"One of a series of images illustrating action behind the scenes of the production Sauce for the Goose." Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, UC Berkeley, client.
"Veterans Administration waiting room, personal work."
"Nap time, personal work."
"A Blueberry Pie cocktail, for a story about the Fairmont San Francisco's specialty drinks program." Hotel F&B Magazine, client.
"Personal work, Sonoma, California."
"At the Sweat, personal, Reddington Arizona."
"Zay's Boots, personal work from a cattle ranch in Reddington, Arizona."
"Ambere St. Denis wanted an outdoor portrait, but when she sat with her red hair and blue shirt on my green couch, that was it." Ambere St. Denis, Ice Insurance Agency, client.
09.13.10
www.shiffrar.com
Duration: Five years. Staff: Myself and occasional assistants. Education: BFA, Photography, University of Colorado; MA, Art History, University of Arizona. Cultural Influences: I love the stories behind great photographs. I love that Dorothea Lange made a u-turn twenty miles after a sign to a pea-pickers’ camp. The frames before the Migrant Mother image show her following her intuition like a bread-crumb trail to that canvas tent. I love that Edward Weston struggled all day to capture the beauty of that bell pepper. Then he noticed an aluminum funnel, popped the pepper in, and the rest is history. I love that Yousuf Karsh snagged Winston Churchill’s cigar. These stories are talismans, reminders that the ultimate images are in the unexpected. Environment: Before bridges linked the Bay Area together, boats transported people and goods to San Francisco. I’m lucky to live that way now: I catch the breeze from the top deck of the Oakland-San Francisco ferry, and watch what the bay offers—a sunset, a sea lion, a tanker, a trawler. My studio is on the water’s edge, in the former ferry station post office, where boats once docked to transport the mail into and out of the city. I am blessed to have this studio but I do most of my work outdoors, within a mile’s radius of it. The commercial waterfront of San Francisco, the Embarcadero, is a magical place. Philosophy: Frame it in the positive, even when it hurts.