One might expect that a world famous photographer, who works only with the most rich and famous, would be as pompous and pretentious as the rest of them. If one expected that of TSP (can't say his full name here) one would be utterly mistaken. The world class photographer I had the extreme pleasure of spending a day with is a genuine and good-hearted man; with an abundance of unmatched artistic talent, I might add.

I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated at first but once I got to know him a little the tension cleared and we got to talking, and talking, and talking. We talked about everything-- pets, culture, economics, travel, jurkupa, the changing world, and, of course, photography.

He told me this really inspiring story of how he got started in photography and how it had more to do with luck and passion than anything. At the time he was going to school for architecture but half way through he realized he really didn't want to be an architect but it was too late to turn back so he continued school. To pass the time and feed his creative side he picked up a 35mm camera, he'd go to school all day and stay up all night doing photography. At some point someone saw his photos and hired him for his first job but all he had was his little 35mm so the guy loaned him a Hasselblad. He went to the site with his loaner Hasselblad and realized that he didn't even know how to load the film! By chance, the site was just across the street from a camera store so he went there and asked for help. He now shoots effortlessly with a Fujifilm GX680 III. With his permission, I took a photo of his other half:
(copyright Nicole Filosa)

You would never know by his perfectly composed photos that he was not formally trained, but if you were to watch him work you would see that he is a true artist unfettered by rules, methods, and procedures. He lets the space become its own thing, he talks about what makes the space and about the "personality" of the room that he's trying to capture. The words "strong", "glamorous", "wild", and "unique" came up over and over during shooting. Once while shooting some vases in front of a series of large framed snake pictures TSP used the word "creepy" and moved on quickly -- it's not that he hates snakes, in fact he used to look for them when he was a kid, but these pictures gave him the willies. Most of the time, though, he worked slowly and patiently -- it took us two and a half hours to get the perfect shot of the office!

He admits that the condo we were shooting is one of the more difficult spaces he's had to capture and even though it's relatively small it is very complex and every corner has its own story. We found ourselves experiencing the space as more of a modern art museum than a living space, at one time getting caught by the interior designer admiring this very large piece of photographic art in the hallway. We talked not about the artists' clout or extravagant rates, nor did we discuss colors and compositions, our museum tour was all about the feelings and environments captured and created by the artists. It was an experience I won't soon forget, he even let me take one of the polaroids home to remember it all by.

I left the Sierra Towers feeling informed, inspired and complete. I also have the strange feeling that it wasn't the last time I'd see my new mentor. Time will tell.