Nicholas LaClair http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog Photographer and Director for Print and Film Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:18:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=937 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=937#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:06:46 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=937

If you say that artists take ‘risks’, it’s insulting to the men who landed on D-Day, to stunt men, to baby-sitters, to Evel Knievel, to stepdaughters, to coal miners, and to hitch-hikers, because they’re the ones who really know what ‘risks’ are.

-Andy Warhol

Found on Kevin Ramos's TUMBLR.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=937 0 steel, oil, and the texture of an artist’s hands http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=932 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=932#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:39:23 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=932

Shinya Kimura at Chabott Engineering.

Shot by director Henrik Hansen (of Ridley Scott's agency RSA Films) 2010.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=932 0 new portrait http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=925 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=925#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:48:22 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=925 Greg - co-owner of Bear Garden Farms. In earlier times, he raised quarter horses and was a hunting guide in Texas. Now, he and his wife Terrie raise Alpaca in eastern West Virginia. Weekends, at least; during the week he's an engineer working on disaster relief projects.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=925 1 First footage of the ballet project http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=920 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=920#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:33:36 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=920

An early edit of our test footage of American Ballet Theatre's principal dancer Michele Wiles.
Shot 6/28/2010 at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center to RED 2k, 3k, 4k formats.
Director: Nicholas LaClair
CO: Michael Cano with Unfolded Films
Gaffer: Katie Vukovich
Sound and moral support: James McCullough

Only a test to get us out of the dark woods of high frame rates with the RED. In the end (because we didn't have enough light to keep the noise down) I decided to retreat to the Aesthetic of Paul Himmel and his wife Lillian Bassman - the pair of fashion photographers who were married for 73 years before his death in 09 and whose work is strikingly similar ... I've been looking at a lot of his work lately, and just added two of his books to my collection: the first is a mid-fifties printing of "Ballet in Action" and the second is a recent retrospective. They're gorgeous and easy to get lost in; I'll have to post a handful of the images soon.

Paul Himmel - Ballet Sylvia “Pas de Deux“

Lillian Bassman

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=920 0 ballet behind the scenes http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=910 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=910#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:11:12 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=910 footage coming shortly ...
meantime:

Filming Michele Wiles at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center.  Photo by Katie Vukovich.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=910 0 Short Film Project http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=903 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=903#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 15:27:10 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=903 I'm really excited to be working on a short film highlighting the spirit and process of ballet - a treatment idea I've had for some time and is recently taking shape. It will feature a principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) named Michele Wiles. She's simply amazing - one of the best in the world. For more on her see her site and her profile on ABT).

She moves like no other, and I eagerly look forward to capturing that on film. Here are a few clips from another video collaboration of hers: | 1| 2 |.

See what I mean?

I sat down with Michele and her fiancee James last week to discuss our treatment and begin the process of logistics with a hopeful shoot date in the fall. I'll keep you posted. Meantime we're going to kick out a small studio project later this month filming her turning - more of an instructional film on proper technique, which will serve as my camera and lighting test and a chance to see what the RED can do at 120 fps.

I'll keep you posted.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=903 0 New Intro Reel http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=897 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=897#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 20:25:23 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=897

Draft one of my flash intro reel for Portlight Productions, LLC ... Hope you like it.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=897 0 New Book http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=881 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=881#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:55:55 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=881 A few weeks ago I finished printing my new book, custom made by Scott Mullenberg, who is an amazing portfolio artist based in Biddeford, ME. He worked with me in hand-picking the materials and on the back-and-forth of the design in all its iterations. Book and slipcase were collaboratively designed by me and my good friend Kim Karston, and I owe her huge thanks for all her help.

I realize very soon we'll all be marketing ourselves in person and otherwise with the iPad or something like it, but there's still something inexplicable about seeing the work printed. It's well worth the expense. The pages are 12x12 on Moab Entrada Rag paper, which looks amazing when printing B&W 4x5 Polaroids (or anything else, for that matter). I'd post interior photos, but they wouldn't do it justice. Wanna see it? Come on over and I'll make some espresso.

The first two photos came from Scott's studio; the last two are thanks to Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir - taken while we visited friends at Bitfire in Manhattan.

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=881 2 new work http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=865 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=865#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:03:12 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=865

]]> http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=865 1 a viable alternative http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=863 http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=863#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:32:58 +0000 NL http://nicholaslaclair.com/blog/?p=863 “The nine-to-five is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon mankind. You give your life away to a function that doesn’t interest you. This situation so repelled me that I was driven to drink, starvation, and mad females, simply as an alternative.”

-Charles Bukowski


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