A thousand years ago Don Kruse took his first paying job as a photographer. He took photos at performances at the old Fillmore Club in San Francisco.
I’m Don Kruse. At the time I was contracted by a small company called AKG, which was a subsidiary of Bill Graham Presents. The pay wasn’t great because I was only paid if I took good photos and no matter how many photos I took I only was paid for the three I would submit. In other words if I shot three rolls of film or a single roll I was paid the same. To keep costs down I would try to only shoot a single roll of 35mm with 36 frames.
This gig never turned into what made me money. What I ended up doing for money was working with performers and artists directly. I would photograph bands, models, and actors. For artists I would also photograph their work. I got quite good at documenting an artists work and I believe that was because it was a very technical process.
At the time I didn’t feel I did a very good job at interacting with or directing my human subjects. I actually expected them to know what to do in front of the camera. Some did know what to do while others would get lost and confused. That was completely my fault.
Somewhere along the way I started working at a camera shop which I later managed and then helped start California’s first digital photo printing business with help from Kodak, Apple, and my business partners. Later the dot-com thing happened and I jumped on board. I settled into IT work as a manager and later a director of IT (Information Technology Director).
I’ve matured a lot over the years and found my way to learning how to direct and guide subjects to achieve the best results. I’m coming back to photography and filmmaking in a fully digital world. Yes, I still have a lot of vintage 35mm and Polaroid equipment but for efficiency’s sake working fully digital is the best for clients.
