Based On Real People

This is an edited re-post from June 20, 2008

My Sunday “Lonely Guy” activity is to read the New York Times and watch C-Span 2 Book TV, muted. If I glance something interesting on the screen — Christopher Hitchens, say, ranting about why we should be in Iraq — I may bring up the sound. That seldom happens. Most Sundays, only the rustle of newsprint is heard in my living room. Sometimes, though, the thing on TV that catches my eye is the shape of a nose, or a hairstyle, or an odd mouth and I feel a powerful urge to draw it — and the rest of the head. So I open my sketchbook, select a soft pencil from the coffee mug on the table by my chair, and set out to prove once again that I’m not only the world’s worst caricaturist, but should also get a medal for being the slowest. Of course, the nice thing about sketching talking heads on TV is they hold still for long periods, which means I can take all the time I need to get it wrong.

I have no idea why I doodled all that stuff on the sides, or wrote “The Other End” at the bottom, but I do enjoy making those little “drop” shadows under the letters. The thing that drives me mad, though, is that I have no memory of who most of the people are. (Memo to self: Keep better sketchbook notes). All I know for sure is that these folks appeared on C-Span 2 sometime in December, 2006. Also, I’m pretty sure the guy on the top left is a well-known newsman, one of the Kalb brothers, but which one? And the blond woman near the bottom of the left column is an expert on world religions. Interesting face, and I loved the informed talk she gave (I have the sound up while I sketch). Of course, all this assumes that I managed a passing likeness of at least those two.

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

Today’s Gag

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

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Drink Chilly Willee Now!

In the 1940s and 50s, there seemed to be a small store on every-other street corner in South Baltimore, and the densely populated neighborhood of tiny row homes provided plenty of customers to keep them busy. (One friend of mine, a successful comic strip artist, grew up in a 1,500 square foot home with his parents and six siblings.) These days we’d call the neighborhood shops “convenience stores” — the 7-Elevens” of that era — and among scores of items, they also sold my favorite snack food, called “Coddies,” or codfish cakes, made daily and served on salty crackers with mustard; if I remember correctly, they cost ten cents each.

The basic day-to-day supplies people needed were just steps away from their front doors, and anything else could be found at the end of a slightly longer walk to the full-service shopping areas on Light and Charles Streets, and in Cross Street Market. Meanwhile, most of the booming wartime labor force, including my father and older half-sisters, walked to their jobs at the dry docks and factories lining the harbor. Few families could afford a car, and none that I knew of had more than one, so there were no parking problems. Today there are much smaller families, but at least two cars for each home.

The photographs I’ve used here are from the late 1970s, but I took them because they reminded me of what I had seen as a boy growing up in South Baltimore 25 or 30 years before.  My only regret is that I could have photographed more of the still-remaining corner stores then, and the unintentional beauty of their cluttered window displays.

This is a re-post from November 12, 2008.

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

Today’s Gag

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

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Hip Shots

Ravens

By Shawn Sizemore

(Click images for larger views.)

The “Hip Shots” series of photographs will feature images that were grabbed “on the fly,” with little or no regard for framing and focus. The object of the exercise is to create dynamic pictures, not perfect ones. With this ” shoot-from-the-hip” method, the more frames exposed, the better the chances are that you’ll come up with something interesting — a related series that may be arranged as a post. If you’d like additional tips for using the technique, or to submit your own images, drop a question or note in the “Leave a Comment” section, below. This feature will appear most Fridays.

Copyright © 2013 Shawn Sizemore.

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

Today’s Gag

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

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Hip Shots

Casablanca IV

By Fred Maddox

(Click images for larger views.)

The “Hip Shots” series of photographs will feature images that were grabbed “on the fly,” with little or no regard for framing and focus. The object of the exercise is to create dynamic pictures, not perfect ones. With this ” shoot-from-the-hip” method, the more frames exposed, the better the chances are that you’ll come up with something interesting — a related series that may be arranged as a post. If you’d like additional tips for using the technique, or to submit your own images, drop a question or note in the “Leave a Comment” section, below. This feature will appear most Fridays.

Copyright © 2013 Fred Maddox.

Today’s Pic

It’s not what you think. The guy flat on his back on the small stage of Baltimore’s Spotlighter’s Theater, is Tom Karras, director of  “Zorba.” On top is Joe Cimino, playing the title character. I made the picture on January 30, 1977. Tom and Joe are rehearsing a local production of the Broadway musical. Tom is choreographing a fight scene, demonstrating how he wants it done. They’re working in the tiny space the director and actors call their “postage-stamp playpen.”

To avoid injury, theatrical action that requires violent movement must be carefully planned in the best of circumstances, but it’s even more important when the stage is “in the round.” In this situation, the audience is seated on all sides and within in easy reach of a thrown punch or a sword thrust. There’s no sword play in “Zorba,” but in the background here you see the waiting actors observing from front row seats. During the performance, that’s how close some of the paying customers will be to the action. (Although it’s discouraged, at Spotlighter’s it’s not unusual to see audience members with their feet resting on the apron of the stage.)

On the other hand, the limited space makes the job of the production photographer somewhat easier, with great opportunities for closeup shooting from more angles. When covering action scenes like this one, I discovered that the trick was to wait until there is a pause in the movement at the apex of the action, the moment that suggests what went on before, and what might happen next. I composed this image so that the drama takes place in a pool of light off to one side of the frame, with less important elements fading into darkness at the edges. The light — or lack thereof — becomes the device that frames — spotlight’s — the action.

The “pool of light” shot below is of Audrey Herman, Spotlighter’s Theater founder and actress, script in hand, awaiting her cue. Until her death in 1999, Audrey was the driving force that kept one of Baltimore’s oldest community theaters alive and producing interesting plays twelve months a year, year after year. And even today at Audrey Herman’s “Spot’s,” everybody knows there is only one theater season — and it never ends.

This is a re-post from 6/2/08.

 Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

Today’s Gag

Copyright © 2013 Jim Sizemore.

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