn, your turn. You lose, you're out. Now, with three of you, let's do it again. Now give me a little bit more. So that's the fun of being a photographer. But it's also the fun of telling these stories, now in words, but in spoken word rather than written word. I have a thing for tattoos, I guess. Sometimes themes start to emerge for me. I talked about teachers before. This woman is a teacher from Selma, Alabama. So I think back to my history, and she was of a certain age, and we started an entire conversation about segregation, and about Doctor King, and about things that were important to me and clearly life changing for her. And I asked her to think about those moments and close your eyes, and think back. And in this case, normally I would wait for them to open their eyes, but I saw something in her eyes closed, because of the earlier conversation that I just had to capture. This wasn't a mistake. This was keep your eyes closed please. And that led to this idea of seeing what people look like with their eyes closed. This woman wouldn't close her eyes from me. Same place though. All of these people are from the deep South and lived through segregation. And I just find it interesting when we talk about it and we put things together. And the last one. And sometimes images are powerful together, but if I hadn't told you that this was people thinking about segregation, my guess is it wouldn't have been as important to you. And here's parade shot one, parade shot two. Same parade. Veterans Day. Father's on the float, father is overseas. Teachers really important to me. Pay teachers like rock stars. These are both teachers, and when I was talking about just that, you guys should make a million dollars, $10 million, you should have concerts sold, filled if you're a good teacher. We should fill arenas so that you can broadcast your message. That's what I believe. And that was his reaction. And that was her reaction. Processed differently, but that's the fun. And lastly this is show me love. Actually, show me hate, show me love. Hate, love. One of my fun things to do. And we're going to end with a little pretty couple of things, because I meet a lot of people, and I hear a lot of stories that make me feel a range of things. They make me feel happy in a lot of cases, but they make me feel despair, and anger, and want to do something. And it can get to me, because I'm an emotional guy, and so I used to say, when things are looking down find something beautiful looking up. There's a one liner, there's a cliche to put on the wall somewhere, or a Hallmark card. And so I started shooting flowers to make me happy. To write love notes with. To do whatever I need to do. But there's always a story that goes with the flowers, as well. And that's the talk. When are you use your words, your world will expand. Here's two lines to end-- photography can make you think, and make you feel. Photographs and words can make you do. Thank you. Questions? AUDIENCE: How do you best share your stories with photos using online media? Because I have I Plus and Facebook and Smugmug, and lots of platforms, but haven't really settled on one or kind of figured out what the best way to have that archive and share it effectively. So I'd love to hear what-- ALAN SHAPIRO: I have embraced Google+ huge, having been a Facebook person for as long as they were around. Really, as a marketing person, it's important to me to understand social media. It's the game changer, in recent times, for brands and marketers, so it's important. So when Google+ first came out, OK, join. See what it's like. And hope that the experience would deliver what it did. That a true community would be formed. But to answer your question, I have a blog that I wonder if I even need, because of my Google+ presence. When I remember, I post to Facebook. When I remember, because it's out of sight, out of mind, thankfully. I do have a portfolio site, and I do maintain presences on things like [INAUDIBLE], because of the connection to Adobe, and even prior to them. But what I would say to you is where are the people you want to talk to you? And if you know where they are, you'll very quickly be able to figure out how to reach them very selectively. And until someone makes a plug-in-- because we've tried, in the advertising world. There have been many dashboards created where you can take an image and you can post it to all of the various social networks, and Twitter, et cetera. But everyone's different, and it still becomes kind of time consuming. So where do you want to be heard? I can get specific off camera, I just you know, don't. Anybody? AUDIENCE: Regarding your comment about talking about your pieces, I tend not to talk about my photos because I don't want to limit the response of the viewer. Do you ever consider that? Is that a concern for you? ALAN SHAPIRO: It used to be. But it was a conscious decision for me to want to tell a bigger story than the photo would. Having talked to a bunch of my friends in the online world-- is it a good thing, is it a bad thing? That's the question I posed. Many of them had this told me that sometimes they'll read my comments first, and sometimes they'll wait for later, depending on what I'm posting. If it's a particularly provocative image to them, they'll look at the image, and they'll take it in, and they'll form their opinion, and then they'll go and they'll look at the comment. And I think audiences are smart enough these days to be able to discern. But if you don't post it, something else is going to come up. Life is going to pick you up and plop you down somewhere else, and you'll forget, and then that may be the moment that your great grandchildren choose to look at and wonder what was going on. So I always do it. AUDIENCE: So obviously, attached to each picture, you have very fond memories, and you're very capable of, it seems like, connecting via empathy with the photos that you take. Which is really admiring. But then, how much time do you spent translating that into a story, that then you associate with your picture, and how do you keep track of the story plus the picture together in this-- I'm sure you take thousands of photos. ALAN SHAPIRO: Yeah, as a creative thinker, right? I mean, that's my job. My job is to make order out of chaos, is to solve problems creatively. Sometimes I'll look at an image and I'll know immediately what I want to say, and it will flow like water. And sometimes I will look at an image and nothing will come other than the absolute obvious, but it's a particular image that I don't want to be obvious with, and so I'll spend a little bit more time thinking about. it. So I consider it, like any creative exercise any one of us has ever gone through, sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not. AUDIENCE: So, in addition to that, tactically, how do you associate this? What do you do to keep photo one is story one. Do you know what I mean? Because you can't just-- ALAN SHAPIRO: I don't sleep much, and so normally, when I come back, and I'll edit, I'll do a very quick edit, and I've also got a pretty decent memory. I'm not sure it's photographic, but it's pretty damn close. So I just remember-- other than how to spell-- I remember names and things like that. And it's important to me. So when it's important to you, you tend to remember more. So it just-- it happens. Does that help you? AUDIENCE: Yeah. ALAN SHAPIRO: I used to use a manual typewriter when I was a little kid, and I think something about that experience relates now to why I love photography. The shutter, the pressing of a button, different from a keyboard, different from electric typewriter. So that was random, but just to share. AUDIENCE: How do you ice break with the crowd that you're walking up to? Do you have a set of scripts in your head that you run through and decide, OK, with this crowd I want to do this? Or do you not? ALAN SHAPIRO: I'm a pretty good improviser. There are some situations, I mean like when you walk into a room wanting to meet people, and sort of just being open. Another one liner that I should have put in here, the bigger the smile you give, the bigger the smile you get. Right? So when your friendly, when you're approachable, especially when you're walking around with a somewhat big lens-- which I like, because it gets a certain reaction-- I need to-- right? Its theater. But I need to balance that with a little bit of lightheartedness. And so sometimes, it's love your shoes, tell me about them. In most cases, unless I'm just out and about, and I don't really care, but when I'm on a mission, I will not even have my camera up. I will leave it on my side while I'm engaging. And in some cases 10, 15 minutes can go by just making conversation with people before it's like, would you mind if I took your picture? And then that gives you the sort of inspiration to take them places, tell me more about fill in the blank. And sometimes it's as simple as scream for me. AUDIENCE: So Thomas Hawk, who came and talked last year, was talking about the fact that when he goes out into San Fransisco, to the pan handlers and takes their pictures, he actually offers them $1 to take their pictures, because that way, he gets a great picture, and they get $1. I don't know if you've done anything like that. ALAN SHAPIRO: I respect Thomas, I do that. I buy them lunch, I buy them dinner, I take them to get their medicine. You do what you think you need to do. And they're the people who need it. So it's the right thing to do. It shouldn't ever be about stealing a photo. In my world, in my style. I mean, there were street shooters who certainly believe in that random, spontaneous moment, and you can't go up and approach someone, and then expect them to be spontaneous after. So there's different schools. For me, it's about engagement, it's about connecting. AUDIENCE: Do you have any ideas on how to sort of include a story with a physical print? ALAN SHAPIRO: I would love it if someone could help me-- and I need to spend more time talking to the labs. I need to make time to do that. I would love it if, depending on the type of story teller you are, you could just mount a picture of a particular size with a large enough mat where you can include it. And it becomes a design exercise, if you think about it. You're just making an oversized poster on photographic paper, watercolor paper, whatever. Maybe that's something we should talk to the Adobe folks about, or Bay Photo or whoever. For me, it's about books. It's about a longer form narrative. As I start looking at the work I like, and the type of processing I do-- so a lot of the on black work I do is from a series called "Emerging From Shadows", and so that will go into a book. And so it's easy to tell the stories there. And a veteran's book, and a homeless person book, and whatever happens to come. But there's no solution. So if someone comes up with it, I'd be very grateful. AUDIENCE: So I'm a photographer, and I'm one of the people who struggles to use my own words, and some of that is just finding the right way to tell the story that's interesting. And some of it is that I feel like and emotionally giving more of myself away than maybe I'm willing to. But as a consumer of photography, are you more likely to bypass images that don't have words with them? ALAN SHAPIRO: Me personally? AUDIENCE: Yes. ALAN SHAPIRO: No. No, I'm a lover photography. I love photographers, I love the range. What I find is that there's a lot of sameness, though, in our world. And if I have 20 landscape photographs in front of me, they're all beautiful. The tie breaker, for me, in terms of making a deeper connection with the artist, is how the words enter in. Because now it becomes branding. As a photographer, you want people to know to you, and how you feel about a certain thing. Put 20 people in front of a beautiful sunset, and you might get 20 different photos, but more likely you'll get 20 photos that are fairly similar. So how do you break the tie? Who do you like more? And that's where hearing your point of view, whether it's the poetry you write, or-- because it doesn't have to be about personal giving. I like that for me, but for you, it may be just helping educate people, or just talking about the sounds you heard. It doesn't have to take you to a place that is too revealing. But it's really about sharing in this wonderful world of ours. It's what I want to do. AUDIENCE: I know you, and still, listening to you talk and seeing the images. I do photography and voice over, and I taught voice for 25 years, and I know voice intimately, and things about the voice and the sound, and the reason I ask the question about do you ever record, first, I thought their voice, just because the thing about a voice is it carries the complete imprint of who you are, on every level. So the photographs are just unbelievable, and the stories are even more so. And then I think about the recordings of my mother that her family made when she was maybe 15. She and her father sang together. And I know, obviously, right now, you've only been shooting for a few years, and this is all very new, but of course, as we know, we think a little further than today. I don't know. It's just an interesting thought. And then hearing you, and the passion and the heart and soul in your voice about the whole thing is just so powerful. ALAN SHAPIRO: Thank you for that. I think, for me, there's still a barrier between-- as ubiquitous as photography has become. Everyone's a photographer. Unless you don't have a mobile device with a camera built in, you're a photographer. So everyone is used to having pictures be taken, but they're still-- if I hold something up, something happens, right? The synapses in your brain say fight or flight? Smile? What do I do? Fear? It happens. Add a microphone on top of that, or anything where now you're asking them to behave even more, and for me, it seems like that's another plateau that I would love to get to. Not yet. There's still too many people to me. Yeah, well, I'll do that on a show. AUDIENCE: Some of the recent G+ UI changes seem to accentuate the visual over the text. ALAN SHAPIRO: Yeah. AUDIENCE: Tell us how you feel about that. ALAN SHAPIRO: I think you need to give people choices. And you clearly do. And so whether I love a bigger picture, a smaller picture, a sharper picture, or not, as long as I have the ability-- because I've got a caption box, and I've got the ability to post, and so I've got two places to leave different messages, and sometimes they're the same, because it's not easy to go from one to the other for me. But as long as I'm able to tell my story in your technology, I will embrace it. The photography community's really vibrant on Google+. Incredibly vibrant, which is one of the reasons some there. But if you're a writer who wants to add visuals, right? If you're the opposite person to me, my paramour over here, how would they feel? And so, as long as you're dealing with your audience the way you want them to embrace you, then that's fine. But give me the ability to change fonts, because sometimes I want to yell and sometimes I don't, and that would make it ugly, and so we can't do that, and so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter as long as I can tell the story, perfect for me. Pleasure, thank you.