Rangefinder Magazine
February 2006

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Profile: Blue Fier Larry Brownstein
Change is Good!

Blue Fier was well on his way to a career as a successful travel photographer. He was selling travel stock and getting assignments for major magazines, airlines and cruise lines, when tragedy struck. He lost his wife to cancer, and travel photography was no longer an option while he was raising a young child. However, this resourceful photographer quickly adjusted. Using his background in sculpture, he developed a still-life portfolio and found a new direction. Since then, Blue has often reinvented himself as a photographer, whether out of artistic temperament or business necessity.

Blue was immersed in the world of art as a child; his mother was a painter and had her own gallery. There were always artists around and he attended many art openings. When he was six years old, Blue received a Kodak Brownie camera and taught himself photography. In high school he was on the yearbook staff, and a teacher taught him how to use a 4x5 view camera. Before long he was earning money by taking headshots for other students.

However, Blue found himself more interested in art and sculpture than photography and majored in art at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He went on to Cal State Northridge, where he got a master’s degree in sculpture, and earned an MFA in sculpture at UCLA. Over the course of a decade his work was exhibited in over 50 shows. Blue tended bar at night, worked on his art by day and was very busy exhibiting his art. Eventually he realized he wanted to focus on one thing that would both pay the bills and allow for artistic expression, so he returned to photography.

Blue was in his 30s when he began assisting successful photographers, many of whom were younger than he was. He assisted for several years. When it was time to go out on his own, Blue began shooting travel photography and eventually realized he could travel and shoot for more than one client at a time.

For example, Blue once took an assignment from a French airline to photograph in France for a month. Having negotiated a per image fee for a minimum number of images that would cover his expenses, Blue received a list of the regions the airline wanted photographed. This marked a great opportunity for Blue, who was also shooting for his portfolio and for future stock sales. As it turned out, the airline purchased far more images than the minimum and made the trip very profitable. Meanwhile, Blue had communicated with several travel magazines and shot images for their scheduled upcoming articles while he was on the original assignment, further adding to his image sales. At times he was be shooting for as many as four clients at once. In order to differentiate himself from other successful travel photographers, Blue purchased the Fujifilm 617, a medium-format panoramic camera. To this day he advertises himself as a panoramic photographer, which has opened many art directors’ doors.

After he lost his wife to cancer, Blue had to give up travel photography in order to take care of his son. He decided to develop a completely new series of work, and spent six months preparing a large-format still-life portfolio with an old masters look. He sent out a single promo piece—a note card—to 250 local art directors, and thus began a new direction. He currently splits his time between shooting stock images, doing assignment work and teaching photography at Santa Monica College. His work encompasses landscape, still life, and portraiture.

Blue was originally named Bruce; he says he never liked his given name, and the name Blue has special significance. Blue was born with a small hole in his heart, causing his blood to be slightly hypoxic (un-oxygenated) and therefore somewhat blue. The incessant tests and trips to doctors and hospitals, with warnings not to exert himself, cast a blue mood over his childhood. The color blue even resonates with his first kiss when he was 10 years old: “She pulled me so close all I remember seeing were her blue eyes. I’ve been a sucker for blue ever since.” He feels this name better represents his personality as an artist: “It’s expansive, beautiful, serene, calming and also contains a bit of sadness, like a yin and yang of all things.”

After his name change, Blue worked with his favorite design firm, Bloch+Coulter to redo his logo and identity package. He strongly believes in getting people who are experts in their respective fields to help in his advertising efforts.

He jokes that a recent assignment took 125 hours to plan and 1/125 second to shoot. As an example of a large-budget shoot, he shared some of the steps in a project he did for a Korean apparel manufacturer. The concept behind the shoot was to show an expanse of glorious, unspoiled wilderness around the subject, a famous Korean actor wearing the company’s clothing. Korea is a congested, tightly-controlled country with densely packed cities. The locations were to be set in wide-open Alaska, a sharp contrast to the crowded environments in urban Korea. Blue dropped his portfolio off with the Korean agency’s local affiliate agency, but only after insisting on a chance to introduce himself first. As he had hoped, he was invited to sit with the art director and they went over the portfolio together. After portfolio review, he bid the job while up against several other photographers. Upon securing the job, Blue asked what distinguished him from the other photographers. The agency chose Blue over the other serious contender for the job because he insisted on meeting the art director. Blue emphasizes that relationships are crucial. You need the talent and ability, but people want to know that they can work comfortably with you.

It took three weeks to plan the shoot. Location scouts were enlisted to find the proper locations. The remote locations required two days of driving from the nearest airport in Anchorage. The shoot was in Denali National Park, 100 miles on a gravel road from the entrance to the park. It took 12 hours, several flat tires, and numerous encounters with grizzly bears to make it to the first location. Lodging and meals for a crew of 15 (model, assistants, prop person, art directors, client reps, stylists, etc.) were arranged. Blue brought two Fuji 617s so he would have a backup on hand. He also brought a Hasselblad, 35mm cameras and hundreds of rolls of film. For each setup he shot some film straight and some film bracketed. The bracketed film was developed first leaving the option for running the straight film differently, if necessary. Since the product was a line of fall clothing, the art directors wanted an autumnal feeling to the images. To accomplish this Blue used color graduated filters—as many as four at once on some shots.

On another shoot Blue photographed property for a land developer in Lanai, Hawaii. Blue had worked on several of the company’s annual reports and corporate brochures, but the vice president said that his local ad agency was giving him flak for hiring a Los Angeles photographer. The vice president told him in a half-joking manner, “You’d better hit a home run or you’re never shooting for us again.” Blue rose to the occasion by getting in a helicopter and shooting the oceanfront development from the air. When the president viewed the images on a lightbox, he said to Blue, “You didn’t hit a home run.” Blue felt a moment of disappointment until the punch line: “You hit a grand slam.” The image was made into a huge poster, which was sold in the gift shop, and was used for the front and back covers of their annual report.

Much of Blue’s advertising work is panoramic format, and his website and portfolio display all panoramic imagery. His panoramics are used for a wide variety of purposes, not just print ads. Blue believes panoramics allow a more cinematic viewing experience. He describes himself as “creating desires through visual storytelling.” For example, he often licenses his panoramics to movie studios. The studios make “trans-lights” by blowing the images up to 40x100 feet and using them as set backgrounds. Studios also composite their own elements with Blue’s panoramas; many of his skies and cityscapes have been used for car commercials, movie logos, and scene backgrounds.

Blue shoots constantly, even when not on a paid assignment. He often shoots personal projects and later uses the work in his portfolio, and he sends much of it to stock photo agencies. Among other projects, he has recently been photographing twins—perhaps this interest stems from the fact Blue himself is a twin. Blue also collects seedpods and photographs them with a 4x5 view camera. In enlargements they appear as fascinating sculptural forms.

Blue is currently represented by Getty Images and Panoramic Images; stock has been part of the Blue’s work for many years. Prior to the current consolidation of the industry, he was represented by Liaison International and Tony Stone. Blue says the current climate for stock is very different than when he began: He used to have a large percentage of his images accepted, and now finds that the market is saturated. As a result, fewer of his images are accepted. Blue generally focuses more on his personal imagery, which is likely to be more unique and more easily find a niche.

Nonetheless, he still has pleasant surprises with his stock sales, such as a recent $26,000 sale. Blue was visiting his brother-in-law, who had just bought a new car, and they went out for a ride around Palm Desert, California. He had a camera with him, as he always does, and shot a roll of film through the moon roof of the car. The shot of the road and surrounding desert landscape was sold to a telecommunications company for all media use in the northeastern United States for six months.

“The good thing about stock is you can shoot what you want and design it as you wish,” says Blue. “I always ask art directors and designers what they are looking for. One answer I hear is that they are always looking for small business owners. So, over the years, if I see the opportunity, I set something up and shoot it in multiple camera formats. I shoot it with my large panoramic, small XPan, 35mm, Holga and Hasselblad, so I get a variety of different shots to choose from in black and white and color.” The picture of the baker in his shop surrounded by loaves of bread took Blue about six hours to set up, primarily making the environment look attractive.

Blue also instructs at Santa Monica College. He teaches Portraiture, supervises Advanced Photography students in the studio and recently succeeded in introducing a History of Photography class to the curriculum. He has been teaching for 11 years and says he enjoys it because “It keeps you fresh and on your toes.”

These days Blue focuses his marketing efforts. No longer does he position himself as just a general panoramic photographer; now he wants to be very specific and target both shoe and outdoor clothing manufacturers. He likes working outdoors in interesting locations and believes these kinds of clients are a good match for him. He is busy developing appropriate promos, sending out five a week and always following up with a phone call. He says it is hard to really connect with art directors and art buyers on the phone, but he’ll leave a message and follow up with another mailing and perhaps conversation-attracting item with his contact information printed on it. For instance, recently he sent two-inch miniature bicycles to the art directors working on a mountain bike account with his business card attached. They called in his portfolio immediately.

Shooting corporate jets is a new specialty Blue has developed recently. Since 9/11 the private and corporate jet market has grown tremendously. Blue shoots for corporate leasing companies and will photograph the interiors and exteriors. He talks to the owners of the planes and leasing companies to get an idea of clients they typically cater to, and then he dresses the plane accordingly with props those clients can relate too—such as a Fender Stratocaster to appeal to the musicians who might like private jets to avoid crowds and the media attention.

Blue belongs to a group of creatives who have been meeting for the last five years. The group was started by Ian Summers, a creative coach offering his services through www.heartstorming. com. Blue finds this a good way to stay motivated, and even photographers who relish their independence may find the need to share information with their peers.

Blue is also working on a book on composition for photographers and has been in contact with publishers about the book.

With his transitions from sculpture to travel, still life and panoramic photography, in an array of camera formats, while shooting for stock, ad clients and personal work, and with teaching and book publishing in the mix, Blue Fier is the photographic equivalent of a cat with nine lives. How many new photographic personas has he yet to discover?