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[ December 1, 2003 ]
When photographer Bill Reitzel and his father traveled to Turkey one year, they tried to shoot a picture of themselves in every city. One night Bill's father woke to find his son missing. Walking from bar to bar, he eventually tracked his son down. Bill was busy taking photographs of old Turkish men.
Although Bill Reitzel has made a name for himself photographing celebrities, the 41-year-old artist tries not to forget what led him to photography in the first place: capturing moments, like those anonymous faces he was drawn to in Turkey. Altpick.com spoke to Reitzel from his home in Sausalito, California.
Oh yeah. My dad is a photographer so when I was 8 or 10 years old he had lots of cameras and a dark room. I was always taking pictures as a kid. Once I got out of high school I had to find a job at something, so I went with photography. I started working as a freelance photographer for a local college newspaper. Did you want to be a photojournalist? It's kind of my first love, photojournalism, because I really like all different kinds people and capturing something in them. After that first newspaper, I started working for other small papers around the Bay Area. Then I decided I wanted to learn all parts of photography, so I enrolled at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. I loved photojournalism, but I realized there's not much money in it. And my lifestyle was more akin to going to the Bahamas and taking pictures of beautiful women, rather than living in a tent and waiting for the right picture somewhere. So I figured I'd do commercial work as my living, and photojournalism as my hobby. I went to a photo workshop at Lake Tahoe with a big commercial photographer. I became a good friend with her and her assistant. She said if I get out to New York to look her up and that she would set me up with some assisting gigs. Two months later I moved to New York. I was in my early 20s. What did you want to accomplish in New York?I gave myself at least a year there. I knew I didn't want to live there forever. Well, I ended up staying almost four years. I never wanted to be anyone's full-time assistant. I wanted to learn as much as possible so I worked for a bunch of people part-time, like 25 different photographers.
I worked for Annie Leibowitz on a couple of jobs. My roommate was her full-time assistant. I remember the day when it hit me that I might be able to make it as a photographer someday: She got some film back and was spreading it all out on the light table. And of course her stuff is amazing, but here were 100 rolls of film, and there actually was some crap in there. My biggest hesitation had always been that while I knew I could shoot good pictures, I still shot lots of crap. That day I realized that if this insanely good artist can shoot crap, then maybe I have a chance. I also realized that I like shooting portraits better than shooting fashion. I like working with people. I like talking to them. I like pulling out that great photograph. So I started shooting for some of the New York modeling agencies, applying what I was learning from the photographers that I was working for, but concentrating on the personalities and not the fashion. I found that everyone's got a story, whether they are a movie star, scientist or a model. How did you leave New York? I decided one snowy December weekday, around Christmas. I was sitting on 5th Avenue, with about ten bags of photo gear, trying to find a cab. It was so frustrating, and I remember thinking, 'I can leave now.' I'm going back to California to start a business. So I did. My brother is a musician, and he knew people in bands like Night Ranger, Journey, and Jefferson Starship. I started shooting some of these bands and random people, and that's how my book moved from fashion to portraiture. When I look back on some of this work I realize that I have come a long way. Some of it was just awful.
There's just no moment in those early portraits. They're stiff. I see more of me than I see of the subject. I can tell I was concentrating on getting the light perfect or making my idea happen just as I had planned. Instead of letting it happen and capturing a great moment. You have to go in with a plan and ideas, but stay open to what's happening. If not, it all becomes about you. And that's fine too, just not my style What was your first big break? When I moved back to San Francisco I started showing around my book. The art director of Guitar Player magazine liked my work and assigned me to shoot BB King and Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top) together. I ended up making nothing on the shoot because I had to fly myself there, but it turned around and turned into something great. I made a great connection with Billy, who then requested me to shoot the new ZZ Top promo shots and then Budweiser ended up purchasing rights to a BB King shot for a national ad. So my zero dollar day turned into like $15,000. And I am still getting sales from that shoot. It's important and especially when you're starting out to see the potential of a shoot beyond the immediate dollar. Every job has something to offer. A portfolio piece, a great connection, resale. You don't want to sell your self or the photo business short. But stay open to the possibilities within each project.
Then Guitar Player started giving me nice covers, and I went back and forth to New York, working with M magazine. They gave me some great TV and Movie people shoots and all of a sudden I had a portfolio full of celebrities. Then I started working with TV Guide. They started giving me a bunch of covers and then asked me to shoot their Fall Preview Issue. This was huge. Six weeks at a famous Hollywood mansion, shooting all forty of the new TV shows. It was over 140 celebrities. I had a crew of twelve and any equipment that I wanted. I was in heaven and hell. It was a lot of work. And yet you're trying to expand to other fields of photography. Why?I still work a fair amount in editorial. But when I first started this, I got to spend a few hours with the subjects to make a picture. And now I feel like I'm a machine, pumping out images. Also, I like LA, but I now live up here in the Bay Area. I really want do more advertising work. I really like working with creative people, especially the quirky ones. Getting a layout and taking this idea and make it work. That's what's great about this job, though, the wide range of things you can do every time that phone rings, you never know what that call is about, or where it will take you. - Contributed by Kelly McEvers >> See more work from Bill Reitzel >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
