I oughtta be in pictures

So I once photographed Red Skelton who was one of my favorite comedians of all time. Man that guy was funny. He was smart too.

Red said that wherever I go, I should have someone take my picture. I was puzzled by this and asked why. He said, "When you go home tonight, walk around your house, up and down the hallway and look at all of the pictures. There's someone missing, and it's you." Without skipping a beat, I flipped the camera around, held it at arm's length with one hand, while I put my arm around Red and pushed the button. Flash! And Red was laughing! That was the day I cracked up the comedian. I'll never forget that day.

The role of the photographer is to be behind the camera, not in front. Red was right. Not too many pictures of me floating around.

After Vanity Fair magazine invited me to send in my portfolio for a review, I was pretty excited and e-mailed almost everyone I knew — and a few that I didn't. Southwest Graphics magazine asked if I would like to be interviewed for their next issue. I didn't have to think about it for very long.

The interview was done via e-mail and they asked if I could send in a couple of images along with a photograph of myself. Sorry Red. I may have let you down. I don't have very many pictures of myself (especially for publication).

I asked my friend Brad to photograph me.

Man, you don't know how much I learned from this little exercise. I think that if you are a photographer, it's important to get your butt out there and have someone photograph you. I learned what it's like to be the subject rather than the one pushing the button. It's hard! Brad shot exactly 1000 pictures of me. It wore me out.

I learned what I liked and what I didn't like. I liked the creativity and seeing what another photographer might see and react to. But I didn't like not being told what was working and what wasn't. I found myself posing my body, but then letting my expression slip. Or I would find myself getting tired and drifting off while the rest of me was on autopilot.

When I shoot, I'm continually talking to my subject and doing what I can to let them know what looks good and what doesn't. I want them to be with me in the project and not day dreaming about the Bahamas.

My lesson rewarded me with a plum that I didn't expect. Brad took me into a tunnel-like area at Arizona State University that had a huge door made of bars like you might see in prison. I turned and saw the doors and the daylight streaming in. I stopped Brad and told him that I needed to make a picture.

I posed Brad in the bars and shot him with the blaring light coming in from behind. To me the picture represents that he is soon to be released from his self-imposed prison and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

So here's Brad doing what Red Skelton told me to do almost twenty years ago. I'm just hoping that light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train!