My Four Eyed Fantasy

Cody Paul for ESPN the Magazine

Emily — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:28:16 +0000

I had an awesome time on this job. I spent most of the day with Cody Paul, whose story you can read here. I remember being excited when he walked up because he had such a great look. Loved everything about his face. He was also extremely comfortable in front of the camera and was willing to do a few things that could’ve gone either way. I shot him on the field in his uniform, then playing football in the park with his friends, and we ended the day with a portrait set up at his house in his room with his new puppy and whole bunch of trophies. A couple of the above shots didn’t run with the article, but I like them so now I get to show them.

I’m not a huge sports fan, nor do I know anything about football, but I love doing shoots like this that are a little outside of my norm. I find that stuff like this pushes me a bit more as a photographer. I think the trick is to keep that sensibility on all shoots, not just the ones we’re nervous about.

Olivia Munn for PETA

Emily — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:14:12 +0000

At the end of last year I had the pleasure of photographing Olivia Munn for an anti-fur PETA campaign. Here is a link giving you a little more info on this specific cause. The ads were just recently released, and there’s currently a big billboard on Beverly Blvd! The above image was the initially approved billboard art, but it was deemed too racy (!) by the billboard company. Weird. So, below is the version on display.

I still love it, but I was surprised that the original was denied. Here are the two print ads that will run in different publications here and there.

I know, I know…the last one is almost identical to the first billboard shot, but I’m proud of this shoot, so I want to show as much as I can! I’m also really grateful to Olivia for asking me to be a part of this campaign. She looks beautiful, and kudos to her for being brave enough to put it all out there. Most importantly this is something I actually stand behind and feel strongly about. I am a die-hard animal lover. Not sure if you could tell that I’m mildly obsessed (totally healthy) with our bulldog. The Baroness of course came to set the day of the PETA shoot. Here’s a shot of her from that day…I can’t help myself. Deal with it.

All Images © Emily Shur

Lindsey Vonn for The Red Bulletin

Emily — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:13:31 +0000

All Images © Emily Shur

Here’s my shoot of Lindsey Vonn for the January 2012 issue of The Red Bulletin. We shot this last October in San Diego at 6am. I wish I could look this good at 6am. Or 6pm. Thank you Lindsey for being inspirational in ways both superficial and non-superficial. I love a strong woman who’s cool and easy to photograph!

Two Nice Things and The End of 2011

Emily — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:15:03 +0000

Janice Bridge on her evening recumbent bike ride/dog run in Davis, CA, December 17th, 2011 © Emily Shur

Slightly lax on the blog as of late. The end of the year all of a sudden got nutty, in a good way, and left me neglecting certain areas of life out of necessity. I’m currently catching up. Now that I have a minute to look back on 2011, it’s really been a great year. I have had the honor and pleasure of working on some fascinating shoots this year. I don’t really have the kind of time it would take to do a full-on wrap up at the moment. Plus, there’s really no need for that level of self indulgence, but what I will say, and this pretty much sums it up, is that I have immense gratitude for being able to be a photographer. It is a lot of work. It sucks sometimes, but there is nothing else I would rather be doing. The good parts are so so so good.

So, I will leave this year on a high note with two exciting bits. One is that I have many photos in this weekend’s upcoming issue of The New York Times Magazine along with a slideshow on NYTimes.com. Here is a link to the article, and here is a link direct to the slideshow of Janice and Adam Bridge, with whom I spent a full day documenting their diligence and commitment to weight management. The Bridges allowed me to arrive at their home at 7:30am and I did not leave their side until needing to depart for the airport around 4:30pm. It was non-stop picture taking and fairly sensitive subject matter. You can read their story in the article. To get this kind of a call from The New York Times Magazine was so exciting and nerve-racking at the same time because I rarely do documentary style work nowadays. I did do a couple set up and lit portrait options with The Bridges, but the bulk of the shoot was being a fly on the wall which requires a lot of access. Photographing people in any capacity requires a level of trust and an ability to engage and connect with almost anyone. I think the subject has to feel your sincerity in order for them to be their sincerest self (or however close you can get to that in a matter of days, hours, or minutes). Knowing this is no easy feat for both parties, photographer and subject, I really do thank Janice and Adam for their time. Lovely people with lovely pets.

The second bit of goodness is that I was nominated for The Santa Fe Prize for Photography (via Center) and received an honorable mention! Wow. I am really proud to be in the top percent of such an impressive list of photographers. You can see the big winner (congrats Jessica!) along with a list of all the nominees and honorable mentions here. I love photographing people and having the experiences that being a commercial and editorial photographer afford me, but gaining recognition for my personal work is something I never really counted on when I was starting out. It is absolutely thrilling. It has been a slow process, and I haven’t yet achieved many goals I’ve set for myself in that realm, but acknowledgement like this make me feel as though I am doing the right thing. I am especially excited that work being honored is my work from Japan. This project is entering its’ eighth year, and when I got the news, I started planning a trip to Japan in March that I am very much looking forward to. If you’re interested, here is a direct link to an edit of the project on my website. The project is currently called ‘Untitled Japan’ as I did not want to limit myself in terms of what or how I photograph there since I am still working on it. So, for now, I’m leaving it untitled. When I do come to a stopping point, I will reassess.

Happy new year!

Minor Thread (aka Why I Get the Crap Closet)

Emily — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:55:50 +0000

In celebration of the new knee my husband will be getting a few hours from now, I thought I would share his recent internet celebrity with all of you. As of today, his blog Minor Thread has been written up by Forbes, Spin, and Boing Boing with more to come. And trust me when I say that there are enough shirts to keep going and going and going and going. I am a proud wife married to a man who owns about a billion t-shirts.

Flak Photo #8

Emily — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:14:04 +0000

Bus Stop, Anchorage, Alaska © Emily Shur

Thank you so much to Andy at Flak Photo for his continued support of my work. Yesterday marked my eighth photo appearance on Flak. Check it. I took this picture in July while I was waiting around for Sarah Palin to give the yes or no to the Newsweek cover shoot. I spent four days in Anchorage by myself. I did a lot of walking, wandering, driving, and enjoyed some good seafood. I remember taking this picture while walking back to my hotel from dinner. It was about 9pm when I shot this (crazy light), and I had had a couple glasses of wine. I use a Mamiya 7, and if you’re familiar with rangefinders you know you can easily make the mistake of looking through the lens and composing a picture (and shooting) while the lens cap is still on. I’ve had this camera for over 10 years and removing the lens cap is second nature to me at this point. I stopped to take this picture, walked away, and for some reason had this feeling that I left the lens cap on for this one specific picture. I had switched rolls and shot some other stuff by this time, but I walked back down the block and took the picture again just to be sure. Turns out I was right. I left the lens cap on on this one shot only. So glad I went back.

Giant Artists Book Release/Group Show/Holiday Party THIS Friday 12/2

Emily — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:09:26 +0000

Everyone in LA should come to the Giant Artists book release, group show, and holiday party this Friday December 2nd! Check out THIS Los Angeles’ site for slightly more info. Should be super fun as usual up in there. An awesome special amazing talented person (that I may or may not be married to) will be there as well acting as DJ for the night.

Kelly Kelly for Maxim

Emily — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:50:53 +0000

Sometimes I shoot sexy ladies and cars! Check out my photos of WWE badass Kelly Kelly on the cover and inside the December issue of Maxim. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bill Maher for Newsweek

Emily — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:20:24 +0000

Bill Maher. I’m a huge fan. Big time fan. Still a fan after this shoot, but I just have to say a little something about this experience because I took away something important from this shoot. When I got the shoot, I was extremely grateful and excited, but I was pretty sure that photo shoots aren’t Mr. Maher’s favorite thing to do. Totally understandable. Understandable, but necessary I suppose. When we met in person, my thoughts were confirmed, and clearly this was not going to be a lengthy shoot. Totally cool. I was ready to move quickly. I had one set up on seamless lit and ready to go and another in the backyard (above) also lit and ready to go. The magazine had high hopes of an unexpected and jovial moment, but I quickly got the vibe that was not going to happen either. So in my opinion, the best way to handle this type of situation is to make the environment in the photograph somewhat unexpected or funny or sarcastic or ironic or whatever and let the subject be themselves. The humor will come through on it’s own that way. Know your subject (the best you can). Don’t base a picture on the hope that this person is going to do a cartwheel across the frame when that’s clearly not in their character or photo shoot activity repertoire. Not to say one day you won’t be pleasantly surprised at what someone is willing to do, but keep in mind that sometimes you have about 15 minutes to get the shoot done and need to bring something usable back to the magazine/client.

Anyway, Bill Maher. Sometimes I feel as though a few bad apples have given photographers, especially photographers who photograph celebrities in some capacity or another, a bad reputation. It seems our profession is not always respected as much as it should be. Granted, there are some serious cheeseballs out there, but I (and lots of photographers I know) work very hard to make good and interesting pictures of all different types of people. This stuff ain’t easy. Let’s compare a portrait shoot to an interview. The interviewer could show up with a list of very well-prepared and thoughtful questions. It doesn’t matter how smart and interesting those questions are if the interviewee continually replies with short one word answers. No one will ever reap the full benefit or impact this interview could’ve had. Oh well…I mean, clearly not on the short list of pressing world problems that require immediate attention, but I’m just saying…

I’ve watched every episode of Real Time and will continue to do so. I agree with Bill Maher’s point of view on almost every topic. I think his voice is an important one, and he is someone I was extremely excited to meet and photograph. I get that photography and pictures of oneself are not why most actors, comedians, politicians, writers, scientists, etc. do what they do. It’s for the most part an annoying consequence of fame, success, and attention, and that’s too bad. I would like for that to change, possibly for purely selfish reasons, but also for the sake of the art form.

Mindy Kaling for Time Magazine

Emily — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:44:49 +0000

This shoot for Time marks the third time I’ve photographed Mindy, and I think we found the sweet spot. She looks great, and just goes to show you don’t need an elaborate location. I mean, I’d like one, but I don’t need one. This was shot in a banquet type of room at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica.

I saw this post recently on A Photo Editor, and the quote sums up quite well what makes a good working relationship with a celebrity subject. I really like that Kidd Rock mentioned that Clay is “pleasant to the people he works with”. I photographed Kidd Rock a long time ago for Spin Magazine at his house in Michigan. He was actually quite a nice guy after we got past a set up or two. I think he gave me a bottle of vodka or something like that at the end of the day. Anyway, I respect what it takes to build the sort of relationship Clay McBride has built with Kidd Rock. I’ve definitely lost jobs solely because the subject has worked with my competitor before, and they haven’t worked with me. It’s annoying when that happens, but I get it.