Brandon Joseph Baker Info

My photo
Oakland/San Francisco, California
A place to share the works that inspire me.

20090125

Sundance Wrap 2009

The hard work is done. We put out our 10th and final issue of The Daily Insider. This year was a very efficient and fun year. The the work was easier after my third time to The Festival combined with a super proficient production team. Having a strong staff makes the work less like work and more like fun. It doesn't hurt to be working with some of the most intelligent, committed and passionate people I've been blessed to encounter in my professional career. Here are some of my favorite portraits from The Sundance Film Festival 2009. Subjects are: Director, Video Artist and Photographer Laurel Nakadate, Artist and Technology Guru Nathan Hemenway, Daily Insider writer Clay Smith, director Ross Katz, Daily Insider Managing Editor Bridgette Bates, Street Talk subjects Sara Basso, Lee Toland Krieger and Larabee, Actor Lou Taylor Pucci, Daily Insider Production Coordinator Shawn Sherril, Actor and Director Joseph Gordon Levitt.






20090123

Sundance Kids Wear Ad

Yesterday I had the opportunity to shoot for the kids wear advertisement for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival line. A special thanks to Jessica, Victoria and most of all Roxie for all the help on the shoot!

20090120

Sundance and fiinally, a screening

Today I got a chance to see my first film of The Festival. 5 days in. It's a busy festival and it's a lot of work. After the first weekend the crowd lulls - some head back to LA and the locals come out. Today I caught a film by Laurel Nakadate, Stay The Same Never Change. This movie was filmed entirely in Kansas City and in several locations I've been in for shoots with my first job out of college, The Kansas City Star. It was a wonderful non linear film full of vignettes of teenage girls awkward moments in one summer. I was very excited to see this movie when I first read the Sundance press release in November. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the director randomly earlier in the week. The following photos are completely unrelated to The Festival and were just something I shot waiting for a ride.

20090119

Sundance STREET TALKING

Part of my role as photo editor for The Daily Insider is to do a daily- or mostly daily depending on ad space, section called STREET TALK. We head out with a question, usually quirky in nature. For example the first session's question was 'if you could make out with anyone at Sundance, who would it be and why?' Usually the responses are quite interesting. People like it when the press pays special attention to them. I head out with Evany Thomas a Bay Area local. Usually I meet everyone from film zombies - the living dead who slowly wander Park City with vacant eyes mumbling about movies, to celebrities - mostly small time reality stars from The Hills or recurring characters on It's Always Sunny In Philedelphia (my favorite show!!!). The first photo in the series is the intrepid Evany followed Holly Montag (The Hills), Ben Kasulke (Humpday), Conrad Smith, Laurel Nakadate (director and writer of Stay The Same, Never Change - shot in Kansas City), Haydee Cifuantes, Sophie Islip and Jeff Dowd. The later is the alleged inspiration for The Cohan Brother's 'The Dude' aka The Big Lebowski. He also made out with Evany, much to her surprise and disbelief when she asked him the question of the day.





20090117

SUNDANCE PORTRAITS

Annually I head to The Sundance Film Festival to work as the Photo Editor for The Sundance Daily Insider. This year we're in a new space, implementing new styles for the paper, putting more emphasis on live coverage and pushing the videos on our site -www.sundance.org/festival. I'm most excited to work in the portrait studio I have set up for our exclusive coverage. My first subject, Calvin Knight is a veteran photojournalist. He's covered shuttle launches, professional sports and is on The New York Times speed dial for coverage in his native area Florida. Next two images are of Duane Trower. Duane is one of our go to guys to get things done while we're tethered to our laptops. Duane drives with the precision of a surgeon as he cuts through side streets to avoid traffic taking us to and from appointments. He also gets up early with Shawn Sherril to deliver the paper we publish everyday. Cheryl Carlson leads our distribution and production. She's an unsung hero who goes to Salt Lake City every night for our press checks. Joe Beyer leads the video team during the 10 crazy days of The Festival. He's sharp, knows what he wants and never stops working. The man is tireless. Here I'm sure he's conjuring the spirit of Lou Reed circa White Light/White Heat. I had hoped to post more but have to go into a budget meeting about tomorrows issue. Please check back again and support indie film.