Apologies to all Knick fans for the banner painting of Reggie Miller, The Cyber Killer. When he turned pro, and became a Pacer, and a 6′ 7″ nightmare for my beloved Knicks, I really started to hate him. But, I did a helluva photo of him when he was in college.
This blog is inspired by my biological brother, Mike Corrado, of Nikon. Know him for more than thirty years. He’s gone through many iterations as an incredibly talented photographer, from a rock and roll guy and baseball shooter to now, when he’s awesome, drunk passionate about chasing creatures with wings. He has an Instagram named mikethebirdnerd, and he recently posted the below, mentioning that the photo is the result of two NEF files, edited in-camera, using image overlays. Just beautiful.
I was looking at this and was like, god, what game do we have! Z 9, suitable for long glasses. Great talent matched with great camera technology.
I recall a story I did for LIFE called “Space Man of the Year” about the legendary feats of astronaut Mike Foale. He survived what is considered the deadliest period in space, while on the MIR, the Russian space station, when it was hit by a supply ship. Using the cleverness and acumen of science, Foale went on a six-hour EVA walk to repair the damage.
The portrait was only done by Galveston Bay, Tx. The moon was photographed in a parking lot in Syracuse, NY. I knew I was going to have Foale’s mission, and I was chewing it. On a cold night in upstate NY, I saw a crystal-clear moon, and photographed it on Kodachrome. I measured the film lead as it mounted to the camera and marked it with a piece of tape. When I finished rolling, I rewound…. Carefully. And taking the book to Houston, I brought it to the camera again… carefully. I know the ballpark where the moon should be in my frame, locate Mike, and a lamp, wait for sunset and shoot the above on a movie clip.
So, what do a bird, the moon in Syracuse, and a spaceman on the dock have to do with Reggie Miller?
My year in college establishing the three-point rule, I came up with the concept for Sports Illustrated that these legendary basketball marksmen “shoot from deep space.” I volunteered to be able to use front projection and send these people from the trampoline into space. It was a time when SI had more money than meaning, and they said, okay.
The front projection is based on a highly reflective screen, which has millions of glass beads. If you are completely on the screen axis, its reflective aspects are phenomenal. If you’re even slightly off-axis, you don’t have a problem. I rented a front projection unit, powered by 3,000 ws strobe light and the largest front projection screen in Hollywood, borrowed some space imagery from NASA, and we went to the space. asteroid. As I recall, the screen was so big and unwieldy we had to hire the Flying Tigers air transport specialists to launch it across the country.
And I had to light Reggie…. Lots of gobos, scripts, cutters, flags – call them what you want. But my strobe light cannot touch the screen. Any scattered light on that screen and goodbye to reflections. Same deal below, with Roger McClendon.
The mechanics of the front projection are legendary and I don’t call myself an expert. I used it once. It was interesting to me how this process seemed to impart to the athletes a bit of an extraterrestrial glow, perhaps emanating from the half silver mirror that I recall as the fitted equipment. This technique allows the projected image to shine brightly, while the subject remains unaffected by the image. You are then free to light the subject as you wish…. Carefully.
So much about this shoot! Extra-large screen, extra-large trampoline, extra-large sound stage. Reggie, the latter, is quite tall, and knocking him off the trampoline has had its moments. Needs a lot of space. And some courage. When I suggested this to Sports Illustrated I had no clue, I could actually pull it off. All the photos on the blog were shot on location, one video clip. Sigh of relief when the job is done.
So a little rambling, inspired by Mike Corrado, who used today’s technology, in great style. Urged me to journey to a galaxy now so far, so far away.
And a tribute to Reggie, who is a great player, along with McClendon. Reggie was very cheerful and personable during the shoot. I like him. Until he started killing the Knicks. Then I didn’t.
More tk….
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