As an intermittent series for Look/Listen on Monday mornings, we’ll take a look at a disparate pair of projects. These will, generally speaking, be completely unrelated to one another. But, when added up, they’ll help give focus to the wide range of creative projects taking place in St. Louis, often undertaken without any particular attempt at profitability. We’ll ask the creators or project-drivers five questions, and check in on their motivations, goals and approaches.
Here we go...
Doors of East St. Louis
Dan O’Saben, Webmaster/Photographer
As a creative director and owner of a marketing agency, Marketing28, Dan O’Saben’s got plenty on his plate. He’s got a wide variety of paying clients, looking for his creative guidance towards their projects, including growing brands like the Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. But he keeps a little corner of the web for himself, crafting a very personal look at a local city through very specific photographs. The Doors of East St. Louis project isn’t terribly old. But as anyone who undertakes a project knows, it’s tough to keep a good idea going and growing.
Over the past couple years, O’Saben’s been banking a large number of shots of East Saint doorways and we checked in with him to get some background on the project, as well as some of his immediate goals for the work. It’s a timely check-in, as it turns out, as a magical number is now far away.
Do you remember the occasion of your first shots for this project? The weather, the time of day, any little indicators about that day?
I had been driving through East St. Louis for years, watching the buildings, some of them quite striking, slowly fade into piles of debris and wanted to somehow document what I saw happening. And then I came upon the idea of documenting doors, and it all clicked. Doors can be symbols of opportunity, but they can also represent isolation. I think there's a lot of both in ESL. I also wanted people who lived only a few miles from there to understand what we are letting happen right in our back yards.
So the first day out was the end of April 2010, and it was an overcast day, which is perfect for nice, even lighting.
How often have you run into people asking what you're doing, especially homeowners?
I usually shoot early in the morning and rarely run into anyone at that time. When I shoot in the afternoon there are more opportunities, and I have asked for permission before, or explained what I was doing, but I just try to keep a low profile. I'm not trying to disrespect or judge anyone's situation so I do my thing and move on. But the fact is, I don't see much of anyone. A lot of the houses are abandoned.
As an East Side native, can you talk a bit about the public perceptions of East St. Louis changing over the years?
When I started driving through ESL, I was told to be careful. After all, it was the murder capital for a number of years. It could, and can be, a dangerous place. But, through different opportunities, most through my church, I've come to realize that there are a lot of people there that want to make a difference, and I admire those folks. But they have an uphill battle, that's for sure.
Is this a project that has a target date or shot count for true completion?
My goal is to post 500 photos. I'm at around 460, or so, right now, and post one every weekday. So that puts the date at around April of this year, almost exactly two years after I started. My goal was to show enough that the entire run of photos tells a bigger story, rather than taking a few sensational shots and then leaving it at that. There is beauty in the city if you look, not just despair.
After completing the run, I have plans to publish a book of a selection of the photos. The plan is to hopefully make some money from the book to donate a big chunk of the profits to an East St. Louis preschool, KinderCottage, to try to make at least a small difference there. I wish I could do more, but you do what you can, I guess.
For tech-heads, what cameras and editing software (if any) have you used for these photographs?
I don't claim to be the most technical photographer. I mostly use my years of art directing and design skills to at least compose the shots as best as possible. I'm using a Nikon D3100 with a variety of lenses. For editing, I try not to do too much to change the photo; maybe crop it, open up some of the shadows and increase the color and contrast. That's all done in Photoshop.
“2 Steppin’ Out”
On YouTube at: http://youtu.be/H4hvt0nOt7o
Music by Typewriter Tim Jordan and Steve Ewing
Video by Alex Orear and Typewriter Tim Jordan
For a good while, Typewriter Tim Jordan was a popular fixture behind the bar at the Schlafly Bottleworks. As of just a couple weeks ago, that very-public job’s now in his rear view mirror, freeing up time for him to rebuild a massage practice, as well as to take on a job at Gateway Harley-Davidson. Both fit into his eclectic range of interests, which include motorcycles, open-mic drop-ins, fitness, funk, glass-blowing, painting... well, the list goes on.
Recently, he and cohort Alex Orear undertook a couple video projects, for unreleased music that Jordan recorded with Urge frontman Steve Ewing. One of the pieces, “2 Steppin’ Out,” features an assortment of very particular St. Louis landmarks, shot in a style that befits the music. We asked Jordan about the backstory of creating those videos, as well as the particulars of production.
Tell us about your recent video projects, undertaken with Alex Orear. How they'd come together?
We were looking for small projects to get Alex Orear up to speed on shooting video projects. He had the idea to shoot a line of paint spilled down his alley and up Southwest Ave. I happened to make a song with The Urge's Steve Ewing about the streets (as a concept/metaphor relating streets to city life, the streets perspective, and other abstract interpretations) and so we just started shooting an abstract video about cruising around on skateboards and the Metro, making art, and playing a typewriter until it catches on fire. We wrote it on the fly, and shot it around town in 100-degree weather and down by the graffiti floodwalls. If we would have planned it better, it would have lost some of its energy. We were free to create in the moment. This is NOT how one traditionally makes films.
You use a lot of iconographic St. Louis spaces. Were there any shoots that caused you a problem, in terms of access?
After Metro Security asked us not to shoot on or around the trains, we got creative. We just made sure any signage or copyrighted material was not in any shots. A cop drove by after we extinguished the firework-filled typewriter at the graffiti wall. I thought we were doomed. But he just drove on through the cloud of smoke. We quickly exited the scene, but returned later to retrieve the burned machine. People here tend to be very forgiving when they see the cameras.
Are these tracks featured on some released or unreleased albums?
Steve and I made the record Stranger Than Fiction while we were both living in L.A. I've been sitting on it for just the right time. I'm developing a MIDI typewriter so I can perform solo. I will release the record once I can perform it with video projection, all triggered from a MIDI typewriter. When that will be, I don't know. My clock has no hands...
Anything from a technical perspective that you'd like to share? For example, how'd you like working with Go-Pro cameras?
Film is expensive, so you must be very organized and efficient. Video doesn't cost any more to keep shooting, so we did. My porn star ex-girlfriend taught me about that concept. Her film shoots were quick, but the video projects would have her working for hours and hours. I prefer film, but it's not always practical. Video can be plugged into a computer. Files and tapes must be transferred and/or developed. The GoPros are really cool little cube cameras. They have a distorting fish eye lens and you can't change many settings. Other than that, they can be really fun. We have mounted them to glass blowing sticks and had them diving into 2,000-degree glass furnaces. We got a "warm" reading when it stopped working. We have mounted them on cars, bikes, guitars, motorcycles, blowtorches, arms, heads, crotches, and of course, typewriters. I'm developing all kinds of unique mounts. We can shoot in 3D as well using two cameras and a special rig. That is a blast...
To what degree do you think the videos represent the audio component of the cuts? Or did you even want the visuals to "match" the feel the tracks? A blend of both?
We wanted to take the viewer on a ride. We cut the shots to different rhythms of the music. We wanted to make art that fit the music and vice-versa. We really played with how we edited. How do you make a video about a line on the street? We found a way. We bounced ideas off each other and tried cuts in different ways. It was a collaboration throughout the project. He is fresh to filmmaking, so we had no rules. I know the "rules" and LOVE to break them. We made some videos exactly how you are not supposed to make them... on the fly. But that has a lot to do with my process. They turned out well, though. We learned a lot and got it done in good time. I'm proud of them. I could not have done them without Alex. We were a good team.
