Miami Image

Miami Images - Images by Andrew Ptak

I spent last week working in Miami and took an extra day to spend an always educational day with Seth Resnick. Time with Seth is always well spent, but as an extra bonus, Eric Meola dropped in at lunch time. I've admired his work for 3o years, or more, and it was a real treat to meet him in the flesh.

This is a personal shot I took in South Beach one night. I should have a few in my Stock site in a week or so - just got to find the time to edit and process them.

Yes, South Beach was the usual zoo, with Superbowl coming up shortly, adding to the fun and games. Big sound stages and scaffolding for TV crews being built on the beach. Kind of glad I'm going to miss it though, it would be hell to try and work around that.

I met a street artist selling his (awful) paintings outside of Starbucks on Ocean Drive. I didn't buy one of his paintings, but I did buy him a coffee and we chatted for a few minutes. Turns out he's from Provincetown, Mass. and "winters in Miami Beach every year. Guess you don't have to have money to have a winter residence.

Anyhow, we're great lovers of Cape Cod - had a summer place in Hyannis for many years - and I know P'town very well. I asked this fellow about Dixie, a flamboyant Queen who runs the Post Office Cafe and whom we've known for years. He always embodied all of the fun and the intelligence that the place possesses. Bummer of bummers, turns out that Dixie died when he fell down the stairs and cracked his skull. What are the chances of being far from home and meeting someone on the street who is also far from home and finding out something like this? Provincetown will go on but one small and vital piece will be missing.


EDIT - I notice that this image flickers on screen. Damned if I know why, the lighter version of the flickering image is actually the exposure of the real file. Hmmm.

Sunrise at the construction site

I've come to really appreciate construction cranes, especially in silhouette. I hope it's not a Freudian thing, with these phallic symbols and all, but I just like the graphic lines.

We tend to think of the sun and the moon at opposite ends of the sky in our line of sight. but not always, as this shot attests. Both the sun and the moon actually wander around the sky from north to south a lot more than many people think and sometimes, like here, they line up quite closely.

It's a beautiful morning

Apologies to the Young Rascals.

So far, this sight has been a rarity. The misers who run Toronto and the CN Tower (the place pictured) seemed to have deemed that lighting up public structures for any longer than the absolute minimum of time, is wasteful and unnecessary.

After spending millions of dollars trying to attract visitors to the city they make the night time view as boring as possible - just a bunch of black silhouettes against the sky. The clear message is, "you should be in bed by now, what the hell are you doing up at this hour?"

Glad to see that someone has had a change of heart, for the CN Tower anyway, and for the last couple of weeks it's been a full blown light show all night long. This was taken about 6 a.m. about forty minutes before dawn. I was out for my morning walk along the lakefront and was happy to see this.

Joe McNally

My favorite photographer is Andy Anderson, but I think the best photographer is Joe McNally. Is there any genre that he can't shoot better than anyone else? I'm tempted to say something very specialized like food or architecture, but I'd be wrong - he'd still shoot it better than a specalist practioner.

In these days of specialization, Joe defies even gravity, never mind normal expectations. He's a throwback to the old "camera men" of the 1940's and 1950's,who no matter what the situation, always brought home the bacon. His technical expertise is daunting, his imagination is incredibly fertile and his sense of humor is as wicked as it is legendary.

I've met him a number of times and he's impossible not to like. I met an ex-assistant of his once and thinking I'd finally get the inside skinny I asked "what's McNally really like. Is it all an act?" No way, she says, "he's an absolute sweeheart." Damn! I thought I was going to get the scoop on a McNally expose.

I have my specialites and I stick to them, not because it's good business or even expected, it's just what I like. It's nice that Joe defies that conventional wisdom and even the business advice of the need to specialize. His talent and curiosity are just too big and wide to be constrained.

I think that Joe has a problem of perception though. He's such a joker - can't stop - that it diminishes his aura. Everyone knows he is amazing, but he hasn't reached (deserved) icon status. On one hand it's too bad. On the other, McNally would be the first to say "Yeah? And who gives a shit?" That's Joe, Groucho Marx with a camera - and lights, lots of 'em.

Yoga Image

This is Alayna, a Yoga instructor and part-time model. For this resort shoot she was both.

This shoot had to be one of the funniest of my life, and hers. We were on a pier that jutted out into the water - kept the sand from the gear and all of that - and suddenly Alayna blurted out, "They're having sex!"

More than a little puzzled, I gave her a goofy look and she pointed to the beach behind me as her eyes opened wider and wider.

Sure enough. There's a middle aged couple going at it in full view of everyone on the beach. They made absolutely no attempt to hide what they were doing, as a matter of fact, I think they were showing off. A man came over to us and said, "do you see that?" I said that I was trying not to because I was trying to work, but my model couldn't get the surprised look off her face!

They were very, very quick. The guy zipped up, the woman pulled the hem of her dress down and they just walked away without a care in the world. When Alayna and I had finished she helped me schlepp the gear back to my room and guess who we saw on the way? "He's paying her for chrissakes", I said. Sure enough, an over- the- hill working girl and her old fart John. Wonder if management knew about this, I thought?

Weird shoot. Turned out well though considering the distraction and all.

Hyatt hotel and Sony

Whew! You have to love the combination of Sony and Zeiss glass. This is too small and the color space too limited to really appreciate just how snappy and bold this really looks - no PS tweaks.

The Sony a900 is an absolute joy to use and the Zeiss lenses are so crisp and strong they can give you a headache. What's not to love?

Downtown Hotel photograph

Don't often shoot urban hotels and thought I'd try a new, (for me) technique. It's called Bleach Bypass, where you suck almost all of the color out, but leave a feint hue so it's not black and white either. I like it for this one, but not sure for anything else. Have to dwell on it for a while, I guess.