Week 8 Photo Challenge: War Photography

For this weeks challenge, I decided to pose as a war photographer in a desert setting. The actual location of where this photograph was taken is a few hundred feet in front of the Nevada State College campus, in Henderson. The settings on the camera were f/5.6 at 1/400 and ISO 100. As you can see, I added in an image of a U.S. soldier(I got this image from militarytimes.com) to give it a more realistic touch. Watching the movie Bang Bang Club made me realize just how fearless war photographers must be to be out in the middle of war zones, just to get a good shot that will end up in a newspaper headline.

Week 7 EOC: What Makes A Photograph Great?

While watching The Bang Bang Club, a film about the group of photographers that documented the Apartheid movement in South Africa during the 90's, the question was asked: What makes a great photograph. The photographer being questioned was really at a loss for words for an answer. Truthfully, there are so many variables and conditions that go into the making of a photograph that it is nearly impossible to determine what exactly makes it "great," without being subjective. Things such as composition, lighting conditions, facial expressions, subject interaction, etc. are all considered when determining its greatness. In the case of war photography, photojournalism, and sports photography, the decisive moment is key. To quote an article from takinggreatpictures.com, "The decisive moment happens when the action reaches an apex, when a subject portrays the perfect expression, when the [subject] conveys a special look, when the light becomes its most dramatic."

Week 7 Photo Challenge: French Postcard

For this week, I created an image in the style of a vintage French postcard. The original source image can be found at this link: click here. The painting I used was Cranach's The Three Graces. As you know, the original painting features three women embracing each other which makes for an already risque scene. I used PhotoShop to crop out the woman on the right because the other two women are making eye contact, which leads to a more intimate feeling scene. Next, I turned the image to black and white and gave a sort of sepia style filter. Finally, I added a vignette as the last detail. The result is something that could resemble an image in the style of a vintage French postcard.

Week 7 EOC: Adult Content

After having just watched Gentlemen's Relish, a BBC historical film about the emergence of pornographic subjects in photography during the late 19th century to early 20th century, I can say that I think it seemed to accurately represent the attitude towards such "titillating" photographs during the period of Edwardian Society in London. Such suggestive subject matter was understandingly not very overt, however it did surprise me just how widely accepted it was for that time period.

Week 7 Photo Challenge: Collage

For this week, I created a collage made of pieces of my three guitars. Taking the shots were somewhat difficult because I didn't really have anything to stand them up against so I had to hold each one with one hand and take the picture with the camera in my other hand. The lens I used was my new Canon EF 24-105 f/4.0L, and nearly all photos were taken at f/4 105mm. I drew my inspiration for this collage after watching Whatever Works, a comedy starring Larry David. There is a particular scene where the mother is showing off her photographs of collages of people, utilizing different parts of their bodies to make one "person." I thought this would relate similarly to a guitar collage because of their different parts, such as the headstock, body, horns, and neck.

Week 6 EOC: Art Changed Me

When I first started attending the Art Institute, I was majoring in Audio Production, which is a very dry and technically oriented degree. After seven quarters of being unhappy of where I was going, since I was a musician who wanted to be able record my music and other people's music, I decided to switch majors to Digital Photography. This decision was made after taking Principles of Photography as an elective class, and it totally woke me up. After years of having a fun little hobby of taking pictures of landscapes and family, I finally realized that I could further explore this passion and eventually turn it into a career that I could enjoy. Further exploring photography as an art gave me a whole new perspective on how to look at it, analyze it, and enjoy it. Finally, although quite a bit off-topic, I feel I cannot end this post without mentioning the single most important thing of art that has impacted me: Fugazi. Not only their music changed me but it was also their ideals and do-it-yourself determination to do things the way they visioned, without any compromise, that I believe has further shaped my approach and attitude to being a professional in the photographic industry.

Week 6 Photo Assignment: Editing A Photo

For this weeks photo challenge, you can see me editing one of my favorite pictures I've taken so far. I shot this portrait of a jewelry maker at the local farmers' market several weeks back. The software I am using is Adobe Camera Raw inside of Photoshop and am utilizing my Wacom pen tablet for precise modifications to the image. I used an old external hard drive as a prop to fill some empty space near the bottom left of the picture. An aperture of f/4.0 and a shutter speed of 1/200 at ISO 1600 was used in conjunction with my camera's pop-up flash to capture this self-portrait.

Week 5 Photo Assignment: Photography Store

For this week, I went down to Casey's Camera's, a local independent photography store that has been in Las Vegas since 1980. Like all small independent photography stores, the advent of the internet and popularity of giants like B&H and Adorama, greatly affected their business, so I try to stop in there for something I need whenever I can. Below is a photo of me talking to one of the friendly salespeople about a lens that I am thinking about purchasing.

Be sure to visit them at their Las Vegas location on 1550 E Tropicana Ave and at their website caseyscameras.com 

Week 4 EOC: Plans for Photography Shopping

The photography store I plan to visit this week is Casey's Camera of Las Vegas. I have been there a few times before and the staff seems to be pretty knowledgeable and friendly. I have also been to Ritz Cameras but their staff seem unknowledgeable about some of their products and the store does not have a good variety of merchandise. Casey's offers all the latest cameras, lenses, and other photography gear, as well as equipment repairs and film processing. They also offer student and educator discounts and hold workshops regularly. They, along with B & C Cameras, are one of the last few remaining independent photography stores in the Las Vegas area.

Week 3 Photo Challenge: You Incredible

After watching the video on the top ten National Geographic photographs of 2010, I thought about how amazing it is for these photographers to travel across the world on assignments, however life-risking they may be. Each assignment is a chance to photograph something unique and awe-inspiring. What was also interesting were the pictures taken of the actual photographers while they were on assignment. It really put into perspective what they have to go through just to get the perfect picture. You have to be willing to do anything, from standing six feet away from a Grizzly Bear hunting salmon to dodging bullets and mortar shells in the middle of a war zone. The photo below is my attempt at the "You Incredible" theme. It was taken at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Las Vegas, NV. You can see me in the upper left portion of the photo, as I pose, pretending to take a picture on top of a 200 foot sandstone rock. I chose a wide-angle field-of-view for this particular scene because it really lets you see the scope of the landscape beyond me and puts into perspective how large the rock formation was in proportionate to my size. One of the problems I ran into while doing this assignment was that it was windy enough that my tripod almost fell over a few times, and if I didn't have someone there to assist me, my camera surely would have broke to pieces after falling off the side of the cliff.

Week 3 EOC: My Commitment

The business plan I have chosen to commit to is a professional sports & events photography business. This business, named Aperture Digital Productions, will be located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, which is an area loaded with sports activities ranging from youth to professional, as well as the numerous hotels and event centers that are found throughout. The service ADP provides entails the documentation, in the form of photographs, of special events, whether they are sporting events or conventions, as well as creating media that will later be used for promotional and/or product purposes. I would ideally have around five or six other photographers on staff to provide the most coverage area on any given day where there happens to be multiple events going on simultaneously. As for equipment, each photographer would be armed with two bodies of the Canon EOS-1d X camera, the ultimate tool for our needs as a business. As for the distribution of the final product to our clients, ADP has a few different options: private password protected image galleries on our website, CD discs, and prints. We believe this variety gives our clients plenty of choices and will ultimately lead to their satisfaction with our finished product. 

Week 2 Photo Challenge: Papparazzi

I have always seen paparazzi as obtrusive, bothersome pests, just as they are portrayed in Fellini's La Dulce Vita. It's my opinion but breathing down famous people's throats just to get the next money shot is not my idea of a good enjoyable career. All you really need to be a paparazzi is to be quick and pay attention. I'd prefer something a bit more challenging.

For this shot, I set up a typical scenario where a celebrity is walking down the street as a paparazzi is leaning over the railing, furiously shooting away to get his money shot for some sort of tabloid or magazine. The expression on the girl's face shows that she is obviously distressed and repulsed by this pesky photographer. For the paparazzi's camera prop, I used my old TLR medium format camera and bulb flash, the same kind that was in La Dulce Vita. The place where I took this photograph is located along a portion of Water Street in downtown Henderson. The building in the background, Emery's, was chosen because it is an expensive high-class restaurant.

Week 2 EOC: La Dulce Vita

After watching just a small portion of Fredric Fellini's film, La Dulce Vita, I came away somewhat unimpressed. It seems to have a very uneventful, mundane plot that focuses on the "empty" lives of an Italian journalist and other celebrities. A quote I found on imdb.com sums up my brief experience with the film: "this movie moves along at a snails pace with no plot whatsoever while subjecting you to smug pseudo-intellectual conversation about nothing." I suppose this movie could be considered a masterpiece to people who like the style of realism, but it really does nothing for me. The acting/dialogue seemed a bit awkward and forced at times, although one must remember that Fellini's films featured a lot of dubbing. Visually, the film is okay, with plenty of interesting settings, props, and choreography, however the plot, or lack thereof, is its biggest downfall. Having said all this, I did not see the film in its entirety so my opinion of it could very well change.

Week 1 Photo Challenge: Constructed Self Portrait

For this week's Photo Challenge of a Constructed Self Portrait, I have used Rodney Smith's photograph, "We're All in This Alone." (http://rodneysmith.com/blog/?p=73) Although the title of the photograph is a bit melancholy, I have always thought of this picture as a look towards the future, not quite yet knowing what there is to come, and I suppose that is why I chose it for this week's Photo Challenge. You can see my head peering over the wall on the left side of the man. 

I discovered Rodney Smith's photography a few quarters ago while surfing the web "randomizer" StumbleUpon.com. His work has a sense of an era long passed yet contains a timeless and alluring quality about them. I find it interesting that Smith only photographs with natural ambient light on a large-format film camera. Most of his work is in black & white, although he sometimes shoots with color. Another interesting note: Smith began his career in Photography while attending Yale for a degree in theology. Smith's clientele include Visa, Ralph Lauren, I.B.M., and The New York Times.

Week 1 EOC: Stallions not Unicorns

     I am the owner and chief photographer of Aperture Digital Productions. ADP is a professional Sports & Events photography business, located in San Francisco, CA. My company’s main focus is on Sports Photography, at every level from youth-recreational to professional levels. Another area I specialize in is Event Photography, usually taking place at the various convention centers and hotels throughout the Bay Area. The types of cliental that I attract are professional NFL teams such as the Oakland Raiders, youth leagues, high school & college athletic programs, convention centers, and major publications like the San Francisco Chronicle. I will have up to ten staffed photographers working underneath me, in the case of multiple events going on at the same time. ADP utilizes two different camera systems depending on the situation. For sports, a Canon 7D professional camera is used in conjunction with the latest 70mm-200mm telephoto wide-aperture zoom lens. For events, a Canon 5D Mark II high-resolution camera is used with a wide range of professional zoom lenses, depending on the situation.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

     My name is Andrew Rigney, and I am a professional photographer located in Henderson, Nevada. I enjoy all fields of the industry, however, my main areas of interest include photojournalism, sports, travel, and fashion photography. I am currently on track to obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Digital Photography and have previous educational experience in the field of Audio Production. Always eager to learn, I stay up-to-date on the photographic industry’s ever-changing state of the art technologies and techniques by reading leading publications and doing my own thorough research. One of my favorite aspects of photography is the ability to capture a decisive unique moment in time—whether it be as exciting as the scene of a football player leaping towards the end zone, arms outstretched to score a touchdown as a defender reaches out to tackle him, or as simple as the image of a man leaping over a puddle on a busy New York sidewalk. Once I graduate, I plan to move back to the San Francisco Bay Area where I am originally from and start up a sports & events photography business.