The Golden Hour

Hello all of my favorite people. I am writing to inform you that this is the last post on my blogspot hosted blog.

Check out http://melissagolden.visualsociety.com/ for all future updates in a much sleeker, multimedia-friendly format.

I transferred a handful of posts to their new home, but will keep this blog on life support so that my archives will continue to exist in the internet ether if anyone cares to look.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I came back early from a marvelous weekend at the PDN Expo in New York (where I picked up a few new secret weapons) to shoot a job for the Wall Street Journal. I woke up extra early to drive into DC to follow WSJ senior editor, automotive industry reporter and columnist Joseph White as he commuted to and from work without a car. After recently moving to the District from a lovely Detroit suburb where he drove to work every day, Joe is slowly readjusting to the new lifestyle of a much smaller loft-style home, no car of his own (he used to have a WRX Impreza- even I'm sad he had to sell it) and a commute that includes squeezing onto trains with the unwashed, sneezing, coughing, headphone-noise-leaking masses. In the evenings, he can walk a few blocks to his neighborhood grocery store with a sporty little red cart and load up on fresh foods.
The WSJ did a great job of putting my pictures in an online gallery to accompany the column.
Check it out!

It's rare that I get to shoot anything outdoors anymore but the other week, I got a call asking me to spend the day following freshman congressman Frank Kratovil around his district. It was almost entirely outdoors on a glorious day. I even got a sunburn.













Blue was definitely the color of the day and reporter Jay Newton-Small was the hero of the day when she let me drive her audi while she interviewed the congressman in his car on the way to his son's peewee football game. Check out her great article here.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to show up at the White House to spend the day covering for another photographer who couldn't make it for the obligatory pool coverage. I was more than happy to oblige, and thankfully I wasn't thrown into the deep end. It was a slow day at La Casa Blana as evidenced by my wandering around the grounds and taking pictures of nothing in particular- which is always an absolute pleasure for me.


I caught a glimpse of Bo between buildings. Some guy was walking him. I wonder if there is an official White House dog walker or if some staffer's responsibilities were expanded to include the regular walks?


There is a small army of television cameras set up on one end of the North Lawn. I presume they are there for the requisite live shots for the nightly news broadcasts. I think they're there rain or shine. This photo doesn't show the full extent of this army, just a sliver through the landscape.


The president was engaged in television interviews all day. This is a picture of some of the equipment / wardrobe in the queue to get in.


A pretty happy looking White House worker caught me sneaking a shot of him from a distance. I like the angle and if I ever get the chance, I'd like to use that particular background for a portrait. I'm always scouting.


The first lady gave a policy-support speech on her husband's healthcare reform efforts. It lasted a little long for me and I couldn't get up and leave, so I got a little out there with my shots in an effort to stave off boredom. This one is of her reflection in some glass.


Same room, same glass, just a wider angle lens and focused on the audience.

To my knowledge, nothing particularly historic or important happened while I was there, but it was an honor to be there on call, just in case...

The lighter side of Ron Paul on white seamless.


The darker, more contemplative side lit by glorious congressional window light.

Mosey on over to melissagolden.com to see a new addition to my website. I now have a Recent Work section featuring two new galleries.

The first one is from the 2009 Air Guitar Championships, which was previously featured on the blog, but the second gallery is from my trip down to Florida where I took in the majesty of The Holy Land Experience. It was indeed quite the experience. Check it out!

I shot my first assignment for TIME Magazine back in July. They asked me to shoot a portrait of Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) in the morning and then follow him around for a few hours. To me, this is the best kind of assignment. You get to know your subject a little bit and engage one-another for the duration of the portrait session and then for the documentary part, everybody is more relaxed and you're more likely to catch genuine moments.
I showed up to Congressman Rangel's office bright and early and then waited with my assistant for 3 hours as his scheduled was continuously pushed back. This turned out to be a good thing as it gave us plenty of time to determine location and lighting. When the Congressman did show up, he was generous with his time, giving me half an hour for the shoot and he was amenable to all suggestions. Thirty minutes may not sound like a lot of time, but for people with important jobs and places to be, it's an eternity. I'm lucky to get 5 minutes with some of my subjects. Because of all the time we had to set up, I was able to shoot him in six or seven different places around his very interesting office.


This one went over well with the editors and was shot in this style per their request.


But it lost out to this one in the end. They only had a vertical space to work with, so they ended up cropping out some of my favorite elements of the picture, but such is life. I work for them, not vice versa. Whatever makes them happy makes me ecstatic.


This was another one of the setups. I was a fan of the blue carpet and the sailboat.


We moved to the couch for a little window-light action. I'm always drawn to natural light and windows usually provide the best in any given space. The Congressman eased himself down onto the couch and then for a split second, let a little weariness show. Given his role in congress and in the healthcare reform debate, I'm surprised he's not completely wiped out. No, no, he was as energetic and lively as a 76-year-old man could be. I bet he could beat my time in a mile run, too.


Being from New York, he was visited by both the Governor and the State Comptroller. I got to tag along and watch him engage with both of them. There was a little side-meeting with the governor and I snuck into the room to take a few shots. They were talking politics behind closed doors and it was a wonder to be in the room. Photographers are usually not privy to such things. When the governor (who is blind) heard me move around, he gave the Congressman a quizzical look. Rangel then says to him, "Don't worry, that's just Melissa from Time. She's deaf."

That I am, Congressman, that I am.

I photographed Law and Order superfan Cassandra Ramirez for a special L&O edition of TV Guide. It turns out the show has quite the rabid following, with collectors snatching up rare items from the show on ebay and other venues. Cassandra had quite the collection, which I tried my best to fit into one frame to show the extent of her devotion. While I'm not a regular viewer of the show or any of its spinoffs, I do know that it has one of the best theme songs in the history of television. If you live under the sea and haven't heard it, it goes exactly like this: Duh DUH da da da da daaaaaaa, Duh DUH da da da da daaaaaaa daaa waa waa wa wa waaaaaah.



As a special note to all my fabulous fans (hi grandma!) I'll be updating the blog with all of my assignments from the past few months. There have been some good ones, so check back often.

I recently got to shoot the 2009 US Air Guitar Championships for the Associated Press. It was totally awesome and totally metal. Who needs real guitars when you're faced with talent and showmanship like this?


Ryan Layman, stage name Stryker / Dreamcatcher, of Denver, Colo. smashes beer cans together during his set. My camera got a little sip, but I can't complain too much.


Cami Phillippi, stage name Airisol, of Minneapolis, Minn. She brought some gymnastic / acrobatic talent to the stage and was my personal favorite of the night. She was robbed.


Justin Hypes, left, stage name Steve Lavender, of San Francisco, Calif., reaches out to an audience member during a free-for-all audience participation air guitar version of the song "Free Bird." This was by far the coolest part of the night. Everyone totally let loose and hammed it up.


Matt Cornelison, stage name Romeo Dance Cheetah, of Chicago, Ill. gestures post-performance. I loved this guy's costume. My eyes were drawn to his... belt for most of the night.


Andrew Litz, stage name William Ocean, of New York, N.Y., poses for a picture after winning the 2009 US Air Guitar Championships. He did rock it out pretty hard and involved the audience with gusto.


Lance Kasten, stage name Shred, of Severna Park, Md., throws up the sign of the beast post-performance. 'Nuff said.

All the way back in December, Pete gave me a Holga camera for Christmas. I thought it was a lovely gesture, but frankly, I was afraid of this little toy plastic film camera. I shot a few frames, but without the instant gratification provided by my digital cameras, I was not in a hurry to see the shitty results of my labor. I finally got my first roll developed at the end of July, and while half the pictures were black because I had to open the back of the camera to fix a problem inside the camera, I was pleasantly surprised by the pictures that came out. They had character imbued by cheap optics and light leaks. Ultimately, I found it all rather charming and my Holga will now accompany me to regular photoshoots.

A slice of life on the island.

I went to a local meetup recently for the 10th anniversary of my all time favorite community blog, Metafilter. It was surreal seeing my secret internet "friends" in real life. I half suspected the website was actually populated by clever, snarky bots. The folks were quite lovely and it was nice hanging out with other unabashed geeks.
A well-lit wall caught my eye and I was inspired to do an impromptu portrait session for a few minutes before I had to skedaddle.

I spent the 5th on the water in Clearwater, Fla. It's a happy, lovely place.

I spent the 4th of July in St. Petersburg, Florida. They put on a good show.

I recently purchased a new car. I'm quite enamored of my Hyundai Sonata and I wanted to see how she handled on a longer haul than my commute into DC. This is my new car parked on my street under a lovely summer sky.
It wasn't difficult to decide on a route. DC to Atlanta to Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga to St. Petersburg, FL to Orlando to Jacksonville to the sea islands of Georgia and then home.

This is my dear good friend Saira with whom I went to high school. She spent two years in the Peace Corps in Honduras and now she's at Georgetown Law. We're from Atlanta, though and that's where she's spending the summer.
I stopped by Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga to see my friend Evan Parker who left the fast-paced world of NYC photography for the much more intense world of the U.S. Army. He's at airborne school now. This is him on base with jump towers in the background.

I had the opportunity to photograph Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for Australian Financial Review. They ran the picture on the left to go with a column called "Front of Mind." It's a beautiful magazine and the picture looked great in it. It was a fun, quick shoot and Secretary Duncan was a great sport about running all over the post-apocalyptic-looking sunken courtyard outside the Dept. of Education.

Ladies and Gentlemen , I am pleased to introduce Avow Weddings.*

Colleague Robert Caplin and I have joined forces to create the ultimate wedding photography tag-team. You can read all about us and Avow on the website and check out the Avow blog to keep up with our jet-set lives of documenting true love in all its forms. Go team Avow!

*The lovely and talented Laia Prats designed our website and blog and logo and everything else.

We had what I hope was our last snow day in New York City. I walked part-way across the Manhattan Bridge and saw this from above. Everything looks better from the heavens. I envy the birds and their views.

I've been shooting a lot of portraits lately. Here's another batch from a shoot with DC-based author Peter Manseau. He was generous with his time and he had a lovely family and home. It was a pleasure of a shoot during which I depended solely upon the natural light of a winter morning in Washington D.C.

Peter gave me a copy of his new book Songs for the Butcher's Daughter which I'm reading right now. It's quite good and each time I pick it up I get lost in another world for a while. That's quite the mark of a good story, no?

I had the pleasure of photographing Steven Van Zandt for the Guardian of London the other week. You may remember him from HBO's The Sopranos as Silvio, owner of the Bada Bing. If there are any Springsteen fans in the house, you'll know him as Little Steven or Miami Steve from the E Street Band. Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot.




Good times.