Steven Weinberg: Being There
We don't know who first came up with the classic bit of photographic advice, "f/8 and be there," but we suspect that Steven Weinberg would probably want to modify it to "f/8 and be there first."
Steve's aim is clear: to capture a changing world from a vantage point well ahead of the curve, and to do it in photographs that are at once of their time and timeless. To that end, he brings to his assignment and stock photography the sensibility of a photojournalist and the eye of an artist.
Steve counts among his skills the ability to "see faster"—to observe the patterns of events as they are forming, and thus he is able to be in position when transitions occur. Seeing faster has taken him to Berlin to photograph the fall of the Wall and to Eastern Europe to document the breakup of the Soviet Union. These days, it's taking him to the midst of the geopolitical tensions surrounding oil development in the Caspian Sea, a growing struggle that the Wall Street Journal has called "the last great game."
Steve is also journeying into the realms of history and memory as he documents retired NASA Apollo program engineers, all in their 80s now, as they build a replica of the plane the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903. With the 100th anniversary of that history-making event coming up, you're going to be reading about this story before too long.
And lately, Steve's been taking a look at the cultural phenomenon of millionaires, pop stars and film directors lining up to get their tickets to travel into space. "Initially, it's going to be multi-million-dollar visits to the space station," Steve says, "but low-orbit crafts are right now under development to carry tourists for one- and two-hour trips into space." There's already a company serving as an orbital travel agency, and the list of applicants for what's got to be the world's most expensive high is growing daily.
Steve will often undertake stories like these on his own initiative. "I won't wait for the budget or the imagination of an editor," he says. He'll make the contacts, travel to the appropriate locations and begin his photography. Sometimes his clients will see the images he's producing and find a use for them—or better, they'll find that they need Steve to go back to do more work and get more photographs for them.
Steve's main concern is change. He is driven to be at the time and place in history when what was is turning into what's going to be. "I've gone to different countries when they were going through political and economic transformation," he says. "It's the point where there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and the culture is changing. I'm trying to capture visual representations of those moments, those questions and those ambiguities."
Right now Steve is sensing that something will be happening soon in Central Asia. He's not sure exactly what it will be, but he'll be going there to explore, observe and document. "There are cycles in history, and things often repeat themselves. Right now, though, I think we're in a time when unprecedented things could happen."
And Steven Weinberg wants to be first on line for that.
In the Bag
Steve is currently shooting with three Nikon bodies, an F2, F3 and F5. He has a number of lenses but cites the 17-35mm, 28-70mm and 80-200mm Zoom-Nikkors as the workhorses of the outfit.
