Retirement Life
Now I can say that I've appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!
Early on in my post-retirement alternate career, I pretty much took any gigs that my agent sent my way. A few times, she asked me to do some stock photo (and video) shoots, and they paid as good or better than a day of background work, so I thought, why not? The downside is that your photos (and videos) can live in the ether forever, and folks who pay $36 can pretty well use your image for anything. Who remembers the episode of Friends where Joey gets used for the STD poster?
The first one was for a government of Canada tourism entity known as Destination Canada. They gather all sorts of photos and videos that are available to use for free, when promoting tourism in conjunction with Canada's agencies. What we were working on that day, was a set of images that was specific to disabilities; i.e. that Canada is a great place to visit for those with physical challenges. I met Clement that morning, who is totally blind, and would be my partner for the day. We went all over downtown, shooting stills and video at many of Vancouver's recognisable places.
We started at the harbour, by the cruise ship terminal, and slowly worked our way around the sea wall to the Vancouver aquarium, where a staffer there introduced Clement to the different textures of the undersea creatures in the touch tank. After that session, we moved downstairs to the large fish tanks, and we took a number of shots down there.
Surprisingly, we'd be standing in front of the huge glass aquarium, and the director would say, "Point at the fish" to which I'd reply, "you do know he's blind, right?" If you haven't been to the Vancouver Aquarium, it's worth a visit when you come to town. We took our lunch break at a great sushi joint, which also got used for more photos and then we headed to Granville Island.
There's a lot of neat stuff to see for visitors at what is really no longer an island, and we took a bunch of shots near the famous Stuart's Bakery. Again, the director had me pointing out all of the nummy snacks to the blind guy. If you don't get sucked in by the amazing treats there, Lee's Donuts is just around the corner in the market area.
After our tour through the market, it was time to go kayaking. Cool.
But what they didn't tell me up front, was that we were going to be in singles... wait what? The blind guy is going kayaking on his own? So the camera teams get into their double kayaks, and the two of us hop into the singles. Apparently Clement has been kayaking before? Anyhow, so for the whole time, I'm giving him instructions... "more to the left, now straight. A little to your right". All the while, boats are going past along the busy False Creek, while the team captures our stills and video. "Synchronise your paddles!" What? But we managed to do it.
Anyhow, there was more to our day than I've detailed here, but suffice it to say that it was a pretty fun day. I never actually expected to see any images used, nor any of the video segments. But one day, we're sitting in the lineup for a ferry, and my wife is scrolling on her iPhone, when an Expedia ad with me kayaking scrolls by! Not long after, WestJet teamed up with Destination Canada too, and I was appearing on Facebook and Instagram feeds everywhere. And then there's the time I'm watching the morning news, and a commercial for the Trans Canada Trail pops up, with me paddling across the screen.
The second stock photo shoot I did was 1/2 day gig with a local photographer, who then takes his shots and sells them to iStock or whomever. It was a pretty easy day, unlike the one above, as we just stayed in place at the location all afternoon. As part of the paid gig, Shannon would give anyone copies of the headshots he'd take (that would get sold), so it was a good deal. And I thought, who in the world is going to use my iStock shots?
Well, if you read my past blog posts, you might have seen that
The Good Doctor did; it's a pretty strange and coincidental story, so worth a read. Go ahead. I'll wait. If you go onto iStock and search for "Asian male doctor", you'll get thousands of results - 88,091 to be exact; the fact that someone in the art department picked me, a guy who plays a doctor on The Good Doctor, would randomly pull my photo is hard to fathom, but it happened.
Which makes this next one even stranger. So my brother texts me one morning, with a screenshot, saying, "hey, is this you?" Like he doesn't recognise his own brother! It was a small appearance on the opening monologue of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Let me tell you, I got more than a few folks messaging me to say that they saw me on TV. But if you try iStock search "confused Asian man" I actually do appear on the first page of results. Here's the segment from The Tonight Show:
But it doesn't end there. Recently on the set of "Wild Cards", a Canadian TV series, I'm doing some random background scene at a golf club. As the crew is setting up the shot, the 1st Assistant Director, Caroline, walks by and says, "Richard. There's a portrait of you hanging in our studio." Is this another déjà vu moment? She goes on to say, "There's a Wall of Heroes at the set back at the studio, and you're on it." Ok, so I have worked a couple of days this season on Wild Cards, but haven't done any studio days. The irony of it, is that I'm supposed to be dead - i.e. a fallen hero. But there I was, living and breathing at the country club that day... and at the dog show on another episode!
Where will I appear next? Who knows? Let me know if you see me on a random commercial or social media feed!
