Modern American

“I was blown away that people could make a living doing photography,” Andy Goodwin says with a laugh from his Chicago home. “Before, I just thought photographers did weddings.”

Despite having the best year of his 15-year career, Andy still radiates a humble disbelief that “this photography thing” worked out so well. He never quite expected that his exciting editorial shots would land him dream assignments for some of the world’s most prestigious companies and fly him around the world. “I went to school for forestry and I didn’t have any background in photography other than as a hobby,” he says.

In nature, Andy found his first, albeit, short-lived muse. “I was out shooting pictures of birds and cobwebs and all the stuff that people shoot when they get started,” he says. After he got that out of his system, Andy discovered his editorial bent. “I like putting something together, finding something cool and shaping it. If you give me a studio and a white background and ask me to create something from scratch, I can’t do it.”
With a drive to learn the trade, Andy showed up at the Chicago studio of photographers Zack Burris and Jim Weiner. “They were nice enough to take me on,” he says with a chuckle. “I even worked for free for a couple of weeks.” Starting around 1980, he worked as an assistant for five years before setting out on his own. It was a time of experimentation, and finding his photographer’s voice.

“I took all my money and spent it on putting together samples. I didn’t want the overhead costs of a studio. I knew I wanted to shoot on location and shoot a lot of portraits.” Andy still doesn’t have a studio, or a rep, for that matter. And his voice has evolved into a recognizable brand of portraiture with expert lighting; sleek, metallic colors; and an evocative mood.

“After going through all the fads like colored gels, I started doing less warmth in the skin tones. I had to try something new,” he says. As his vision changed, so did his subjects.

“I like a grittier look—that’s the kind of assignments I’ve been getting. I had a dream assignment with International Truck, a big rig manufacturer. We rounded up truckers and we got to shoot them in these rough environments. I had been used to shooting executives and suddenly I had to shoot these cool-looking people in these amazing environments.”

Shooting in unexpected locations is an inspiring challenge for Andy. “I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked into a factory and pulled things together, found a guy and grabbed some accessories,” he says. “The idea of walking around and scouting the elements of a shot is key. You have to make a picture in this business. You don’t just stumble on it.”

This new direction in Andy’s work has coincided well with his adoption of digital photography. “The opportunities of switching from a Hasselblad to an autofocus Canon are great; it allows me to take a lot more chances. Photography is exciting all over again,” he says.

His dream is to find subjects in unexpected places. “I’ve done a lot of Americana already like the woman in the field with a kid or the windmill in the back. I’m drawn to those kinds of people. That’s what I want to do now, but with an edge,” he says. “There’s something real there without pretense.” Andy continues, “I have an idea to get an Airstream trailer and make it over into an office. I’d love to take it around for a summer and do more of my Americana-type shots.”

Not having a staff or studio gives Andy the rare opportunity to do just that. “I don’t have a team,” he says. “Everyone I work with is a freelancer. I have a pool that I pull from.” He especially enjoys the collaborative process of working with art directors and designers. A few photographers may balk at the idea, but Andy relishes it. “Having a second set of eyes, someone who can spot any difficulties you might run into, is a relief. Having the person who hired you right there makes a difference,” he says.

Working with art director Andy Mamott on the shoot for International Truck was a great collaborative experience for Andy. “Andy [Mamott] gave me a lot of freedom. He let me run with ideas and trusted my judgment. He also had some great input and suggestions. He pushed me out of my preconceived ideas and made sure I experimented,” he says.

Another area of his craft where Andy appreciates a skilled colleague is Photoshop. “I’m fairly good in Photoshop CS3, but there are a lot of guys better at it than me.” Though he’s taking classes to improve his skills, he currently uses a few talented freelancers. “I liken it to a musician going to a producer.”

While he outsources most of his staff, he gets help in the office from his wife, Danette. His 19-year-old son, Sam, has also been learning the family business from behind the lens. Shares Andy, “I think he’s going to be a good photographer.” (Father and son recently spent three weeks in New York, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco, where Sam gained hands-on experience.)
Andy works with a vast arsenal of equipment. His favorite lighting tools are Speedotron Explorer Packs. The Speedotrons work with all his heads and they’re portable, something that’s becoming more and more important in Andy’s career. He normally travels with two Speedotrons, backup batteries and six flash heads. Recently, he’s been experimenting with everything from Maglight flashlights to fluorescent fixtures.

“I’d like to start using smaller units. With digital, you use ambient light in combination with strobes. You don’t need as much power as you did with film.” Even so, Andy says that using available light is the exception. “I like to let ambient light do what it does off the subject and behind them. We go in over the top, knock it off the person and then relight them and then figure out how we want the light to hit them and make it happen.” To this end, Andy uses Elinchrom Octabank lights and Chimera medium-size softboxes.

Camera-wise, Andy just switched to the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II after using the EOS-1D for years. “The 1Ds Mark II has what I need in terms of storage and editing,” he says. He outfits his cameras with Canon 24–70mm lenses or a Canon 70–200mm when he needs something bigger.

When he shoots, Andy switches his SanDisk cards out quickly, taking 30–40 shots and bringing them up on his MacBook Pro 15-inch laptop. “Then I use an external drive,” he says. “Everything is in three places when we leave a shoot: SanDisk, laptop and drive. I buy cheap hard drives at Staples and sometimes even deliver the project that way.”

On location, Andy has two of everything, sometimes even three, just in case. “I also like to carry around a little makeup kit and a good supply of cleaners and swabs. I found out early on how to clean my sensors, just in case one ever clogs on the job.”

He’s found an ally in his iPhone G3. “It’s a huge help to us,” he says. “Often times, we’re in an unfamiliar city, so we use the map and GPS. The iCal calendar travels with you, your contacts travel with you, you can sync it across every computer you have. The other day, we were on a job and the director wasn’t there yet. I took a few shots with the camera phone and emailed them off to him in minutes.”

To promote his work, Andy believes the Web is everything. “I made four portfolios last year, but they don’t go out much. Everyone figures things out from my website.” He loves the flexibility of liveBooks (www.livebooks.com) where he can swap photos in and out of his galleries with a few simple clicks. “[For my website] I don’t like music or mission statements. I just want to put pictures up.” He also has a few portfolios up with Web portals like The Black Book (blackbook.com) and Workbook (work
book.com) that have brought him steady work. His favorite is Wonderful Machine (wonderfulmachine.com) because they actively promote their clients and are selective about the photographers they feature on the site.

This year has been the busiest he’s ever had, but Andy won’t be slowing down anytime soon. “About the time you find your stride, you want to think about something else,” he says. “I want to explore being more portable than we are already. We’ve gone from electric to battery pack, but I want to make that pack totally portable. I want to shoot on the fly more.”
Andy’s style and the photography business have evolved over the years, but one thing hasn’t changed. “I don’t know if people like their jobs anymore but I love mine. I’m very lucky.”

Visit Andy Goodwin online at www.agoodwinphoto.com.

Mary Kole is a San Francisco-based freelance writer with a lifelong interest in photography. While her career behind the camera never went past the darkroom she built in her garage in high school, she loves watching photographers at work. When she’s not working for a children’s virtual world website, she writes assorted articles and fiction for children and young adults. Visit www.marykolesnikova.com.