It’s been a busy few months since my last update and lots of new things are in the works. I’ve been working as Director of Photography for an awesome documentary film which should be out sometime in the late summer. We just wrapped up principal photography and the first rough edit is complete, so for the next few months it will be getting the final touches put on it before it heads to the festivals. I should be able to spill the beans on it soon. Don’t worry, everyone will be getting on my guestlist for when we win the Oscar. In other news, a book project is in the works which I’m very excited about. I will be expecting everyone to support the arts (ME) and pick up a copy when it eventually collects dust on a shelf near you.
Even more exciting is the trip my girlfriend and I have planned for this summer, a very extended, round-the-country roadtrip that will culminate in California where we will hopefully be able to find some nice digs to try our hand at permanent residence on the Pacific side of things. The fashion world is pretty different on the western edge, but I figure that it’s time for a change of scenery. Plus, my best buddy Ryan has been bugging me for the past three years to make the leap ever since I helped him move out to LA, so I’ve finally caved to peer pressure and the promise of that glorious California weather. And, of course, the surfboard I got the other month needs some real waves. The logistics of moving a ridiculous amount of stuff – and a @*&&^% surfboard – a few thousand miles hasn’t quite been worked out yet, but these things have a way of sorting themselves out.
In the name of organization and the spirit of procrastinating from real work, I’ve been sorting through a lot of my old photos and trying to consolidate ten bazillion randomly named files scattered across a dozen temperamental external hard-drives into a system somewhat less confusing. It’s probably a lost cause, but it got me thinking about the countless images that are never seen by anyone. Some of them deserve to never be seen – especially the ones where the strobes were out of sync and the image is black….why those got saved I will never know. Some, I wonder what I was thinking when I took the photo. But, some are pretty damn decent. When I photograph a fashion editorial or an advertisement or even a set of photos for my personal work, invariably only a handful of photographs make it to print. Sometimes my favorites get cast out by editors who prefer a different angle while others are simply redundant.
I’ve decided to share some of this unseen work with you, my anonymous internet friends. If this idea goes according to plan – and my ideas rarely do – I’ll share a different unseen image in each entry. If you enjoy the images, feel free to share them on your facebook, twitter, blogs…whatever(that’s a noncommercial usage only whatever, not a “you can put this on a giant poster in your boutique” whatever). Just put a link back to http://www.nickzantop.com so I don’t have to resort to caps lock yelling.
Here’s the unseen image for today, a shot of Brazillian Bombshell & top model Natalia Subtil from a shoot for Futureclaw Magazine. Rock on
Natalia Subtil
