"Spirit of Place/ Baltimore's Favorite Spaces"

Grand Cru at Belvedere Square Show and Reception

2009-10-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

Starting November 1, we will be having a display of images from the book at the Grand Cru in the Belvedere Square.
On November 19th we will be hosting a reception where the book will be for sale and a chance to have it signed by the writer Sarah Achenbach and Bill Mcallen.

Please stop by and have a drink with us.

We were chosen as the 2009 Best Book about Baltimore!

2009-09-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Baltimore City Paper for making us the best book about Baltimore for 2009!

Ionarts: Eugene "Bud" Leake

2009-05-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billmcallenphotos/3464027415/

Very nice comments and links about the book

2008-12-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a very busy and rewarding month. The book is out and it is great to get out an talk to people about the project in general.

Sarah and I have had lectures and signings all month and will continue all through 2009.

I find one of the best ways to explain the book is to let someone else.
Remember, I'm not the writer.

This one was in Metropolis and is by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson.
http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/?p=3162

The second one is by Chris Landers of the Baltimore City Paper
www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=17068

The final one is from Marianne Amoss for the Urbanite Magazinehttp://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?issueID=66§ionID=4&articleID=1094

I really think they captured the spirit of the project.

http://www.authorsbookshop.com/spiritofplacebaltimore/

The book "Spirit of Place/Baltimore's Spaces"

2008-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Published by Charm City Publishing
www.charmcitypublishing.com
$29.95 plus tax

If you would like signed copies we would be glad to make arrangements to deliver.

Available at the following locations

Greetings and Readings
http://www.greetingsandreadings.com/show?product.spiritofplace

The Ivy
(410) 377-2966
6080 Falls Rd
Baltimore, MD 21209

The Red Canoe
Phone: 410.444.4440
Email: contact@redcanoe.bz
Address: 4337 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214

Nancy and Walter Schamu Lobby of 10 Light Street Baltimore

2008-07-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of those grand buildings that all Baltimore knows but they really have not been inside unless you are a customer bank Bank of America.
The building used to have the large MN on the roof for Maryland National Bank which rumor has it gave you idea of the soon to arrive weather by the colors it would change to

This photos shows the Schamu's in the lobby looking with camera facing north. You can enter the Light Street entrance during banking hours to come in gawk at the beauty of the building.

Tom Mooney and The Senator Theater

2008-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

Tom knew his choice as soon as Sarah asked. Made it easy for her and for me. We shot him during a time when the theater's future was in limbo so we had to get it done on a cold February night.

Glenn Dellon and Natty Boh Sign

2008-06-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is the last photo for the book and it is fitting that it is of the one person that may have put just as much time into the project as Sarah and I.
Glenn has been holding our hands and at the same time bringing ideas to the project way beyond any what we could have imagined.
Glad he made this iconic Baltimore symbol his choice.

Johanna on Howard Street

2008-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Johanna is a soon to be graduate of MICA and has been studying urban planning. One of her projects was to search the history of Howard Street. That is something I like to do. Will Howard Street ever return to days of glory? I think part of the answer lies in the lite rail tracks in the background.

If you get a chance you should visit google maps and see the Mayfair from above. The roof is gone and what you see in the photo is all that stands besides the side wall.

Restauranteur Un Kim in Mount Vernon

2008-01-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Un was escorted to the shoot by her lovely daughter who coached her in how to look her best.
I know the exact name of the building is not the wedding cake house so i will have to ressearch
the name and get back yo you

Painter Greg Otto at the Conservatory

2008-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Greg Otto does very colorful paintings of building around the world and has created a great series on the buildings of Baltimore.
This is one of the building he has featured.
Greg was fun to shoot because he understood what it took to get the elements of the glass building and of him. This was the last place we shot and I used a reflector to bounce light back at him since the sun was coming from his back

Duff Goldman and The Washington Monument

2007-09-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

When you plan to shoot someone for an enviromental portrait so much can go wrong yet so much can go right.
I had planned to shoot Duff on the roof of the Peabody which appears in the left side of this photo.
We did do some nice photos on the roof but when he arrived on his Vespa it changed my ideas.
Thanks again Duff, Mary Alice and Margaret Bell

Steve Ziger and The B&O Railroad Museum

2007-08-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Steve at first selected one of his projects (The Brown Center at Mica) and we had to tell him to make another selection because you could not profile a space or place that you had a business connection. Didn't matter, someone else picked the Brown Center.

This was taken back in 2004 which I find hard to believe but cameras don't lie much. This structure was just finished in time for this photo because a few years before the entire roof circular fell due to a heavy load of snow and general wear and tear.
Some priceless pieces of railroad history were destroyed in the event and the building was in awful condition.

As you can see the buidling and many of the artifacts were restored and the museum continues to be one of the most popular attactions in Baltimore. Steve commented that the building is a marvel of industrial design and function. It is one of those monumentts to Baltimores industrial past.

Link to the museum and Steve's business

http://www.borail.org/
http://www.zigersnead.com/fla.html

David Wiesand From the Masonic Temple To The Tremont Hotel

2007-08-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have known David since the second grade and it took me about 20 more years to realize
just how talented he is. I have attached a link below to his site but let me say that he is an artist that creates custom built furniture. When I asked David about his choice he selected a landmark building in Baltimore that came very close to becoming another parking lot.

Daves choice was the former Masonic Temple on Charles Street near Saratoga which after $27 million has been transformed into a wonderful part of the Tremont Grand Hotel. I highly recommend that you tour this building and if you ever get invited to an event there make sure you go.

David choice for the project is very interesting on two different levels.
As a young man Davd became a Mason in the temple and when the
building was being converted into hotel David was asked to work on the restoration.

Much of the style and effects that was part of the temple has been retained and blended into spaces that you just don't see in any other hotel meeting or common areas. I say this with the utmost respect but the place to me feels like the best Hollywood set creators have set forth to create many different rooms with settings that can take you back to the in time the second you walk in.

I had been there before but David and I walked about the place to come up with a location for his portrait. I was overwhelmed
with choices but decide to shoot him in this room.

Please remember that this a hotel that has meetings and meals so David
had to help me move tables filled with food that had been put out for a
conference which took about fifteen minutes.
I really like the room of course and all the detail so I used the ambient
light and then placed a small softbox near the wall and up high to fill in his face.
I was just a matter of hin standing still while I took the photo.

http://www.mclainwiesand.com

Middleton Evans Is For The Birds

2007-08-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

I asked my long time photographer friend Middleton Evans what his place would be and he told me of a spot that I never knew existed and at the same time he is in the process of producing a book about. He said to meet him at the pond at Patterson Park in the morning to photograph him photographing birds. I knew of Pagoda and I had seen the ice rink but I never knew of the pond. I parked on Eastern Ave. and walked into the park before he arrvived. I was amazed at what a great lttle oasis this place is. Middleton soon showed up and we walked about and the birds of all sorts and they all seemed to be on a first named basis. The only way I got the photo of him and the heron is because he knew the heron and I believe he had even given it a name. I have seen some of the photos he has produced from the pond and they look really nice and I'm sure it will be a great book.

Kehar Singh Cylburn Mansion and his Hopper Postcard

2007-08-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

Another person who I met on the day of the shoot. Kehar came to Baltimore with just a few dollars in his pocket and now owns some of the nicest restaurants in the Baltimore area. My favorite place that he owns is the Ambassador near Johns Hopkins University. Great Indian food and l really like to sit outside in the garden on a nice night.

We did the shoot in March because I didn't want the trees full of leaves. Kehar and I walked about shooting him as the sun set on a brisk windy afternoon. We talked about his work and he told that he makes sure he leaves work around 5:00 and I said that I thought owning a restaurant meant working all day and all night. He explained that it can but he makes sure that he takes the time to enjoy life. Sounds like he really has figured out how to balance out his work and his life.

I did ask why he picked Cylburn and then he pulled out a Edward Hopper postcard which had a painitng of a mansion that looked strikingly like Cylburn. He had always like the painting and it reminded him of Cylburn. Then he said that he doesn't think people in Baltimore really don't appreciate what a wonderful place Cylburn is with the gardens and nature trails and this is his small effort to bring Cylburn some attention.

Laura Gamble Lovely Lane Church

2007-07-28T20:31:00.001-07:00

I met Laura Gamble through a friend named Katie Green because Katie told me about Laura when I was having a hard time gettig into shoot the lobby of the Bank Of America building. Laura got me in to shoot the building and when I asked Laura what her favorite place or space was she told me Lovely Lane Methodist Church.

Before the shoot I scouted out exterior locations because this building designed by Stanford White is as wonderful on the outside as the amazing interior. Laura arrived with two children who ran about the church as we tried to find a location that would work. Out the three places Laura stood for photos I ended up choosing this straight on view.

I had brought along my friend Joe Ford to help for this shoot which for this large room we used two Dyna Lites with soft boxes each directed at Laura and another pack on the floor shooting straight up to light up the celestrial ceiling.

It is an interesting aspect of the project as to where to place the person in the space and do each of the elements justice.

Thanks Katie and thanks Laura for being part of the project and for getting me into the Bank of America building.

Walter Sondheim and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

2007-07-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

The first time I met Walter Sondeim was the day I photographed him. When he arrived I told him about how another of my subjects for this project thought he was wonderful. Walter was happy to hear that but he asked me please don't tell her that he drove to the shoot because he promised her he had stopped driving.

Walter is credited with the creation of Charles Center which is an intergal part of the birth of moden Baltimore. A major part of the project was to bring in world class architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to design the premire building for the project. Behind Walter in the photograph is the building van der Rohe designed known as One Charles Center. When Walter chose this building I knew my challenge would be find a location to photograph him that had to be vertical due to the height of the building and the closeness of the other buildings.

On the day of the shoot the sun was beating down on the street so I asked Walter to stand in the shadow of a building while I set up a strobe and shot through a white umbrella. A highly reflective dark surface can be tricky to shoot so my goal was to make the building appear as dark as possible by shooting at a high shutter speed. I came away with two versions that I liked. One where he is looking at me and this one. I'm really glad I got to meet Mr. Sondheim. He was a true visionary and friend of the city.

Vince Peranio and the Former American Brewery

2007-07-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

If you have seen the television series "The Wire" or many of John Waters films, then you have seen Vince's work. He creates many of the sets for films shot in Baltimore. He is a master of creating the scene and brings to each project a a true feeling of the city where he was born.

I picked up Vince for his shoot and drove him to the brewery. On the way Vince pointed out some of the locations where he had created sets for filming.

Vince's choice is just great. This amazing building sits on a hill in East Baltimore and was once the center of beer brewing in Baltimore. Now it sits as a looming relic where it awaits conversion into an office building. Hope in the process they don't throw away the true character of the building.

For the shoot we just walked until I found that the sun was behind the building. I then bounced the Quantum strobe fired by a Pocket Wizard directly down into the concrete where it bounced up to fill in his face. Much like bouncing into a white wall or ceiling. Once again I'm working from the gutter.

Chief Goodwin and Saint Casimir in Canton

2007-07-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Chief Goodwin arrived for the shoot in his dress uniform and the way he looked and his
professional manner really influenced me on how to shoot him.
I had tried to scout out where and how to shoot him but until I saw him I didn't really
know what to do.

Once on location it was easy choice what to do.
Some people on these shoots become part of the location and some stand out based on their
posture and dress. Chief Goodwin stood straight and tall like the church so I just put his
back straight to the building and lit him from below.
Posture really is a major factor to a any portrait.

Using a Quantum strobe triggered by a Pocket Wizard the strobe was
on low shooting up to fill under the hat. I just had to balance
the ambient with the flash.

Great location and subject.

Roland Fontz: The Man That Kept Baltimore On Time

2007-07-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

I read an article in the Sunpapers about how the clocks were wrong at the Bromo Seltzer Tower. I thought about Rowland Fontz who I had photographed soon after retiring as the person who kept the clocks running at the tower and at City Hall.

For the photo I picked up Mr. Fontz at his home in Pasadena and took him to Baltimore. When we arrived and started up the tower we saw all the work underway to convert the building into condos. This had been his office and home away from home for decades and soon it would all be different.

Though the room where the clock faces are visible is where I would take the photos, Mr. Fontz was determined to go to the roof. He convinced me that it was safe to climb ladders in the dark and to follow him to the roof. Though the photos of the city were great from the top it was not the photo I wanted. I'm glad that we made the trip to the top for maybe the last time for Mr. Fontz.

The clock room had many elements to make a great photo. I simply put up a small strobe bounced into an umbrella and triggered by a Pocket Wizard. I wanted to fill in his face if needed. The glare in his glasses is from the light coming in the room. We walked around the room for about ten minutes and I just fired away as he would lean on a ladder or stairs

Hope you enjoy the photo and if you see the clocks are wrong please don't blame Mr. Fontz

Crystal Moll In The Great Outdoor of Federal Hill

2007-07-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

If you have ever walked around the city you have come upon Crystal hard at work painting some interesting corner of the city. I must have watched her for two hours as she worked atop Federal Hill as she painted Warren Ave. She really remains in a zone as people pass by and ask questions.

I never realized how much endurance it takes to paint outdoors. Though sitting still as the weather changes she remains focused on the location and the changes that take place. Big difference from setting up a camera and clicking away.

The photo you see is the last of about 100 that I took. It is only one of two from this angle.
I was worried about light under her hat so I set up an SB-800 strobe to my right on low
power triggered remotely. I did ask her to raise her chin for this one make sure I got the light
where it was needed.

Thanks Crystal for letting me watch a true artist at work.

Jim and Mary Bready

2007-07-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Can't remember when we heard about the Breadys but we liked their choice when we heard their story. They had met at the Govans Libaray about 62 years ago and have been in love ever since.

As this project moves along it is interesting to see the difference in buildings which were built to fullfill the same function.
Education in particular. Compare this library to the Peabody Library in Mount Vernon which I will post next. The Brown Center at MICA is an amazing building but is it better then McKim Free School?

The library facade was in broken shadow. I placed the Breadys on a set of posing boxes and set my light which was a medium softbox. We were talking and I asked Jim and Mary to remember when they first met and he leaned over and kissed her.

I kind of knew I had the shot but just in case I asked if he would do it again. It was his pleasure.

Fred Rasmussen at Green Mount Cemetery

2007-07-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

What a great place for Fred to pick. Fred is the highly respected writer for the Baltimore Sun. Many people tell me when it is time, for them to go they want Fred to write their obit.

My wife and I had great fun walking the grounds with Fred as he pointed out who was who and their story before arriving at Green Mount for their long term stay.

To shoot Fred I wanted, of course, to include th chapel which was in the process of repair. It had a fence around it so I had to positon him to minimize the fence which I did by blocking it with amazing monuments.

The sun was behind me yet Fred was in the shadow so I set a large softbox up high to mimic the position of the sun and worked light so all the elements worked. I also made sure light got under the brim of his hat.

The suit and hat he wore also helped make the photo . Thanks again Fred.

Lisa Shenkle at the Belvedere

2007-07-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Met Lisa through her husband Rick. I asked her at an event what her choice would be. She chose the land mark Belvedere Hotel and it only took me a year and a half to be able to shoot her.

Not her fault but because I could not find a location to place her and to get the building. I looked all aound town and when you start to focus on a tall building you really get to notice how you can see it from many different places.

Finally one day I found just the right spot and asked her and Rick to meet for the shoot. They were great and as the sun dropped in the West ( as usual) there was a nook that she fit in perfectly.

I had set up a Quantum with a softbox to focus the light and fired away till I got the right blending of ambient and flash.

In the best case I would have loved to have shot the photo with a shift lens and had all my lines line up straight and pretty but I had to do what I had to do.

Kal at The Walters

2007-05-31T12:15:00.002-07:00

Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher chose the Walters Art Gallery for his place and what was cool about Kal's choice was that the space he chose inside the Walters is not a gallery but more of a passage way between grand rooms.

I think the Walters is Kal's second home but maybe his first. Everyone knew him and stopped to talk which made my life easy because all I had to do was find a angle and set up my lights. I could not improve on the location as grand as it is. I just had to make the most of it. Kal also has a very interesting face so I wanted to make sure I included it in the photo.

For lighting I just needed to seperate his profile from the background so I lit him from the upper right with a small soft box aimed directly at his face. I then came up with the over all exposure and thought about adding a second strobe from the rear but didn't have the space.

Thanks to all at the Walters for making it happen

How it Started

2007-05-31T11:41:00.003-07:00

Back in 2005 I created an article for a magazine along with writer Sarah Achenbach where we asked people from Baltimore what their favorite place or space was in the city. The choice could not be somewhere they lived, worked or owned. Nor could it be a building that housed an organization they supported.

It had to be a space or place that spoke to them on a different level. Maybe it held a fond memory or it is a place that when they bring in people from out of tow, they bring them to this place because it captures the cities spirit.

Sarah would interview each person and with amazing skill and draw out the essence of why they picked the location. Sarah then listed a very brief listing of the architect, style of architecture important dates.

A few weeks after the piece appeared in Style Magazine we both commented on how many people liked and commented about the piece. Both Sarah and I enjoyed the process so we decided that it might work as an extended project.

To date we have completed fifty three photos and essays and now have book called
Spirit of Place/Baltimore Favorite Spaces produced by Charm City Publishing