It’s not every day that you become a part of history. Which is exactly what happened when Rick Smolan – creator of the epic series Day in the Life of America – asked me to shoot his greatest content to date: The Human Face of Big Data. 

This global crowdsourced media project reveals humanity’s quest to collect, analyze, triangulate, and visualize vast amounts of data in real time.

Heralded by The New York Times, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal as “visceral” and “emotional” “that captures a virtual universe” my mission for The Human Face of Big Data was to shoot the faces behind Internet Archives in San Francisco.

Brewster Kahle, the visionary who created Internet Archive and his legendary Wayback Machine, provides the masses with a digital, searchable record of the Internet as it evolves and unfolds. Created in 1996, Internet Archive hosts 10 billion megabytes of information.  That’s roughly 10 million Encyclopedia Britannicas!  And Digital Archive is growing one billion pages every month. 

But who are people who power this massive digital archive?  That’s what this shoot was all about.  Discovering The Human Face of Big Data.

After shooting Smolan’s California cover for his infamous America 24/7 series, he brought me onboard for my experience orchestrating big complicated production shoots.

Because it wasn’t just the people of Internet Archive I was photographing but also their avatars.  Yes, I said avatars.  You see, Kahle rewards longtime employees with a 3-D and incredibly heavy mini-me.

Brester Kale, front row, second from left

After positioning eight people and 63 avatars, I lighted the sanctuary as the flesh and blood counterparts situated themselves next to their ceramic selves.  The incredible result was a two-page spread of 71 “people” caught in one frame, for one moment of time.  Which makes me ask, “Are avatars our new digital faces?” 

What amazes me about Kahle is that he isn’t fazed by Digital Archive’s insane exponential growth.  In fact, that is exactly what he wants. 

Inspired by the vision of ancient Egypt’s Library of Alexandria, he says, “Providing universal access to all human knowledge via the Internet will be remembered as one of the greatest things humankind has ever done… The books of the 20th century are not at the fingertips of my children.  If we don’t [change] that, we’re going to end up with a generation that’s going to learn only [from] corporate stuff or Wikipedia.”

It’s humanizing to think that nothing will replace a face… even behind big data.  But will this last?  I hope so.

View the behind the scenes video of the shoot:

 Reviews of The Human Face of Big Data: 

“A curious, wonderful beast — a solid slab that captures a virtual universe… This is one of those rare animals that captures its era in the most distinct of ways. It’s the kind of thing you’d put in a time capsule for your children today to show them, long after   you’re gone, what the world was like at the beginning of their lives.”  – Huffington Post

“Visceral, emotional and tangible.” — Wired

“Big Data Gets its own Photo Album” – The New York Times

“Far more than a coffee table book” – The Wall Street Journal

“The obvious gift to give this holiday season is “The Human Face of Big Data” – All Things Digital

My cover of the California 24/7 book for the America 24/7 project

Venice Beach, America 24/7 Book

Venice Beach, America 24/7 Book

 
Wow, it’s mid Summer already. It’s been a packed Spring and Summer.

Did you know “May is International Professional Photographers Month”? Photography is such a part of our lives that we can take it for granted but that’s not happening at the International Photographic Council (ICP), a non-governmental organization (NGO) of the United Nations. They presented eight IPC Professional Photographer Leadership Awards during the 13th Annual IPC Pro Award Luncheon, at the United Nations in New York City. I was honored to receive this esteemed award that recognizes and celebrates photographers as artists, leaders and powerful influencers.

Receiving the IPC Professional Photographer Leadership Awards at the United Nation.

My cool United Nations hardware.

 May 20th was my birthday. My kids and I celebrated with dinner. Sometimes the best present is just chillin’ with them, ya know what I mean? Birthday’s are really our own individual “New Year’s” and I take time to think about what worked well and what might work better. Being a photographic artist continues to move me as an artist and influence my journey. I am collaborating with performance artist Tiffany Trenda on a project entitled “Loss.” We are exploring the idea of loss of wholeness in the female body when an amputation or disfigurement of any kind has occurred and our response to that change: our judgments, fears, acceptance and integration. What’s your response? Click and share your comments if you dare!

My collaboration with performance artist Tiffany Trenda on a project entitled “Loss.”

We are exploring the idea of loss of wholeness in the female body when an amputation or disfigurement of any kind has occurred and our response to that change.

 In June, we were thrilled to shoot Casio’s hottest new calculator. Danica McKellar anchored the day with her brains, beauty, professionalism and sizzle. Pairing Casio calculators and Danica McKellar may be the best thing to happen to math since Pythagoras! Danica has four books published by Penguin books, Math Doesn’t Suck (2007), Kiss My Math (2008) and Hot X: Algebra Exposed (2010) are all New York Times bestsellers. Her fourth book, Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape (2012), hits the shelves this August. Math has never been so cool and fun.

July we were jamming with Jane Lynch on a shoot for National College Finance Center. NCFC is all about paying for college. Hhmmm, Casio & Danica, NCFC & Jane, looks like we’ve got a theme going on. I’m all about empowering our kids with education and the tools they need to rock.

Well, thanks for stopping by and checking out what we’re up to. If you have questions or want to know about a project in particular, write in and let me know.

I’m off on my Vespa to scope out what’s happening in Venice, California that is.

Cheers,

Michael

 
This is a great time of year because practically everyone’s anticipating a fun break from work or just returned from one.   For me, Spring Break marked the arrival of two long awaited events: getting my youngest daughter on the ski slopes and launching the new version of my website.

I love snow skiing and try to hit the slopes as often as I can.   Of course it’s more fun if I can get the kids to join me.   I’ve struck out several times with my youngest because she’s apparently got a healthier sense of danger than the rest of us.   Last week Zoey finally threw caution to the wind and slid down a big icy mountain at high speed.   She totally loved it!   Although it’s clear from her face in this picture, she kept a little caution in reserve.

As for myself, I’m trying out a whole new website.   So the jury is out, I’d love to have you weigh in on the verdict.   – Michael

 
This was written by Ed Greenberg today regarding the death of photographer and industry advocate Paula Lerner. She was an amazing friend and colleague. If you have not seen her Emmy award winning multimedia piece, Behind the Veil, you should. She will be missed.

It is with unspeakable sadness that we inform you of the untimely death of a great lady, Paula Lerner.  Paula possessed the all too rare qualities of both bravery and courage well before the insidious cancer ever invaded her body.

While most of us are content with the safety of our daily lives, Paula was busy risking her life to bring home the intimate stories of the brave women in war-torn Afghanistan.  Dodging bombs and bullets on five journeys, Paula created the finest collection of photography ever created in or about Afghanistan. Paula won a richly deserved Emmy Award for her work as a photojournalist on “Behind the Veil” an in depth multimedia feature in 2010 which also captured an EPPY Award for Best Web Feature.

As fellow photographer and long time friend commercial photographer Michael Grecco said well,  ”Paula was fearless in the pursuit of the things she believed in, whether it was to fight for photographer’s rights, as the first Vice President of Editorial Photographers, or when traveling to the war zone to use her lens and multimedia skills to expose the plight of the women of Afghanistan. I was thrilled when she won an Emmy for her hard work. She was a dear friend and will be missed.”

Those of us who create prose rather than images, know all to well that there is simply no “appropriate” space limitations when extolling the virtues of Paula, whether referencing her work or her character.  The fact that both her images and life story will become part of the curriculum at The Harvard Women’s Studies program, is testament to an extraordinary life that precious few of us will ever even approach in magnitude.  Her images will continue to speak to us and that makes her great photographer.  Her character, charity, kindness, curiosity, tenaciousness and bravery made her a great person. Her family, friends, colleagues and clients know that her kind won’t pass this way again.

Paula Lerner is survived by her husband Thomas, and two daughters, Maia and Eliana. Lerner’s last book is now available for purchase on Blurb: www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3024840

The memorial service for Lerner will be held on Friday, March 9, 2012 at 10 a.m. at Beth El Temple Center, at 2 Concord Avenue, Belmont, MA 02478. The photographer requested that donations be made to the Business Council for Peace or to Metavivo.

Links to work by Paula Lerner:

www.lernerphoto.com

www.linktv.org/viewchangefilmcontest/filmmakers/profile/32300

www.fotoevidence.com/interview-paula-lerner

www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/lerner.html

 
I went to this amazing opening at the MOCA / Pacific Design Center of the late Bill Claxton’s images of his wife/muse/model Peggy Moffit in the designs of 60?s genius Rudi Gernreich. It’s a must see if you like the photography and fashions from that period. The exhibition is entitled The Total Look and runs until May 20th.

 
The 23rd of January marked the beginning of the longest and most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, the New Year. In the spirit of this tradition, our family gathers and reunites with other families in our area who also adopted children from an orphanage in Shanghai. This year is exceptionally special because my daughter, Zoey and several of her “cousins” of the same age celebrate the sign of their birth year, the Dragon (see image below). The Year of the Dragon only occurs every 12th year and is thought to be the luckiest year in the Chinese Zodiac. Since the last Year of the Dragon brought Zoey into my life, I can hardly imagine the wonderfully lucky things 2012 will bring.

It seems that the Dragon wasted no time, striking with several multi-image campaigns for Botox that required large castings and custom built sets. I also shot Kathy Ireland for the cover of Forbes Magazine. The former super model is now quite the business mogul. Every photographer wants to shoot a super model, but I live to shoot the super model with a fabulous story to tell (see below).

Lastly, I’d like to brag about my oldest son, Dakota. He’s been putting his video game prowess to good use, adding some cash to his college fund. A few months ago, I threw him a challenge: convert my best-selling book, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait to an eBook. Look on your iPad, Kindle or Nook and you’ll see that he did it!

If the eBook interests you, consider attending my Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait workshop in Hawaii next month. It’ll be a chance to put all of the business aside and reconnect with the art of photography.  -  Michael

Zoey, in red, celebrates the New Year

Kathy’s cover

 
I did it!  My Vespa experience in Paris was so great that I had to have one of my own.  Now I’m tooling around LA on my new vintage-style Vespa and my cool Ruby Helmet.  My kids used to request their goodbye hug a few blocks from school, now they’re holding on as tight as they can all the way to the front door for everyone to see.  I love that and, BONUS, it only costs me $3.89 a week for gas!

My friends from Hasselblad poked some friendly fun at my Vespa over dinner the other night so my crew and I decided show them how undeniably cool it really is. I’m sure you’ll agree.

Speaking of stylish ways to get around. I shot some great stuff for Porsche recently.  These great shots were totally worth the hour we spent wading in the freezing cold water waiting for just the right shot.  This shot of the Cayenne S splashing through the stream in Sedona, AZ will be out in Porsche’s speed centric newsletter shortly.

I’m also proud to report that I was one of 11 photographers in a show on Capitol Hill called Recording Our History: Faces Behind the Camera. The show featured my shot of Johnny Cash, always a favorite of mine.  I’ve always been a fan and I’m still tickled thinking of how he introduced himself by extending his warm hand and saying “Hi Michael.  I’m Johnny Cash.” (just as he did on his weekly TV show)

On a parting note, I hope that you’ll wander over to my new “raves” page. I’d love to have a rave from you as well.

Take Care,

Michael

 
I had a little fun recently while working with commentator Andrew Breitbart on a concept for his new book, Righteous Indignation.  In the following images, we humorously illustrated his concept, the decline of the liberal media and speak to his ideology.  – Michael