2009 February | Photo Reiter

Monthly Archives: February 2009

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This ‘N That

February 26, 2009 – 2:44 pm

Simply a collection of miscellaneous stuff today:

As my adjunct tenure at McIntosh College comes to a close ( for those unaware, the parent corporation is closing the school) I am so incredibly lucky to have as my final group a crew of highly motivated and talented photographers to work with. Talk about getting to go out on a high! Last night I asked one of them – Rachel Swain – to shoot a new photo of me for my soon-to-be unveiled redesigned website.

Talk about an intimidating task – shooting the teacher. Rachel quickly got over her jitters, we played with the lights some – I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut! – and after I monkeyed around with the lights – for those who are technically interested 1 strobe with a small softbox very close to the subject and 1 strobe with a snoot powered way up and behind and to the side – I shot a quick frame of Rachel to see what was happening – WOW!!! Even she loved it.

She then went on to get an excellent photo of me and we went home very happy – a successful class, no doubt about it.

[caption id="attachment_279" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="Rachel in studio - test shot"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_280" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="photo by Rachel Swain, McIntosh College student and soon-to-be incredible portrait artist!"]

photo by Rachel Swain, McIntosh College student and soon-to-be incredible portrait artist!

[/caption]

Its no surprise the day ended so well – it started with a walk on the beach – ANY day on the beach is a great day – with wife, daughter and dog. Hard to know who enjoyed the beach more if its even possible to measure. There’s still a snow line above the tide line and the weather was nothing short of incredible.

[caption id="attachment_281" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="Eliza on the sandpile"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_282" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="Chasing a ball on the beach"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_283" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="Winter beach"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_287" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="After the wave 1"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_286" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="After the wave 2"]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_284" align="aligncenter" width="850" caption="After the wave 3"]

[/caption]

By Jay | Posted in portraits | Tagged McIntosh College, portraits, winter | Comments (1)

Winter – still

February 22, 2009 – 1:01 am

Took a walk today with my wife – out on snowmobile trail so the dog could have a run and we could get some fresh air after spending most of the day in the basement trying to make some progress in the madness of the chaos.

As we walked by a frozen beaver pond she remarked that it had been a great winter – lots of snow, cold, no slush. It made me think about the complaining I’ve done this season because, you know, she is right – its been a great winter. Lots of snow, cold, no slush.

Made me appreciate perspective and what I’ve got.

The economy may be in the tank but we’ve got it pretty good – as we suffer through the recession, depression, whatever you want to call it, we still have it better than so many other places in the world – its just we’ve come to expect luxury.

Perspective, what a great thing.

Thanks Donna.

By Jay | Posted in Personal Project, Uncategorized, inspiration, photojournalism | Tagged winter | Comments (0)

Brigid

February 16, 2009 – 12:35 pm

I don’t photograph a lot of babies – no particular reason, just don’t market myself that way – but the other day I went over to tara Bishop’s. She and husband Tim just had baby Brigid and as a present I told Tara I would shoot some photos. Tara and I have worked on projects togethjer for probably 5 years now and she’s one of the best there is to work with – no pushover – she knows what she wants – but is totally open to other ideas and the term micromanage isn’t even in her vocabulary.

With that it was so much fun to do the shoot – and there seems to be an epidemic of good friends having babies…so you might be seeing more of the genre.

Here’s a few photos of Brigid.

By Jay | Posted in babies, infant photography, portraits | Tagged infant photography | Comments (3)

George Antoniadis

February 11, 2009 – 12:23 pm

Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph George Antoniadis, the CEO of Alpha Flying ( http://www.planesense.aero/ in Portsmouth, NH.

Alpha Flying is, in simple terms, a time share of flying – you buy in and if you need to go somewhere they guarantee a plane within 8 hours. Pretty cool if you’re in the market to go places and don’t want to deal with either commercial or charter services. In this rocky – some would call depressed – economy George is a man with a plan – and as many companies end up belly-up I think Alpha will be a flourisher ( I think I just invented a word, but you know what I mean).

We went into the hangar to do some photos and George, who is very used to being photographer and is in control, struck a pose that really spoke to the confidence he radiates for the company.

The rest is all work in Lightroom and Photoshop.

By Jay | Posted in Uncategorized, photojournalism, portraits | Comments (0)

Inspiration

February 9, 2009 – 9:20 pm

The idea of where inspiration comes from has always fascinated me. It can be a pretty esoteric, philosophical topic – or we can cut to the chase and realize that our ideas come from triggers we see, hear or feel – whether its another photographer’s work, a painting, a chord in a piece of music, a cloud in the sky. Sometimes my inspiration comes from watching a little kid’s fascination with the ordinary…a trait so many adults have lost.

I was thinking about inspiration tonight and thought back to about a year ago when an artist I had the chance to become acquainted with by the name of Adam McEwen turned me on to a British photographer named Jane Bown. Bown is one of the most incredible portrait shooters I’ve seen – she has that feeling for light and how it plays on her subjects , a feeling that comes from the heart and soul not from formulas- so here I was thinking about Bown’s work ( actually I was more thinking about a book she did that’s now out of print that I would love to own but can’t afford) and I went digging for a couple of portraits I did that were inspired by her.

I figured as long as I had them open I’d do an extra post to make up for some I’ve missed.

The first one is John O’Gorman, the father of my good friend Tom. John and his wife were visiting from Ireland and I did the portrait at Tom’s house.

The second is dancer Ronald Brown who was in New Hampshire to do a master dance class and performance at the Music Hall in Portsmouth.

By Jay | Posted in inspiration, portraits | Comments (0)

Thinking Day

February 8, 2009 – 5:00 pm

Duly chastised by my colleague Roger Ramirez…”Hey Dude, where’s the blog posts?” shook me out of my doldrums and I’m back in the saddle again with the blog.

Yesterday was Girl Scout thinking day…as I said to my daughter, “But I thought everyday was supposed to be thinking day”…that got me an eye roll and that exasperated expulsion of air that leaves no doubt you’ve said something stupid…once again.

Anyway, a few hundred scouts crammed into the cafeteria at Stratham Memorial School and exhibited and preformed about other countries. Maybe Mexico ( homemade wedding cookies and guacamole) and Switzerland ( chocolate, what else) took the unofficial honors as most popular, but without a little bias I think the belly dancing girls from Newmarket were amazing!

Maybe the best part is that everything I’ve learned about the Girl Scout organization is that they teach tolerance and acceptance – we could use a lot more of that message in our world. And you don’t have to be female to be involved – I was the “cookie Mom” a couple of years ago!

The kids in costumes and dress from countries they researched made some pretty cool photos – and one surprise moment of love and tenderness that in an instant spoke volumes about what the day was all about…so here’s some photos of the day.