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The Prolific Al Satterwhite
By Lynne Eodice | Cover Archives |
Dec 1, 2008
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 CLICK HERE TO VIEW A GALLERY OF AL SATTERWHITE'S IMAGES
All images � Al Satterwhite
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| Rockefeller Center Ice Rink |
Al
Satterwhite has been a very successful advertising and editorial
photographer throughout the years, with clients that include American
Express, Eastman Kodak and Honda. Considered a top expert on color and
design, he has also published a number of photographic books. His
latest book, Titans,
features rare images of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Muhammad Ali.
Satterwhite�s photos have appeared in numerous magazines, books, and ad
campaigns, and he has been the Director of Photography for a number of
short films made in Los Angeles and in Dallas, which he currently calls
home.
He began his photographic career in high school as a stringer for The St. Petersburg Times
in Florida. �Working for a newspaper is probably the best way to learn
photography,� Satterwhite says. �You get about 8 or 10 assignments a
day, ranging from sports to portraits. You make mistakes and learn from
them.� But at first, he had other ambitions. �When I was in high
school, and even when I was shooting for the newspaper, I always
thought I would be a test pilot,� he remembers. �I was going to study
aerospace engineering.� He later worked on the college yearbook and
free-lanced for UPI (United Press International), covering major news
stories in the south. It was during his first trimester at the
University of Florida when he realized he wanted to continue being a
photographer. �It dawned on me that I was doing exactly what I loved.�
A Colorful Career
In
1969, he was the personal photographer for the Governor of Florida.
Then, after a couple of years of �banging on doors,� he made his living
doing advertising photography. He was very much in demand for his
saturated color, great sense of design and unique compositions. �I did
this for about 15 years, but got bored with it,� he says. �You don�t
have much leeway or creativity. I miss the money, but don�t miss what I
had to go through to get it.� His clients included American Express,
Coca Cola, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Ford, Honda, Nikon, Porsche, Volvo,
and Universal Studio, among many others. Today, Satterwhite is
concentrating more on what he wants to do, including film and book
projects. All of this keeps him very busy. �I�m working 10-hour days,
six days a week,� he laughs.
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| Muhammad Ali, from "Titans" |
When
asked what his favorite subjects are, he says it�s hard to pin down.
�Usually advertising photographers have a niche and that�s what people
know them for, but I was always hard to quantify.� He�s had as many as
eight different portfolios, and shoots a wide variety of subjects in
which he can work with color and design.
Getting Published
For someone who made a name for himself with such eye-popping color, however, the images in his new book, Titans,
are all black-and-white. �It�s from the good old days when we shot
everything in black-and-white,� he recalls. This project started with
Satterwhite�s archive of black-and-white assignments dating back to the
�60s and �70s. He had an agent in New York, who got him a lot of
magazine assignments, but stopped representing photographers at the end
of the �70s and sent all his material back to him. He says, �I put
boxes of these images in a closet for years and forgot about them, but
then I started looking at them again around 2001.� He had photographed
Muhammad Ali in 1970 and �71 when he was preparing for his fights and
making a comeback. Satterwhite shot 50 rolls of film on this boxer at a
time when nobody else seemed to be very interested, he says. Then, in
1976 when Satterwhite moved to L.A., he got an assignment to shoot
Arnold Schwarzenegger when he held what was perhaps his sixth or
seventh Mr. Olympia title, prior to becoming a movie star. �We hung
out, went to Muscle Beach, and to Gold�s Gym. He was a nice, open guy
with no handlers back then.� Satterwhite tried to put these images in
separate books, but it didn�t really work out. �Then I tried putting
the images together in one book and it had a nice flow,� he says.
He
printed up some book dummies and began calling publishers with the idea
of doing a book on these iconic men, �but most publishers said, �what
does a body builder have to do with a boxing guy?�� They didn�t know
how to market this concept. Finally, the publisher from Dalton Watson
saw the book dummy and had a lot of marketing ideas for Titans, but
preferred to do Satterwhite�s other idea for a car book instead.
Soon thereafter however, he got a call from the publisher saying he
wanted to do Titans after all. Satterwhite is doing a lot of his own
publicity this holiday season for the limited-edition book, which is
currently available through www.DaltonWatson.com or at Samy�s Camera
Store in Southern California.
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| Arnold Schwarzenegger, from "Titans" |
He
has published a number of other books throughout the years, including
two books in the �80s; Satterwhite on Color & Design, and Lights!
Camera! Advertising! The latter book was divided up into eight
chapters, each dealing with a different ad campaign. �My producer wrote
most of the book, and we talked about how we approached a job, how we
bid it, etc.,� he says. �A few art buyers told me they got a lot out of
it.� He may be updating and republishing these books for the current
digital age.
Film & Stills
In
Los Angeles, he began working on independent feature films and music
videos. He moved to Dallas, Texas about four years ago and does a lot
of films with a partner. �We shoot both with film and with HD cameras,�
he explains. Satterwhite is Director of Photography on these short
features, several of which have won awards. On his commercial work, he
is a Director/Cameraman. He describes these films as �somewhat comedic
in nature.� One is called �Niche,� about a guy trying unsuccessfully to
pick up women and discovers that the truth works best, and another is a
mockumentary called �Quest To Ref� about a guy who wants to be a
basketball coach. It was shown on HBO for a couple of years. �I�m into
any script that�s interesting,� he remarks. Satterwhite is planning to
move back to California and start an L.A. division for his film
business.
He�s also returned to being a one-man band. �I started
out working by myself, and I�ve come full circle,� he states. �It�s the
best of all options. I�ve done everything and know how it works, and
it�s still fun.� He says that both his occupation and hobby is
photography. He is also a member of Photoworkshop.com. He says, �The
online gallery was very easy to work with. I update it a lot.� He also
has a link to Photoworkshop.com and to Double Exposure on his other
website.
New Avenues
As
for what the future holds, Satterwhite is working on two new books. The
first one has a working title of Round Pictures, and is illustrated
entirely with images taken with fisheye lenses. Some of these are from
an ad campaign he did in Germany for Tuborg Beer where he shot all his
pictures from a helicopter with a fisheye lens. His second book project
is The South in the 60s, which will showcase Satterwhite�s images taken
in the southern U.S. during the time when he worked for the newspaper.
He says, �These images show what was going on during the �60s.� He is
currently looking for a writer for this book who really understands the
south. These projects are coming out of his archives, �but I�m always
shooting a lot of new stuff, and trying to figure out what to do with
that,� he laughs.
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| The Showoff |
In
2005, Satterwhite became a Nikon �Legend,� which is a select group of
professional photographers who use Nikon gear. Currently, he�s shooting
with a D700. �The full-frame sensor is like the good old days; a 20mm
is a 20mm. I think they really hit a home run with this one.� His
favorite lenses are his fast primes�a 200mm f/2, 180mm f/2.8, 135mm
f/2, 85mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, �my all-time favorite 35mm f/2,� and 28mm
f/1.4. He recently shot a rodeo in an arena with typical indoor
lighting. �I shot images at ISO 6400. I actually sent jpegs to a lot of
my friends and said, �you won�t believe this,�� he exclaims. �The
quality was amazing!� In his advertising days, he used to carry big
strobes everywhere. �But now with the way I shoot, I use a lot of
available light.� He sometimes modifies this light with reflectors, and
uses the pop-up flash on the D700 for fill. �The simplest lighting
works best,� he says.
Satterwhite enjoys combining old and new
technology, and even believes that film and developing paper will come
back in a limited way. �Digital isn�t necessarily better than film,� he
observes. �It�s just different. Film has different characteristics than
digital imaging.� For those who are getting serious about photography,
he advises, �You really have to work at your craft to be good.� Back in
the days when he shot transparency film, he would drop off his film at
a lab, and that was it. �But today, you have much more control in post
production. That�s the great thing about digital imaging�you can do
whatever you want.�
See more of Al�s work at www.alsatterwhite.com and alsatterwhite.photoworkshop.com.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A GALLERY OF AL SATTERWHITE'S IMAGES
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Last Updated: Aug 11th, 2010 - 13:36:44
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