I had sort of forgotten about profiles. I had lunch with someone the other day who said how much she like the profile photographs I had taken of her daughter. Since then I've been taking a lot of profiles again. A profile tends to support the distinguished qualities of your subject. The idea of the person as a thinker or a visionary--or someone not concerned they are being photographed. It takes the connection of the portrait away, no eyes looking back at us a viewers, so we can examine the person comfortably(Its funny how even a picture staring back at us makes us a little uncomfortable to be staring too close.) Today I didn't really capture a picture that I felt I needed to post, so I went to a picture I took the other day of Manuella. Photograph by Richard Sayer
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Today I photographed two women who were chatting with a reporter about their lives during World War Two when their husbands, who were brothers, went off to war. Janna(pronounced Yah-nina) and Peg Styborski are like sisters themselves after all these years. When I told them I wanted to make a photograph of them reflecting in an old picture - but they had to get really close together they simply said thats not a problem, 'we love each other.' The old photograph was of their husbands with their three other brothers who also were in WWII posing with their parents for a family portrait back in 40's. I'm not completely sure how this story is going to be formed by the reporter, but I was told it was about their life and the lives of the 5 Styborski brothers who went off to fight in the same war. Even though I didn't know what to realy do to tell this story, partly because the story hasn't really been developed enough, I was happy with this picture and one other I took that showed a little more of the framed picture and some other memorabelia. That picture is likely to be the page 1 picture when the story is released.I couldn't quite get the clean reflection I wanted with just the photograph, the other had some areas of clean matting that allowed their faces to be seen more clearly. Meadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer
This is a picture of Manuella I took the other night. It was the second to last picture I took that night. I've written in the past about how I try to not photograph reflections, because I do it too much. But sometimes....well you gotta go with your strengths. I've used this mirror image before, but never from this slightly elevated angle and never with this red background. I will do this again and try to work this sort of image until I find that ultimate image(whatever that is!) Manuella is a very interesting person who has come to Meadville from half way across the world. She is from Africa and from France. Next time I see her I'm going to ask her why she came to Meadville and Allegheny College. Everybody has an interesting story to tell. SayerMotterPhotography photograph by Richard Sayer
This photo was taken at a local coffee shop where I frequent. This is Michael Reed and he works at the local coffee shop. I think that he is the manager there or something like that. He is usually playing music, busting some mean dance moves or pouring someone a beautiful cup of coffee. Shout out Michael!! Woo-Woo!!
Photo By: Harmony Motter Most of the time these images come into my mind and then they leave and move on to some other place These three images won't leave until I do them right. They are like, 'girl, you better show some respect!' I have to listen. By: Harmony Motter
I met George Stabile years ago. I've met up with him from time to time. I did a story on him and his family as they dealt with living with Alzheimer's disease. I've shared 'Sunday beer' with George and we've talked about serious things and not so serious things. I like George. Today I got a chance to meet some of his old friends, the guys in a band he has played with for a number of years. Today I photographed The Electracons. Here are a few of those pictures, a quick look at the ones we took today. We had Sunday beer, we shared some laughs, we talked about some serious things and we talked about some not so serious things. It was a good day. SayerMotter Photographs by Richard Sayer
I kept thinking about the Neil Young song called 'Union Man' today. I changed the words around a bit. Young's song say's 'Live Music is better, bumper stickers should be issued.' My version today which went over and over again in my head was this'live events are bettter....'
The newspaper seems to be more interested in coverage of events to come on our front page. Stories done in advnce to let people know what is going on that they can attend. Its a good service to provide. I've argued for years that these are good stories to do, but not as centerpieces on page one. For one a centerpiece on page one needs a photograph. You cannot photograph something that hasn't happened yet. So we're called upon to get pictures of some sort before the event or to find pictures of the event from previous years. Neither option is a good one when you're the photographer. We thrive on covering news and sports that are happening in front of us--it is what we are good at and its why we get paid to be where we are. Today was a perfect example of this in my mind. I covered two events. One a child who advanced to a yellow belt in his martial arts class and received his honor with his dad nearby who was recognized by the class for his upcoming service to this country in Iraq. This will appear in the Meadville Tribune on Monday. The other was the fashion show in the Downtown Mall with cancer patients as models. In both cases I felt really good about the images because they were real images caught and there was no fabrication or asking someone to meet at point A for a picture doing something related to the story. This was a joy today. Today I photographed real life happening before my eyes! Meadville Tribune photographs by Richard Sayer One thing I've noticed as I've been at the newspaper for 13 years now, is that my love of photography is still very strong, but my hunger for seeking them out isn't as strong as it once was. This is a problem. I notice it from time to time and try to jump start myself and it usually results in some good work. Recently Harmony Motter came back to work at the newspaper and I see how her hunger for seeking these photos out is still very strong. She works the sidelines of games to get compelling images. I thought about this today after leaving General McLane high school after taking this photo of tired child on someones lap. I thought about this because I took this picture and liked it--I immediately saw it in black and white and thought that will make a very nice picture for page 2 of our paper. I thought about this today because I was out the door and realized I forgot to go over to get the names of this child. I was glad I saw the picture and took it, but disappointed that my hunger to get pictures in the paper is such that I failed to finish the job and get the information I needed. Need to think about a jump-start again I guess. Meadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer
These are photographs of Evie and her mother. I photographed Evie as a newborn and now 14 years later as a an energetic teenager.
Photos By: Harmony Motter This was made late at night in my apartment and is saved in a folder called 'late nights.'
By: Harmony Motter |