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| © Raymond Graber |
| click photo to launch gallery |
Age: 38
Based in: San Francisco
Has assisted for: Olaf Veltman, Igor Panitz, William Huber, Harry DeZitter
Nominated by: Jessica Ruiz
Website: www.graberphotography.com
Commercial photographer Raymond Graber likes to shoot what he calls "conceptual landscapes -- having a nice scene and creating a story around it, often with a subtle humorous element that’s not always noticed." In the image above, the horse is a life size, plastic replica. "I shot the corral scene near Moab, Utah, and the truck a few miles nearby," he recalls. "The horse came from Denver, outside a Texas shop." Using an Arca Swiss 4x5 view camera and Horseman 6x12cm rollfilm back, Graber captured the elements on film and stitched them together in Photoshop 7. "I’m making the transition to shooting digital, with a Canon EOS-1Ds," he says. "The gear is easier to carry."
Graber says one advantage to working as an assistant is geographic. "Photographers will hire me and take me to places like Chile or New Zealand, and then they’ll take off and I’ll stay behind and work on my own stuff," he says. "I take advantage of the locations and incorporate them into a vision of my own." Another key lesson, he adds, is how to organize a shoot. "The job of lugging suitcases and setting up equipment is second nature to me now," Graber says, "but I’m still learning about aspects of production, communication, how to work with people -- and how not to!"
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