The Things People Say
New York USA – by Nick Servian
One day in 1987 I was in the River Cafe, next to Brooklyn Bridge, setting up for a portrait for Lion Corporation’s Annual Report. I planned to photograph the president of the company that imported Steinlager from NZ to the USA. I was thinking: “I’ll stand him beside a restaurant table with the Steinlager bottle on it, a glass of beer in his hand, with a view of the bridge, Manhattan and the East River in the background, lit with a single flash off to the right and daylight for the fill.” (This was in the days of film, remember!)
It was 6am, and the cafe owner, with whom I had spoken to on the phone the night before, had failed to warn his staff that I was coming, so they were understandably a bit grumpy.
When I asked for one of the window-tables to be fully laid, the head-man, who was well over six feet tall, and spoke to the others in Creole/French, barked to one of his workers “Toi! Mets cette table pour le petit blanc!” (“You! Lay this table for the little white man!”) I said “‘Ah ‘le petit blanc,’ c’est moi, n’est-ce pas?” (“Ah – ‘the little white man’ – that’s me, right?”)
He hadn’t realised that I understood him. From then–on we were best of friends.
*Image below is credited to Nick Servian
The Job I Had – by Nick Servian
The job I had was: “Do a portrait of the man at home who’s leading the protest against NZ purchasing frigates from Australia, and some of the graffiti about it around Wellington, for a story in Time Magazine, Sydney”
I tracked the man down, and, as I was setting up in his house, I said “I wanted to photograph some of the graffiti with the Beehive in the background, but I couldn’t find any! Do you know where I might find some?”
He said “Ummm… can you leave it till tomorrow?”
The next morning, he phoned me – “I’ve found one! In a carpark off Hill Street” Well what a coincidence! (Actually it wasn’t that great because there was a building in the way, but you could just see the Beehive…)
*Nick Servian’s headshot (above) is credited to Catherine Cattanach
*Image below is credited to Nick Servian
