Kennedy Dickerson: The CBS Diaries

Week Five was actually a lot busier than expected, and where the LA office became very prevalent. Monday was filled with conference calls with the LA office about the new season of Survivor and what  CBS must do to create an appealing catch phrase to allure the viewers. It is in its 25th season. On top of that, Michael and I spent the rest of the day watching pilots for some new CW shows that will be airing in the fall. Shows such as Cult, Arrow, and The Carrie Diaries as pictured above. Michael was very excited about the latter due to the fact that she was such a huge fan of Sex and the City.

Tuesday morning we were invited to go on another plate shoot. This time Micheal and I went with photographer Jeff Staab and LA Art Director Matt Hernandez.

We called a taxi and took it from CBS and drove through Chelsea to Jodamo, a men's clothing store on the corner of Grand and Orchard Streets. Most importantly the location was known for the pink buildings, which is exactly what we were after. This particular plate shoot was intended for Two Broke Girls (on Mondays at 9/8c pm, only on CBS).

It is really helpful to have Matt present to capture what it was that he wanted. It was also interesting to see how Jeff worked in comparison to Heather and John.

This is an example of just what Jeff was shooting, Michael and I acting as stand ins once again. I am obviously the best Kat Dennings around.

I have seen what Matt has done in post and the image below is quite similar to the finished product, but the background will be much clearer and in color. After seeing Matt's revisions it was amazing to see how different he had made it, taking out some windows here and there, erasing the Chinese restaurant signs below, and really upping the both the contrast and color on the buildings, getting rid of the baby pink and bringing it in hot.

Jeff did multiple angles of the building, giving Matt and the rest of the Art Department different options to choose from.

On the taxi ride back we discussed upcoming films such as Total Recall and if it would be hard to watch the new one having grown up with the original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, regardless of whether or not the newer version starring Colin Farrell is closer to the origin of the book. We also got into a big discussion over the big blockbusters and how Michael doesn't know who Grace Kelly is nor has she seen Star Wars. Blasphemy. :)

On Wednesday, I was invited to join John Filo and Paula Breck, photo editor, at WFAN to shoot the hosts of the station for a spread in RadioInk Magazine.

Since the studio is too small for such a shoot in the CBS headquarters, the studio went to WFAN. John, Paula and I set up shop relatively quickly.

After having tested the flash meter and lights (all while using me as a stand-in), the three of us, along with Allison Mandara, a Press Representative for CBS Radio, sat around and talked about current events.

 Mike Francesa, Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason came in like a freight train. With only a limited amount of time, John had to shoot relatively quickly. The task was to create a spread including multiple photographs of the three of them, separate headshots of all three, and handful of Boomer and Carton.

Mike Francesa has been apart of the WFAN family since 1987 and apart of the CBS Sports family since 1982! Francesa has been apart of many different shows over the years including Mike and the Mad Dog, Mike'd Up, and Mike's On, his most current running broadcast.

Craig Carton (left) and Boomer Esiason (right) are co-hosts of Boomer and Carton in the Morning. Carton has been apart of broadcasting for his entire career, whereas Boomer actually started out as a football player. The two joined forces in 2007 and still run strong today.

The three were very funny, constantly making jokes about the shoot and how John didn't need to take anymore photos saying, "you already said last two!" They were very kind to me, asking me questions about photography and keeping me involved, often posing for me as well.

At the end of the shoot, Boomer presented Mike with the "Pulse of the People Award" that Boomer had been awarded with last year.

That wrapped up the end of the week for me, making only four more days until the end of the internship.

Last Intern Standing

Image in the main hallway of the Photo-deparment

Archiving  CSI ( Fav. show )

Archiving Images from the old CBS Radio Tower

Putting Copyright Notes on Images

Kennedy is gone which leaves me all alone. I graduated from Uarts, so I'm able to stay at CBS for another month maybe two ... depending if I get a job in the near future. ( fingers crossed )

 In the next couple of weeks there is going to be a few more photo-shoots for Blue Bloods and Good Wife. Not every day is a fun shoot or exciting, most of the time I'm sitting in a little office doing archiving, scanning, cleaning and running to laumont Studios.( http://laumont.com/ ) CBS is a great place to have an internship, every one is very nice and friendly and want to help you grow. Paula pushed us to ask questions and see if anyone needed help or if there were shoots to go on. Not every internship just hands you things to do some times you need to step forward and make your presence known. I walk in every morning and stop in to every ones office to say hello and see if they need any help for the day.

The world is not going to hand you every thing you need to take it and work hard for it. 

Kennedy Dickerson: Negatives, Slides and Prints. OH MY!

Week Four was a slow and a short one at that.

Monday, I was given the task to go through a slew of folders to document the negatives and prints that were enclosed.

It is always kind of mindblowing to not only be looking at, but holding some original prints, negatives and slides that have been taken by past photographers as well as seeing what CBS has been involved in over the years.

Tuesday, Justina and I were invited to join John Filo, one of the few CBS photographers, in his studio on the 20th floor.

The studio is incredibly small and very cold, as pictured above. It is mostly used for headshots of employees, or other businesses that ask John to take their photograph for websites or credentials.

This is Weijia Jiang. She is a local reporter for WCBS in New York City, just joining the program in June! As part of the CBS team, Weijia needed a new headshot.

John is very kind and understanding when it comes to the subjects wants and needs. From my perspective, he makes them feel at ease and comfortable in their own skin. It is very interesting to see his process and how, especially with women, John focuses on the different angles that make the woman look good.

He starts with positioning the subjects straight on and continues to turn them right and left to find their "side". Surprisingly, not all women know which side is their best. Weijia, for example, was excited to discover that her right side is the better of the two!

After taking a number of photographs, John showed Weijia the multiple selections. His process consists of going through all of the photos first. After looking at them as a whole, Weijia picks her favorites and dwindles the choices until it comes down to the winner. 

This was the final product!

Towards the end of the day, Michael, Justina and I were given the task to rip up and destroy old slides and prints of movies such as Roxeanne, Turner and Hooch, Indiana Jones, even Gone with the Wind. Why were all of these gems destined to be destroyed, might you ask? Because the copyright for their use had expired and were no longer able to be used legally. Needless to say, the three of us were both appalled and excited because we were given the permission to keep the prints we liked the most. Without displaying them on the internet, of course.

Another week down, two more to go.

End of Summer Wrap-Up

Hello!

I thought I would go ahead and spend a little time reflecting on the experience of the UArts Summer Fellows Program, since things have come to a close.

I had the honor and pleasure of working with Andrei, who is a captivating personality and very generous with his time and experience. He made it his priority in this experience to make sure that we had constant dialogue and that he was sharing any and all knowledge he could think to help me with in my transition out of college. Andrei's Studio Manager, Cynthia was also a pleasure to work with. Although our meetings were seldom, she was happy to answer my questions and tell me stories about her life while we worked. Time spent in the studio was always light hearted and pleasant; I never left the studio without a smile on my face.

On top of working with some really great folks, I got to work in Asbury Park! How lucky was that? I got to see all sorts of neat little places in town on daily adventures with Andrei, allowing me to get a feel for the town. I love getting to know new places, and I got just enough time out there to feel like I know it (sorta!).

So now I'm moving onto my next adventure, working for a photographer based in West Chester who I also met through another UArts connection. I value my time spent in Andrei's studio for the many lessons I learned, and the pleasant times we shared!

I also quickly wanted to mention how grateful I am to have been a part of this program. It was a really awesome opportunity, to have been matched with someone working in my field who went to our amazing institution in the past. Thanks to everyone who made it a reality!

Thanks for reading!

Elyse Leyenberger

NFL Super Bowl Talent Photo-Shoot

Made a little Photo studio on the 6th floor lobby in CBS's Big Rock Building

Jim Nants, Lead NFL play-by-play Announcer 

National Foot Ball of the NFL

James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esison, and Shannon Sharpe

Last Monday the photo-department at CBS took over the 6th floor which is the finance floor. We put up a back ground and lights so that we could photography James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esison, and Shannon Sharpe. Later in the day we shot Jim Nants, who is the nicest man. It was a fun day filled with CBS co-works stoping in to get pictures taking with the trophy. 

College SPORTS! ha

John is getting every view he can ...

We were able to watch the show as they were shooting

" Get your hands out of my pocket"  So funny and very friendly

In the back where all the Magic Happens

The other day we went to the CBS Broad Case Building, to go with John and Paula to shoot the CBS College Sports! As John went around taking photography's we sat behind watching the show be filmed. 

An Untold Story

As I reflect on my summer in the fellowship program many memories come to my mind: walking around Philly with Megan looking for children bedsheets, building the Broad St. window display, prepping Philamoca for the gallery show, and many more fond memories. But there is one story I debated whether to blog about or not because I found the experience shocking. Looking back, it was a valuable work experience about professionalism and how artists carry themselves, but at the time I was a bit disturbed.
I believe it was May 28th, the week after we set up the Broad St. window. I met up with Veronica and Jessie Clarke of CHER at her apartment and then we drove to Olde City to meet a possible artist to collaborate with. He was a gallery owner and painter.When we got to the small gallery we were welcomed by the artist who started to stare inappropriately at us once he let us in. He led us into his studio in the back. There were hundreds of paintings everywhere, many torn or bent up. Veronica found pieces she thought were interesting through the piles and asked about his process and inspiration. He would give short answers about the colors and gave no explanation about his artistic choices which is a big factor for Veronica. She then told him she was willing to show his work in a future collaborative gallery but he was completely uninterested in sharing space with other artists. With that he showed us the door and we left.
In the car on the ride back I was listening to Veronica and Jessie talking about the meeting. They both felt that his inappropriateness of how he stared at us was a major turn off. Also seeing his paintings not being properly stored and maintained gave a sense that he really didn't take his work seriously. Finally being able to talk about your art is very important especially to potential clients and collaborators and he avoided all of Veronica's questions directed towards his art. I later asked Jessie and Veronica if I should just pretend this meeting never happened and they said absolutely not. It's good to learn from all experiences, good and bad. I now know that communication, appearance, and presentation is very crucial in the art world.

Andrei had encouraged me to use his studio equipment during one of the days that I spent at his studio. It was really neat learning a new lighting system and a different studio. While he trucked along with post-processing of some jobs, I fiddled around with his gear and made a few photographs. I figured I'd share the outcome!

This photo features some of my favorite artifacts that I've collected. The pendant in the front actually has a little pressed moth and some flowers in it! So neat! Anyhow, it's tricky lighting small things, and especially small reflective things! Lots of little movements and adding and subtracting light selectively allowed me to get a nice look for the photograph.

This one was really cool to make. Andrei had this huge sheet of black glass that he challenged me to use, and at first I was stuck with it. After rummaging around for some diffusion material I managed to make a neat little backlit shot of some pearls! Problem-solving is cool, you guys!

So there's a selection of the photos I made, hope you enjoyed!

Storyboarding

Last week Megan and I met up with CHER to brainstorm about their upcoming kickstarter video. By posting videos and artwork on kickstarter.com artists can get the funds they need to pursue their projects. The goal of CHER's video is to get themselves out there and explain what they do. In a nutshell, CHER is a non-profit group whose goal is to expose art to Philadelphia's vacant spaces. Now try taking that idea and turning it into a 10 minute video. A lot of ideas were bounced around: Do we have a narrator or have the statement just written? Are we going for serious or comical? Should we switch paragraph four and fiveof the script? I found this process very thought provoking and as the ideas became more solidified I started to create a storyboard to map out the scenes. With our storyboards the director will be able to organize the production aspects much easier. Unfortunately filming won't start until I'm well in the semester but I am happy to know that our contributions will be beneficial.