June / 2003

A Portrait a Day
and Crossing the Line with Code Pink
“Oh no, officer. Just going on a little road trip”

By Kelly Mason
CSC Associate

This morning in the Hollywood Hills the clouds are out. The day is cool and Vancouver-like. Ahh, refreshing. Sunshine all the time tends to plaster a smile on the faces of people in this land of big dreams and empty promises.

However, it is not my intention to start this story in a negative vein. In fact, my experience south of the Canada-U.S. border has been beautifully bountiful and quite like Forrest Gump. Still waiting for the big cheque in the mail that would give me one less worry.

INTERESTING FACES in interesting places are subjects for Kelly Mason’s inquisitive camera. In this group are (from left) John Sullard, city manager of Boulder City, Nevada; Kelly; Tibetan monk Khenpo; and “famous architect” Sigfried from Austria.

After wrapping (the TV series) Glory Days back in February, 2002, I decided to take a hiatus after 17 years of blessed abundance in the camera department of the Canadian film industry. My self-assigned project was a photographic journey called “Portrait Trip” that I hope will one day lead to a book (see www.kellymason.net).

The folks at William F. White Vancouver outfitted my Nissan Pathfinder with a couple of Lowel 650s, tweenies, a light I had custom built that housed three 250-watt household bulbs that would sport a small chimera, some stands, flags and bounceboard. And off to the border I went, where the U.S. Customs official noticed I had quite a bit of stuff in the back of my SUV. “You don’t plan on staying in the States, do you?” he asked.

“Oh no, officer. Just going on a little road trip,” I replied, and truly those were my intentions.

So for the next 31 days I shot a portrait a day — from a dominatrix in her dungeon to a Tibetan monk with a cell phone in McDonald’s to Jerry Casale from the band Devo to Fabio. Yes, the real Fabio. While photographing these people, along the way I began a documentary — shot on my Sony PD100 mini-DV camcorder — of my teddy bear, Boo Boo, and his journey of self-discovery. We see Boo Boo looking out over the Big Sur contemplating life, then Boo Boo buried in sand up to his neck at Santa Monica beach, then Boo Boo meets the Tibetan monk, His Eminence Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, and becomes Buddhist.

For more on the monk you’ll just have to see the documentary. However, it is important to note that Khenpo was saved personally by the Dalai Lama, educated by many masters and is, apparently, a reincarnation of many great Buddhas. So when Boo Boo and I met Khenpo in Las Vegas we figured we had hit the spiritual jackpot.

By this time I was questioning, as we all do, my purpose in life, and where I should be located to fully recognize my career as a cinematographer. Because of the warm climate and warm receptions from cinematographers like Vilmos Zsigmond asc, Stephen Poster asc, Haskell Wexler asc and Roger Deakins asc, to name a few, I decided to relocate to Los Angeles. A DOP’s heaven on earth. The major difference I have found as a young cinematographer is that people in L.A. aren’t afraid to share information, to educate the next generation. It is easy to understand why Canadian DOPs are not so willing to do so as we are up against American DOPs as well as other Canadian DOPs; however, it is a bit of a shame, since we are all going to die anyway so why not get excited and pass on the knowledge while one still has the chance?

GRIN AND BEAR IT, muses Tibetan monk Khenpo as he communes with teddy bear Boo Boo, star of Kelly Mason’s on-the-road documentary.

So the education began, and for the last year I have attended many seminars, mostly on high-definition video and specifically the Thomson Viper FilmStream digital cinematography camera, which has a capture quality of 4:4:4. It is a very exciting camera, and in the colour timing looks very close to film. The Sony F950 also offers a 4:4:4 picture and houses a fantastic new colour viewfinder in which defining the focus is much easier.

One project I’ve shot over the last three months has been on a group of women called Code Pink: Women for Peace. We travelled to Washington a week before the war in Iraq and marched around the White House. Twenty-five women were arrested and jailed for 24 hours for “crossing the line” in front of the White House gate.

Some of the women we have interviewed include Michelle Shocked, rockstar; Caroline Casey, visionary activist; Alice Walker, author of Color Purple and Hillary Clinton, senator from New York.

To quote Code Pink directors Emily Murphy and Charity Tooze:

“Across the country, women are raising their voices critically, creatively, and passionately against the culture of war that dominates our society. They are calling for a transformation of leadership in the United States, and together they are standing for a re-prioritization of the values necessary for building and sustaining Life. The voice of the feminine is rising from the tight spot in American culture and fearlessly claiming her place, her vision, and her anguish for all those victimized by war.”

* * *
Kelly Mason, born and educated in Canada with roots in Trinidad, has represented Canada in track and field, modelled for Calvin Klein, imported beer from the Caribbean, and owned and operated a retail store protesting the Goods and Services Tax. Directly after high school she worked her way up the ranks in the camera department of the British Columbia motion picture industry.

She is a member of IATSE 669, a CSC Associate, and a member of Women in Film. She has been an instructor for the camera assistants courses of both the CSC and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Kelly has won numerous awards in still photography and was recently acclaimed Best Cinematographer in the Music Video category at the Caribbean Film Awards. She has worked for Disney, Fox, Universal, Dreamworks and Merchant/Ivory. She is presenting a collection of landscape photos in her first book, Spirit, which is due out in 2004. She is currently based in Los Angeles.

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