Gyoza in Oil (After Dennis Dunbar)
Twitter works. Maybe in mysterious ways, but it works.
Since I started tweeting a little less than a year ago I have been asked to write for Leaf Digital, Photocrew, The Photo Argus and other photo communities and blogs. I’ve met some pretty interesting photographers, retouchers, assistants and art directors. Many are just people I follow or who are following me, and then there are the dialogs that have turned into great friendships.
Take for example, Dennis Dunbar, a terrific retoucher from L.A. He’s a founding member of UPDIG (Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines) and is an ever-present constant in the world of Photoshop retouching known for his tutorials and lectures. Out of the blue one day, I find Dennis is following me. I check out his creds and start to follow him. Pretty standard stuff until we start DMing about each other’s projects and he suggests we work on a personal project or two. Okay, Dennis, I’m in.
I’ve got this series I’m working on with water tanks and there are challenges to deal with. Water is always cleverly unpredictable, no matter how well planned, or there can be food particulate in the water, and then there are a lot of foods that are buoyant. Water is a challenge. Fun, but a challenge.
Gyoza in Oil (Before Dennis Dunbar)
Photography with a creative team is always exciting and now Dennis was coming in fresh as a key player, so there would be a new dynamic with the results. I had worked out a stylized shot of a single dumpling being fried in oil with stylist, Corey Earling. Couldn’t really shoot it in boiling oil (I guess we could have, but the idea of working with boiling oil seemed kind of dicey), so we gelled the lights on the water, pinned the dumpling into the strainer and connected a couple of airstones to a fishtank pump for the “boiling” oil. So far so good, but not good enough. As always, I wanted more out of this shot. So I upload the select dumpling shot with notes and suggestions onto my FTP site for Dennis. What followed was a truly collaborative dialog of exploration and expertise, what proved to be an amazing transition from original to final.
3000 miles separate me and Dennis, yet we were able to meet, collaborate, communicate and produce an effective final image.
Hey, Twitter, what else you got for me?
D.A. It was a pleasure working with you on this project. Truth be told, it was your conceptual work that drew me in. Working on shots like this, with photographers like you is what I enjoy most.
I agree that Twitter is a goldmine of information, inspiration, contacts, networking opportunities and a potential source of new busines and collaborations.
I have found out a wealth of information and photography websites through twitter that just isn’t visible on Google with it’s samey search results that tend to favour established websites rather than ‘upstarts’ who by their very nature are more likely to be source of innovation and left-field thinking about conventional subjects.
Indeed Leaf regularly mention me on Twitter and if I remember rightly it was through your mention by Leaf that I started following your blog as a source of inspiration and information.
So when someone tells me that Twitter is just a load of people nattering on about what they had for breakfast I tell them that they are totally missing the point and that if they are actually interested in a subject whether it be for work, hobby or otherwise, Twitter is a fantastic resource that can lead to more interesting things.
Absolutely! Thanks for the comment, Andrew.