I should start by saying, that the past three photographers I’ve worked with have asked me what its like to work with George. He seems to have maintained something of an air of mystery to people, or maybe its just that he looks so cool in his portraits.
They all want to know if he really wears a tie to his shoots. The answer is, yes, yes he does. And that’s awesome.
To answer the larger question, of what it’s like to work with him, let me talk a little about what happened before our last shoot together really got started.
We’d arrived at the appointed place, a nice art deco highrise hotel in Manhattan. The makeup artist Becca, had arrived and put on a full face of makeup for me. George had turned the room upside down to make it suitable for photographs, and we were about to begin.
George realized that he’d somehow misplaced the stands for his lights, that they were in fact still in the car that had brought him over to the hotel. Though George only had a limited time with me, though he’d paid out a fee for the room and for his film, and his stands might very well be lost, he was completely calm.
He apologized politely to Becca and I, and called the car service in search of his missing stands. The car service people were giving him something of a run around. He suggested I perhaps lay down and rest while we waited for his equipment to arrive, and again he apologized. He was going to go downstairs, “Did you or Becca need anything?”
I’m not sure if this staid reaction is typical of George in private life, but having known many photographers and how they feel about their equipment, and in general, how valuable it is, this is the kind of situation in which they normally lose their shit.
This is what it’s like to work with George Pitts.
More specifically:
He arrives with a notebook full of ideas that he’s been scribbling down for the weeks between our shoots together.
He comes with his own wardrobe for his models, and everything is hung, arranged in its own box, or otherwise neatly maintained for use.
He uses actual film when he shoots and takes polaroids inbetween that are arranged on a table in the order in which they’re taken so that the model can see the process. Everything about working with George is something of a process and is meticulous in its own way. So in some manner of speaking, it can be like sitting for a painting, he carefully lights and plans shots. This makes sense as he’s a painter too.
He’s a writer and he likes to talk about ideas. He’s into the idea of gender bending and can speak fluently on the subject, he loves Roxy music and David Bowie, and can talk about Grace Jones like he’s an arbitor of some foreign culture.
Once I was talking about another photographer telling me “This is fucking wild!” in the midst of a shoot; George said “Well, it can be overwhelming.”
This was funny, because, you would never imagine by his demeanor, that George is ever overwhelmed by what he’s doing. He’s the consummate professional and gentleman.
So in some ways, he’s everything like his portraits might suggest he would be.Yet, is some ways he’s counter to that image. He wears a chain wallet and a lot of rings on his fingers and is full of a vivacious kind of energy that makes him seem like a man half his age.
Most importantly, he’s incredibly generous with his time and his attention.
