The other side of the camera.

Carla Jean Whitley, a reporter for Birmingham Magazine, called me up about doing an interview a few weeks ago. She was working on a story about the filmmaking scene here in Birmingham, Alabama. Never one to turn down press, I met her a couple of days later, and we had a nice talk about the scene (or my impressions of it, at least). Carla also asked me if I'd be willing to have a photo taken for the interview. I'm much more at home behind the camera than in front of it, but I understood that the filmmaking story was being written for a glossy magazine, not a textbook.

So when I went to Beau Gustafson's photography studio, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd only been photographed once for a magazine (Chuck and I were in Portico), and that time the shooter stopped by my condo, snapped three shots, and was out the door. Beau shot several pics, then asked if I'd like to sit down at the computer and review them with him.

I was really surprised he was interested in my opinion. I mean, who is a worse judge of a photo than the subject, right? I told Beau as much, but I had to admit that the shots he chose were pretty great. Well, as great as a photo of me could be.

The magazine hit the stands (locally, at least) a week or so ago. When I finally saw the article, I was surprised with how much coverage Interplanetary received. Aside from the huge shot of me, the magazine used several Interplanetary behind-the-scenes shots that George Smyly was nice enough to share with them.

Which brings up a couple of good points. If you're making a movie, get somebody to document the process with some high quality (35mm or digital SLR) photographs. And be sure you have a selection of the high-res (300 dpi) photos ready to email. Then, if a publication asks you for photos for a story, you can deliver them via the 'net in a matter of minutes. I think if you can make the newspaper or magazine (or Web site) editor's job easier, said editor is more likely to get the word out about your project.