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| May 11, 1992 Volume 130, No. 19 |
On April 29, 1992 I was on a film set in LA working on a VCR PLUS commercial. That sentence says a lot. I can't quite recall if that was the day we were hanging a guy upside down in a straight jacket, he was pushing the buttons with his nose, or if it was the one below that has a fly landing on the remote to press the buttons. I do remember being scared shitless and a little excited at being a witness to history. And as I tried to drive home to Hollywood, watching people loot as buildings burned, I knew I did not want to work in film or live in LA. I sold my car and moved to NYC shortly after that, sending all my belongings via UPS.
What does this have to do with a photographer's blog? It was an event that shaped my life, my career and my family. It is an event that jump started my move to NYC. And as I sit here pondering my life over the past 20 years, I hope that our country has learned something about tolerance and acceptance. I know being there certainly opened this Iowa boy's eyes.
I may think at times that being a still life photographer contributes nothing to society. But I do my job and I do it the best that I can. I show up every day and I try to make my little part of the world a better place to live for my kids. I love the fact that they really don't see color as a dividing line at all. They are still too young to feel divided by race, class or sexual orientation. Can we all get along?
And they have NO IDEA what a VCR is.
VCR Plus commercial directed by photographer Michael Ruppert, 1992.
