Miami Photographer photographs Coppertone Sign
The Coppertone sign in Miami is a favorite subject for photographers
Photo by Robin Hill (c)
The Coppertone Sign in Miami is an instantly recognizable symbol of Miami and now sits proudly at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 73rd street. Photographing such a well known landmark can be a bit daunting because its been covered so many times before, but I find that notion challenging and decided to approach this photo shoot in a diffferent way than usual. I often go out in the rain when the streets are soaked and photograph the reflections that are enhanced by the water. On this particular night it was raining cats and dogs and I noticed that the sunroof of my mini Cooper clubman was collecting rain drops like nobody’s business. I wondered what would the MiMo neon signs along Biscayne Boulevard look like if I photographed them through the sunroof in the rain? So, I positioned my car underneath the coppertone sign, pulled out my trusty Canon 5D with 17-35mm 2.8L wide angle zoom lens, and zoomed out to 17mm and shot the whole thing through the sunroof in the rain…hence the entirely original title of this photo ‘Coppertone Girl through the sunroof in the rain’…I think even Damien hirst would be proud of that one…and that’s no joking matter because we were born on the same day…June 7th, 1965…which just goes to show that astrology cannot predict how successful in the art world you will be! Still, its not all about perceived success is it? In which case one begs the answer, what is success? Well, going off on some wild tangent whilst trying to stay focussed on the coppertone girl photograph might not seem like the answer, but I’m sure its buried in there somewhere….the question is where? hmmm….its pretty easy to get stuck in the mud of deranged thought patterns when you’re counting ghosts of misfortune, but alas how can one possibly find the answer without questions? Still, I digress from the central point of this post, which is to bring us to the next photo…..
COP
photo by Robin Hill (c)
Another entirely original title…’COP’…Yes I now believe that it is my capacity for conceptual thought that has really garnered interest in my artworld shenanigans…still i do like the photo…popped on the ancient macro lens for this one and zoomed in to capture the drops of rain that all spelled out ‘cop’ and left pertone’ behind in the rain (literally). As a Miami Photographer I’m still trying to find out what this city is all about…if I was to listen to our recently departed chief of police, John Timoney..he might mention the word ‘cop’…once or twice…but perhaps not quite in this context…but Miami seriously is one tricky place to pin down…and I’ve spent almost 20 years here trying to find that ‘pin’…and haven’t found the ‘down’ yet either….of course there’s the Architecture that revels in its own mediocrity despite some great buildings (think Bacardi) and some intriguing physical forms parading down Ocean Drive…and now cultural engineers coming to town and building stuff, and inviting art fairs called Basel…its a full time love/hate relationship, very similar to the one I have with my Bogen tripod, which despite the fact of being directly responsible for out of focus pictures at critical moments still lingers in my hands because I simply cannot get rid of the beautiful thing.