Page 50 - Southern Oregon Magazine Spring 2020

neck of the woods | art

The Help

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and recently taught an OLLI photog-
raphy class.
Failures, with his best friend—an imaginary 1,200-pound polar bear.
There are good and bad days when shooting a film. The crew works
At one time, still photographers were in danger of being eliminated long hours, sometimes in harsh weather, and the still photographer
or their hours on set greatly reduced. Dale gives an example that often tries to be invisible while attempting the ultimate shot. Dale
illustrates how essential it is for the still photographer to be on the has waded through Louisiana swamps with water moccasins and alli-
set daily. Wanting to beat L.A. traffic, he showed up in Pasadena gators supposedly removed, shot in a flooded tomb in hot water up
before the scheduled shooting time. To his surprise, they were to his chin, dodged pyro effects being hurled near the camera, and
already shooting. He clicked a quick few frames and captured shots dealt with many other challenging circumstances. Some stars, like
that became the worldwide one sheet of Aaron Eckhart, the star in George Clooney, Jessica Chastain, Hugh Jackman and many others,
Jason Reitman’s hit, Thank You for Smoking. are cooperative and a constant joy. Others—not so much. In that
case, he focuses on staying calm, quiet, and being invisible.
On set with younger actors, his friendly and helpful demeanor have
earned him the nickname Uncle Dale. On the last day of filming, he Dale Robinette could sit for hours with a cup of coffee and talk of
gives the cast and all of the crew Uncle Dale’s Fun Family Photos, a the people he’s met, of the movies he’s been privileged to film, and
compilation of them doing their job. about the movie industry. He loves what he does, and plans to keep
working for as long as he is needed.
What brought the Robinettes to Southern Oregon? Like many tired
of Southern California traffic, they sought a quieter pace. They
looked at various locations, eventually buying 20 acres in the moun- Dale Robinette
tains, excited to make Ashland their new home. Dale has shot for the uncledale101@gmail.com

48 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | spring 2020