Fred Lyon - Living through the Lens

Our Story

My name is Michael House, I am the director of this film. Since 2011 Fred Lyon and I have been working together to create this wonderful documentary film about Fred's amazing life in photography.

Fred Lyon's career as a photographer is incredible - for seven decades Fred has been one of America's most sought after and prolific commercial photographers. Fred has shot for numerous magazines such as LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Time, he has been one of America's leading advertising, interior design, architectual, food, wine and travel photographers. In short, Fred Lyon has been at the heart of American commercial photography since the 1940s.

Throughout all of these decades Fred has also photographed his home city of San Francisco - he has created a photographic urban exposé which is unparalleled in American art history. This city exposé is so extensive and so beautiful that it can only be labeled a veritable artistic treasure. (click on the below images to enlarge)

What is even more amazing is that Fred Lyon - right now in 2012 - is still busy adding to his San Francisco exposé while doing commissions and corporate jobs! Fred Lyon is 88 years old but hasn't noticed that 88 is considered, well... old. Fred Lyon is still enchanted by the world and by all he sees, he is an inspiration to say the least. It is only a matter of time before the name Fred Lyon is automatically associated with Henri Cartier Bresson, Berenice Abbott, Eugène Atget and André Kertesz. In fact, Fred's photos are exhibited alongside these names already, the difference between Fred Lyon and these icons of photography is that Fred Lyon is still working in photography.

The Impact

The impact of this film will be the widening of peoples understanding of photography, art and creativity through the work of one of America's most interesting photographers.

This film will show how one person, in today's highly competitive and profit obsessed world, earns a living off of his creativity, not to mention it contains anecdotes about 20th century photography only an insider such as Fred Lyon knows about (i.e. stories of Ansel Adams & Jacques Henri Lartigue).

However I feel that the biggest impact this film will have will be the actual imagery Fred Lyon has created - his images of San Francisco are simply wonderful, unforgettable is really the word. To impact the world with beauty of this level is a very worthwhile thing to do.

To have the archive and personal participation of a master photographer such as Fred Lyon for creating a factual film is a very special thing, imagine if someone with a movie camera could have followed Brassaï or Lewis Hine around while they worked - this project is that sort of opportunity. This film will get made, we are almost there, but we require further funding to get it completed to the highest standard possible.

What We Need & What You Get

We need $25,000 to finish this film. This amount will cover the post-production costs, pay some of the deferred fees we have incurred and get the film into its final 'polished state'. The final techinical steps such as sound design, color grade, music, audio mix, motion graphics and archive footage licensing needs to be paid for. We have all the people ready to do these jobs we just need the funds to give the green light.

If we don't meet our goal we will have to reduce the archive licensing budget and defer some production fees, if we exceed our goal we will be able to spend on PR for the films premiere and its launch into the festival circuit.

Together Fred and I have shot, interviewed, located rights holders, worked in his archive, story boarded, and basically done all the pre-production/production work - we now have all the elements to complete this film. Our next step is to finish the edit and final post production work after which the film will be ready for release. We are very close to completing the film and have set our official completion date as January 30 2013.

Thus far, Fred and I have fit the production work in between our other paying jobs and have covered all travel expenses and shooting costs out of our own pockets.

I have made three previous feature documentary films on major artists. All of my films have been shown on television throughout the world and screened in festivals such as The Telluride International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival & San Francisco's LBGT Film Festival. I have a distributor ready to place Fred's film with international broadcasters and the FIFA International Film Festival in Montréal, Canada is awaiting the final cut so it can premiere Fred's film in March 2013.

Please help us in our final push to get this film released - it is a subject that deserves to be shared - it's a celebration of photography, art and the city of San Francisco. We are so close to making it to the finish line.

There are some great rewards if you choose to get involved: we are offering downloads & DVDs of the finished movie, posters, invitations to the premiere (travel expenses excluded), even the chance to become a named associate film producer.

You could even use this platform and film to promote your brand or association, if you become an Executive Producer on this film you will get included in promotional material for the film and be included in the 'opening credits' of the film - that is a lot of exposure for only $5000 considering the global broadcast and festival audiences we will reach with this film.

Other Ways You Can Help

Spread the word, use your Facebook page and email contacts to help share this endeavour, recommend this project to friends, associates and organisations and send them the link to our Indiegogo campaign page. Contact us on swimcinema@gmail.com. We want and appreciate your feedback so all comments and insights welcome, thank you.