Picasso & Martin

I came across this amusing (and super-respectful) blog about my Picasso/Doisneau homage with Steve Martin by Scott McDermott. Thanks Scott!

Originally posted on Scott McDermott Photography-Blog.

The above 2 images have always been favorites of mine. The first of Picasso by Robert Doisneau was shot in a cafe in France in 1952 and has become a classic. The second by Chris Buck was published on the cover of PDN in 2006 (along with many other places, I’m sure) and I believe was photographed as an homage to the Doisneau picture in light of Steve Martin’s play Picasso at the Lapin Agile. It has also become a classic, I would say.

I recently had an assignment to shoot the cover of Tony “Goose” Siragusa‘s new book. While trying to come up with a unique way to photograph him I kept coming back to his nickname: Goose. How could I visually convey that in the picture? Well somehow the above 2 pictures came to mind, but with goose feet instead of bread hands. But where does one find goose feet on a Siragusa scale? Well, the answer is you have them made. A big thank you to prop stylist extraordinaire Liz Engelhardt who built some fantastic goose feet for me out of foam and rubber. Liz was also coincidentally the stylist on Chris Buck’s shoot with Steve Martin years ago.