I Promise

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.

Things have been crazy busy and with Homecoming just 5 days away, it’s not getting any easier.

Still, I thought I’d take a stab at it.

Anyhow, something I wanted to touch on is how picture editors and art directors have a lot of competing priorities when choosing pictures for their projects.

They have to consider many things including “How well will the image reproduce?”, “How does the image fit the composition for the page?”, and “What message does this image communicate?”. There are many other factors, but these questions are usually a good place to start when choosing images.

Last summer, I had the chance to work on the OHIO Promise Campaign. My buddy Peter Hoffman also worked on the project.

Anyhow, I was surprised by the pictures that were chosen for the print campaign. The web offers more flexibility, but even there some of my favorites were not selected.

These projects are collaborative efforts, and anyone working creatively needs to reconcile with the idea that compromise is an essential part of any collaboration.

Still here are a couple of images I liked that never saw the light of day…

-K

My OHIO: Devin Howard

Inspired by a lot of great documentary work out there right now, I set out to creat a new multimedia series that looks at the lives of people who are plugged into the OHIO community here in Athens.

The first person I’m profiling in this series is a graduate student named Devin Howard. Devin is currently working on a Master’s degree in Public Administration. He also works for the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.

I asked Devin to tell me about his life and his OHIO experience. This piece is what resulted from that conversation.

-K

Stylin’ and Profilin’

As part of this job, you get to meet some really cool people…. and make their portrait for some kind of profile.

Here are two such people I met last week while working on a piece for Ohio Today.

This feature takes a look at folks who came to Athens for school and never left.

Hilarie Burhans

Tony Xenos

Hilarie Burhans runs a great Mediterranean themed restaurant in town called “Restaurant Salaam”, and Tony Xenos teaches high school science by day but rocks (‘n-rolls) by night.

It makes me wonder… how many alum would love to find a reason to return to Athens and make it their home?

There is something wonderful about this place, no?

Anyhow, there are lots and lots of great people who have made Athens their home. I’m glad I get a chance to look, briefly, into their lives, and to share these things with you.

-K

In my pockets & on my mind.

Today, I started a little experiment with still photos and multimedia.

I’ve always loved diptychs and thought I’d see which communicates more clearly… the portraits paired with a second photo, or multimedia.

Anyhow, I was inspired by Nathan Schroder’s “Pockets”, and thought I’d try to find an approach to this subject matter on the OHIO campus.

Schroder is an amazing photographer, btw, you should check out his site for other projects.

Anyhow, today I asked a few OHIO students,”What is in your pockets, and what is on your mind?”

This is what I saw.

Adriana Angel

Katelyn Turner

James Lebbie

Enjoy,

-K

OHIO Alumni; Notable Photographers

As previously mentioned, I recently finished my master’s in photography here, at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication.

I started thinking about photographers who have passed through Athens in the past 60 or so years, and want to compile a list of photographers with notable achievements. For sure, hundreds of photographers who came through OHIO are leaders of newsrooms and very accomplished visual journalists. That said, I want to use this post to point towards OHIO alum photographers who have received critical acclaim or been recognized for their notable achievments.

Photo by Rick Fatica

I need your help to make this list more complete…

Pulitzer Prizes:

Skip Peterson, BSJ ’74, 1997 Pulitzer Prize winner for Investigative Reporting Photography (Dayton Daily News)

Michel duCille, MS ’94, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for The Miami Herald

Martha Rial, BFA ’98, 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner for photos of survivors of the conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi

Carolyn Cole Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2004, for her coverage of the siege of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

National Press Photographers Association’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year:

Carolyn Cole in 2002 and 2004

Robert Capa Gold Medals:

Chris Hondros in 2005

Carolyn Cole 2003 and 2004

World Press Photo Awards:

Carolyn Cole 2004

Carolyn Drake

College Photographer of the Year:

Michael Christopher Brown 2003

Matt Eich 2006

Travis Dove 2007

Emmy winners and nominees:

Jenn Ackerman, 2009, for “Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons.”

Chad Stevens for production on “Intended Consequences.”

Grant Winners:

Carolyn Drake, Fulbright Scholar

Matt Eich, Alexia Foundation

Angela Shoemaker, Fulbright Scholar

PDN 30:

Carolyn Drake

POY (Photographer of the Year)

Eric Kayne 2009

Other Notable Photographers:

Herman Leonard BFA 1947, a legand in jazz photography.

Paul Fusco BFA 1957, a member of the prestigious photo agency Magnum.

Tim Tadder, a young but very successful advertising photographer

Photographers represented by agencies:

Michael Rubenstein – Redux Pictures

Peter Hoffman – Wonderful Machine

Matt Eich – Luceo Images

Chris Hondros – Getty Images

I know there are many more award winning and ground breaking photographers out there who went to school here at OHIO. Help me add them to my list. I’m willing to create new categories, if needed, to list everyone’s awards and achievments.

-K

Gear Heads

I wanted to get this topic out there right away and just deal with it.

I hate to TALK about gear.

It comes up all the time, when taking to pros, amateurs, and enthusiasts alike. Everyone wants to know about your camera.

For the University, I shoot the Nikon D3, and shoot most images using the Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED or the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR lens. I have other lenses, but these are the main two for the job.  The Nikon D700 is my personal camera and I shoot with a Zeiss 28mm f/2 Distagon most of the time. (Yes, it’s manual focus, and yes, I love it.)

For lights, I use Nikon SB-800′s, SB-900′s and Dynalite strobes. I use all kinds of reflectors, soft-boxes and modifiers, but mostly Photoflex.

OK, so there it is.

The reason I hate to talk gear is because many people think that having a more expensive camera means you take better pictures.

The camera doesn’t make pictures, I DO. Sure, there are tools in my bag that I love to use… tools that make my job easier, faster, better, more efficient, etc, but you make pictures in your mind, and record them with the camera. One of the reasons pros invest so much in their gear is because they are expected to perform and deliver at a very high level on a consistent basis. That said, I have made great pictures with all different kinds of cameras; some digital, some film. I had pictures in my first portfolio that were made with one of those cheap and disposable Kodak box cameras.

Here is a picture I made in Athens last spring. It’s a portrait of my former neighbor Kelly, with her daughter in front of Saint Paul’s Catholic Church on College Street. This picture was made with a used (and badly beaten) plastic Holga camera. When it was new, it probably retailed for about $50 bucks. The day I used it, I had to use black gaffers tape to hold it together.

I think it’s a nice picture…

I have made some really cool pictures with Leica, Rollei, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Zeiss, Holga, Diana, Olympus, Ricoh,Kodak and Fuji cameras. I have published many photos made with many different cameras. What matters is that you learn how to use the tools that you have. Learn the limitations of your camera and work within those limitations, or push things right up to the edge. You’ll make great pictures either way.

OK, just wanted to share those thoughts. If you want to make great pictures, stop talking about it and get out there in good light and find something that interests you. You can make great pictures without expensive gear but  you can’t make great pictures without great light, great content or great moments.

-K

New Beginnings

So, here I am. Working as the University Photographer, while Rick Fatica, an institution unto himself around here, takes some time to take care of his health. Like everyone here at UCM, I wish Rick nothing but the best. He’s a good friend and he’s been a great mentor in the past.

I’ve been doing this job for about a month, and i find it’s taking time to catch up. When I was a newspaper staff photographer (The Chillicothe Gazette, thank you very much), I found that the grind took some time to get used to… and that it would zap away your creativity if you let it. This job, at Ohio, has a different rhythm, and it’s own kind of grind. I’m looking forward to adjusting and putting my creative energy to good use.

Here is one of the first environmental portraits I’ve been asked to shoot.  I’m trying to take the time to develop a new style for these kinds of portraits… not new in the sense that no one has ever done it before, but because I have never done it before. In the past, I have usually preferred to use existing light, only supplemented by a flash here or there. Now, I’m trying to experiment with new ways to make these pictures.

Here is Dr. Dan Hembree for Perspectives Magazine. Dan is an Assistant Professor at Ohio and he runs the Ichnology Research Lab.

If I understand him correctly, he studies creatures that make burrows… like scorpions and millipedes. He makes casts of the burrows, and these casts help geologists understand what creatures were alive to make certain formations in the rocks millions of years ago.

Interesting stuff.

I don’t think the magazine will uses this pic, but I like it anyhow. To camera left, I had a huge soft-box with a grid I made out of black duct tape. Also, I had a rim light back there and another light I used to cast shadows. The lab was pretty unspectacular, and I thought the best way to handle it was to play off of the graphic element of the rectangular boxes and shelves. Casting shadows of this same shape seemed to be a good idea. to camera right, right in front of Dan, I had a small soft-box I taped up to use like a strip panel. Only a small central rectangle in the center of the soft-box emitted light.

I want to try and continue to shoot and process in this style for the rest of 2009… maybe I’ll get bored of it, or maybe I’ll prefect it. I like the possibilities these cross lit situations permit.

-K