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Jane & Num

A few days ago I returned to Harlem to take new professional headshots of my friend Num Amun'Tehu. 

Over the years, I've had several sessions with Num and the pictures we've taken have ended up in his promotional materials, album covers, postcards, business cards and other items.  

I have written previously on this blog about how our working relationship has progressed.  Num and I have found a comfort level that allows us to explore different looks and ideas.  

I met Num years ago, when I first moved to New York City after college.  Initially, I had spent a few years working at restaurants and bars while going to acting classes on my off days.  Tired of the effects that the late bartending lifestyle was having on my career and goals, I switched to catering, eventually working for companies that specialized in small private parties, usually in people's homes.  The pay was consistently better, the hours shorter, the teams better, and the nights earlier. 

I quickly learned that the trick to finding more and consistent work to catering was to not only work hard, but to befriend waiters who were more established and knew several companies.  Those waiters were able to string together enough work throughout the city each month to piece together steady work.  

On my first night catering, I worked an extremely large job at Radio City Music Hall.  We were working a VIP party in the lounge on the ground floor, the floor beneath the entry foyer.  On that first job I met five waiters, who I still work with today and consider good friends.  One of the waiters, David, had been established at a smaller company, Good Cateress for a few years, and had begun to bring me along to a few 'gigs.'  

The owner and chef of Good Cateress, Jane McQueen-Mason originally hailed from the Isle of Wight in England.    Jane was well traveled, erudite, urbane, and witty.  She had developed a unique stable of friends and clients in the city and was by far one of the more interesting individuals I have met in New York.  

Often, the jobs of Good Cateress were small enough that only the three of us, Jane, David, and I were necessary.  While working in close proximity in small and large kitchens, through extremely busy parties and quiet ones, the three of us of shared and talked about just about everything we could, relationships, careers, families.  Gigs have slowly felt less like work and more of a chance to catch up with friends, no matter the event.  Over the years Jane and I have formed a friendship that I consider one of the more enduring and special in my life.  

Since I've known Jane, her partner has been Num.  Through the connection of a love for music, Num and I quickly became friends.  On Wednesday, after finishing the sitting with Num, I was in the kitchen packing my bag and getting ready to leave.  We were in the middle of a conversation and I looked up and saw them smiling at each other.  I told them to get closer, "Act like you know each other" and snapped off a few quick shots.  

A few of the pictures are crisper than the others, but I liked the series as a whole.  Looking at all the pictures at once conveyed a moment of laughs and a sweetness of a deep and long standing relationship. 

Num Headshots '09

 

Num Headshots '07

OM BOUT TA

"Om Bout Ta" video, opening track from "Peace Signs" album.
James Fidel - videographer/Director
Interlude Pixtures, Num Amun'Tehu - editing

After yesterday's post I thought I would share a video from Num's latest album "Peace Signs."

Also, Num's song "Xpress Yoself" is the theme song to my webseries, Places Please. 

You can listen to the song here: XPRESS YOSELF.

Num's website is www.drastadub.com

The Trouble Man

 
Last October, my good friend Num Amen'Tehu and I went out to take photos for his latest project.

Num and I have worked together several times over the years.  My photos have ended up being used for his headshots, promotional materials, and album covers.  

Originally known as a percussionist, Num’s also a fantastic soulful singer who's music is able to bridge many styles and genres of music.  Num has worked with a variety of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Burning Spear, Stevie Wonder, Gil Scot-Heron, Naughty by Nature, Common, Bootsy Collins and numerous others.  

He and I have developed a rhythm where we talk through the different ideas of what we want to obtain, and then in a very relaxed manner we walk around the neighborhood capturing looks.  I've seen Num perform numerous times and I'm always struck by how his ebullience radiates to the audience.  I've tried to not only give Num the images that he's looking for but to also capture some of that natural enthusiasm I see when he's performing.

Despite many differences, Num and I share a passion for not only music but also true soul music.  Many times when trying to articulate ideas I find myself saying to him, "well the image I'm looking for looks like how this song sounds."  And amazingly, he completely understands.  

The first time we went out, and trying to figure the next shot we were sharing ideas and I said, "I'm looking for a basic joy that feels like Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together.'"  The sun was shining and we were in front of an old gothic looking church on the corner of 127th St and 5th Ave.  Num began singing a Capella 'Let's Stay Together.'  His entire disposition changed.  Static shots became alive as I was trying to catch him in mid-performance.  Num no longer focused on the camera or me but became enraptured in the song.  A small crowd gathered to watch.  I believe that some of our most true shots came from that moment. 

As his image has changed over the last couple of years I've noticed maturation in spirit that I hoped to capture.  The first time I took Num's pictures was in the middle of summer; he had long dreads and was looking for a cover shot for his latest reggae album.  However, over the last couple of years, Num has lost the dreadlocks, and has slightly thinned, giving him a very different appearance. 

Riding on the 4 Train on my way to Harlem, Marvin Gaye's 'Trouble Man' started playing on my iPod.  'Trouble Man' was a song Marvin wrote for an early 70s movie of the same name.  The song came out a year after Marvin's seminal album, "What's Going on" and the song clearly shows the personal creative leap Marvin made into a very adult self-aware type of soul music.  Marvin played the drums and piano on the track as well as singing in a falsetto with tinges of a gospel growl.  With "What's Going On" Marvin had entered a new phase of recording career that left behind the 60s and the factory type of pop music that Motown had become famous for.  The music was concerned about grooves, a heavy combination of jazz, rock, soul, gospel and crooning.  According to Wikipedia, Marvin called the song one of the more honest recordings he ever made.  

As I sat on the train listening to the groove and song over and over again, I began to think of the ideas that I wanted to express to Num about what I'd like to accomplish.  When I saw him, the reference I started with was Marvin's "Trouble Man."  And I explained further how I had an idea of an experienced adult musician that can turn the energy on whenever called, in the tradition of the great blues performers like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Howling Wolf.  Once again, Num completely understood what I was trying to express. 

We walked to Marcus Garvey Park, down the street from where he lives in Harlem.  The park has a public swimming pool, an amphitheater and is famous for having the Harlem Fire Watchtower, the only watchtower out of eleven the city had built that still stands from the 1850s. 

I played around with settings and lighting.  I tend to take an excessive amount of pics, figuring that since it's digital it doesn't cost anything, plus there's no fear or worrying about getting the right shot.

As we passed the amphitheater on our way up the hill, I asked Num to get on the stage.  After a few far away shots, Num started to sing Marvin's "What's Going On."  Once he began to sing, Num began to tap into that eternal cosmic groove.

Eventually, we ended up on top of what's called The Acropolis, the artificial plateau where the Watchtower sits.  All of Harlem was before us, on a crystal clear late October afternoon, while the sun was setting over the Hudson River.  

I believe that the images we captured present a musician in the prime of his creative life, completely in command of faculties, more mature and wise.  I have hundreds of pics from that afternoon that captures various looks and ideas that both Num and I were attempting, but I'm sharing the pictures that emulates that groove I can hear in my head.  

Tintype Headshots

The photos were taken in San Francisco in September.  The photographer only took two shots.  The were done on an old fashioned tintype style.

Wikipedia defines tintype as:

Tintype, also melainotype and ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, lacquering or enamelling and is used as a support for a collodion photographic emulsion.
Photographers usually worked outside at fairs, carnivals etc. and as the support of the tintype (there is no actual tin used) is resilient and does not need drying, photographs can be produced only a few minutes after the picture is taken.
An ambrotype uses the same process and methods on a sheet of glass that is mounted in a case with a black backing so the underexposed negative image appears as a positive. Tintypes did not need mounting in a case and were not as delicate as photographs that used glass for the support.

Last month, I was in San Francisco visiting my cousin and extended family.  One night we were wandering around the mission district and wandered past a store that was getting ready to throw a party.  My eye was caught by a large portrait hanging in the back wall that reminded me of Richard Avedon.

I wandered in while the caterers were setting up the bar and kitchen and walked over to the photograph.  I struck up a conversation with a slight man that was setting up a table beneath the picture.  As we talked, I discovered that he was the photographer.  The party that they were setting up was a grand opening of the store which featured new independent photographers.  For the party that night he had set up a station to take portraits of the guests with his tin-type camera.

My cousin asked the photographer if he could take my portrait before the party started.  The photographer agreed and said that we could even pick up the photos that night during the party.

The difference between this sitting versus the others was the preparation.  The photographer was gentle, unassuming and quickly put me at ease.  I sat on the stool that had a large arm like contraption coming from behind that was to support and hold still my head.  The way the stool and arm forced me to sit straight was awkward and slightly uncomfortable.

The exposure time is three seconds.  The subject has to remain perfectly still, otherwise the photo becomes grainy and out of focus.

As I sat, he calmly prepared the chemicals for the positive.  

The photographer and I talked for a few seconds.  The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street was playing in the back ground, the song Let It Loose.   My cousin and extended family waited patiently in the store.  The studio lights were bright in my eyes.  In a very gentle manner the photographer said, "ok, just relax and hold."

He then let out a slight, "ok."

He walked looked into the camera and I started to get up.

He looked at me and then into the camera and said softly, "ok, I liked that.  Do you mind if we do another, but just slightly different?"

Of course.

"Turn your chin slightly towards me," was the only direction he gave me.

"Ok."

Another three seconds passed and then he let out another, "Ok.  I think those are going to turn out great."

We chatted for a few more minutes and he said we could come back later in the evening to pick up the photos. 

After dinner, we returned to the store.  A major party was raging, music, food, drinks, crowded with people spilling out into the street. 

My cousin and I fought our way to the back of the room to where the photos were being displayed in a glass case on the table that was positioned under the portrait that had originally drawn me into the store hours earlier.

The photos were raw, immediate, direct, incredibly honest.  They were unlike any other photo of me.  At first, I was just fascinated by the novelty of the photographs, but after reflection believe them to be an interesting professional headshot.

I went to go thank the photographer and say goodbye, but he was surrounded by a crowd watching him prepare the positives for the next sitting.