Since 1999 I've enjoyed spending summers, college breaks and getaways to the island of Martha's Vineyard. Peter's photos regularly appear in the Vineyard Gazette newspaper and Vineyard Style magazine; each year he releases a highly anticipated and very collectible calendar of his photos which all Vineyarders look forward to displaying in their homes on-island and off; and his work is regularly featured in galleries all over the world. In addition to being a world-famous photographer, he is a writer, a lecturer, and a music maven. If that weren't enough to impress, he is also a brother to the singing Simon sisters- Carly and Lucy. I had always been impressed by Peter's work and knew very well that he had captured timeless images of many famous personalities and musicians: The Beatles, The Stones, The Dead, The Police, John Belushi, Bob Marley, Richie Havens... the list goes on and on. I was convinced that Peter could create that 'dreamy' look that I was searching for, and I had to have him on board with the project.
So during October break when I took my usual vacation on the island, I was lucky enough to be able to contract Peter for a photo session. After a preliminary chat on the phone when I gave him the concept for the project, he had an idea for one of the photos for the CD that he felt would capture a dreamlike state. We made plans to do the session on Saturday October 6th around 5:30pm. There was only a narrow window of opportunity because the weather was due to turn windy and rainy on Sunday, and Peter was looking for a certain atmospheric condition that would take place when the sun went down. A dreamy fog would come in from the ocean, hopefully. Of course, the humidity had to be just right- and the conditions wouldn't appear if it turned too cold.
Peter gave me directions to his house in Chilmark and I traveled up-island to pick him up. He was a cool 1960's looking guy, very laid back and relaxed. We drove out to an area in West Tisbury where he had used trees in a previous photo in a slightly apprehensive yet definitely dreamy way. The spot he brought me to was a large, rather gnarled tree about halfway up a green grassy hill. He asked me to pull my car onto the grass just slightly below the hill facing up at the tree and to put my high-beams on. I also needed to leave the car running so I wouldn't discharge my battery and leave us stranded out there. As I walked toward the tree I would be posing in front of, I realized I had dressed really too properly, wearing a powder blue shirt and blue segmented tie with my dark black slacks and dress shoes, much more appropriate for a formal shot in front of a piano. Peter rightly suggested that I should take off my tie, remove my socks and shoes, roll up my shirtsleeves and try to look a bit more relaxed.
We wrapped some shiny plastic that I had in my trunk around a boulder that was slightly off to the side of the tree to hopefully create a little extra soft light from the flash of his camera. The beam of a hand held flashlight was shined on my face to provide highlight there. And then he set about his work, laying down in the grass on his back and shooting me from further up the hill as I stood in front of the tree.
We were there about an hour as the sun went down and dusk fell- and just as we had hoped, the fog slowly crept in all around us. As the humidity increased, dew collected and began dropping off of the tree and it was almost as if it was raining. I will tell you that modeling is not my type of work, and I will not be giving up my day job any time soon! Not to mention by the end of the shoot my clothes were rather soaked from the change in humidity and the dropping dew. We tried some other poses seated on the tree before he decided that he had taken all the photos we needed.
I had mentioned to Peter that I was also interested in getting a professional shot for the disc. He was very kind to schedule some additional time with me two days later on Columbus Day. He called up his friend Chris Scott who was willing to allow us into the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown to shoot with the finest piano on the island, a Stanwood Steinway C. That morning Chris informed me about David C. Stanwood's work on bettering the actions of pianos for people who suffered with crippling hand ailments like carpal tunnel syndrome.
Peter snapped me for about five minutes while I played "How Deep Is The Ocean?" (one of the photos is on the acknowledgement page of the insert- and after playing the piano, I was sold on the effortless touch, velocity and responsiveness of the instrument thanks to Stanwood's improvements). Peter also shot me through the frame of the opened piano lid and captured my mirror image (quite like a doppelganger) in the underside of the lid- a really cool idea that again contributed to that 'dreamy visual factor' I was searching for. Then he took some straight ahead shots beside the keyboard, one of which I'll be using as my professional publicity photo.
After each session, we went back to Peter's work area in the basement of his house where he loaded the raw footage into his computer software, Picasa. He had me look at the raw proofs and pick the shots which I liked. Then he examined each one to check for blurred pixels and selected a few that he felt was the best to work with. Through the magic of photo editing, he was able to play around and make the photos simply perfect. (For instance, he was able to remove the numerous soggy stains on my shirt from the dewdrops falling off of the tree.)
My impression of Peter's work with me, both behind the lens and at the computer, was exactly what I had expected. He knew exactly how many photos to take, he chose the ones that were extra special to tweak a bit, and he turned each photo into a work of art.
As I've said before in reference to Katie Mazzerina-Schwartz and her impressive graphic design, the musical content is only one part of a CD project. A CD has to look good as well. I can't imagine having done this project without Peter's artistic touch. The tree photo on the back cover is so awesome. So many words describe the photo: dreamlike, mystical, fantastical, stunning- just to name a few. The cover shot ("Sunset at Cow Beach", used with his permission) shows his expertise for capturing sunrises/sunsets and seascapes. If you need a photographer for anything from a wedding or special occasion to professional/business pursuits, Peter is definitely your man!
