Chad Cheverier Photography

My favorite portrait of Director David M. Helman and an outtake on set.

I have been to this exact location more times than I know, it’s where my father always brings me. I know stories about aliens, nazi spies, natives and The Integratron. Visually, I think this piece of desert is equally interesting and on this day there was virtually no one around. My friend Jacob, also a photographer, helped take some portraits of myself for an idea I had.

All artists do them, and the one on my website is old, so I decided time for a new self portrait. With the help of my friend Conrad Young, we played with some old film cameras. We took out my almost forgotten 4×5 and shot some very old expired film from the swap meet for one dollar. We also shot with my personal favorite, my Yashica 124g TLR with old film as well that I found in my car. We took some photos in Conrad’s studio. This one is my pic.

these two are honorable mentions 1 2

They are there, lots of them. Some are many days and some are quick. All of them make me feel alive. I love adventures and there are many more to come. Some are planned and some are spontaneous. I’m ready for some new adventures.

This blog has been pretty weak lately, I apologize, really, it seems it is because I have not been doing anything interesting lately, or at least worth photographing. THE PORTABLE PHOTOBOOTH has kept me pretty busy, which is fantastic but I have not been shooting much for myself. In attempts to finish a seeming never ending roll, I took pictures of my garden in progress.  I am growing pumpkin, cantaloupe, carrots, cilantro, oregano, sweet potato, green onion, and I am attempting to start several avocado trees. My garden has been a great part of my daily routine and it is wonderful to see progress in something daily. I think I am growing too.

carrots, cilantro, green onion, cantaloupe, more cilantro, oregano

avocado pits

green onion

pumpkin

Sometimes you need a break from the work week, really, I prefer little work in my break week but I am still figuring out how to do that. Along with an escapee, Tashena Burroughs, we made a pilgrimage to Salvation Mountain for a night of camping in Slab City. Then, after evading border patrol officers, we made it back to San Diego for a dip at Wind an Sea. These photos are from my Yashica TLR with really old Fuji Astia cross processed. A little much, but I think they turned out ok.

I have a confession to make. I am lazy, especially on a computer. I do not like to photoshop anything. Most of the time I like the way film looks as is, then I don’t do anything in the computer. My life is easier and it gives me more time to do nothing. I actually work more when I shoot digital. Almost all of the photos I have shown you from London don’t even have a curves adjustment. I corrected one horizon. Thats just my style. Lazy. I do like to spend a lot of time working on one image at a time in the dark room though and I will work when I have to, but I don’t like to work. I just like to create, get it right in the camera first.

Medium format snapshot of a cab. I actually walked almost everywhere and never took a cab. My legs aren’t lazy.

If you shoot film, you have to deal with security at the airport and hopefully they will hand inspect your film so it doesn’t go through potentially harmful airport x-rays. The USA does this for me every time, everywhere else hates me, and I don’t think its cause I’m an American. Then there is the back up plan, a lead lined x-ray bag. In order for every roll to be in that bag, means there can’t be any in the camera. These shots are the last shots I took while in London and actually some of my favorite.

This is my friend Saul Ashby, he got this electric guitar the day I arrived and he couldn’t put it down. This was his routine every night before bed. My favorite thing to photograph is candid lifestyle photos, basically documentary or journalism type photographs. This is an example of that.