I was going through some old photos recently, and ran across this one I took of Chris Sanders during production of "Mulan". I had just discovered the joys of medium format photography (a larger film format than 35mm, the negatives are 2 1/2 inches square). I had bought an old Soligor at a rummage sale for $5 and didn't know if it even worked. So Chris gave me a roll of film so I could find out. He also let me shoot a role with his Hasselblad, which is what I used to shoot this photo. You can see about half of my camera in the lower right hand of the frame. The dark slide from the Hasselblad is lying on the open sketchbook next to the banana in the bottom center.
But the thing I really enjoyed about finding this image again was all the history on Chris' desk. There are random sketches, memos pinned to the wall, in-house newsletters, etc. You can even see an early Sanders drawing of Crickey hanging on the wall behind him. I scanned my negative in at 400dpi and the resolution was just incredible!
Look at this zoom in. I rotated it 180 degrees so you could see better. Chris is watercoloring some storyboards for Mulan. It's the sequence where Mulan has just returned from the Matchmakers and prepares to sing her song.
The open skecthbook belongs to Nathan Greno (then an inbetweener, eventually a story artist on "Brother Bear" and "Chicken Little"), I can read his name inside the cover. It is awaiting a drawing by Chris. If you look closely, you can see the corner of another drawing of The Flash, and if I remember correctly Elliot Bour (then animator, now has just directed "Kronk's New Groove") drew that for Nathan.
Makes me wish I had collected more drawings by fellow artists in my sketchbook. Maybe one day, I'll post some of the ones I did get.
Eventually, the Soligor's shutter broke, so I bought a used Hasselblad (for a trifle more than $5). It has served me well. If I took a photo of my desk now, I wonder what I will feel nostalgic about in 10 more years.
P.S. Nathan, if you read this, you need to update your IMDB listings.
2 comments:
Man, you have a gem blog here. Cool posts. See ya later.
Wooooosh!!! I'm suddenly back in time!!! Wow! Does this take me back!!! By the way, I have a xerox of the drawing Chris did for Nathan. It is a beauty! I'll post it over on Storyboredom when I find it!!!
Great photo Tim!
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